The Wedding of

Anna + Sam

21 February 2020

The Wedding of

Anna + Sam

21 February 2020

How we Met

We actually met through friends, Sam’s cousin is married to one of my best friends. We had even both been at their wedding and are next to each other in their wedding photos but at that point we hadn’t even met! Then a few months later Sam asked my friend if I was single and he messaged me on Facebook trying to work his charm!

We had actually arranged a date but the day before Sam just ‘happened’ to bump into me in Rochester where I was out with a friend And the rest is history.

The Proposal

The proposal was absolutely beautiful. We had gone away to Austria with my brother and sister in-law, that was their present to me for my 30th. That place has a lot of meaning behind it so Sam thought this would be a great place to do it. I had absolutely no idea it was coming when it happened!

We were up in the mountains in the snow after Lunch and a sleigh ride and we were walking back through the mountains, me and Sam were walking a bit behind my brother and sister in law then all of a sudden he got down on one knee! I was so shocked and when I looked up my sister in law was filming it all as they were in on it all too and had even snuck the ring over in their case! Ironically where the snow was so deep Sam got stuck and we had to pull him out but it was romantic nevertheless!

Wedding Dress

So I actually found out I was pregnant the week after we booked our wedding! So as you can imagine that was a really crazy few weeks!

So I decided to try on a few dresses just go get an idea of what I liked before my bump got too big and then I decided to wait until a few months after she was born to properly shop for a dress. I had searched online for a few shops and I saw a dress on that I thought was absolutely beautiful, I didn’t expect to like it as much on but as soon as I tried it on I knew it was the one. It was the first shop we booked and the first dress I tried! I did try on some other gorgeous Dresses but kept coming back to this one.

Bridesmaid’s Dresses

I really wanted a turquoise colour for my bridesmaids dresses and just couldn’t find the colour I was after, then one of my bridesmaids Found EXACTLY what I wanted on the Dorothy Perkins website! They do a range online called showcase so I ordered all the girls dresses from there, they were the perfect style for all 5 girls. My little girl was our flower girl and she has a white dress with a lovely turquoise jacket which was adorable.

Suits

All the suits were tweed and they were lovely. Sam wore navy tweed with a waistcoat and bow tie and the groomsmen were grey tweed, they all looked so smart and it really fitted in with the theme of the wedding.

The Wedding Venue

Our venue was Cooling Castle Barn and I knew from the second I viewed their website that I wanted to get married there.

We only viewed there and one other venue but our minds were made up already!

It has everything we wanted there, I could get ready there with all my bridesmaids and my mum, there were hotel rooms for guests, the food was amazing, it was just perfect. The staff there were just amazing! So friendly and always willing to help, I didn’t find any part of dealing with cooling stressful at all and the day ran so smoothly. They are so thorough and organised that it went perfectly there.

It’s such a beautiful venue and I’m so glad we picked it.

Dressing the Venue

We went for a rustic woodland themed wedding as Sam particularly is very into the countryside and being outdoorsy. We had logs and lanterns up the aisle and on our tables with lots of yellow and white spring flowers as well as foliage and gypsophila which the bridesmaids also had in their hair. I had yellow roses included in the bouquets as they also mean friendship which I thought was nice and meaningful then my Bowie’s and Sam’s buttonhole also had a pheasant feather in. At the time when it was suggested I wasn’t so sure but it actually came together beautifully and looked great!

We always knew this is the theme we would go for but our suppliers ‘chic weddings’ went above and beyond and made it all look 1000 times better than I imagined!

We made our favours Up ourselves. We had flavoured gins made by a little local supplier and we put them into mini bottles and had our own tags and labels made up which was a nice little touch!

The Wedding Cake

We went for a rustic naked cake decorated in yellow roses and Gypsophila and then we had cupcakes.

It was a very simple wedding cake with a wooden cake topper which was exactly what we wanted.

The First Dance

Our first dance was by a country singer called Brad Paisley and was called ‘Then’ … This happened to be our first ever slow dance one evening after a few drinks in my kitchen ironically but it has such beautiful words and it then just because our song and we never really considered choosing another one!

My advice to couples just setting out to plan their Wedding day

My advice would be to do exactly what YOU want to do. This is your day and you don’t want to look back and wish you did anything differently because you was worried about upsetting people.

To be honest, We were lucky enough not to have any issues but we always agreed we would make decisions based on our wishes.

I would also say it is nice to try and plan things as a couple as much as you can. Sam happened to be the one to pick a lot of the ideas with our decorations and it ended up looking great. It’s so easy for the bride to get caught up in it all so it’s nice to (try lol) to get the groom involved.

I would also say that on the day just take a moment to take it all in. It’s so surreal you’ll need a moment to do this!!

Suppliers

Venue

Cooling Castle Barn

Photographer

Rob Power PhotographyRob was absolutely brilliant! We are so happy with our photos and he is such a nice guy.’

Hair Stylist

Hair by Janieann

Makeup Artist

Kelly Jenner ‘a FAB make up artist!’

Bridal Dress

Mori Lee

Bridesmaid’s Dresses

Showcase at Dorothy Perkins

Suits

Penguins

Florist

Chic Weddings and eventsI would highly recommend.’

Cake

Bella Bakes

Caterers, DJ

Cooling Castle Barn

Band / Live Music

The Rockpins ‘brilliant and had people dancing all night!’