Claire and Daniel’s Chester Wedding With an Amazing First Look and Plenty of Sweets. By Claire Penn

I have a wonderful Chester Wedding for you today, courtesy of the very lovely Claire Penn. Set in the city centre this wedding is full of both Vintage details in the form of the brides dress and modern twist in the form of the ever popular Oddfellows venue and decoration. The thing I love most about this wedding though is the amazing first look. First looks are still few and fare between in this country, as a lot of people think it unlucky for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony  BUT they are a great way to have a personal and intimate moment together away from all those preying eyes and also a great time to get some portrait shots in before the rush of the wedding celebrations start!

‘A beautiful day, where everyone felt relaxed. The venues chosen showed off our ‘city’ to all our guests including The Commercial (where we headed for a night-cap)’

Claire and Daniel who were married on 9th November at Chester Town Hall, followed by Afternoon Tea at Oddfellows. ‘We had been together for nearly 15 years and have 2 young children. Church didn’t feel appropriate and we wanted somewhere with character and history. Chester Town Hall was perfect. We had 60 guests for afternoon tea and 100 for the party, it took only 3 months to plan.’

How they met
We met at University – through our respective housemates. We met nearly 15 years ago.

The proposal
We were living in Sydney, Australia and our little boy was nearly 1. We went up to Dudley Reserve, just north of Bondi Beach, to have a picnic and a bottle of bubbly. Dudley Reserve has amazing views of Sydney and the Harbour. This is where Dan asked me.

How did you choose your photographer?
I saw a couple of photos of Claire’s on Oddfellows website and really liked them. When I mentioned her name to a friend she told me that we went to school with her and Claire Penn was her married name. I hadn’t been sure I wanted a photographer but as soon as I met Claire I knew that I did and I wanted her to capture our wedding.

The dress
I found my dress at a Vintage Wedding Fayre in Liverpool – it was a size 16 dress when I tried it on in the Adelphi Hotel. With a friend standing behind me pulling it in my best friends said that it was stunning and was just me. It was 200 quid – so I thought it worth a risk. I took it to an alterations company down Watergate Row in Chester and they did an amazing job resizing the dress and fixing some of the sequins. My shrug was Ted Baker, I wore Dan’s grandma’s necklace, Carat bracelet and Jimmy Choo shoes

The suit
Dan’s suit was from Reiss, our boys suits were from Monsoon and there were no bridesmaids

Theme or colour scheme
Not really although I like more vintage colouring, which comes through in the flowers.

Food
We had retro sweets on the tables and guests were invited to join us for afternoon tea. The food was amazing. In the evening we had bacon sandwiches and fish and chips.

Entertainment
We had our own play list at the Town Hall and during the food. Our evening DJ was from Wedding Jam.

Flowers and decoration
A local florist put our table flowers together in jam jars which we supplied (tied with ribbon) we also had a ‘Sweet shop’ during the evening

Personal / DIY touches
The seating plan and name cards I made myself (using luggage tags for the name cards), I decorated the jam jars with ribbons from Ebay. The playlist for the venues.

Special moments
Seeing Dan before the ceremony for our first look and photographs, having champagne at the Grosvenor Hotel with my parents and closest family and mates. Seeing our two gorgeous boys in the Town Hall in their little suits. The speeches. The list goes on.

Advice
Don’t spend excessive amounts of money – it is only one day. Enjoy it, try and relax – for us, having the photographers before the ceremony worked really well.

Biggest surprise
How excellent the speeches were and how drunk some of our friends were (well, not really surprised by the latter)

Supplier Shout Outs

• Photographer – www.clairepennphotography.com
• 2nd Shooter –  www.andreaellisonphotography.com
• Oddfellows www.oddfellowschester.com
• Dress www.vintageweddingfair.co.uk
• Shoes www.jimmychoo.com
• Florist –  www.freshofchester.co.uk
• DJ – http://www.weddingjam.co.uk

For more information on Claire’s work go to

Website: www.clairepennphotography.com
Blog: www.clairepenn.com
Email: [email protected]
FACEBOOK 
TWITTER
Phone: 07729 282519