Hello beautiful,
Wow, it's been a while since we've seen you! How are you? We've been rushed off our feet recently, Zoe has refitted the shop and bought so much new stock for the run up to Christmas (there, we said it, the C word) that the shop is now fit to burst. Orders of Pusheen gifts have been flying out the door via our internet shop and on top of all that, we've had wedding fayre's, stationery designs and all the usual seasonal orders.
Charlotte has been busy with West Craven Breastfeeding Friends group, which is going from strength to strength, as well as having adventures with Leo! September was very hectic due to Leo's massive birthday party, for which Zoe designed a whole range of complimentary jungle themed stationery including the keepsakes and thank you notes. We will have a super special blog feature on this later in the month!
But for now let's focus on this month's Featured Bride! Our October Wedding of the Month features Claire and Andy Pickard, who married on the 7th April 2017 and Rivington Hall Barn.
Let's jump right in...
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How did you meet?
"Andy and I met through a mutual friend. We had seen each other around but it all began when we caught each other's eye at our friends 21st birthday party!" How did he propose? Or did you take the plunge? "It's safe to say Mr. P pulled this one out of the bag! In February 2016 we travelled to Perth, Australia. Andy made all of the arrangements, booked the flights etc. He also organised a break in Sydney for 5 days. So, Valentine's Day we were waking up in Sydney. Already the best Valentine's Day to date as you can imagine! Andy gave me a card that he had bought that morning, he had written a lovely message that also mentioned a surprise for that day. It turned out he had planned a seaplane ride to a secluded beach. This included a champagne picnic, which set the scene. After an hour or two we went off to explore and that's where he got down on one knee! ... it was perfect!" (Aww, how incredibly romantic! - LMSB) Tell us about planning your wedding… "We only had 6 months to plan our wedding! With help from friends and family I'd say it went pretty well. There were a quite a few things we were clear we wanted, and most things fell into place. I enjoyed most of it. The week before the wedding was pretty stressful as I didn't have the support of the wedding planner as I expected but I won't go into that..." (What a shame.. we will have a feature blog about how to manage this sort of issue, in the near future - LMSB) What were you most excited about? "Personally, I was most excited about having all of our favourite people all under one roof! One big family! I think Mr. P was mostly excited about the honeymoon!" Did you trust your other half with any of the planning? "I tried to be tactical with what jobs I asked Mr. P to do! I delegated jobs that I knew he would have a keen interest in, for example his main responsibility was organising and booking the honeymoon, then from there I asked him to take charge of organising things like transport (vintage fire engine), ice luge, organising guard of honour, pretty much all Fire Fighter related!"
What was your theme?
"I wanted our wedding to show both of our personalities, this meant we had a peacock/nature theme with elements of the fire and of course our two lovely Pooches. The colour scheme saw dominantly peacock colours. We had a few things that made a big impact for the fire part - a guard of honour, I travelled in a vintage Fire Engine, which also looked amazing for the group photos, and then we had a stunning Fire Engine ice luge in replacement of a cake!
"Over all I wanted the feel of bringing the outside inside, which played a big part in the venue we chose and the natural elements I wanted included."
How did Zoe incorporate this theme in to your stationery?
"With time against us we jumped straight to the invites. Pretty much straight away Zoe just got it! She knew exactly what I was after. I think the peacock theme was pretty clear, we used a textured background colour to match with the wood, hessian and twine type materials that I used throughout the wedding."
What was your experience with Zoe like, as a designer? "One of the easiest jobs on the list. Zoe was easy to interact with. Absorbed all of my ideas and then put them into her own, adding that creative flare we all love. Communication was spot on and I love the timing of turn around from first discussion to a knock at the door with invites in hand. I think overall there was only a couple of tweaks and then we were super happy. Pretty much a breeze!" How did you feel when you saw the finished designs? "It just gets you so excited. I couldn't wait to send them out and share with friends and family. I don't often get chance to get creative, so then to work with Zoe and get exactly what we wanted just made my day." How many bridesmaids and pageboys did you have? "We had four bridesmaids, four groomsmen, two ushers and two Page-Pooches." (Yay, doggos! – LMSB)
Tell us about the big day itself… "Well what can I say, it truly is one of the best days of your life. All of those thoughts and preparations that have gone into your big day all come together, it is a lovely feeling. But like I said earlier, having all of our loved ones under one roof is just the best feeling ever. Standing united in front of all of our favourite people. We really did have the most amazing day!" What was the easiest thing about planning your wedding? "I'd say it was choosing the first dance. Pretty much straight away we both agreed it was perfect and was suited to both of us! We had our DJ play a special remix of ‘Show Me Love’. We both love the song - one of the first times we met we were on the dance floor and no doubt this would of been played at some point! We had about a minute of slow dance, then surprised our guests by dropping the beat! At the same time the confetti cannons went off. It was nice to have one last surprise for our guests."
…and the hardest? "Definitely having to rely on other people. Having to trust people to get every detail just right. You know deep down that things will work out but when you put so much effort into something you want it to be just perfect!" Did your guests like your stationery? "Of course!! We had lots of compliments and a couple of future brides ask for Zoe's contact details."
Did you get any particularly positive feedback for your theme and design? "People love that they weren’t a typical invite design and were so personal to us. They loved how the design incorporated perfectly into the rest of the wedding." Where are you planning to go on your honeymoon? "We have been to Jamaica!! Beautiful views, people, food, vibes... we loved it!" Would you recommend LMSB to friends and family? "100%! Without a doubt!"
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Thank you Claire and Andy for sharing your special day with us!
Claire said she found the hardest part of organising her wedding was having to trust other people to help bring everything together the way she wanted it. It can be difficult to rely on lots of different people to help your dream wedding materialise, so we will be creating a blog soon to help you manage any obstacles that may pop up along the way.
You can rest assured that Zoe will work her little socks off to ensure your design dreams come true!
Thanks once again for joining us for our special Wedding of the Month feature. Are you one of our past brides? Do you want to share YOUR story in our monthly feature? Please get in touch if you do!
Much love,
Let's Make Something Beautiful
Photography credit:
