Hello beautiful,
It’s time for another fabulous edition of our Wedding of the Month Featured Bride blog! July’s lovely couple are Laura and David Hartley, who married on the 5th September 2015 at Stanley House Hotel.
Let’s take a peek at their special day...
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How did you meet?
"We met as teenagers at Boundary Mill when we both worked there at the weekend. I was told about Dave by a fellow colleague (I'd never noticed him before!). The first words I said to him were ‘Are you ginger, Dave?’"
How did he propose? Or did you take the plunge?
"He took me to Chester on a surprise weekend away. The hotel room was very fancy and had a mezzanine floor. As I descended the steps, he was on one knee at the bottom."
Tell us about planning your wedding…
"I absolutely loved planning my wedding! It was spreadsheets galore, and it ran like a well oiled machine! I took everything one thing at a time, did my research and spoke to all the suppliers and tested their products prior to booking anything."
What were you most excited about?
"The dress. Always the dress!"
Did you trust your other half with any of the planning?
"Not really! I did all the initial research and compiled a shortlist of each thing we needed. He then had input on the final decision."
What was your theme?
"There wasn't a theme as such, just classically simple - but with personal twists."
How did Zoe incorporate this theme in to your stationery?
"Zoe designed a bespoke monogram for us which was incorporated into all the stationery. She kept the designs intricate but clean. They were simply beautifully printed, with no additional embellishment required."
What was your experience with Zoe like, as a designer?
"Flawless. It took several attempts to get the monogram just right, but Zoe pursued perfection for us."
How did you feel when you saw the finished designs?
"Over the moon! They looked stunning. I couldn't wait to get the invites sent out to show them off!"
How many bridesmaids and groomsmen did you have?
"There were four bridesmaids and five groomsmen, including our fathers."
Tell us about the big day itself…
"The wedding ceremony itself was stupidly early at 11am so the morning was incredibly stressful and manic. But, this gave us a really long day which I'm grateful for now. Everything went smoothly and was exactly, if not better than, I'd ever imagined it could be. I just wish that we could do it again!"
What was the easiest thing about planning your wedding?
"I'm fastidiously organised, so I found the whole thing pretty easy."
...and the hardest?
"Not seeing certain elements e.g. the flowers, until the big day. You also see everything together for the first time on the actual day. You just have to hope everything ties in together beautifully."
Did your guests like your stationery?
"Absolutely. In fact many of our guests have kept their place cards and invites."
Where are you planning to go on your honeymoon?
"We couldn't go away immediately as I was back to work on the Monday after the big day! We went to Italy the following April."
Would you recommend LMSB to friends and family?
"In a heartbeat."
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What an absolutely stunning wedding! It always amazes us how much variety there is in designing and planning a wedding, especially the stationery. It is such an intensely personal experience, even a “classically simple” wedding can have your mark stamped all over it - as with Laura and David’s beautifully designed monogram.
Laura’s organisation skills really paid off here - regular contact with suppliers and testing their products makes decisions much easier to make. It also helps ensure your items, (stationery especially) are prepared on time. As you will have seen in our previous blog on Wedding Invite Etiquette, it’s essential that save the dates, invites, menus are sent out in a timely fashion, so the rest of the day can be planned accordingly.
Timing is everything when planning a wedding, as Laura says, her wedding was like a “well oiled machine”. Your supply chain is affected by problems with time management. The last thing you want leading up to your big day is to realise things aren’t ready, and you have to rush around picking things up or spending time on the phone negotiating with suppliers, or worse still, you have forgotten to invite dear Aunty Mable!
We appreciate that not everyone has Laura’s incredible organisation skills, so if you’re not sure what needs to be done and when, speak to Zoe at your initial consultation and refer to our blog post to help guide you.
Thank you Laura and Dave for sharing your beautiful day with us. We hope you enjoyed your honeymoon in Italy!
Much love,
Let's Make Something Beautiful
