Ok. I know I did my lil Wedding Planning Diaries over the last couple of years, and so you may already know a fair bit about ~all this~. But I wanted to put together a blog post, with everything in one place, where I could gush about and recommend our fabulous wedding suppliers.
The truth is, finding these people was hard. Harder than I thought it would be. And you kind of have to rely on word of mouth or seeing someone’s wedding on Instagram to find the right suppliers for you. Sure, there are places like Rock My Wedding and Hitched and Bridebook where you can find supplier lists. But once you start looking, you soon realise that:
1) Most companies are just churning out the most popular stuff – if you want anything a bit different, it’s slim pickings.
And 2) Everything is so much more expensive than you thought it would be. So you need to decide which things you are going to splurge on and which you are going to go budget on. And both of these categories still feel quite tricky to fulfill to be honest.
So anyway, hopefully sharing some of the lovely companies and people I hired for my wedding will help with yours. Here are all of the contacts you could possibly want from my big day. Enjoy!
** A heads up early doors that all of the wonderful photos in this post are credited to Heather Sham, our v talented wedding photographer (scroll down to read more about her!)**
My Amazing Wedding Suppliers
The Venue
We got married at Woodstock Town Hall with a short ceremony and minimal decor. We actually booked this room purely because it was a 2 minute walk from our reception, and the outside of the building is very pretty. The inside was simple and we worried beforehand that we should have styled it up a bit more, but actually, it was a pretty quick ceremony and we were outside in the sun, throwing Proper Confetti before we knew it.
Our venue for our wedding breakfast and reception was The Crown pub in Woodstock. We’d originally booked a barn wedding but it just didn’t feel very “us”. So we decided to find something a bit more low-key and intimate, and I discovered The Crown on a budget venue list.
We immediately knew it was the one for us. A beautiful light-filled room to have our meal, with fairy lights and plants. An intimate bar and dancefloor area, serving amazing cocktails. Beautiful bedrooms upstairs for our wedding party, with roll-top baths and lots of character. And the best part, the village of Woodstock is a damn dream, filled with cosy pubs, bookshops and bistros. So our guests would have a lovely stay there.
And a massive benefit of having your wedding in a pub? A great selection of food for your guests, with massive portions!
The Wedding Photographer
You can see the lovely photos filling up this post, so you probably already get why I chose Heather Sham as my photographer. She takes gorgeous, romantic photos, and lovely candids. But these ones below are the kinds of photos I wanted, and the reason we went with her. Cool, artsy photographs capturing moments of the day, that we wouldn’t necessarily have been able to step back and see, if that makes sense? Definitely framing these ones!
She’s also very fun, and is as passionate about plants and IKEA as I am, so it was a good match!
The Videographer
I wasn’t going to book a videographer for our wedding, it seemed like an expense that we didn’t need. But literally everyone you speak to who has ever got married either tells you it was the best thing they spent their money on, or it’s the only thing they regret not getting. So we did it. And we love our wedding video SO MUCH!
We went with the wonderful Ian from Rosewood Wedding Films and would totally recommend his work. The video isn’t overly romantic or cringe (what we really didn’t want) and instead perfectly captures the fun and lovely moments of the day. Plus, I didn’t even notice he was there all day. Mad skills and 100% a recommended wedding supplier.
The Band
It’s hard to capture just how amazing our wedding band were in a blog post, but hopefully these photos of everyone absolutely loving life will show you how sick it was!
We booked the Frontrunners via Alive Network (a website recommended by a pal who had got married). We loved their set list – all 90s and 00s Rock/Indie music – and their videos looked good. But actually, they were so much better in real life. All of our guests said it was the highlight of the day. They even let my new husband stand up and sing a song with them! Absolute lads, and I can’t recommend them enough.
The Photobooth
I wanted a photo booth at our wedding. It’s always my favourite part of weddings I’m a guest at, so it was a must-have on our budget sheet. Our venue was pretty small with low ceilings though, so it was hard finding a booth that would work – but I discovered The Photo Cabin and their very cool Berlin-esque Photoautomat and was sold. Seemless delivery, unlimited prints, and a guest book for our guests to write in and stick their pics.
The only downside, is that because our band were so amazing, a lot of our guests didn’t even go into the room where the photo booth was!! I got some lovely photos of Indi though, who was completed obsessed with the photo booth – they are hilarious!
The Wedding Dress
Ahhhh the dress and the sequin cape of dreams!
I discovered Bustle & Bow in Berkhamsted last year and KNEW it was the bridal boutique for me (they had a disco ball and a neon sign so I was sold). Leigh, the owner, was an absolute dream and soon made me realise that I needed a fitted gown for my curves. I tried on the sequin cape, kinda for a laugh, like just to see what it felt like – but lo and behold, it felt AMAZING. And I just had to have it.
Both the dress and cape are by Charlie Brear (Barton & Thora, respectively), they fit like a dream, and I was super comfortable all day. And y’know, I felt like an absolute A-lister. Plus Indi thought I looked like Elsa so RIP me. (Full wedding dress post over here.)
The Bridal Accessories
For my shoes, I went for the Dahlia pleats by Loeffler Randall. Super chic, super comfy and I danced all night in them. Plus, they gave my outfit a little pop of colour in the pale blue.
The little shell bag I used is from Lulu Guinness but I actually rented it on By Rotation! It was my first rental but I loved that it meant I could have a designer bag without breaking the bank.
I already had a lot going on with the head to toe sequins, so I kept the jewellery simple. Small heart earrings from Wolf and Moon in the day, that I swapped out for some big gold hoops I’ve had for years in the evening.
To finish off the look, I bought a few flower combs from Wolf and Moon for my hair. They went in easy, stayed in place all day and helped bring the look together I think!
Also, I was searching everywhere for the ~right~ white sunnies to wear in my photos, and stumbled across the perfect pair in the airport back from Valencia. Very cheap from Ale-Hop, total bargain.
Hair & Make-Up
This was one area I found really hard to source. If you’ve never had your hair and make-up done professionally, how do you know what you need? You also have to book before you’ve had a trial, and what if you don’t like it?
Luckily, I found a good one, and everything was super easy! I booked with Jennifer Hawkins and she put together my glowy make-up look and braided up-do. I wanted all of my bridesmaids and flower girls to have a braid so we all linked together, but gave them all the choice of what to choose – so we had some up and some down, and it went alongside their mismatching dresses I think!
I switched to a red lipstick in the evening, when I took my cape off, and used this Charlotte Tilbury one (recommended by Jen in my bridal trial!)
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses
I had three beautiful bridesmaids and a pretty solid vision of what I wanted for them. I wanted mismatching dresses in pastel colours, but I wanted my pals to feel good and feel like themselves.
So I just KNEW Rewritten was the way to go. They had a pop-up shop in Shoreditch so we made a day of it and went to try on dresses in the summer. I was in charge of the colour palette (as long as they were happy) and they could choose any style they liked and felt good in.
Kate, my MOH, chose the Soho jumpsuit in coral, bridesmaid Sam chose the Ibiza dress in Marine and bridesmaid Lauren chose the Brooklyn in Heather. And don’t they look totally banging?! Honestly I love it, I think they make the perfect combo.
The Guys’ Suits
Josh had a best man and 2 groomsmen, and they all wore the same sage green suit from Moss Bros. Although I think he did regret going for a tweed on a hot Friday in August!
I sourced the skinny tie from ASOS and it formed the basis of the bridesmaid dress colours. Then the shoes were Matalan. Pretty good for a budget look (and let’s face it, I blew the lot on my dress 😎).
These guys were a dream on the day and did all of the decorations and set-up on the morning of the wedding. Such absolute babes.
The Flower Girls
We had two beaut flower girls (my daughter and our friends’ little girl) and they were absolutely adorable! It was important to me that they were comfortable and had a fun dress to twirl in. So I got them these little white, tulle dresses from Coast (affiliate link FYI), which I paired with gold, sparkly shoes from Monsoon. I got them cute matching “Flower Girl” bracelets and ribbon wands with their names on (both Etsy) and they loved playing with them! V cute.
The Cake
I wasn’t really fussed about the wedding cake. Especially when you hear how much they cost, so I wasn’t actually going to have one. But it was included as part of my package with The Crown, baked by a local bakery Silvie, in Oxford. So it was a nice bonus! I chose lemon cake with orange and lemon slices around the outside and it was delish! Indi certainly thought so, as you can see from the photos!
I did forget to put on the topper I’d bought for it (featuring polaroids of us), but to be honest, it was a hot day so it didn’t get much airtime anyway and spent most of the day in the fridge! Was real good though.
The Favours
I wasn’t actually going to get favours either. A lot of married people told me they were a waste of money as no-one ends up taking them home. But then I discovered Sam T Made It and I knew I had to have these little custom enamel pins!
Josh and I have bought each other pins for our whole relationship so it totally made sense for us. Plus, I read somewhere that if a favour is small enough to fit in a pocket or a clutch bag, it’s more likely to get taken. And they were right, almost all of them were taken home. Most of them even put them on immediately!
The process of getting the pins designed was very easy. Sam just looks through your Instagram and gives you a couple of mock up ideas, then you can make tweaks on a first draft. it’s very quick and easy. Dream wedding suppliers tbh.
And look how great they look!! (“Check this out” is a reference to what Josh said when he proposed 😂)
The Newspapers (Order of the Day)
Something I knew I wanted at our wedding, right from the beginning, was a wedding newspaper. A fun way to do an order of the day and a thank you note, alongside a crossword about us and an exclusive interview with our daughter! I had way too much fun putting it together, and it was so cool to see our guests reading them. (A guide to putting together a wedding newspaper is over here!)
We designed them ourselves and got them printed via The Newspaper Club. There are a few companies making them, but these guys are definitely the most affordable with no minimum order on the digital tabloid format.
The Flowers
Fun fact: the flowers were actually the only area of our wedding that came in under budget… I knew I didn’t need much in The Crown, as it’s so gorgeous as it is. So I went with a local florist who have done lots of weddings there – Wild Grace – and went for minimal flower arrangements. Pastel bouquets and buttonholes for the wedding party – with dahlias and eucalyptus – and then some mini bunches of flowers for the tables. They offered use of their antique bud vases too, which I thought was cute.
The only “extra” thing I ordered, was the eucalyptus hanging from the ceiling at the wedding meal. I saw a previous wedding at The Crown do it and thought it looked fab, so made sure I added it on! Looks lovely, right??
The Signage & Decor
The Crown needed very little decoration but we had a few signs up. A big welcome sign we got printed (on a cheap display stand), a letterboard from Hobbycraft, a big disco ball for the dancefloor, and a neon sign I found on Etsy that said “Follow The Call Of The Disco Ball”. The latter now has pride of place in my kitchen so it felt like a good investment!
On the dining tables, I used pastel twisty candles from Habitat, with cheap IKEA holders, and made little disco ball place names (with mini beanie baby place names and colouring packs for the kids). (Find my Disco Ball Place Name DIY details over here!) I think they were a nice touch and brought the whole pastel disco theme together!
We had five tables at our wedding meal, which meant the five towns of Cinque Terre, where we got engaged, could be our table names. It worked perfectly. Oh, and I printed out Menus using Printed.com (designed ourselves) and added a few old school disposable cameras (which actually were a bit pointless because no-one used the flash lol). Along with the flowers, I think the tables looked pretty nice?
One of favourite things though was the Instax seating plan I made, on a metal grid with lots of fairy lights (DIY Instax Seating Plan instructions over here!).
We also used an old vintage suitcase we’ve had forever as our card box, and just got some bunting off of Etsy that said “CARDS”. Job done!
I think that’s all of our wedding suppliers, but if you’ve spotted something in my photos and want to know anything about it, just shout!
And please, if you use any of these wedding suppliers, let me know! It would make me so happy to know I’ve helped with the insane wedding stress! 😊
Hang in there. Xoxo
(All photos credited to megababe, Heather Sham :))
