Emma & Mike's Wedding

Emma and Mike's wedding was a truly special day. The detail Emma put in her decorations made their wedding "one of those weddings" which photographers love to shoot!

Here's what she said...

Where did you choose for your Wedding Venue and what made it so special?

We had almost put a deposit down on another venue when we saw The Hundred House Hotel at a local wedding fayre. Both of us really wanted a barn setting as loved the beams and bare brick. I loved how intimate our venue was. We were only having a relatively small number of people for the ceremony so still wanted it to feel full. It was so homely - just like it was a one off wedding there, not like the venue had been designed for weddings, which we got with a lot of the newer conversions.

Did you have a theme for your wedding? Where did you draw your inspiration from?

Our starting point was the venue type - we both had our hearts set on a barn and love the country, rustic, farm feel that came with it. That kind of developed to include vintage touches from looking at LOTS of wedding mags / pinterest & endless google image searches!

Tell us about the process of choosing your dress? Was it the first one you tried on or did you change your mind numerous times? Did you have an idea of what you wanted?

My dress was totally different to what I was looking for, lol. Initially, I was looking for a lace dress, something with shoulders/sleeves, quite fitted, maybe a fishtail. you couldn't get further from a sweetheart neck, satin, bling full train dress! I had been to fayre at a dress shop to start looking - but It was a little like a cattle market. Everyone trying on dresses behind makeshift curtains and waiting all line passing the dresses to each other! So I decided to make a day of it and booked appointments at 2 local shops and took my girls with me. I really wanted to milk the trying on for all it was worth and thought I had least another 3 days of trying on left in me, lol. Truth was, I found my dress in the first shop we went to. Everything looked gorgeous, but I knew as soon as I put it on. My maid of honour cried when I walked out! I compared everything else to it, so knew it was THE ONE!

Where did your groom get his suit from?

He got it from a local hire shop - Dapper Dan's. He did try 2 others before this (more than me!) but went for a grey suit - slim fit with tails. It was a little difficult as we had to organise the boys all coming up from London for fittings, but they all looked fab on the day.

Can you tell me about your flowers?

SUNFLOWERS I love them and wanted them from day one! My maid of honour was a godsend and did ALL of the flowers. We had flower rings on candelabras for our table centrepieces. As she was doing so much, we had these in dry flowers so they could be done before hand. Also dry, we had to large arrangements for the bottom of the aisle and a large spray for the registrar table. All of the bouquets were fresh with lots of green and berries. Mine had a touch of white in with lillies to differentiate it from the bridesmaid ones, all were wrapped with hessian to tie in with the chair sashes and rustic feel.

What are your wedding rings like? Did you have any other special jewellery?

We both had plain bands in white gold. My necklace / earrings were dress jewellery from Debenhams. Mike gave me a gorgeous bracelet as a wedding gift to wear on the day which is really special.

What was your most useful source of wedding ideas and information?

I liked 'wedding ideas' mag for inspiration, but wanted to do a lot of the small touches myself - so adapted ideas. I really enjoyed putting a mood board together to give an overall theme to the day and I found this really useful when speaking to suppliers i.e. cake / stationary so they could see the end result I was after. I used google image search A LOT! lol.

Do you have any advice for future brides?

I feel like this is all the same advice I used to read when planning. It so easy to say at the end and harder to take notice of when you're caught up in the excitement. 1. Don't worry too much about the tiny details. Obviously, the little touches are what make it special and individual to you - but is it really the end of the world if all of your button holes aren't exactly the same or you run 10 minutes behind? There's only so much you can plan and on the day - nothing even phases you, so don't let it ruin the build up - Enjoy it 2. A list of photographs you want the photographer to take. This can be general shots as well as formal ones. I was very lucky in that I knew you had a good vision of what I wanted, but there are still things that can get missed, I would have like more shots with my train out but was too bothered about the bloody weather! lol. My sister didn't have many of her and her partner on their own (which I think is a MASSIVE error on the photographers part!) but it's always one thing I tell people to make sure they have as what's important for me might not be for the next person and it was nice not to worry on the day. 3. Delegate! If you have friends that will help then take advantage. People love to get involved and share their talents. I had help with our our blackboards / favours / table plan / bunting and loads of other home made touches. 4. People will drop out / not turn up. Obviously it is frustrating after all the hard work you've put in - but it is not the end of the world! Maybe try and establish people that could attend the ceremony at short notice. I was worried about offending people and them thinking they were 'back-ups' but people do understand! We had 3 people drop out on the week leading up to our wedding. There were 2 people that didn't turn up on the actual day, with no warning and I didn't even notice they weren't there until someone pointed it out during the wedding breakfast!

What was your favourite photograph and why did you like it?

Can I have a top 3??lol. This is def the hardest question anyone asks as I love them all so much for different reasons The one of me that's my profile pic makes me feel a million dollars every time I look at it and reminds me of how good I felt on the day The bus stop pic that's my cover photo - I think it's so romantic but not an 'in your face' wedding pic. We've chosen this as our canvas pic for the house. The ceremony pic where you can see us and a lot of the guests. I feel like it captures the whole moment and is the story of the whole room in one shot.

Was Ashley Paton the right photographer for you?

100% - I do feel like if we'd have had someone else I would have felt I needed to discuss more before the day but we were happy for you to take the little direction we gave and knew we would be pleased - and we were!!! You made me and Mike feel so comfortable and gave enough direction to make sure our shots were exactly what we wanted. I love that our photos tell a story of the day in a natural way - just how I remember it I feel back there in the moment every time I look at them and will be forever grateful for that - you totally captured our day perfectly and I will always be able to look back and feel that way.

My other half Tom also made their wedding video, here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBwC1zx11tQ

Thanks for booking us for your wedding Emma & mike! Such a lovely day!