The One With The Wedding

The most exciting post I think I will ever write, the one with the wedding. Yep we did it we got married and it was more perfect than I could of ever asked for. It was everything we hoped it would be. Full of laughter, beautiful details, close friends and family, great drinks and food and lots of love and happiness.

If you’ve been around here a while or you’re a friend you’ll know a lot of the details and will just be here for the pics. For everyone else, here’s the details and a lot of pics.

Venue

We headed off to South Florida to beautiful Naples. It couldn’t be more perfect, we both love it and It’s a special place for Johns family. I had always had abroad in mind so it was the perfect fit.

What could be more perfect than the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort. They have so many options to make your day perfect to you and the moment I arrived I knew it was for me.

Ceremony location, we chose their centre court yard and beach house for the sit down and evening reception. Picture perfect, private and intimate and not a guy in their budgie smugglers in sight.

Planning

Slightly relieved but it was pretty much a breeze. There was the odd little hick up to iron out but always down to miss understanding or lack of thorough reading on my part. Yes I did just admit to being wrong. Most of the day was planned through the venue. If they couldn’t do it they had a list of vendors or we googled.

John and I sourced our DJ, string trio and photographer. All food, beverage and decor was organised via the hotel and we used their suggestion for hair and makeup.

The Day

Couple of things didn’t quite go to plan. I cried because I didn’t like my hair but we tweaked and eventually got there. The boutonnieres were not the flower I picked but it really didn’t take anything away from the day.

4pm ceremony. Champagne on arrival and a string trio playing. Cocktail hour with canapés drinks and more music from the Sea Strings.

Reverend Doug married us and put together the most beautiful ceremony. I cried the first time I read it. It fit us perfectly and again I couldn’t believe how spot on he got it with such little guidance from us.

Special mention to Johns Cousin Sarah Jane who gave a reading for us. Carries poem from Sex and the City. She absolutely blew me away, not only did she read it but she brought it to life and later gave a speech quoting the poem and linking it to us and our day.

Evening reception in the beach house. Speeches. Delicious food of caprese salad, beef short rib and trio of puddings, creme brule, key lime pie and chocolate peanut butter. Our first dance was John Legend All of me. We did the dance from Hitch, if you know you know. Had a photo booth. Sweets table and cookies.

Photographer

Our photographer Jonathan Connolly was amazing. He arrived to me upset over the hair and not knowing if I should leave it up or have it down, he took test shots and we tweaked and then took some more. He soon had me happy and for that I’m so grateful. We are so happy with our photos, he captured moments in ways better than I could have hoped for and our more posed pictures are beautiful. We had an additional photographer who was great too, we wanted to capture every angle and John’s getting ready as well as mine.

Hair and Makeup

Makeup was Naples Bridal Beauty. I didn’t know what to do with hair and makeup it’s so personal and I’m happy with how I do my makeup. Everything looked great in the photos but it didn’t go as smoothly as I’d have hoped.

A special mention to one of my lovely client Niki, as a wedding gift she gave me my favourite Tom Ford lipstick, Sable Smoke. My perfect nude peach colour and so lovely to have such a nice treat for the day.

Music and Entertainment

Sea side strings provided a string trio. They were amazing and if I do say so myself created a perfect wedding ambience. Playing the ceremony and cocktail hour they were the best addition to the day. I’m only sad I didn’t get to hear more of them.

DJ Malike, we nailed it with the DJ, our guest were up dancing all night. He played all the songs we wanted and he literally got inside my crazy head and played all the song we love and more. He used an app you can add songs you’d like played. I said we’ve added from different genres and eras and we’d love him to mix in what he thinks works with our faves. Literally was spot on. One of our guest said I”d get married in Florida just to have your DJ’ pretty great compliment.

Photo Booth, I mean you have to don’t you. They are so much fun and capture the fun side of things. We hired ours through our DJ. All the photos were digital. You had a link to send to everyone and you can down load the images you want.

Flowers

Bouquets were a mix. My bouquet came from Maison de Fleur in London. I went for a faux Peony. Although I was able to have fresh, the faux was beautiful and I now have it in our home. We were traveling two days later and I hated the thought of it going in the bin. The girls had fresh roses with a mix of greenery and gypsophila.

Rest of the flowers we went for white hydrangeas. The guys Button holes were supposed to be a wizard Dahlia, It looked more like a cafe au lait but smaller and I still don’t know what happened there. It looked pretty though and matched in.

Extra Bits

Bow beaus were included for table decor and cake decor. Our table was named after my favourite local national trust; Standen. A place John and I spend far to much time going to. The guests were named after local castles. Sissinghurst, Bodiam and Scotney. Name places, menus and cards came from Papier. We went for a peony print to match my bouquet.

John picked Biscutieers for our wedding favours, they went down a treat. In fact mine and Johns went missing, they were that popular. They were travel themed, things like passports etc.

Cakes were giant fondant fancies, need I say anymore. Sweet overload comes to mind but we included the most insane giant cookies and a selection of pick and mix. Who doesn’t love a nibble when they’ve had a few drinks.

Honestly we had the most perfect day. The Ritz Carlton got everything spot on. James and Marcia were beyond amazing and their team looked after our guests as well as insuring the day ran smoothly. The day was everything I hoped for and more.

One last mention to the extremely talented Richard Talman from RTFJ Bespoke Jewellery. He made our wedding bands and I honestly couldn’t recommend him enough. It fits perfectly with my engagement ring I am beyond happy. He also fixed my grandmas ring for me to wear as my something old.

Finally

We Laughed, we cried, we danced. Ate amazing food, cake and cookies. Drank delicious cocktails, wine, champagne and I toasted to my amazing husband with a cheeky tequila. The craziest most amazing wedding day that I will remember forever. We were extremely lucky and ended up with fireworks making the day even more amazing.