Green, White & Grey | Apple & Subtle Polka Dots Real Wedding

You are going to LOVE this real wedding I’m sharing today, it has a lovely zingy colour palette of green, white and grey! Lucy and Chris married 4 years to the day after they met and chose a subtle wedding theme of apples and pretty polka dots. Their wedding day looks so lovely with lots of personal details and beautiful images. I’ll now hand you over to the lovely Lucy who’ll tell you all about her big day.

Our ceremony took place at Eastclose Country House Hotel, Christchurch on the edge of the New Forest National Park. We had exclusive use so it was just us, our friends and family.

Set in 18 acres of beautiful parkland, the boutique hotel is rumoured to have been where author Lewis Carroll created his tales of a certain young Alice (in Wonderland) after hearing of her adventures in the enchanting walled garden, croquet lawn and under the giant beech tree which we think is quite a romantic and charming connection!

Green, White & Grey | Apple & Subtle Polka Dots Real Wedding

I always knew I’d have an Ian Stuart wedding dress. I just love the drama of them and I was right on the money in thinking I wanted a fishtail dress too. The ruched Thai silk, ever so slightly embellished sweetheart neckline (not too much bling!) and oversized flower of my beautiful Seville dress was the simple but effective ‘wow’ factor I was looking to create. The fact that it was preloved made it all the more special – I liked the idea that it had a story of its own before me and that I would be giving it another one. It was my something old!

I thought the younger bridesmaid Charlotte and flower girls would look super cute in tutu style outfits so when I came across Angels Face and subsequently visited its stand at The Designer Wedding Show its fru fru tops and pettiskirts in silver cloud (light grey) were perfect.

My bouquet consisted of stocks, sweetpea, ranunculous, guilder rose, carnation, honeymoon tulips (my favourite!) and brunia berries and I’m still in love with it to this day! I loved how substantial it was.

I met Kelly Spence at The Designer Wedding Show (such a great wedding fair, such a shame it’s no more) shortly after I got engaged. I originally thought I wanted a bouffant 1950s veil – I knew I didn’t want it to go over my face, but that I wanted to wear one as you only get to once! But when I saw her shoulder length French tulle veil with flocked polka dot and tried it on at the show I was sold, as a small polka dot theme had begun to emerge with our wedding. Once I’d chosen my dress it confirmed that it would be perfect so I got in touch with Kelly and ordered my custom made veil. She was so helpful and friendly to deal with, the perfect wedding supplier.

I’ve always had my heart set on a pair of designer shoes for my wedding day but I wanted something I could wear time and time again. So browsing through the Christian Louboutin website one day I came across my showstopping red suede peep toe You You shoes which were the perfect height.

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I wore a silver sixpence in my shoe, as the saying goes – I’d never heard of it before and thought it was a nice little addition.

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.

Chris’ suit colour gave us our colour scheme! He looked so dapper but I kept forgetting to tell him when I reached him at the end of the aisle despite his compliments to me, it was all so overwhelming and it took me a while to get with it! I finally returned the compliment though and I meant every word – I fancied the pants off him on our wedding day (more than usual!)!

You wouldn’t think so, but I got the idea for the fresh apple place settings from TV programme Don’t Tell the Bride! This then led to a slight obsession with all things apple but I was careful (I hope!) not to go too over the top, as I wanted it to be a subtle theme.

I began collecting glass and ceramic apples to be displayed on the various fireplaces in the hotel – who knew there were so many to be had?!

Various sized green, white and grey paper pom poms decorated the ceremony room and the rest of the venue. I wasn’t sure whether to go for chair sashes as the chairs were nice enough but mum was keen so we went for chic grey taffeta.

Our two pageboys wore grey waistcoat and trousers from Monsoon with a granddad collar shirt. They walked down the aisle with a ‘Here comes the bride’ sign I’d handmade from a vintage pillow case, stencil and some grey paint!

My very proud father walked me down the aisle and gave me away in the ceremony – a part of the ceremony I really cherish and I know dad did too.

Our ceremony felt really personal and that was down to our registrar who was fantastic. He put us at ease as well as injecting some humour into proceedings, we really enjoyed it and got lost in the moment.

When we had our photos just the two of us, it was really nice spending that time together before we rejoined everyone. Even if our photographers were there capturing every moment, it felt like just the two of us!

Our friends’ wedding photos by Cotton Candy were so amazing we booked them for our wedding too! We had no doubts whatsoever that they would deliver us equally fantastic wedding photos and they sure as hell did not disappoint! In fact, every time we look at them (which we like to do often!) they make us beam from ear to ear.

The love and laughter they have captured is infectious and we cannot thank them enough for the amazing job they did on our special day.

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I borrowed some red vintage Carvela peep toes from my mum that she’d found in a charity shop so my beautiful Loubis didn’t get ruined – unfortunately hers did, sorry mum!

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The vision for the room we had the wedding breakfast in centered around the magnificently sparkling crystal candelabras that we had on each table as the centrepieces. The glisten of the candelabras was offset brilliantly by the colour pop of the zingy fresh apple place settings, crisp white linen and shiny silver cutlery and glasses. Simple but effective! I was really pleased with the look on the day.

My aunty offered to make our wedding cake and so she did. We were indifferent when it came to wedding cakes so wanted something simple – white icing, three tiers. We don’t like fruit cake so went for madeira sponge with chocolate buttercream in one and toffee in the others mmmmmm. A friend of another aunty of mine knitted us some apple cake toppers which really finished it off! It also had a slight polka dot theme.

Not knowing a huge amount about flowers until this wedding lark, my brief to Jay Archer Floral was seasonal spring flowers in fresh greens, crisp whites and grey. The herb rosemary was a must for fragrance and because it’s mums name!

The best man’s speech was hilarious – you can see from the photos how much we were all laughing, they’re some of my favourite photos. Unfortunately for Chris, the joke was on him – the best man had printed some photos from his stag do and planted them on the tables! They had everyone in stitches, so funny.

Our first dance song was Paul Weller’s ‘You Do Something To Me’, sung by our acoustic singer Dave Barrett. We both love Paul Weller and it was very fitting. We can now associate some very special memories to it!

If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides, what would they be?

DIY really helped make our day memorable for us and added lots of personal touches. I designed and handcrafted our save the dates, stationery and table plan (love doilies!), various signs, here comes the bride sign and canvas activity bags for the kids.

The Wedding Planner for iPad app came in useful throughout the planning – it has a fantastic guestlist function that helps you keep track of who is and isn’t coming as well as the best seating plan feature ever. Check it out!

Don’t sweat the small stuff! Chris’ granddad sadly passed away two days before the wedding which really put things into perspective. Even when one of the crystal candelabras came crashing down throughout the speeches and sent an entire tables contents all over the guests sat at it, through the worry we laughed it off with a glug of wine… eventually!

Remember there’s only so much you can do and there comes a time to relax and what will be will be. Despite everything pretty much being done the day before the wedding, I struggled to relax until the evening when I had my nails done and a glass or two of bubbly. But a nice bath and an early night and I woke up super calm and serene as planned, and what really helped was having a few moments to myself, to collect my thoughts and soak it all up.

And finally, work with great suppliers to make the wedding of your dreams. I truly believe that we worked with some of the best in the business which helped pull off our fabulous big day. Trust is key!

What an amazing wedding! Huge congratulations to the newly married Mr & Mrs Major, such a gorgeous couple and definitely the epitome of a Want That Wedding bride and groom :)

I’d also like to give a quick shout out to their talented wedding photographers Gem & Phil of Cotton Candy Weddings. I look forward to showcasing more of your beautiful work in the future and thanks for sharing!