Love My Dress® UK Wedding Blog Season Spring Summer Autumn Winter Era Edwardian 1920 s 1930 s 1940 s

Stephanie Allin, Travel, Balloons And Books For A Vintage Inspired Literary Adventure! | Love My Dress® UK Wedding Blog
Love My Dress® UK Wedding Blog Season Spring Summer Autumn Winter Era Edwardian 1920 s 1930 s 1940 s 1950 s 1960 s 1970 s 1980 s Colour Black White Blue Colourful Gold Green Grey Lavender Orange Pale Blue Pale Green Pastel Colour enterprise rent a car coupon Polka Dots Purple Red Silver Yellow Designer Agnes and Norman Alan Hannah Alexander McQueen Alfred Angelo Alfred Sung Amanda Caroline Couture Amanda Wakeley Amanda Wyatt Amsale Bridal Andrew Fionda Vintage Annabelinda Annalise Harvey Annasul Y Annie s Vintage Anoushka G Anthropologie Bridal Aruna Seth Augusta Jones Badgley Mischka Balenciaga Benjamin Roberts Belle Bunty BHLDN Candy Anthony Caroline Castigliano Charlie Brear Charlotte Balbier Charlotte enterprise rent a car coupon Casadejus Claire Pettibone Cortana Cymbeline Dana Bolton Delphine Manivet Dessy Dior Elie Saab Elizabeth Avey Eliza Jane Howell Emma Hunt London Emmy Shoes Enzoani Fur Coat No Knickers Halfpenny London Harriet Wilde Shoes Heavenly Vintage Brides Herve Leger Ian Stuart J. Crew Jacqueline Byrne Jane Marilyn Jane Bourvis Jenny Lessin Jenny Packham Jesus Peiro Jim Hjelm Joanne Fleming enterprise rent a car coupon Johanna Johnson Joyce Young Justin Alexander Katya Katya Shehurina Kitty Dulcie Lara Hannah Lindsay Fleming Laure de Sagazan Lisa Redman Maids To Measure Marchesa Minna Maria Senvo Melanie Potro Mira Zwillinger Miss Bush Bridal Monique Lhuillier Monsoon Naomi Neoh Nicki Macfarlane Oh My Honey Oscar de la Renta Peter Langner Phase Eight Pronovias Rachel Simpson Shoes Reem Acra Ritva Westenius Sarah Treble Sassi Holford Sally Lacock Sanyukta Shrestha Stephanie Allin Susie Stone Events Diary Suppliers About Love My Dress Meet The Team Submissions Advertising Contact Us
Good morning my friend.  You know, I was asked recently enterprise rent a car coupon as part of this podcast interview whether I think I ll ever tire of weddings.  You ll have to listen to the podcast to get my answer of course, but my response had precisely this kind of wedding in mind when I replied to the interviewer.   Libby, a regular reader of Love My Dres s, tied the knot with Derek in a tiny 11th century church that sits in the grounds of St Donat s , a medieval enterprise rent a car coupon church in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, where the couple later went on to hold their reception.
There are lots of positive messages contained within this feature which has truly been written from the heart, and is longer than our usual real wedding feature, but then Libby took great care and time completing the questionnaire that we share with all brides we feature.  Settle down with a lovely enterprise rent a car coupon cup of tea over this one today and take note especially on some of Libby s more important notes relating to wedding insurance.
Our main source of inspiration for our day was us. We wanted our wedding day to be personal, elegant, meaningful, unique, quirky and most importantly, fun – not, to use Derek’s term – a ‘cookie cutter wedding’.  We wanted enterprise rent a car coupon our guests to feel comfortable enterprise rent a car coupon despite the grand setting, which we were concerned might be overwhelming. We set out to incorporate all of the things we love: travel, adventure, books, stories, enterprise rent a car coupon music, photography and Hollywood.
We both feel that we were born out of our time, so we always knew that we wanted a (loosely termed) ‘vintage’ wedding, though nothing too era specific as we didn’t want to look as though we were in fancy dress! Once we had chosen our stationary, which really inspired so much of the styling, we did end up with a sort of ‘theme’, something that we could tell our suppliers to help them to grasp what we had in mind for the day. This was: ‘A Vintage Literary Adventure’.
enterprise rent a car coupon Derek and I met in 2008, just two days after he moved to the UK! He was staying with an old friend of his from Canada who had already relocated to London and was directing a play here, and Derek tagged along to help him with the auditions. I was cast in the show and just before we started rehearsals fate stepped in, as the male lead had to pull out of the production and the director asked Derek to step in at the last minute and play opposite me.
The show was set during a 1930’s depression era dance marathon, the rules of which state that each couple must dance or move constantly while maintaining physical contact with each other. enterprise rent a car coupon We spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for a whole month, holding on to each other and after that, well, we never let go!
After flying half way around the world to find me in the first place, it was only fitting that Derek should fly the rest of the way to propose!! I was working as a singer enterprise rent a car coupon in Australia in 2010-2011 and we hadn’t seen each other for 6 long months enterprise rent a car coupon when he came out to visit me. He was armed with not only an engagement ring, but a Love Spoon, traditionally given by Welsh men when they propose, which he had carved all by himself! Seriously, goosebumps from head to toe when he presented me with that!
The love spoon was a complete surprise, but he gave it to me at the beginning of his trip and waited until the very end to propose so I must admit it made me a tad suspicious! Especially when he started asking loaded questions about each place we were visiting and getting weirdly frustrated whenever we found ourselves somewhere really amazing if he hadn’t brought enterprise rent a car coupon the ring! He finally proposed when we were all alone on the beach on Lifou, which is rather appropriately, one of the Loyalty Islands in the South Pacific.
We really wanted to enjoy our engagement, as that is the exciting part after all, and if you are going to spend the rest of your life with a person – what’s the rush?! So we didn’t make any immediate plans and I even accepted another 6 month contract abroad. We started viewing venues exactly a year after Derek proposed and in the end we were engaged for two years and three months, which was just about perfect for us.
I grew up about half an hour from St Donat s , but I moved to London 11 years ago. Derek grew up near Toronto in Canada and came to London in 2008. Therefore, we could have chosen almost anywhere to get married, but Derek decided that we should get married in Wales.
There really was no contest once we had seen Donat s Castle enterprise rent a car coupon ,   it was the last of the three venues we viewed and the only one that gave me butterflies instantly! It is spectacular, perched on top of a cliff overlooking the sea, with beautiful gardens staging down to a beach with the most breathtaking view of the Welsh coastline.
We had exclusive use of the castle and the grounds (so there weren’t any other weddings going on and there was no one picnicking or walking their dog on the other side of a rope!) and here’s the thing it’s in Wales, so it is actually somewhat affordable! Plus we got married on a Friday, which helped a lot pricewise too.
I must say it was the church enterprise rent a car coupon which really sold us on this venue though. It is nestled in the shadow of the castle down a tree lined path, with no road anywhere in sight – it is like stepping back in time! We received the warmest welcome.
We really wanted to enjoy our engagement, as that is the exciting part after all, and if you are going to spend the rest of your life with a person – what’s the rush?! So we didn’t make any immediate plans and I even accepted another 6 month contract abroad. We started viewing venues exactly a year after Derek proposed and in the end we were engaged for two years and three months, enterprise rent a car coupon which was just about perfect for us.
I found our stationer, Something Kinda Cute , via the blog of a wedding photographer who had photographed another wedding photographer’s wedding I’m not quite sure why I was there, but the stationary caught my eye and when I looked up the company I found to my delight that they were based in – Cardiff!! I hadn’t in a million years thought I would find anyone unique and artistic in Wales!
The stationery is a key indicator to the style of your day, so a very important decision and we had been struggling to rein in all of our ideas and decide what we wanted. We thought we wanted something completely bespoke and I had tried to make a few designs myself, enterprise rent a car coupon but in the end we decided it would be better to leave it to the experts. We ended up choosing one of Shell’s existing designs, but asked her to tweak it to make it personal to us.
We would never have thought of using a hot air balloon enterprise rent a car coupon on our invites, but upon reflection it worked perfectly as our whole relationship has featured so much travel and adventure and we would never even had met if Derek hadn’t made the big move across the pond from Canada. The caption on the invitation originally read ‘Their Biggest Adventure Yet’, which we changed to the more elegant ‘Their Greatest Adventure Yet’ and this became the theme to the day. It just made so much sense and felt at that moment like we were regaining control of our day and making it our own.
My mum came across Beth at Forbesfield Flowers quite by accident and recommended I check her out. She has such a stylish shop and after chatting enterprise rent a car coupon to her I knew straight enterprise rent a car coupon away that she was on my wavelength and I would be able to trust her and work with her. Bless her heart, Beth was ever so patient with my long rambling emails trying to explain in layman’s terms what I had in mind, with dozens of images attached!
I was always very clear on what I wanted for the church and the bouquets – just plain gypsophila. enterprise rent a car coupon This was partly to keep costs down, but also because I love it’s lacy, delicate, vintagey look and it makes quite an impact used alone, it really suited our setting and style. I was desperate for a flower arch and it ended up looking so beautiful and working so well with the texture of the bricks.
enterprise rent a car coupon My dress was Sunset by Stephanie Allin and I first tried it on in her shop on Baker Street in London and then purchased it from her Mumbles store.  Choosing my dress was much more difficult than I anticipated. I honestly thought that it wasn’t the most important thing to me. I never expected to have the ‘this is the one’ moment, as I am not t