Heather was really generous with her account of the wedding day, sharing details and secrets of how they planned a beautifully inclusive and intimate day for all their family and friends. I’ll hand over to Heather to share her story.
“We wanted to have a planet-friendly and homemade wedding, keeping as many things UK-based as possible – the company who made our rings, wedding favours, and refreshments. In addition to the vintage dress, rented kilt, homemade veil and bouquet, our centre pieces were wooden roses in old beer bottles that the guests took home and the wedding favours were personalised tea towels.
“
I was lucky and found the perfect dress at a Vintage Wedding Fair in London, which is held every couple of months at the Olympia Hilton in Kensington. They sell beautiful wedding dresses from all eras for every budget, with shoes, bags, hats and accessories to match. (There are regular vintage fashion fairs held in the Hammersmith Town Hall that have a few bridal items featured) The dress is handmade with lace and silk from the 1960s and fit perfectly – no alterations needed!
“I got the idea to
make my wedding bouquet out of vintage buttons, so every trip we went on the six months before the wedding I collected buttons from various craft, charity and vintage shops.
I made the birdcage veil by buying hair clips and a flower from Accessorize and bought the veil netting on ebay.
[It's such a beautiful bridal look - Heather is already stunning and the veil and accessories just look so pretty. Check the links below, Heather's shared info on a tutorial to make the veil too! - Claire]Titus, being from Scotland wore
a rented kilt in Thomson tartan along with his brothers and nephews.
“We had an afternoon ceremony at our local church. The day before the wedding, I had a cupcake making party with my friends and we served these with refreshments after the ceremony. Titus and I went to Hyde Park after with the photographers and then we had dinner with our guests at
The Grove, a Mediterranean restaurant that uses a lot of organic ingredients and is a short walk away from the church.
[The proudest of proud dads, Heather's dad wears his heart on his sleeve - smiling fit to burst and sharing tears as well, this is what a wedding day is all about. I have to confess to welling up a little as I blog this wedding - and he's why. That pride in his girl...]“We found a fantastic company that made our wedding bands from old coins – mine is a a six pence piece and Titus’ is a shilling.
“
The personal touches really made a difference to the day. One of our guests surprised us with beautiful flowers and button holes at the church as we hadn’t arranged for any. Another guest gave everyone party poppers to use when we walked into the restaurant. We happened to also get married on Titus’ birthday (may he never forget an anniversary) so everyone sang happy birthday to him at the church and his mum surprised him with a birthday cake at the restaurant. Since I am from Canada, Titus from Scotland and we met in Japan, our friends and family came from seven different countries… only three guests at the dinner actually live in London!
The shoes were harder to choose than the dress. I don’t wear heels and didn’t want to buy a pair of shoes that I would only wear for one day so finally decided on a pair of gladiators from Schuh.
Advice for English Wedding readers from Heather
“We really wanted to keep things simple and took out a lot of things that weren’t as important for us. We emailed invitations, didn’t have a bridal party, formal speeches, wedding cake, or first dance. A lot of people gave advice and suggestions about what we “should” do for a wedding but we stuck with what we wanted and ended up enjoying the day with close friends and family because of this. What mattered was spending the day with our loved ones, having good food, and having great photographs to remember the day by.”
Heather and Titus – recommended wedding suppliers
Kilt Supplier www.highlanderkilthireltd.co.uk
Grove Restaurant www.groverestaurants.co.uk
Buttons in London www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk
Button bouquets www.buttonmoonbouquet.co.uk/bridal-bouquet
Button bouquet DIY www.hitched.co.uk/Chat/forums/t/188726
Birdcage Veil DIY www.oncewed.com/9492/wedding-blog/diy-wedding/diy-wedding-birdcage-veil/
Vintage Bridal Fairs in London www.londonvintagebridalfair.co.uk
Vintage Fashion Fair www.pa-antiques.co.uk/londonvintagefashionfair
Tea towels www.weddingteatowels.co.uk
Wedding Rings www.hairygrowler.co.uk
Organic Bevvies www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk
Photographers greenolivewedding.co.uk
Thank you Heather and Titus for sharing, and Green Olive Wedding Photography for submitting such a wonderful wedding for my blog. This is what English Wedding is all about – we’re a creative melting pot, we love romance and we love love, we love dads and families and friends and making things, and making things this special.
And we so love that hug!
There’s even more here… www.greenolivewedding.co.uk/blog/note/2011/06/wedding-heather-and-titus
