What is your first name?
Siobhan
What is your last name?
Bowen
What is your maiden name?
Connolly
What is the name of your groom?
Lee
When was your wedding?
28.10.10
What is your email address?
Would you like other brides to be able to email you?
yes
How and when did you meet?
We went to the same school, I was in Lee’s younger sisters year. We later got to know each other through mutual friends.
How old are you both?
I am 25 and Lee is 28.
Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?
Lee proposed to me after an argument, and he realised he could not live without me!
Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?
Yes I went to the Hill Valley Golf and Spa resort in Cheshire with some female family members, we had treatments including a back and shoudler massage and a facial. Lee went to Adrenaline Jungle in Mansfield for an actvity break which included blindfold 4×4 driving, quad biking and an assault course.
How did your groom help with the wedding planning?
A little, he gave his opinion on most things but he was happy as long as I was.
Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?
Confetti helped a lot to give me ideas and inspiration. The forums are invaluable, and the items are so beautiful!
Do you have a confetti web page?
No
Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?
Yes we bought our blank invites and envelopes (so we could design the rest ourselves), we also bought our disposable cameras from Confetti.
Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it
My dress is by Nicola Anne a U.K. designer based in Hinckley in Leicestershire. I ordered the dress from Mix n Match in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The dress is called Special Bijou, I changed the colours to match my theme and chose a swarvoski cystal brooch and used the crystal beading from another dress in their range. My shoes were Benjamin Adams Gaga – a round toe shoe covered in swarvoski crystals.
Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?
One adult Bridesmaid, my cousin Teresa. She wore a chocolate brown Mori Lee dress with a cream bolero, and cream shoes.
Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?
Lee chose his best friend Iain for his best man. He wore a chocolate brown edward suit with a mocha crevat. (Lee had a pink crevat). We did not have any ushers.
Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?
Civil
Where did you hold your ceremony?
In the dining room of Caverswall Castle, Staffordshire.
Where did you hold your reception?
Also in Caverswall Castle, we hired the venue exclusively from the day before the wedding.
Did you have any special wedding transport?
No because we stayed at Caverswall from the night before the wedding.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?
We had 20 guests for the daytime (night before, ceremony and wedding breakfast). There were 70 guests for the evening reception.
Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?
Yes, sweets and diamonds, the colour theme was pink, ivory and chocolate.
How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?
We had fish bowls with pink and ivory germini flowers, on mirrored plates, scattered with diamonds, pink tealights in diamond holders, letters that spell ‘love’, ‘cake’ and ‘amour’, glass candelabras. We also had a candy bar.
Did you give your guests favours?
Yes all at the wedding breakfast had a clear box with either chocolate minstels or white chocolate maltesers, wrapped in either pink or chocolate ribbon with a handmade name tag.
Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?
My flowers were a handheld bouquet with ivory germini, tied with ivory ribbon caged with long grass and studded with diamontes. My Bridesmaid had a smaller bouquet with tied with chocolate ribbon. Our florist was Fine Flowers in Rugeley.
What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?
We had 2 selections for each course, starters – leek and potato soup, and goats cheese tartlet, mains – beef wellington, and chicken in a mushroom sauce, dessert – raspberry chocolate cake, and sticky toffee bread and butter pudding. We had an outside caterer – Bon Appetit based in Newcastle Under Lyme.
What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?
I made my own wedding cake, 6 tiers, 5 tiers of cupcakes (pink and chocolate spotty cases) with buttercream icing. The top tier was a fruit cake with pink icing and chocolate ribbon. It was decorated with germini fresh flowers and sugarcraft flowers.
Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?
We organised a race night for the night before the wedding, and a D.J. for the evening of the wedding.
Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?
No we asked for monetary gifts.
Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?
The first night was spent in the castle and we had breakfast with our guests the following day. We then went to Manchester and spent 2 weeks in Cyprus.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
Our ceremony was the most memorable moment, it was so emotional.
Did you experience any “nightmare” moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?
No
Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?
I would not do anything differently, our day went perfectly, exactly how we wanted it. The advice I would give to others would be not to let other people’s opinions get in your way, plan your wedding the way you want it.
