Autumnal Magical Moody & Rainy Wedding

Today’s real wedding feature is decadent, dramatic, moody and oh so beautiful. Yes, it’s time to share WWW readers Edina and John’s The Carriage Hall wedding in Nottinghamshire, which was held back on the 25th October 2019. Whoop!

I fell hook line and sinker for their stylish autumnal wedding. The rainy conditions didn’t affect a single thing and if anything it made their day all the cosier. I mean would you look at all of the romantic lighting and candlelight?! Wow. Then there were the sensational flowers, super cool attire and family-friendly elements. Does it get any better folks? I think not.

Bloom Weddings thank you so much for sharing these incredible shots of a very special wedding day.

The Carriage Hall Wedding

The Proposal

There wasn’t one – I was convinced John was going to propose when we went to New York in 2013; I was pregnant with our first child and I was convinced that a proposal was imminent, and then a year later when we went to see the Rolling Stones, but it didn’t happen then either.

A month later I saw a ring in a window and we went to buy it the next day – not very romantic, but I’m not sure a big gesture would have been very us. We were supposed to get married at Christmas in 2015 but juggling parenthood, work and family it all got a bit too much so we actually cancelled it until the time was right, which was totally the right decision as both of our children were part of our big day – our son still refers to it as ‘our wedding’, which we love.

The Vision

We had been together for 10 years at the point of tying the knot, so we wanted to truly celebrate that. When we started planning our wedding I knew I wanted an autumnal/winter wedding. I wanted the day to be sparkly, modern and atmospheric. Lots of candles was a must for me.

I didn’t want it to look vintage or rustic and I also knew I didn’t have the time to go down the DIY route. We really didn’t fancy a themed wedding, we envisioned a simple, intimate wedding with our family, friends and two children, to us that was what was important.

Budget

We made the mistake of not having one – we paid things off as we went along. Everyone kept asking, what’s your budget? I kept thinking why do they keep asking that? I soon realised – I can’t say it was the most sensible decision, but with a lot of sacrifices, and help from our parents, we managed it.

John really wanted a Spring wedding, which would have been cancelled/postponed due to COVID so even though it was hard to plan and finance everything in a year, we are so pleased we did.

Check out our ultimate wedding planning checklist to keep you organised!

The Venue

Being together for 10 years meant that we had attended so many of our friend’s weddings and we kind of knew what we wanted before we started looking. We didn’t want a large venue where people got lost as we knew we weren’t inviting a huge amount of people and food was a serious consideration for us.

The Carriage Hall was the perfect venue, we actually booked our date before a viewing due to the décor, history and amazing reviews. It didn’t disappoint, the service was 5*, the organisation was seamless and the food was just amazing. We spent the first night of married life in a shepherds hut which was super cute and finished off our celebrations with some of our wedding party having breakfast at the Perkins Restaurant.

Your Outfits

I knew early on that I wanted a Made in England dress, but I didn’t want to narrow my options by not keeping an open mind so I made appointments at a couple of amazing bridal boutiques but I kept coming back to Rolling in Roses dress I had seen on IG.

I absolutely loved the Vega dress by Rolling in Roses before I had even tried it on. When I arrived at Glory Days Bridal in York I knew I was going to find my dress. There were three dresses which I loved but I knew when I finally got to try on the Vega dress that it was the one. I styled it with Black Jimmy Choo heels, a draped bridal cape from Sash and Veil, and star earrings with the Calypso headpiece by Tilly Thomas Luxe.

John chose a Herbie Frog deep grey, wool checked three-piece suit, a pair of Made in England Loakes and a black knitted tie. His groomsmen wore grey wool suits from Next with forest green knitted ties and liberty print pocket squares.

Out bridesmaids wore forest green dresses by Maids to Measure with black ankle boots, and our junior bridesmaid wore a pale green sequin and chiffon dress by Maya. Our two flower girls looked adorable in pale green satin dresses from Ghost London Bridal and a green velvet wand from Fable Heart.

The Ceremony & Music

We decided that I would walk down the aisle to a cover of The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses by The Churches. This song is probably one of my all-time favourites and means a lot to me because it always reminds me of my Dad – my first ever gig was seeing The Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge Tour with him many moons ago so it was the obvious choice.

In regards to readings, we didn’t want anything too overpowering. We asked our sister in law to read He’s Not Perfect by Bob Marley, (although we changed it to She’s as it felt more fitting) and my friend read A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton. We walked out to A Higher Love by Steve Winward.

Find lots of wedding readings and first dance wedding song ideas in these articles!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

After a lot of searching, we found the lovely Bloom Weddings during our first stint of wedding planning, and when we decided the time was right to plan to get married again, Bloom Weddings were at the forefront of our minds and we were so happy that they agreed to be our wedding photographers.

We decided to book a belated engagement shoot at Mam Tor; initially, we didn’t want one, after being engaged for five years it seemed a bit silly, but we are SO GLAD we changed our minds because it gave us an opportunity to get to know them both and to get an insight into what it was like to be in front of the camera. Neither one of us are particularly comfortable with having ‘formal’ photos taken but Chris and Annie put our minds at ease and took some amazing photos!

It rained on our wedding day, weirdly we didn’t really notice, the dark and wet day contributed to the magical and atmospheric feeling that we wanted to create, however, it posed challenges for outside photographs but Chris and Annie rose to the occasion and still managed to capture our day perfectly. We both felt completely comfortable, ALL DAY starting with getting ready, saying our vows, right through to our speeches and our first dance.

Our goalposts moved massively planning our day the second time around; what became increasingly important to us was that our two children played a big part in our marriage and Chris and Annie managed to capture that. Bloom Weddings were beyond AMAZING with both of our children – not only do we have eternal memories of our wedding day, we also have the most beautiful photos of our family which will be treasured forever.

The Styling & Decor

Very early on in our planning, I knew I didn’t want anything vintage, shabby chic or rustic themed. I envisioned something modern, dark and moody. I really wanted black running through it – not an obvious choice for a wedding but it was a no brainer for me – I’m just not a pastel or pink kinda gal.

I am a naturally picky person so I was concerned about leaving the décor in someone else’s hands; ordinarily I would have got stuck in and styled our wedding myself but with two children and work it just wasn’t possible.

Sophie from Gigil Bloom totally got my vision, I trusted her so much I pretty much let her run free with the arrangements – I think I just told her dark and moody with no gypsophila.

We chose botanical balloons with black ribbons which were placed down the aisle and a beautiful moon gate arch where we said I do. I wanted a large bouquet full of greenery and black ribbons – I left it with Sophie to create something and it was gorgeous along with the flower crowns for our junior bridesmaid and flower girls, and our son had a buttonhole with Wolverine because, why not?

Nothing could have prepared me for the set-up of our ceremony room – when I walked in with my Dad, I was blown away, so much so I forgot where I was supposed to be looking. It rained on our wedding day, which was actually perfect, I remember saying my vows in what felt like a candlelit hall – there were so many beautiful candles – on the fireplace, down the aisle on the window sills – it was MAGICAL.

On the table, we opted for terrariums filled with greenery and flowers and lots of candlelight. We had menus printed on vellum paper and I made the name tags dipped in gold glitter, these were wrapped up with the napkins in black natural ribbon.

Charlotte and her team created a gorgeous welcome sign and the top table was beautiful, we had a long black runner with black candles, and lots of greenery.

We made a conscious decision not to give out favours and opted to have an amazing caricature artist come to our evening reception instead so all guests could take away a memory of our day. We also chose not to have a traditional cake or cake cutting ceremony – we had vast a selection of brownies from Blondie Brownie Bakes for our guests to help themselves to throughout the evening.

The Honeymoon

Aww…we didn’t have one and we are totally gutted about it! As parents of two young children, we were REALLY looking forward to a short break away in the sunshine, but sadly due to COVID we didn’t get the chance. We remain positive that we will have a belated one in 2021, fingers crossed!

Memorable Moments

For me, I think it was waking up feeling sick and remaining that way until I left for the ceremony – my sister lent me her sickness bands which I wore all morning – I always smile when I look at our ceremony photos because I can see the indents on my wrists.

Waiting for that pivotal moment when the Father of the Bride enters so you can get ‘that’ photo and my Dad comes in holding his own camera, it was so funny.

Riding the vintage bus to the ceremony and having my best girls beside me all day including my childhood bestie from the states, that just made it for me.

I think for John it was when Clara shouted ‘DADDY’ and proceeded to run down the aisle to meet him, totally stealing the show J, friends having one too many and crawling around the venue or singing Oasis at the top of their lungs way after the band had finished to keep the party going.

Advice For Other Couples

Have a budget! Sit down with parents or family members to see if they are willing to help out in any way early on in the planning process. We didn’t do that however my parents were amazing all the way through.

If you are an older bride, don’t get hung up on whether things are perceived as too young for you.

Don’t choose a ridiculously long first dance, and if you have children, try to set out a rota – I was very conscious that our sister-in-law was looking after our youngest most of the time, which we were so grateful for, but I think it needed meticulous planning amongst all family members before the big day.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh my! So beautiful.

Edina and John thank you so much for sharing your stunning Carriage Hall wedding with us. I hope you get to have your honeymoon soon!