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Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

The Wedding of Kelly & Jason

Today champagne is on our mind. It must be in anticipation of a venue launch we’re attending tonight at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace where we hope to indulge in a glass or two!

Now champagne was very much on the minds of these wonderful clients, Kelly and Jason Robins, who made it the theme for their 3 day wedding celebration at the stunning Whatley Manor in Wiltshire. So let us talk you through the day - mosts guests travelled from afar to attend the wedding so made a lovely stay of it with casual dinner and drinks in the bar the night before. Kelly enjoyed getting ready in the spacious suite at Whatley Manor; her wedding dress is “good to go” here. And a little later the guests are awaiting her arrival. The Loggia provided a beautiful and rustic country setting for the couple to exchange their wedding vows.

Here is one guest flashing her invitation to the wedding.

The Loggia was the perfect location to dress in a champagne style as climbing wisteria is a permanent feature. We added touches of white by way of pew/chair backs, rustic cream painted ‘reserved’ signs and then white French chateau chairs, naturally all things champage must be French!

The happy couple stroll across their lawns.

The seating plan was quite a creation. The idea was to create some kind of vine where guests could find their name and table; we also went with the idea of 10 green bottles hanging on the wall. So silver ice buckets filled with ice contained each of the bottles, with bespoke labels attached in Kelly and Jason’s stationery style with the name of the guest table such as ‘Krug’. Guests then located their personalised tag and worked their way back to the right bottle along the trellis which was wound in jasmine and light foliage to give a vine effect. Et voilà, their table name was found. Best done before too much champagne we think!

The dining room was filled again with lots of natural whites, foliage and grapes to create a calm, elegant and crisp setting for a veritable feast, with great wines of course.

And whilst the adults dined in style, the kids were having a party of their own. They made use of Whatley’s cinema for a movie afternoon complete with burgers, ice cream and popcorn! It went down a treat.

After dinner, the couple were keen to create a really contemporary and stylish bar area to continue the party. The bespoke marquee below contained lots of perspex, angular furniture, some mirrors, more champagne and as night fell lots of blue uplighting to create a cool and chilled area adjoining the thronging dancefloor inside.

Kelly and Jason celebrated their first full day as Mr and Mrs with a laid-back afternoon-long hog roast in the Loggia of Whatley Manor before waving off their guests.

Credits:

Venue: Whatley Manor

Flowers: Hybrid Flowers

Bar furniture: Velvet Living

Cake: Cakes 4 Fun

Marquee: Elegant Marquees

Ceremony and Dining chairs: Great Hire

Stationery: Emily&Jo

Photography: Helen Maybanks

Film: Gorgeous Film

Posted by Kelly, 15.01 26th January, 2011

New Year Wishes

I always enjoy the last few days of the year, not only because it’s shared with friends and family and lots of festive cheer, but because it’s time to reflect on all that’s been achieved in the year, all the good (and not so good things of course) and then to make exciting plans for the year ahead.

Earlier in the month I prepared a round-up of The Bespoke Wedding Company news for 2010 which you can read here.

And for 2011, I’m really looking forward to putting all the finishing touches to a huge range of weddings including our largest wedding to date – 500 guests. Eeek! And I’m aiming to dedicate a little more time between the weddings and work on the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners to making this blog more informative and useful.

Whatever your plans for the new year, we wish you a joyful, healthy and contented 2011 and if you’re getting married, then enjoy every minute of the planning, it all goes so very fast.

Posted by Kelly, 10.12 30th December, 2010

The wedding of Sue Lin and Marshall

Today as the snow depths hit new levels we’re delighted to feature the wedding of Sue Lin and Marshall, where we had the opposite extremes of temperature – incredible heat!

Sue Lin and Marshall live in Hong Kong but were planning celebrations very typical of many of our clients, one here in the UK where Sue Lin grew up and one in California, home for Marshall.

We were thrilled to bring the plans to life for them here in the UK and the wedding was planned with only two visits from the couple.

The couple wanted their wedding to be fun and personal and particularly British in its style (with touches of Chinese naturally to reflect their shared ancestry); we always like to work on what we call fusion weddings and also to have the chance to demonstrate the “Best of British” so were very pleased to work with them in delivering a classical, elegant, country house wedding.

Stoke Park Club was the venue for their blessing ceremony and reception. Sue Lin had her heart set on having their ceremony outside which we achieved, despite the intense heat!

As you can see the couple really used the good weather to get some great shots of them on the golf course and around the grounds.

The Fountain room decor was designed in soft pinks, ivory and delicate golds with a simple, yet stylish look; notice that the dining tables were named after classic British desserts with their top table, Sherry Triffle, being their favourite. The menu was very important to the couple and guests were given choices with their invitations to be sure that everyone did not feel restrained by one set menu. Of course every fine country house affair must have some smooth jazz music and the incredibly talented Kevin Fitzsimmons Jazz Swing Band entertained the guests with his crooning between courses.

The evening was gotten underway with cake cutting on the terrace leading straight into a rousing firework display; guests partied hard into the night to wish the couple well.

For more on this wedding you might like to look at the blog of Carmen Weddings who worked ‘on the day’ with the Bespoke team; thank you Carmen.

Credits:

Photos and Film: PR Weddings

Fireworks: Classic Fireworks

Cake: Cakes 4 Fun

Flowers: Euphoric Flowers

Posted by Kelly, 20.12 2nd December, 2010

The wedding of Lucy and Steven

We are delighted to be finally posting about our incredibly busy summer this year. Over the next few weeks we’ll be posting on some of our wedding work, which we hope you enjoy! We certainly love looking back on all the detail that was so long in the planning and gone in a flash!

First up is the wedding of Lucy and Steven which took place at the hidden gem that is Warren House in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey.

Lucy and Steven were self-confessed wedding veterans who felt themselves older than the average (they don’t look it though) and therefore seeking a day that was very “them” with a lack of fluff and the unnecessary they focused on what mattered and we think we all pulled off a stylish, meaningful and above all joyful celebration.

Lucy got ready at home with her two young children in toe (brave lady) and still managed to arrive looking sensational. She had set her heart on a “bit of cheese” by way of a classic white limo and that’s what she had.

As you can see Lucy decided to turn tradition on its head and she wore a stunning platinum silk gown by Australian designer Mariana Hardwick whilst her bridesmaids wore white!

Platinum silver was tied with whites and cool blues all the way through the wedding design and the gathered brooch detail on Lucy’s dress was copied in the cake detailing. Lucy loves eucalyptus so that was cleverly incorporated with the most stunning white orchids. The chandelier motif on the wedding stationery and piping on the cake was inspired by the beautiful chandeliers and glimmering mirrors in the ballroom where the wedding vows were exchanged.

The day included lots of musical talent and entertainment including string sensation Asteria Strings, close-up magic by Dan Alexander, caricatures by Soozi and the most moving guitar and vocal solo by the groom’s daughter, Jenny. The stylish feel continued in the “conference room” which was transformed into virtual marquee created for the evening party complete with cool blue uplighting, white bench and silver poseur table seating. Much fun was had as the guests partied into the night.

Credits:

Photos: Annie Armitage

Wedding cake: Zoe Clark Cakes

Stationery: Emily&Jo

Flowers: Hybrid Flowers

Limousine: Carey

Production: draping, lighting and furniture: More Production

Posted by Kelly, 18.11 17th November, 2010

A wedding in the press

We were delighted to have one of our summer 2009 weddings featured in the wedding press recently.

Do take a look at the autumn issue of Wedding Venues & Services magazine for the fantastic ‘party time’ coverage of Sally and Dominic’s wedding weekend – see pages 152 and 153 and also featured on our previous blog post back in August 2009.

Posted by Kelly, 10.09 29th September, 2010

Civil partnership of David and Martin

We had the most wonderful email arrive recently which has prompted this post and brought a huge smile to our faces.

‘Hi, it’s our anniversary today! A year. I’ve just watched our video again and felt compelled to mail you to say thank you again! Even after a year! You did such a beautiful job and made everything seamless and all so easy!

Much love, David & Martin x

It’s so lovely to be remembered after time has passed and what a day it was.

David and Martin are both involved in the musicial theatre world in different ways and the day reflected this at every turn. The order of service took the form of a theatre programme and introduced the most emotional and stunning ceremony complete with performances from friends who are regular West End musical professionals.

Here are the lovely team of super elegant usherettes, each close friends of the couple.

The table settings were simple white and silver and incredibly stylish with the use of the most realistic “fake” flowers ever.

And the party really started as the light faded. The Conservatory at Syon Park was lit beautifully and the grooms performed their first dance in true musical theatre style incorporating a first dance and song from ‘La Cage aux Folles’. An unforgettable day and one we were delighted to play a small part in.

Credits:

Venue: Syon Park

Lighting and production: Yes Events

Catering: Food Show

Posted by Kelly, 19.09 23rd September, 2010

Wedding of Kelly and Jason

Well, it’s been quite a summer and we’re just about coming up for air! We have been working away on lots of wonderful and unique weddings and I’m excited that we’ll be able to show you some of our work over the coming weeks and months.

Here is a sneak preview of one of our lovely July weddings which took place down in Wiltshire at the stunning Whatley Manor.

The couple, Kelly and Jason, chose a very clean and naturally elegant style to their wedding with a champagne and wine theme running throughout; we paid lots of attention to detail particularly with their highly unusual vine trellis seating plan and we loved the stylish chill out marquee we designed especially for the evening revelry. Here is a link to the blog of talented photographer, Helen Maybanks which shows some more of the day and the guests enjoying themselves. Thank you Helen. We look forward to showing more of the little details in a future post.

Posted by Kelly, 18.08 16th August, 2010

Wedding of Amanda and Merrill

It seems bizarre to be looking at wintry images now that the summer season is underway but here is one last post on this lovely winter wedding and some of the finer details.

Suppliers:

Linen : Just 4 Linen

Flowers: Hybrid Flowers

Venue: Orangery at Blenheim Palace

Laser cut stationery: Chartula Studio

Photos: White Gold Weddings

Cup cakes: supplied by friend of bride

Canvases for family photo corner: Photobloc

Wooden easels: Eventful Hire

Posted by Kelly, 11.05 17th May, 2010

Be Brave and Be Bold

We see a lot of brides who come to us clutching images that really appeal to them from beautifully styled bold and bright weddings, but when it comes to it, they chicken out of the things which might make their wedding go in that direction. They worry that it might be “too much”. Sure, we certainly don’t advise going for everything and overcrowding the tables; we definitely subscribe to the “less is more” mantra but that doesn’t mean it has to be white, plain or clear all around. Here are our favourite three things for injecting some statement colour into your special day and in particular your dining tables.

Coloured linen– just because white table cloths are what you always see, doesn’t mean that’s all you can have. Sure, it works well and looks timeless and elegant (and it’s what most hotels and banqueting venues use) but if you want to have a bit of fun and inject a statement colour splash into your tables, it’s a cost effective and an immediately stunning way of doing it. A cloth might be around £10 to hire and a napkin only 50p so it’s not an enormous cost. If you don’t want to go the whole hog, perhaps consider a coloured runner to go across the middle of the table and rest on top of the white cloth.

Wedding design - coloured linens

Coloured water glasses – for a subtle dash of colour, we really like to use “accent of colour” glasses for water. It can get pricey to replace all the glasses at a venue but adding a touch of colour can add that extra special something to tone with flowers for example.

Wedding design - coloured glasses

Charger plates – to set a grand and formal atmosphere, consider perhaps a beautiful charger platter which sits on the table during the entire meal and the plates that the meal is served on are positioned on top at each course. Before guests are seated, the charger is a lovely backdrop for a menu card to rest on or pocket-folded napkin to be positioned upon.

Wedding design - charger plates

Thanks to White Gold Weddings, Lloyd Dobbie and Well Dressed Tables for the images.

Posted by Kelly, 10.04 20th April, 2010

Wedding of Amanda and Merrill

I’m delighted to be posting further on the wedding of Amanda and Merrill which took place on a snowy day in December. The couple were a joy to work with and their vision never faltered from start to finish as they set out (with our help) to plan an unforgettably elegant and grand occasion.

It was important to Amanda and Merrill to design a really special marriage ceremony and lots of attention was paid to each aspect of the ceremony to thrill and warm the hearts of their guests in everyway from sight to smell to sound.

There was a stunning and luscious central arch built painstakingly by the talented team at Hybrid Flowers accompanied by other freestanding and ledge-top arrangements elegantly lined up along the aisle.

The bridesmaids eagerly await their bride at the Orangery @ Blenheim Palace

Amanda arrives in the snow on her single white lipizzaner horse with carriage supplied by Fabulous Occasions

The Kingdom Choir were a huge hit as they sung Amanda in to ‘Songbird’, and hailed the happy couple to ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ naturally!

A symbolic unity candle was lit by the couple from individual candles lit by both the bride and groom’s mothers to signify the coming together of two familes into one.

Flowers and elegant detailing were a huge part of this warm winter wedding and we’ll show much more on that in a future post.

Thanks to White Gold Weddings for the use of these images.

Posted by Kelly, 14.03 26th March, 2010

About Us

Welcome to The Bespoke Wedding Company Blog. As award-winning wedding planners with plenty of experience to share, we hope that this blog will provide you with both creative and practical tips to help in the planning of your wedding as well as to give you an insight into what fills our working world!

The Bespoke Wedding Company operates in London and the surrounding countryside (with a particular love of the Cotswolds). We work exclusively on wedding celebrations which are as diverse and different as can be but where expert, detailed planning is key and elegance and style essential.

We hope that you enjoy!
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