“The ducks that live on the little river surrounding our venue became our inspiration and our real wedding theme!”
The first meeting
“The first time we met I felt intrigued,” remembers Louise. “We had studied together and Phil would always say things in conversation that provoked discussion. I knew we’d always have plenty to talk about for the rest of our lives…”
The proposal
“Phil surprised me with a visit the day after Boxing Day. He turned up wearing just a T-shirt on a day that was practically Baltic (this was Wales in December!). He’d spelled out ‘Will you marry me?’ with tealights beforehand but due to the weather, they wouldn’t stay lit,” giggles Louise. “Phil then improvised with a helium balloon, a piece of paper and a marker pen! It’s a day I’ll never forget!”
“In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d find a dress that perfect, that beautiful, and at that price…”
Beauty tip
“Don’t go too iridescent/pearly with your eyeshadow and blusher – they don’t photograph well! If you’re considering wearing a fascinator, experiment with adding extensions to your hair and create a really cool messy side bun to balance out the headdress. There were a lot of pins to take out at the end of the day but it was worth it!”
The bride’s real wedding outfit
“My mum and I found my dress when we were at the National Wedding Show in Earl’s Court,” says Louise. “After six hours at the show we were rapidly approaching wedding overload, when we suddenly found my gorgeous, duchess satin dress at the Lavalia London stand. And because it was buy as seen, we got it for £350 – a total bargain!”
The groom’s real wedding outfit
“Because Phil is a redhead, it was important to get something that complemented his colouring,” says Louise. “We opted for a charcoal-grey suit and silvery-grey striped waistcoat from Moss Bros. The end result was very yummy!” she adds
“If we could do it all again we’d drink more Champagne and take dancing lessons… definitely do both of these!”
The flowers
“I wanted to keep the flowers simple and elegant,” says Louise. “Our florist, Rachel Lilley (07976 271341), filled beautiful birdcages with sumptuous crisp-white hydrangeas and arranged ivory blooms on vintage cake stands for the centrepieces”
The cake
“We opted for 75 cupcakes from Country Cupcakes,” explains Louise. “Half of them were decorated in white icing, then rolled with lace and sprayed with pearl iridescence. The other half were in our wedding colour (Tiffany blue) and had swirly fondant icing with small edible pearls sprinkled on top”
The reception
On a little island surrounded by ducks, the couple became man and wife at The Watermill at Priston Mill, a very real wedding popular venue.
The favours
“Continuing our theme of ducks through to the favours, we found a chocolate company that made milk and dark chocolate ducks for the ladies at Special Edition Chocolate. For the men, we sourced mini nests from We Do Wedding Favours and filled them with Lindt eggs,” says Louise
The honeymoon
“We took a ‘mini-moon’ to Greece to give ourselves time to plan for the honeymoon – we didn’t want to sell ourselves short,” says Louise. “We’re planning a ‘megamoon’ to Switzerland!”
