Sam and I met at Exeter University. We started dating a couple of years later and went on our official first date in London. Sam finally proposed the top of Sky Bar in New York. He wanted me to go outside to look at the view, but I refused as it was too cold, so he missed his proposal chance. We then moved onto another bar and whilst leaving, our favourite song out of chance came on. It was Fleetwood Mac ‘Everywhere’ and he got down on one knee. Of course, I said yes!
When planning the wedding I always knew I wanted an elegant theme with lots of greenery and candles. A simple theme to compliment the beautiful Cotswolds stone and surrounding views. It felt earthy and natural with a lot of greens, greys, and gold.
I felt really organized for my wedding planning if I had all my lists. My family would always comment how organized I was being and kept asking me to allocate jobs to them, but they also knew I was too controlling over it to let anyone else help! I also really enjoyed it. Picking everything for the wedding was so much fun though and I became too hooked on Pinterest!
I knew we wanted a relaxed wedding venue. When we started looking at venues, some of the barn wedding venues didn’t stand out to us, until we came across Lapstone Barn. It has an elegant barn style with beautiful Cotswold stone and modern side extension with full glass windows overlooking a courtyard. It was the perfect venue for us.
I must have tried on over 25 dresses before I found my perfect one. My mum and sister travelled up from Wales for the day and I loved every minute of it.
I ended up finding my perfect dress at Confetti & Lace Lakeside and the selection was huge! My family bridesmaids who came with me each asked to pick a dress for me and Danielle the shop assistant picked one for me to. She asked me in detail what my venue was like, the type of theme I was going for with flowers and what the bridesmaid dresses were like.
Danielle picked out Carina by Ronald Joyce, and I feel in love. The strapless dress which I knew I didn’t want. I even said to every shop, I didn’t want a strapless dress. But I was open to trying it on and Danielle sounded like she knew what dress would suit my figure. Initially, it was super small, so it was struggled to get on but once it was on, I walked out to my bridal party, stood on the block, and looked in the mirror. By the time I turned to my bridal party to see what they thought, they were all in tears and said how wonderful it looked on me, which then set me off too!
I tried so many dresses on and loved so many but knew that this one was the one. A veil was added, and some shoes and I was asked to walk around the shop, and I knew that it was everything I wanted. It had a gorgeous low back with mesh and lace detail. The beads and lace detail were perfect and the train at the back was beautiful.
The day was perfect. I knew that whatever happened or if things didn’t go the way I wanted, I didn’t mind as I just wanted to marry Sam. We did a wedding reveal for my day and this was so special to me. He was beaming with the biggest smile and had a little tear when I gifted him a personalized pocket watch.
Walking down the aisle was the most special moment for me. My heart was beating so fast, and my dad was holding me back to not walk so fast down the aisle but as soon as I saw Sam, I could not stop smiling. Having everyone at our wedding meant so much to us. I knew I would remember them moment forever. The whole day was just perfect to us!
.PNG)
My advice for future brides would have to be enjoy the day no matter what happens, because at the end of the day it’s a wedding for you and your husband.
Special thanks to our photographer Jo Lewis, Flowers, Venue, Hair, makeup
Please check out our full collection for more styles and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay ahead of all our latest news.