Whimsical Floral Lodge Wedding

We’re getting all whimsical this afternoon with a floral filled wedding delight.

WWW readers Sam and Steph tied the knot on a beautiful summers day at Styal Lodge in Cheshire. I just love their joint wedding report today, it is just so insightful and filled with touching moments. A personal, relaxed day with a party was the priority and what a celebration they had.

Gypsophila and wild natural blooms were used throughout along side illustrated floral stationery, which looked truly gorgeous. Layers of sponge and lashings of cream were turned into a super special cake creation and rustic crates were transformed into a James Bond theme seating plan.

Sam’s Watters illusion back wedding dress was just so striking teamed with a delicate hair piece and cathedral length veil. Her 4 younger sisters were her bridesmaids in short white lacey frocks while Sam chose a bright blue suit. How amazing did they all look?

Hannah Dornford-May Photography, thank you so much for sharing these sublime images.

THE PROPOSAL | Sam’s proposal was just perfect. He proposed in Chester, where we were living at the time, as I was working as a junior doctor at the Countess of Chester Hospital. It was a duck-themed treasure hunt around the flat with hilarious video clues incorporating lots of the fun times we’d had together. The end result was a Sam down on one knee with an engagement ring. Yes, of course I will marry you!! It was perfect – humorous, down-to-earth and completely personal.

THE VISION | Steph: I’d been dreaming of getting married since I was a little girl. I always dreamt of the big princess wedding gown, a ridiculous amount of flowers and fancy wedding cars. When it actually came down to getting married though, I realised that these things weren’t really important. I hoped for a wedding that was very personal to me and Sam, with a relaxed feel and lots of unique details representative of us as a couple. I just wanted a good old party!!

Sam: As long as Steph was happy, so was I. My only criteria were a few James Bond themed touches and copious amounts of meat to eat.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Steph: I’m not going to lie – I have some Obsessive Compulsive tendencies and was a little concerned that I might turn into a total Bridezilla. However, to my (and every one else’s) surprise I was fairly relaxed throughout the whole process. I thoroughly enjoyed planning the wedding with huge help from my little sister and bridesmaid Jessy (she is a teacher – enough said!) We did as much DIY as possible and I loved every minute! We designed and made all of the wedding stationery and our invitations were that personal that we even needed a censored version for some guests – thanks to Sam’s cursing!

Sam: Steph has to take most of the credit for the whole planning process really, it was all planned down to a tee and she had a vision which she definitely achieved. I left her to it really, but when it came to making things happen and bringing the ideas to life that’s where I stepped in to help working well as a team!

BUDGET | We did set out a wedding budget initially and hoped to save in areas by doing as much DIY work as possible. I must say however, that we went way over budget! DIY is not necessarily cheaper and it is so easy to get carried away! Ooops! Saying that, I wouldn’t change a thing!

THE VENUE | Styal Lodge, Station Road, Styal SK9 4JN.

Steph: As soon as I stepped foot in Styal Lodge, I had butterflies in my stomach. It was absolutely beautiful and I loved the rustic feel to the place, it fit my vision for our wedding perfectly. What worked so well for me was that it was a blank canvass – we could decide the decoration, the drinks menu, the caterer and the order of the day. Upon visiting other venues, I was not keen on how inflexible their wedding packages were.

On the morning of the wedding, myself and the girls got ready in the bridal suite attached to the lodge – it was so exciting to wander in the garden in our dressing gowns and to hear all of the guests arriving.

Sam: On the day, the venue was absolutely stunning, helped by the fact it was glorious sunshine so we could make the most of the fantastic garden area too. Everything ran like clockwork, and I just wanted to thank Poppy and the team at Styal Lodge for how fantastic our day was.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Steph: Ahhhh the dress! My wedding dress was Jacinda by Watters and was bought from Agape Bridal Boutique on the Downs in Altrincham. I still remember that overwhelming emotional feeling I got when I tried it on for the first time and did a twirl. I wanted a dress I could dance in and Jacinda was absolutely perfect with its layers of strips of tulle. A special thanks to Sara who picked this dress out knowing it was the one for me – the word whimsical which she used to describe it still sticks with me. Thank you Sara.

I wore powder blue Rachel Simpson shoes on the day, which I also ordered from Agape. I loved the colour (my something blue) and they were so comfortable, but I can not lie I did take my slippers to wear – they go almost everywhere with me.

My delicate headpiece was a hair crown designed and made for me by Laura Donovan of Laura Donovan Bridal Accessories. I absolutely adored this and felt it complimented my dress perfectly. As this headpiece was commissioned, Laura has named it after me which really is a lovely touch. I tucked in my cathedral length veil into the back of the hair crown, again purchased from Agape Bridal Boutique.

Sam: I knew Steph would look beautiful, but I didn’t realise HOW beautiful she would look. She looked absolutely stunning, and it was seeing her walk down the aisle in her dress that it really sunk it was finally our wedding day after months of preparation. I felt the luckiest man alive seeing her walking towards me looking like that.

FINDING THE DRESS | Steph: I did try several bridal shops and as mentioned, initially had my mind set on a strapless ‘princess’ dress. However, when I tried on some dresses with larger skirts, I felt completely swamped like a bog roll topper and felt like I couldn’t move! I thought I knew what my dream dress would look like but how wrong I was! My advice would always be to try on different styles of dress – something might just surprise you! Jacinda to me felt perfect, I had butterflies when I wore it, I felt like twirling around everywhere and it made me feel beautiful. Don’t settle unless you find the dress that makes you feel like this!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Sam: Me and the lads all went with vibrant blue suits keeping with the summery time of year. I had a blue polka-dot tie and pocket square and blue shoe laces in my brown shoes, and the best men and groomsmen had matching pink paisley ties and pocket squares described as “psychedelic salmon”, along with pink laces in their brown shoes. We scrubbed up well, but that was never going to be an issue.

Steph: Yes, the men looked very handsome. I must admit I was a little worried about what Sam was going to wear – he turned up to prom wearing a complete white linen suit, red and white striped shirt and white shoes. The boy did good for the wedding day though. He looked gorgeous – yes, he certainly did scrub up well!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Steph: I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of ‘Brand New Day’ by Kodaline. I really love this song and it gave me such a warm feeling. It was wonderful to walk down towards Sam – he really made me laugh when I asked him if he was crying and he replied that “someone’s been chopping onions!”

Sam and I wrote our own wedding promises – they were short but sweet but very heartfelt and personal.

We had two readings at the ceremony – one was a poem my youngest sister Hannah wrote and read out. Bless her she struggled to get out the words for tears!! Myself and my dad got up to stand by her side for support, it was so emotional! The second was an interpretation of a Pamela Ayres poem ‘Yes My Dear’, which was read out by my two best friends Caroline and Laura.

Sam: We also walked back down the aisle to Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual”, again another personalised touch for us both… who doesn’t love a bit of TJ?! We also had a relative DJ for us, Paul Atkinson at Ice Entertainment, who got everyone on their feet dancing and compered, helping the evening run very smoothly. Our first dance was ‘Shake a Tail Feather’ by Ray Charles, a song from the film the Blues Brothers. The dance started with our own choreographed moves, whilst wearing hats and sunglasses like in the film. It then turned into a bit of a flash-mob, with all of the bridal party coming and joining in with the dance. It was so much fun!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Steph: Jess Curbishley, Emma Curbishley, Lucy Curbishley, Hannah Curbishley.

My four younger sisters were my beautiful bridesmaids! I was absolutely dreading the shopping trip to get their outfits sorted, as they all have such different styles and opinions! Amazingly, we found the dresses so easily on a shopping trip in Liverpool One. Within 20 minutes we had 4 dresses from the Karen Millen sale that all fit and that all the girls loved! I was in shock! I loved the vintage/rustic style of the bridesmaids with their nude/blush dresses and felt their outfits were completed perfectly with their flower hair crowns (bought from Etsy) and simple gypsophlia bouquets wrapped in lace.

The morning of the wedding felt so relaxed and magical. The weather was perfect and it was so lovely to be pampered. Myself, my bridesmaids and my mum all had our hair done by the lovely Shelley from Essence Hair studio (Stockport) and our make-up done by Nicola Jewsbury (Nicola Jewsbury wedding hair and make up).

As a thank you gift to the girls, I bought them each a matching Pandora floral ring.

THE FLOWERS | Steph: I opted for a variety of flowers including wild-flowers in all different colours. These were used for the centre pieces, buttonholes and were cut and put into small jars/jam jars and milk bottles that were hung on chairs down the aisle, hung in the windows and were dotted on each table. The top table was made up of a row of different sized jars/bottles with different coloured flowers – it was simple but so effective. I am lucky as my mum did all the flowers for the wedding – thank you so much mum!

I made my own bouquet using brooches (both old and new). I saw an example in a magazine and fell in love with the idea. Creating it required hours of labour but in the end these were labours of love as I absolutely loved the end result. The only thing I was surprised by is quite how heavy it was! Good job I didn’t ‘toss the bouquet’ with it!!

THE CAKE | Steph: We opted for a ‘naked’ sponge wedding cake which was made by our caterers, ‘Pink Pepper’. It had a rustic look with 3 layers of sponge, fruit and personalised duck toppers.

We chose Pink Pepper to cater our wedding. Wow – they were amazing! In view of my major love for a good afternoon tea, we opted for this as the ‘wedding breakfast’ and in the evening we had a hog roast buffet outside. The food was incredible! Neil, of Pink Pepper, also played a major role in ensuring the day ran smoothly. We cannot recommend this caterer highly enough, they are simply wonderful – thank you Neil and Sarah.

Sam: It looked and tasted beautiful, and the best part was we ended up cutting it with a big sword instead of a knife!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Hannah Dornford-May.

Sam: Our photographer was Hannah Dornford-May, a Manchester based documentary style photographer. She is an absolutely lovely, down-to-earth and approachable lady and the photos she took were incredible with such attention to detail. We would highly recommend her to anyone.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Steph: The lodge was dressed beautifully by Emma from Special Days Events, with ceiling beams covering in ivory fabric with twinkle lights, hanging white lanterns from the ceilings, assorted jars and milk bottles and the centrepiece cream jugs on rustic wooden slabs.

For me I took great pleasure in the little details. On the morning of the wedding, myself and my ‘fairy godmother’, a close friend Jenny, set out tea cups and tea pots which we had placed flowers in. We all worked together to place our flowers in the jugs and to place the cut flowers in all of the jars and milk bottles. I dotted little ceramic birds and rabbits on the tables, along with bubbles and small ladybird sweet jars. I was having such a good time and was so relaxed, I practically had to be dragged to go and have a shower and start getting ready!

As mentioned by Sam, (my very chilled husband), his only request really was that there was some element of James Bond as he is a huge fan. The table names were therefore James Bond films – the top table being ‘Diamonds are Forever’.

Sam: The whole venue on the day looked absolutely breath taking, as I walked in the venue and saw it for the first time all pieced together I couldn’t believe my eyes. The little James Bond touches I personally feel improved the venue more than anything else! I also wanted to thank Jenny and Mike at Wax Lyrical for the candles – the lodge looked even more magical lit up at night with these. The brilliant Sarah and Neil at Pink Pepper catering not only did incredible food, but they also supplied all of the china too which again added to the theme of the wedding.

THE HONEYMOON | Santorini.

Steph: WOW! We had an absolutely amazing honeymoon in Santorini. We left the morning after the wedding and we had an incredible time. It was also so good to come back to open all of our wedding cards and read our cards – it was so overwhelming.

Sam: Nothing better than not having to do any tidying up or sorting, we just buggered off to Santorini and sunned it up. What an incredible place, beautiful.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Steph: For me, a memorable moment was walking around the garden before I had started getting ready – it was an absolutely glorious day and it was just so tranquil. I remember feeling so at peace and calm, it really was a lovely feeling.

The most memorable moment, has to be standing at the end of the aisle, linking my dad, looking down towards Sam. My dad had given me the sweetest ‘pep’ talk prior to the walk down and I could feel him squeeze my arm as we walked down towards Sam. I had the biggest beaming smile on my face, it was a magical feeling!

Another memorable moment was also the first dance – practising that routine was so much fun and it was so worth it on the night! I loved doing something a bit different.

Sam: The first memorable moment had to be waking up with a heinous hangover. Having too many beers the night before at the pub with the lads was not a good idea! The biggest moment of the day, however, would obviously be standing at the end of the aisle and seeing the doors open with Steph walking down the aisle towards me. Wow! There were lots of other little memorable moments throughout the day such as being taken on a golf cart to the lake on the golf course for photos to be taken; it was such a beautiful place for photographs and such a lovely hot day!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Be open minded – especially about your dress, try something different!

Make your wedding personal and unique to you as a couple!

Do not drink too much the night before the wedding.

Take a moment to yourselves to take it all in on the day; it could be so easy to spend the whole day apart.

Do not assume that DIY is cheaper!

Just enjoy yourselves – the day goes so quickly, you will want to do it all over again.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Hannah Dornford-May Photography

Venue | Styal Lodge Wedding Venue – Station Road, Styal, SK9 4JN, a particular thank you to Poppy.

Dress | Agape Bridal Boutique – 31A The Downs, AltrinchamWA14 2QD, with special thanks to Sara Lee Hassan.

Hair Accessory | Laura Donovan Bridal Accessories – thank you Laura.

Caterers | Pink Pepper Catering

Decor | Thanks to Emma from Special Days Events

Hair  | Shelley Tomlinson Essence Hair Studio (Stockport)

Make Up | Nicola Jewsbury Hair and Makeup

DJ | Paul Atkinson at Ice Entertainment UK

 

 

Just so special.

Many thanks to Sam and Steph for sharing their wonderful nuptials with us today xo Lou