Cornwallis Hotel Wedding, Suffolk -Tina & Steve’s big day

Just before Christmas I travelled between both Norfolk and Suffolk to shoot the wedding of  Tina & Steve. They were married at Tharston Church near Long Stratton and then hosted a reception at the Cornwallis Hotel near Diss.

WHERE: We chose to get married at Tharston Church, as this is where my parents married. Steve and I also met just round the corner at work so it seemed an ideal choice. Our reception was held at the Cornwallis hotel in Brome near Eye.  I chose the Cornwallis as it had open fires and loads of character and had a really lovely Christmas feel.

THEME/STYLE:  I always wanted to have a winter wedding especially at Christmas. The thought of snow and Christmas trees and candles just seemed so romantic. I chose red as the colour scheme as this was a traditional Christmas colour and also the colour of mine and Steves birthstones.

BRIDE’S DRESS:  I bought it from La Crème in Norwich.  La Crème was the last place I visited, when Lucy pulled the dress from the rail I immediately got excited by it. When I tried the dress on and saw how lovely it looked and what a fantastic shape it gave me  I new that this was the dress for me.  The dress was ivory taffeta, I loved the lace on the side of the dress and how it was quite fitted at the top and then swooped out just below the hips. Lucy placed a cathedral length veil in my hair and this just looked amazing.

BRIDE’S SHOES: I love shoes what girl doesn’t? I new that I would never wear ivory shoes again so I decided to go for something a bit different I found some red sparkly shoes with bows on, my “Dorothy shoes” I called them. They were perfect and matched the colour scheme, everyone loved them.

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES: I wanted something quite specific for the flowers girls so Steves mum kindly made their dresses for me. As it was cold they needed something to keep them warm so we designed a hand muff and cape which was lined with fur. Inside the muffs I had placed a hand warmer to keep them warm during the church service. My sister wore a black dress bought from la Belle Angele this looked very nice next to the men’s black suits.

JEWELLERY/ACCESSORIES: I could not afford to buy real diamonds so  I bought some Swarvoski crystal earrings for me and my sister and found a Swarvoski tiara to match as well.

WEDDING RINGS: Steve had a palladium wedding band and I had Platinum, we wanted very plain rings.

HAIR: My hairdresser Carly did my hair for me. I always wear my hair down and wanted to go for a style that still looked like me.

MAKE-UP: I was so pleased with my make-up. I found my makeup artist on the internet and had a trial with her about a year before my wedding. Melissa is so talented and knows the tricks of the trade. Melissa made me look nicely polished which complemented the style of my dress.

GROOM/GROOMSMEN: Steve’s best friend James was Best Man and my brother Robert was an usher. They did a fantastic job between them on the day and looked very smart in their suits.

WEDDING FAVORS/BONBONNIERE: Me and my sister Michelle made 60 gingerbread men the day before the wedding. I also placed jars of candy canes on the table for people to nibble on. The children had white party boxes with presents inside to keep them occupied.

FLOWERS: My auntie used to be a florist and offered to do my flowers for me. This saved me quite a bit of money as I only had to purchase the flowers. I bought the flowers from the market in Norwich and chose Grand-Prix roses. They were beautiful large red roses that were like velvet and looked stunning.

CEREMONY DÉCOR DETAILS: I like traditional Christmas decorations like holy and ivy and candles. So my mum and other ladies at the church decorated it with lots of greenery and candles every where. And on the pew ends there were tall posts with greenery and mores candles as you looked down the aisle it was quite stunning and very festive.

RECEPTION DÉCOR DETAILS: Following the candle theme I kept the table decorations quite simple and sourced some candelabras to feature in the middle of the tables. It was quite dark by the time we sat down to eat so this created a nice glowing atmosphere for our guests. I also sourced some chair covers and sashes which to help glam the chairs up.

CAKE: Steve’s nan made our wedding cake. It had a layer of fruit, sponge and chocolate. I picked some beads and crystals from a local craft shop and Steve’s mum made the garlands and decoration on top to dress the cake. It was finished with some edible glitter and sparkled next to the Christmas tree.

WEDDING SONGS: I  spent many hours looking for a piece of music to walk down the aisle to and my sister came up with ‘Hoppipolla’ by Sigur Ros. This was such a beautiful piece of music and really made an entrance. As it was Christmas I wanted Christmas carols and chose ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’. These are some of my favourite and well known by all.

STATIONERY/INVITATIONS: Steve and I made our own invitations this was quite a lengthy process but saved us a lot of money. We made plain white invitations on card I decide to complicate it by getting Steve to cut out  more card to make fancy envelopes to slot the invitation in. The best bit was the wax seal I used to close them up with.

FOOD & DRINKS: We had mulled wine and roasted chestnuts and mince pies which went down well as it was cold and warmed everyone up after sitting in the cold church.

HONEYMOON: Steve and I spent Christmas in Stratford-Upon-Avon – just a short break after a hectic time organising the wedding. It was lovely to get away for Christmas and just spend quality time together.