“I think I'm ready
As long as you're with me”
It’s my goal to blog more weddings this year, I have so many ready to share with you and I’m super excited to be starting with this one! Lauren and Mark got hitched in Winchester back in 2018 at the registry office, followed by a gorgeous reception at The Green Man pub. Everything was so colourful and relaxed, I was completely in my element. And oh boy, Lauren’s custom embroidered Needle and Thread dress…!!! So… here we go and I’ll pass over to Lauren and Mark to tell you all about planning their wedding!
the soundtrack
OUR WEDDING PLANNING PROCESS
We got engaged one year before we got married but didn’t start planning straight away. I think we were both quite relaxed about the planning side of things in the beginning and were secretly hoping that it would organically come together without too much stress (little did we know!).
The initial planning process started a few months later when we started looking at local venues. We knew we wanted to get married away from where we both grew up because we wanted to start our new life together on more neutral ground, so began to look in the Hampshire area. Finding the right venue proved to be one of our biggest challenges as we wanted somewhere that reflected us as a couple, could accommodate our guests and still have an intimate and warm feel that wouldn’t feel too grand and forced. After lots of searching online we visited various barns and halls which just weren’t what we were looking for. They all felt too stereotypical and too much like a conveyor belt style wedding day rather than the bespoke and personal location we craved.
Then we discovered The Green Man, a trendy pub in Winchester packed full of vintage decorations, cool artwork and interesting rooms that we could really bring to life. It was actually a venue we had previously discounted given the size of wedding we have originally discussed, so we downscaled the numbers and booked the pub!
From there, everything else seemed to fall into place.
We started thinking about our theme’s and styles and quickly settled on ‘nice bright colours’! We built a long to do list in Excel and started ticking things off. Sometimes not achieving very much and deciding that going to the pub might be better, other times, ticking off 10 things in one evening!
One of my real highlights during the planning process was finding out that Hannah was free and available for our day. I have been following her for years on social media after stumbling across her work and I knew that she would be the perfect person to capture our wedding day.
Another real highlight were the band, Wanderlust. An acoustic four piece band playing amazing covers of 90’s classics. We’ve had so many comments from all of our guests about how talented they were but also how much fun they made it for everyone. Getting everyone singing and dancing and by mingling with the guests rather than just staying still at the end of the room playing a standard set. They really made the evening into something quite special.
THE STORY OF OUR DAY
Mark started the day at home in our flat in Southampton surrounded by friends. I was staying at Hotel Du Vin in Winchester with my bridesmaids Gemma and Cat, it was just over the road from the Green Man so we were able to pop over first thing to get set up.
Gemma, Cat and I arrived at the venue for 8.30am, we had managed to get most of our decorating done the night before meaning it was simply blowing up some balloons and placing the floral arrangements to do before getting ourselves ready. We loved the quirky style of the Green Man interior so there wasn’t too much to add, just a few personal finishing touches.
We met Fiona from our florist Catkin and Pussywillow and were blown away by how beautiful the arrangements were! The colour and variety of flowers featuring Asclepsia, Craspedia, Delphinium Butterfly, Germini Bokito Icelandic Poppies, Ranunculus, Golden Mustard roses, Vuvuzuela Roses and Magenta Stocks to name just a few of the beautiful, vibrant blooms were absolutely perfect and were even better than I could have imagined. My inspiration came from Frida Kahlo and I knew I wanted the flowers to play a big part in setting the tone for the day. It was also wonderful to see Hannah, she greeted us like old friends which really helped to calm my nerves.
Back at Hotel Du Vin it was time to start getting ready, we’d given ourselves plenty of time but it really flew-by by the time we had done makeup and helped each other with our hair. It was a lovely experience, as non ‘girly - girls’ on the whole, we embraced the opportunity to pamper ourselves and talk make up and hair products. There were some very surreal moments as Cat and Hannah used a chamberpot to decant some extra confetti. It was also time to wear the incredible dress I had chosen from Needle and Thread. I was so excited to see how everything was going to come together, including my gorgeous yellow Swedish Hasbeens clogs and stunning Frida Kahlo inspired floral headdress.
I’d managed to keep my emotions mostly in check all morning but as we drove up to the registry office to see my ‘bridesman’ David stood outside in his mint green suit I was a blubbering mess.
My dad was also there to meet us, looking very dapper in his best grey suit. Dad and I were lead into the backroom to answer some legal questions before the ceremony as Mark waited with the others in the Basing Room.
Walking into the room to ‘Angels’ by The XX was an amazing moment, it was overwhelming to be met with a room filled with our closest friends and family. Mark looked so handsome if a bit nervous at the end of the room with Sam by his side.
We had an informal ceremony with two readings, the first by my mum Chris, who read Lang Leave Souls, the second by Mark’s ‘best-women’ Lisa, who read the beautiful The One also by Lang Leave. We had found it difficult to choose words which really connected with us as a couple but were instantly smitten when we discover the poems of Lang Leave during a visit to Waterstones.
The ceremony went well with the minor mishap of the registrar forgetting to do the exchanging of rings which has become a nice talking point to the story!
After the formalities were completed we were welcomed out of the building under a shower of brightly coloured confetti. This is where Hannah managed to capture on of my favourite pictures encapsulating the colourful, playful tone of the day. The whole wedding party then walked together through the old military barracks towards the Green Man with Mark and I stopping off at the Everyman Cinema for a quick photo opportunity with a newly customised sign to commemorate our day. Again, Hannah was on hand to capture this moment in an image we will treasure forever.
Arriving at The Green Man, we were met with a little more than our wedding guests. Unfortunately the day had proved to be too much for my 91 year old Grandma Dorothy who had started to feel unwell and need emergency aid. During this stressful time Hannah was on hand to ease the situation and luckily it was short lived as ‘Gma’ as she is more commonly known was back to her joyful self again within the hour basking in the attention of some handsome paramedics.
On a happier note we also got to see our wedding cakes for the first time! The cakes were created by Lucy from Lucy’s Sugar Shack, a super talented creative baker who I met through my job at Hobbycraft. Lucy has created some incredible show stopping cakes to support our Christmas and Easter campaigns as well as some other household retailers. We knew we wanted to have something a little less traditional and that Lucy was the best person for the job creating three stunning cakes decorated in our bright colour palette and each with a unique flavour, dairy free lemon, raspberry and white chocolate and gin and tonic!
With the initial drama of Gma’s mishap over, the wonderful team at The Green Man, lead by Emily, had rearranged our seating plan to accommodate a special area for Gma joined by my Uncle and Aunty downstairs. The food was absolutely delicious and the drinks were flowing as our friends and family mixed, some for the first time. My dad was the first to speak and was clearly very nervous as this would be a long way from his comfort zone. But he was amazing, leaving many guests in tears with his beautiful words about Mark and I. Mark followed with some heartfelt thank yous and stories of how we met, then it was the turn of the best man Sam. I was expecting laughs and we weren’t disappointed, Sam had everyone in fits of giggles within the first 10 words of his speech. It wasn’t all jokes as he spoke passionately about his friendship with Mark and its effect on his life. By the end we were all in need of a few more drinks!
We were really excited about having all the people we love most in the world coming together for a big party and it didn’t disappoint. The venue was the perfect place for people to feel comfortable and mingle. There were lucky that there were quiet spaces for relatives to sit and catch up as well as a dance area and social seating areas with music and food. I spent the entire night dancing and my feet were ruined by the end of the night! The band were absolutely fantastic and really made the night for me.
OUR FAVOURITE PHOTOS
It’s impossible to pick just one photo when there are so many that we love! Our top three, if we had to narrow it down to that, are:
The photo with the confetti
We love the bright colours and the ‘in the moment’ feel of this shot.The photo next to the cinema sign
The Everyman Cinema in Winchester is directly opposite the Green Man and we were really happy that they agreed to change their sign for us!Photo of all of our day and evening guests outside the Green Man
It was a near impossible task, not only rounding up all of the guests but capturing a shot in dark of everyone who joined us in the day and evening. We particularly like the way Mark’s mum is still trying to work out how to turn on the torch on her phone!
ADVICE FOR COUPLES PLANNING THEIR DAY
Its so easy to say but harder to do but don’t get too stressed!
It really helped us to have a very detailed list of everything we needed to do and then being strict with ourselves by saying, this weekend we’re going to do a, b and c and we don’t even have to worry about d, e or f.
Eat the food! The day goes so quickly and between talking to your guests, dancing and having your photo taken you will need your strength, plus you paid for it!
KIND WORDS
From start to finish Hannah was amazing, the booking process was really simple and having the chance to meet her before the wedding day meant that we were all able to get to know each other and talk about the style of photography that we all thought would work. On the day it was an absolute joy to have Hannah with us, we truly felt like we had an extra friend there.There were several occasions including Gma’s incident that having Hannah’s calming and supportive presence really helped us.
Each and every one of our friends and family have commented on how great Hannah was on the day. From helping do the bridesmaids hair and chatting to Gma whilst she was unwell to singing the fresh prince theme tune to get everyone smiling our big group shot.
The photo’s themselves….. I’ve been a fan of Hannah’s photography for many years so knew we were in safe hands. For me it was the little surprises when you were unaware Hannah was taking pictures or getting a glimpse into someone else experience of your wedding day from a perspective you never would have had. I love the spontaneous, real and natural feel you get with Hannah’s style and she has given us a set of picture with sum up the mood and feel of our wedding perfectly.
Suppliers
Florist - https://www.catkinandpussywillow.com/
Venue - The Green Man Winchester - https://the.littlepubgroup.co.uk/the-green-man
Hotel Du Vin - https://www.hotelduvin.com/locations/winchester/
The cakes - https://www.facebook.com/lucyssugarshack/
The band - Wanderlust - http://www.thebandboutique.co.uk/wanderlust-fully-acoustic-wedding-band/
The dress - https://www.needleandthread.com
Brides shoes - https://www.swedishhasbeens.com/
The suit - https://www.reiss.com/
The registry office - https://www.hants.gov.uk/birthsdeathsandceremonies/findregisteroffices/winchester