{"id":174033,"date":"2016-08-01T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=174033"},"modified":"2024-06-17T10:10:49","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T09:10:49","slug":"letchworth-centre-of-healthy-living-fresh-pretty-purple-humanist-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/letchworth-centre-of-healthy-living-fresh-pretty-purple-humanist-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh & Pretty Purple Humanist Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

What a way to start the week! Sun shining summer humanist wedding goodness, not to mention a totally adorable pair of newly-weds.<\/p>\n

WWW readers Holly and Damien were married on the Saturday 22nd<\/sup> August 2015 at The Letchworth Centre of Healthy Living<\/a> in Hertfordshire. They hoped to create a celebration which was relaxed, fun and personal. Their humanist ceremony allowed them to make their vows really special and unique and I just love those emotional shots.<\/p>\n

Let’s talk about the fantastic attire. Damien’s blue DKNY suit looked brilliant accessorised with tan shoes and peachy bow tie, Holly was radiant in her lace and tulle gown while the bridesmaids donned delicate blush frocks. I also have to give a shout out to the \u2018The Fresh Prince of Bel Air\u2019 style rap, it’s moments like those that go down in wedding memories history.<\/p>\n

The blooms were divine, the car just too cute and the setting idyllic.<\/p>\n

Thanks goes to the fabulous Summer Lily Studio today for sharing these amazing shots with us.<\/p>\n

\"Bridesmaid \"Purple \"Fresh \"Sparkly \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Purple \"Make \"Hair \"Fresh\"Fresh \"Fresh \"Ceremony\"Letchworth \"Fresh\"Fresh \"Card \"Fresh\"Flower\"Fresh\"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Confetti \"Cake \"VW \"Flowers \"Fresh \"Thank \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"DKNY \"Fresh\"VW \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Long \"Purple \"Blue \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"Fresh \"David's \"Fresh \"Confetti<\/p>\n

THE PROPOSAL | Damien took me on a surprise trip to Milan, Italy. We spent a few days in the city and then travelled to Bellagio on Lake Como, Italy. It was absolutely stunning and Dame proposed in the Gardens of Villa Melzi.<\/p>\n

THE VISION | We wanted a really relaxed wedding with our closest family and friends. We wanted people to come and enjoy themselves, have fun and celebrate. We had a humanist ceremony which meant that we could personalise every last detail of the ceremony and make it special and unique to us.<\/p>\n

THE PLANNING PROCESS | I\u2019m a very organised so had a spreadsheet with estimated costs, suppliers details and the overall budget right from day 1. I am absolutely addicted to Pinterest so gained a lot of inspiration from there.<\/p>\n

BUDGET | \u00a318,000<\/p>\n

THE VENUE | The Letchworth Centre of Healthy Living, Hitchin Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire.<\/p>\n

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I bought my dress and veil from David\u2019s Bridal and my shoes were Rainbow. My mother-in-law bought me a bracelet with a blue stone to wear on the day and I wore my mum\u2019s engagement ring as my something borrowed. I also wore my mum\u2019s garter, which had a piece of her wedding dress tied to it, as my something old.<\/p>\n

FINDING THE DRESS | We booked an appointment at David\u2019s Bridal and along with my mum and sisters we spent the day in London. Originally I wanted a sheath dress with a relaxed look and lots of embellishment. When I saw this dress it was completely different to what I had pictured but the sparkles really caught my eye. When I tried on the dress I couldn\u2019t stop smiling and the reaction from my mum and sisters said it all.<\/p>\n

GROOM\u2019S ATTIRE | Damien\u2019s suit was DKNY and he had seen it a few months before the wedding. It fit him really well and he fell in love with it.<\/p>\n

THE READINGS & MUSIC | I asked my mum along with two of my friends to do a reading each. My mum chose the same reading, \u2018On your wedding day\u2019 that I had read at my best friends wedding a few months earlier which was such a surprise and was such a sweet idea. Our friends Alice and Char read \u2018The wonders of today\u2019 by Larry Chengges. It was simply perfect and it meant so much to us.<\/p>\n

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had five beautiful bridesmaids, my three sisters Carly, Jenna and Amy and my two best friends Sammy and Naomi. There dresses were gorgeous and had sheer lace backs.<\/p>\n

One of the best surprises of the day was straight after the speeches. We were all in fits of laughter after a sterling performance by the best men Craig and Paul when my mum unexpectedly jumped on the mic. The next thing I saw was my three sisters donning some caps and sunglasses approaching the microphone. I had no idea what to expect until I heard the familiar theme tune to \u2018The Fresh Prince of Bel Air\u2019 (one of my favourite childhood TV shows). They proceeded to rap their own unique lyrics about how Dame and I met ten years ago. It was such a surprise and everyone went wild for it. Afterwards the emotion of the day hit me and I couldn\u2019t stop crying. My sisters and I are very close and it meant so much to me that they did this.<\/p>\n

THE FLOWERS | Our wedding flowers were provided by Flowers by Suzanne, she provided the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, the buttonholes, the bark vase flower arrangements and the spray for the ceremony. When I first saw my bouquet I burst into tears at how beautiful it was. Suzy had listened to exactly what we wanted and she really understood what would work well with the venue and overall style of the day.<\/p>\n

All of the other flowers were sourced from our local market in St. Neots. The day before the wedding our family and friends helped to arrange them into the glasses, jam jars and mercury glass. We spent the morning on the decking at the venue cutting stems and chatting; it was a great way to start the wedding weekend. One of our favourite parts of setting up at the venue was decorating the beautiful wooden archway for the ceremony. We used fairy lights and flowers from the local market to make something really unique. Everybody was involved in this and it was great to know that everyone had had their own unique input on this.<\/p>\n

THE CAKE | After being let down by our original cake supplier, a friend of a friend offered to make our cake. It looked stunning and tasted simply delicious!<\/p>\n

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We knew from day one that we wanted to book Summer Lily Studios for our wedding photography. Terri\u2019s pictures are simply gorgeous and she really captures the moment. Both of us attended the same school as Terri and it had been so nice to watch her business grow over the years. We both loved her style so it was a no brainer.<\/p>\n

THE DETAILS & D\u00c9COR | After our engagement I quickly became a Pinterest addict and loved pinning ideas for the d\u00e9cor and detail. We wanted the day to have a really relaxed feel and so did the majority of flower arrangements ourselves. We bought lots of glass from antique stores and collect jars which we filled with tea lights and flowers. We used tree slices which had been cut from my auntie and uncle\u2019s plum tree. They smelt so delicious. For our wedding gifts, we asked for money towards a deposit for a house so instead of a traditional card box we painted an old dolls house white and cut a slit for envelopes.<\/p>\n

For the guestbook I made a scrap book which had photographs from every year that we had been together. It was pretty cringy looking back at some of the old pictures but the guests loved it and the messages we received were so heartfelt.<\/p>\n

THE HONEYMOON | We travelled to Marrakech, Morocco for our honeymoon. It is an amazing place and we loved the camel rides, dinner in the riads and browsing the sukhs for hidden treasures.<\/p>\n

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | One of the most memorable moments was my sisters performing the rap. It was so much fun and really got the party started.<\/p>\n

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Make sure that your wedding day is exactly what you want. Don\u2019t be swayed by traditions and formalities. Make it about you and the joining together of two people in love.<\/p>\n

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |<\/p>\n

Photographer | Summer Lily<\/p>\n

Photo Booth | Harvey Collard<\/p>\n

Evening photography | Chanellack Jones Photography<\/p>\n

Videographer | Just Happy Together <\/a><\/p>\n

BBQ | Casino Caters<\/p>\n

Evening food | Ruffwood Pizza Company <\/a><\/p>\n

Vintage ice cream van | Ice Baby <\/a><\/p>\n

Cake | Vicki Briody<\/p>\n

Flowers | Flowers by Suzanne<\/p>\n

Stationery | Signs were ordered from eBay, our invites were ordered from Vistaprint.<\/p>\n

Dress | David\u2019s Bridal<\/a><\/p>\n

Sash | Vera Wang (bought from David’s bridal)<\/p>\n

Shoes | Rainbow<\/p>\n

Veil | David\u2019s Bridal<\/p>\n

Hair | Bride\u2019s hair was by Leah\u2019s Brides<\/p>\n

Bridesmaid hair | House of Hair<\/p>\n

Make-up | Belles Beauty<\/p>\n

Bridesmaid dresses | ASOS<\/p>\n

Groomswear | DKNY suit, the best men and usher suits were bought from River Island<\/p>\n

Guestbook | Paperchase<\/p>\n

How very beautiful.<\/p>\n

Holly and Damien, thank you both so much for sharing your wedding story with us xo Lou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a way to start the week! Sun shining summer humanist wedding goodness, not to mention a totally adorable pair of newly-weds. WWW readers Holly and Damien were married on the Saturday 22nd August 2015 at The Letchworth Centre of Healthy Living in Hertfordshire. They hoped to create a celebration which was relaxed, fun and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,4],"tags":[2223,1467,472,24,4291],"class_list":["post-174033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classic-wedding","category-real-weddings","tag-davids-bridal-wedding-dress","tag-hertfordshire-wedding","tag-humanist-wedding","tag-purple-wedding-ideas","tag-the-letchworth-centre-for-healthy-living-wedding-venue"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":174092,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/whimsical-cdn.wedissimo.com\/2016\/07\/HD-SLS-WWW-81-300x200.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}