This week’s real wedding from Ava Images is the perfect inspiration for brides planning their winter weddings. Chrissie and James red themed big day is beautiful from start to finish. Chrissie’s blush pink wedding gown is perfect for any fairytale wedding and the deep red bridesmaids dresses is a touch of bridal genius, the colours complement one another brilliantly. We’re sure you’ll love their wedding as much as we did. Enjoy!
Bride and Groom… Chrissie and James
Wedding date… Friday 28th March 2014
We met… In a queue for a club. We were both home from university for the Christmas holidays and were out with our friends. Our friends happened to know each other so we got talking and never looked back.
The proposal… James proposed on New Year’s Eve. We’d spent the evening having pizza on the beach and were just of to my brother’s house for a party when James took a detour up to the viewing spot where we had our first date. He got down on one knee as we were looking out over the lights of the city. It was very romantic!
Length of engagement… 15 months
How did Confetti.co.uk help in your big day? I actually found the real weddings section really useful, you get the best ideas from brides who have already been through it!
My dress was… From Angel Face Bridal Studio. Dress shopping was such good fun! Wedding dresses are gorgeous and you only get one chance so I wanted to make the most of it. The first time I went with my mum and grandma so they could also share the experience. I actually found my dress whilst looking for bridesmaid dresses, my mum, mother-in-law and bridesmaids had spent the whole day going around various shops and ended-up at Angel Face Bridal Studio 10 minutes before they closed. Lindie and the team were incredible and stayed open for a couple of hours so they could talk through all our options. My mum spotted a shell pink dress on the rail and joked that I should try it on for a laugh. I’ve always loved pink since I was a child, so agreed. As soon as I put it on I knew it was the one; it was spectacular! Beautiful, elegant, unique and made me feel like a princess!
My make up artist was… Eve Ashby. We were so lucky to find her. She was really down to earth and listened to exactly what we wanted. She made all of us feel gorgeous! I wanted my make-up to be beautiful, but not too over the top. Eve understood this and it lasted all day.
Our wedding ceremony was… At St Peter’s Church in Lewdown, a very sweet, old church in the middle of Dartmoor. Our church was very intimate, it could only hold 70 people so when the doors opened for me to walk down the aisle I was surrounded by all my friends and family which was really magical. Everyone says it all goes by in a flash, but we felt we had time to thoroughly enjoy it. I absolutely loved seeing James at the end of the aisle waiting for me, I’ll never forget that moment.
Our bridesmaids were… My best friend Natalie and James’ sister Sarah. They both had claret red veromia dresses from Angel Face Bridal Studio. The dresses had a sweetheart neckline with a small amount of beading across the top. They were ruched over to one side at the hip and then fell straight to the floor. I chose them because the colour and material were gorgeous and they fit both girls beautifully. They looked stunning!
Our groomsmen were… His best friend Hamilton and my brother Tim. We really wanted the traditional look for the boys so chose a light grey tails with ivory waistcoat. James had an ivory cravat and red rose button hole, while the others had a claret cravat with a white rose buttonhole.
Our wedding flowers… Were roses. I’ve always loved roses and as our theme was quite traditional they worked perfectly. Our bridesmaids had smaller bouquets with ivory and pale pink roses, whilst I had a slightly larger one with deep red roses to match the bridesmaid dresses. We kept the centrepieces really simple as the venue was very decorative, we just had bud vases with single roses and bubble vases and candles in between.
Our wedding photographer was… Hannah from Ava Images. She was so friendly and approachable throughout the whole process and on the day she was unobtrusive, while still getting some amazing shots. We were thrilled with all our beautiful photos.
Our wedding reception… At Lewtrenchard Manor in Lewdown. We had stayed at Lewtrenchard before and knew we loved the venue and the food. They offer it exclusively for weddings, which was a real bonus as we wanted all our guests to feel completely relaxed. The biggest selling point for us was that we could walk from the church to the Manor and didn’t have to drive everyone miles which would have broken up the celebrations. The team at Lewtrenchard were excellent and tended to our every need during the planning process.
Our wedding colours were… A beautiful claret red and ivory
Our favourite part of the wedding was… Turning around after we had just been married and seeing all our friends and family smiling back at us and clapping. It was hard to believe we were finally married!
Our wedding was unique and special because… We kept our guests to really close friends and family only, which meant the atmosphere was incredible. We’ve never felt so loved!
Our wedding cake was… Made by a colleague of James who makes cupcakes on the side and so we asked her to make our cakes. We had three different types of filling in a vanilla sponge and Kelly used rose piping to match our flowers. They went down so well with all the guests, we barely had any left at the end of the night!
What is your advice for other brides? My best advice is to enjoy every minute of the planning and try not to get too stressed. Pulling all the pieces together is so much fun and I particularly enjoyed spending so much time with my friends and family. Make the most of being engaged!
Our honeymoon was… A trip to Kuala Lumpur for four days and then Australia for two and a half weeks. We started in Melbourne and then hired a car and made our way up the coast via Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and then flew on to Hamilton Island. Would highly recommend this trip as it was so varied! Ending for a couple of days was really lovely after some good days of sightseeing.
Suppliers
Wedding Dress: Angel Face Bridal Studio, Buckfastleigh | Wedding Shoes: Debenhams | Wedding Suits: Angel Face Bridal Studio, Buckfastleigh | Wedding Bridesmaid Dresses: Angel Face Bridal Studio, Buckfastleigh | Wedding Flowers: Amarylis Flowers | Wedding Entertainment: Licence to Ceilidh | Wedding Photographer: Ava Images | Wedding Make-up: Eve Ashby | Wedding Hair: Claire at THD, Topsham | Wedding Venue: Lewtrenchard Manor, Lewdown | Ceremony Venue: St Peter’s Church, Lewdown | Wedding Gift list: John Lewis |Wedding Catering: Lewtrenchard Manor
