Say "Hello" to our Real Brides

1. Did you have a vision for your bridal look from the start, or did it evolve over time? I knew I wanted curls, and half up half down, I just wasn't sure whether to have a plait or have it twisted round. I looked at quite a few different styles until I found the look I preferred. As I have dark hair with blonde/caramel tones through it, I decided that having it twisted round rather than a plait would make the different colours of my hair show through more, and I am glad I chose this as I was right! 

2. How did you find your hair and makeup artist(s)? What made you choose them? As we are not from Nottingham, we had to do A LOT of research to find suppliers in the area. I looked at quite a few hair and make up artists but a lot didn't do both hair and make up, they did one or the other, which would mean booking two separate people, but I wanted to ideally have just 1 person to do both. Catherine happened to pop up when I did a Google Search near the Wollaton Hall area, after looking on her website and seeing she did both hair and make up (which was tick box number 1), then I saw her prices were very reasonable compared to a lot I had previously come across, and then there were a few lovely reviews I found on her page as well as on Google. So I dropped her an email to gauge my interest, she responded very quickly and instantly I could feel I would be very comfortable with Catherine, so it was a no brainer!

3. Did you do any beauty prep leading up to the wedding (e.g., skincare treatments, hair care, facials)? I have never been the best with skin or hair care. I knew I had to start doing something otherwise I wouldn't be feeling great about myself on the day, and you always want to feel your best on your big day! So I did some research into the best skincare routine for my skin type, I didn't want to spend loads of money though, so I just kept it simple with a decent facial cleanser to use every evening and morning, and a day and night cream. Just introducing this simple routine about 6 months before really did help clear my skin up, and made my skin look fresher, I didn't have any facials as this could sometimes cause me to break out, sometimes simplicity is all you need, but it does depend on your skin type and what works best for you. I went to the hair dresses a couple times before the wedding to go over my lowlights, roots and a good chop, and just making sure I used a good shampoo/conditioner that was right for my hair type, I also used a hair mask the week before, and washed my hair the night before the wedding. 

4. Did you schedule a makeup or hair trial beforehand? How did that help shape your final look? Yes 3 months before the wedding. I had a few pictures I sent Catherine on the lead up to the trial so she knew what kind of thing I was looking for. I was pretty sure about how I wanted my hair, but the make up I wasn't too sure about, as I am not the best at doing my own and have never been a huge make up person. So I just wanted a natural look and had a conversation with Catherine about what might look best. I loved both on the trial, but after looking at a few more pictures of different make up styles I changed my make up slightly for the day, I decided on these changes because this was the first and only time I would be paying to get my make up done professionally so I thought why not have something I wouldn't usually have, and it looked absolutely incredible while still feeling very natural and still me. 

The Wedding Day Look

5. Can you describe your final bridal makeup look? Was it soft glam, bold, natural, etc.? I wanted a bit more of a cover up on the day as I had a couple of blemishes. I still had a natural look with soft glam eyes, a bronze skimmer eye shadow with individual lashes and a bit of liquid liner. Natural pink lip colour and some blush. 

6. What hairstyle did you go with, and how did it complement your dress or theme? I had curls, half up half down by twisting the hair round. This was perfect for my hair accessories to slide into with my veil sitting underneath them. Catherine didn't want my beautiful accessories to be covered up by the veil so she sat it perfectly underneath and even showed my maid of honour how to gentle pull it out without ruining my hair. My dress had a low back so this hair style really complimented it, and my dress had beads/glitter so my hair accessories matched perfectly. 

   Planning Process

   1. What was the first thing you did after getting engaged? Funny story this, as we actually got locked out of our house after coming back home from the proposal, so the first thing we did was break a window and climb through to get back in! We then boarded up the window, ordered a Chinese and celebrated with the in-laws. So it was definitely an engagement to remember haha. I ordered a wedding planner book the next day and started writing down all the things I had in my head of how I wanted our day to look/feel. I also started looking on Pinterest and put together a mood board.

   2. Did you use a wedding planner, or did you plan everything yourself? I planned everything myself, with the help of my now husband of course! I like to think I am a very organised person so planning a wedding, although stressful at times, came quite natural to me. The venue wedding team were also a great support, as they planned the full timeline of the day based on what we wanted, and they communicated with all the suppliers about timings, set up, etc. which took the pressure off us a lot. 

   3. How did you choose your venue? We visited Wollaton Hall a few years ago, and when we realized it was Wayne Manor from The Dark Knight films (which we are huge fans of), we just knew this would be an awesome place to get married. Funnily enough that same day as we were walking around, we saw a sign that said 'Have your wedding here' and that definitely planted the seed if we were to ever get married. 2 years after that Gareth proposed, and we both knew straight away that would be the place, and we went and booked it a month later!

   4. What was the most challenging part of wedding planning? Finding the right suppliers, as we are not from the area (we live in Cumbria), so it was quite difficult finding what/who we wanted, and living quite far away we couldn't just go and see suppliers in person to make a decision, so we had to rely a lot on reviews and have faith everything will be fine. We did our research well though, because all the suppliers we booked made the whole process super easy and stress free! Also sticking to the budget, this was near impossible with the price of everything nowadays, we had to figure out how to save money in different areas as somethings we couldn't get cheaper. 

   5. What surprised you the most about the planning process? How many friends and family just did not respond to our invite, which we were quite shocked by. It is true when they say you really see who your true friends and family are when planning a wedding. Also people cancelling last minute, we had to change our seating plan 5 times during the 2 week lead up to the wedding, even the day before it had to be changed. 

      Advice for Other Brides

      1. If you could go back, would you change anything? The only thing we both said we would do different, would be to eat more food! We didn't eat much as we didn't feel very hungry (must have been the adrenaline), but we are both real foodies and wish we just took one of everything from the evening buffet to try, also considering how much we paid for the food and didn't eat any! That was a shame.. We did enjoy our wedding breakfast, but even then we would usually have eaten a lot more. We felt a lot of it went to waste, we wished we asked the caterers to save some for us the next day. 

      2. What’s one piece of advice you'd give to brides currently planning their weddings? Be selfish, its about you and your partner and what you both want. Don't doubt your decisions because of other people, be firm and stick to what you want, at the end of the day a wedding is a lot of money so focus on yourselves!

"Where was your wedding venue and how did you know it was the one? "

We got married at West Bridgford Registry Office and had our reception at Springfield Events Hall.

For the registry office, we weren't very picky but our photographer recommended West Bridgford and we are so glad he did. It was a lovely setting. Springfield was the first place we viewed as it is down the road from us and we liked the idea of keeping everything quite local. We loved it straight away, it was casual but still special. Ashley, the owner, was great and made us feel really at ease. The building is beautiful and you could really do as much or as little to it as you wanted.

"What was your favorite part about finding your wedding dress?" 

The shock that I found one!!! I had tried on some dresses from Monsoon and had one I liked. I went to Elegance Bridal in Sandiacre, really just because I thought I might as well go and see what a 'real' wedding dress would be like. I had no intention of buying one - so much so that I went on my own! I tried on 6-7 dresses and I completely fell in love with my one. 

"How would you describe your wedding day style? "

Relaxed and full of fun.

"How did you and your partner meet?"

We met on Bumble!

 "What are some of the unique details you incorporated into your wedding?"

I'm not sure we did anything super unique. We had an interactive crossword which I loved. We play the NYT crossword together most days so that was unique to us. The lay out of the day was a bit different. We had just close family at our ceremony. We then all came back to our house and had some food and photos and chilled out for a few hours before going to the reception. We skipped the wedding breakfast and top table and it wasn't something we were keen on doing. I loved having the chill out time in between! 

"Did you come across any challenges when wedding planning, or is there anything you'd do differently? "

We planned the wedding very quickly - within 6 months and in some ways this was great and we made decisions very quickly. But in other ways it meant we didn't always have the time to think things through. We wished we had invited less people to the eating/speeches and then invited more people to the drinks and dancing later. That was an example of a decision we made without realising there was another option!

The biggest challenge I found was getting very easily sucked into thinking you need EVERYTHING. I would watch videos about what other people were doing and think you had to have xy and z. Or my parents would suggest we needed something. But I had to keep reminding myself that there aren't actually any rules, you can do whatever you want!

"What are some of your favorite memories of your wedding day? " 

Hearing my husband's vows was so special. I honestly didn't think that the ceremony would feel as special as it did, but it is something I'll never forget. I managed to get his first and middle name mixed up - something I will never live down!

I loved all the speeches at the wedding. It is hard to pick just a few moments, it felt really humbling to have all the people you love in one place to celebrate with you.

"What advice would you give to other couples when choosing wedding vendors?" 

Go with your gut! We made decisions quickly but we made them based on the feeling we got from people. We loved the owner of our venue and he recommended our photographer who was excellent. I researched hair and make up artists and Catherine was so friendly and helpful and lovely in her messages so I went with her. And I was absolutely right in my assessment! Catherine made my niece's morning doing her hair and make up. She felt so grown up and special sitting in the makeup chair. We all had such a nice morning with Catherine, she made it all feel very relaxed which was so needed going into the chaos of the day!

"Did anything unexpected happen on the day? "

I managed to get lipstick on my dress getting into the limo to the ceremony! Luckily our registrar managed to get it off. There were other things throughout the day that weren't perfect but honestly nothing that made any difference to the day. It went smoothly. 

I probably could have worked out some of the timings of the day a bit better and left more wiggle room. But ultimately, nothing that made the day any less amazing.

"How did you both feel at the end of the day? "

A bit in shock with it all I think! We were exhausted but SO grateful that everybody made the effort to come and celebrate with us. We couldn't really believe it had all happened and it was all over. We spent several hours going through all the photos and videos our friends had taken on our phones for us and reliving it all!