A magical, fairytale real wedding in a medieval castle in Kent. Charmaine and Chris got married in Feburary 2012.
WHO: Charmaine and Chris
WHERE: Lympne Castle, Kent
WHEN: February 2012
PHOTOS: Yvette Craig Photography
How they met
They say you meet the love of your life when you least expect it, and sure enough, love blossomed for Charmaine and Chris at a wedding show, where they were both exhibiting.
Proposal
“He took me away for a few days to a gorgeous hotel, Maison Talbooth,” remembers Charmaine. “After going for a lovely dinner, we went back to the room where he proposed. It was a bit of a shock, to be honest.”
The Bride’s Outfit
Charmaine found her dress in her mum’s bridal boutique, Tiaras and Tails in Ashford. “I liked knowing that my dress wasn’t readily available elsewhere.” Describing her gown, Charmaine said: “I felt like a true princess! The dress had a fitted corset at the top and went in to a princess-line skirt, with a huge long train,” she adds.
The Groom’s Outfit
The groom hired his Etiquette suit from Tiara and Tails. He completed his look with a pink cravat and handkerchief, which matched the shell pink of his bride’s dress.
The Bridesmaids
“I had three older bridesmaids and two flowergirls and even a traditional page boy,” recalls Charmaine. Again, she turned to her mum’s boutique for help. “I loved that everything was from our family shop.”
Getting ready
Charmaine is a professional make-up artist so knew exactly what she wanted make-up wise: “Choosing the make-up was the easiest part of planning the wedding!” “I would really recommend you hire a make-up artist to do your make-up – it saves you so much stress in the morning,” she adds.
“I had three older bridesmaids and two flowergirls and even a traditional page boy,”
The ceremony
The ceremony began in a fairytale way with Charmaine walking down the aisle to Kissing You by Des’ree from Romeo and Juliet. “My brother Daniel did a reading called The Magic of Love which went well with our theme of magic, and with Chris being a magician,” she smiles.
Flowers
With the decoration going along the lines of magic, flowers and candles around the castle – very fairytale – the flowers had to look beautiful, and Moody Blooms definitely succeeded.
Cake
“We had our wedding cake designed for us by Annabel de Vetten, which incorporated the theme of roses and pearls.”.
“My brother Daniel did a reading called The Magic of Love which went well with our theme of magic, and with Chris being a magician,”
The Reception
As well as their three-course sit down meal, the newly weds wowed with a fab candy buffet table full of goodies. The speeches after the meal were both laugh-enducing and tear-jerking, particularly from the best man, Simon: “As an eccentric magician, we knew the speech would be something unique and we weren’t wrong! Simon had made a ventriloquist doll of an old man that he called his dad!” laughs Charmaine.
Entertainment
“We had one of the world’s best close up magicians, Michael Vincent doing magic for all our guests after the ceremony, during the meal and the evening.” As if this wasn’t enough, they had Mr H Productions throughout the whole day; “they did our ceremony music, music while eating, and of course the evening entertainment,” recalls Charmaine.
