This is a wedding where the most important element is people — being surrounded by the people in their lives was a top priority for Emily and Laurence. They were lucky to have a gloriously sunny day (back in September of 2012) and their wedding photographer Darren Williams joined them at Bodrhyddan Hall for some beautiful wedding day images.
Emily has shared her wedding report to go along with the images of the wedding day. I hope you enjoy the read! It would be wonderful if you could leave a comment for Emily and Laurence too — they’re a fab couple and I know I’ve really enjoyed reading about their wedding day. Enjoy! Claire xxx
A wedding in North Wales: Laurence & Emily Bailey
Wedding venue: Kinmel Manor Hotel, Abergele, North Wales. Such lovely group of staff we dealt with there. Food was yummy too! Would totally recommend.
We used Bodrhyddan Hall (Rhuddlan) for our Wedding photographs. We’d visited the manor house and fell in love with it and ever since I was determined to have it part of our wedding day photographs. The gardens there are just stunning. We really hoped the weather would be good to have photos there and 7th September when we got married was probably the sunniest, hottest day of the summer! Very fortunate.
Wedding photographer: Darren Williams Wedding Photography
So glad we chose such an amazing photographer. Being quite a fussy bride when it comes to photographs, I was blown away with how well he captured our special day! A good photographer is ESSENTIAL!
A little about the wedding ceremony
We were married at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Prestatyn. It was so lovely. The Minister who took the ceremony has known me since I was about 2 and both of us right through our courtship so it was very personal to us. We had just over 140 at the ceremony! There was so much excitement and happiness there. It was the best. All our favorite people together!
The Minister picked out scriptures about how we can really blend together as a married couple. Eg Colossians 3:14 which says: beside all these things, clothe yourself with love, for it is a perfect bond of union. Also, 1 Corinthians 13:4–8.
Tell us a little about your wedding venue styling and details
Our venue theme was baby pink and blue. We had uplighting onto a ceiling with drapes. Beautiful floral centrepieces that our florists kindly did for us. We had simple white favour boxes with curled ribbon in pink and blue filled with little creme eggs! Little gems on the tables and activity books for the children to keep them occupied. The table plan and place names were also DIY jobs that took nights of sticking down gems and printing but I was so pleased with the results. It was all part of the excitement going to the venue the day before with all the wedding party who’d travelled over to spend some time together setting up the venue! Loved it.
Invitations and wedding reception stationery:
Our invitations were postcard style invites. We ordered them online at such a good price. I designed them myself with a template I found online and found a deal where we had all 200 invites printed for under £25! They were lovely!
Wedding music and entertainment:
As a zumba instructor, we had some zumba routines included throughout the evening DJ’ing which went down a treat. We’re both surrounded by family & friends who love any opportunity to get up and dance the night away… and we did… until 2am!
What did you wear?
My Dress was a Jasmine dress style code: F420. The last dress I would’ve picked in the shop. The shop assistant insisted I tried it on and I’m so glad she did… LOVED IT! My shoes were Benjamin Adams shoes and accessories from Debenhams. I was SO stuck over how I wanted my hair. I have very curly, thick long hair and my hairdresser did the most gorgeous curls on the morning of the wedding. I slept with rollers in and just wanted it big and curly with my veil in. She did it beautifully.
Laurence wore a Hugo Boss Suit. He then had it tailored to fit him. His tie was from Paul Smith, pocket square and shirt from Reiss.
Memorable wedding day moments:
Where to start? We loved every last bit. For me, to have all my bridesmaids and family there for the morning was just the best way to start the day. I’m a bit of an organisation freak and made sure there was an itinerary stuck to the fridge for everyone to follow! We had a beautiful wedding ceremony. I think because it was personal to us. I think above it all was our speeches. They were so, so lovely! The best man was Laurence’s brother Jeremy. Between him, my Dad and Laurence, everyone was between tears and laughter. It was so great to sit back and see the day you’ve planned for just under a year all come together and go even better than I’ve ever imagined. Everyone was just so happy to be together.
Wedding day advice:
- Don’t go over the top. Spend on the things that really matter to you. My main things were my dress, my bridesmaids and the photographer.
- I was happy to settle for a venue that originally I may not have considered but decided we rather have all the people we want there rather than pay the world for less.
- I had no idea on color or themes or anything but it was as soon as I saw the bridesmaid dresses that I knew they were the ones I wanted.
- Don’t panic too much… I was glued to my to do list right back from December 2011 and that was my lifesaver.
- I was able to tick off most big things early on so this kept the stress levels down. In fact, I can honestly say I absolutely LOVED planning my wedding.
- Just enjoy it and have all the people who matter there. I want to do it all over again!
Recommended wedding suppliers:
- Bridesmaid Dresses: Coast
- Wedding Dress: Cariad Bride in Abergele. Sara the owner is AMAZING!
- Photographer: Darren Williams Wedding Photography
- Florist: Darren Edgley Florist, Craig Y Don
- Hair: Emma at Ash Hairdressing, Craig Y Don