Carlie’s Story

The Proposal

Stuart proposed to me, he took me for a surprise holiday for a week to New York, and proposed at the top of the Empire State Building on my birthday.

The Outfits

The Bride – My dress was an Amanda Wyatt dress called “Emerald” it was ivory with beautiful crystals that swept round the dress and really sparkled when the light caught it.

The Bridesmaids – The colour scheme for the wedding party was chocolate brown and ivory. I had two bridesmaids and one flower girl. They all wore Alfred Angelo dresses that I had made at the Bridal Gallery just off Oxford Street. The two bridesmaids wore chocolate brown dresses with ivory sashes and Lily, our flower girl, wore an ivory dress with a chocolate brown sash. They all wore ivory shrugs that matched, as it was a winter wedding.

The Groom and Groomsmen – The ushers all wore ivory jackets, waistcoats and cravats, with brown trousers and brown Paul Smith shoes.

The Wedding and Reception Venue

I fell in love with Gaynes Park the minute I saw it as it had everything we wanted in one place. We were able to have the wedding ceremony in the Orangery and the wedding breakfast and evening reception in the Mill Barn, which was beautiful.

The Decorative Touches

Room decorations – The Orangery was dressed as a winter wonderland scheme, which had lots of sprayed silver birch, white pea lights and ivory church candles. We then took the scheme of silver birch and pea lights through to the Mill Barn. It had a lovely Christmas feel to everything.

Table centrepieces – We really did not want flowers on the tables, so we hired meter tall silver candelabras, which brought the Christmas theme through wonderfully.

Favours – We offered silver candy heart sweets boxed for all guests and the ladies had an ivory rose that had been dipped in silver glitter, which they all loved.

The Cake

The cake was an ivory four-tiered cake from Savoir Design called Champagne Bubbles, which had edible pearl bubbles around the edge of each tier. We could not decide which filling we liked the most when we went to sample so we opted for x 2 fruit, one carrot and one lemon, which was great on the day as all our guests had what they preferred.

The Transport

I got ready in the bridal cottage at Gaynes Park so I did not need any transport. We booked a Mercedes Benz for Stuart, the best man and ushers to arrive at the venue; it was dressed with ivory ribbons.

Advice to other couples

All I would say is plan, plan, plan then everything will go exactly how you want, and try and get things finished a couple of months before the day which we did which meant that we were not stressed about anything the last few weeks leading up to the wedding we could be quite relaxed about things. Also take in every minute of the day as it goes so quickly and enjoy every minute!

The Suppliers

Wedding Reception Venue – Gaynes Park Barns

Venue found through Country House Wedding Venues

Bride’s dress – Pronuptia, South Woodford

Bride’s accessories (veil, tiara, shoes) – Pronuptia, South Woodford

Groom’s suit – Pronuptia, South Woodford

Bridesmaid’s dresses – Bridal Gallery, Oxford Street, London.

Other outfits – Ushers – Pronuptia, South Woodford

Wedding rings – Tiffanys

Wedding cake – Savoir Design

Flowers – Flower Elegance, Loughton

Invitations – Friend made them.

Wedding list – John Lewis Gift List

Disco/DJ – Get down on it

Wedding favours – Confetti

Photographer – Lindrum