Hello Monday!

When we were planning the wedding, we got onto the discussion of children. No, not our own – those of the guests! Matt has a lot of children on his side of the family in particular, and so we wanted to find a way to entertain them so they didn’t get bored. After all, bored children = noisy children!

Of course I have been to weddings before where they had politely requested that no children came. I think this is fair enough – the invites said it really nicely and I don’t think anyone was offended. I think its completely up to the bride and groom really – it’s their day after all.

This week I came across a really good post on the subject by wedding ideas and inspiration – check it out – it’s really worth a read!

We decided to keep the mini members of the guest list occupied with goodie bags. These were put together depending on the age and gender of the child.

For the babies we put in little rattles and shakers. For toddlers we put in things like flash cards and cotton reels and colouring books and crayons, and then for the older children we included fuzzy felts, stickers and make your own crown kits.

Early Learning Centre has loads of good stuff you can put in.

All the kids loved their bags – when we walked round we found them all furiously colouring and threading and sticking! And we think their mummies and daddies liked them too – because it meant they could enjoy the party!

We wrote the name of each little person on their own bag and put them on their seat. We had children there from about 6 months onwards, and we wanted them all to have their own personal little bit of the day.

We also got the older cousins involved by asking them to read the Bidding Prayers in the church, which was really lovely.

I don’t think it would be right to talk about kids at the wedding and not give a special mention to Isabella and Annie. Annie in particular was so excited about the wedding that on the day she woke up and said ‘Is it really true? Is it the day of the marra-arge?’ And she certainly enjoyed herself! Annie and Isabella proved themselves to be the little stars of the evening when they both got up and sang with our band!

The two of them were both up there signing into the microphone, and danced all night! X-factor stars of the future?

Love

Emma xx

PS All photos by Sophie Laslett

Hello Bank holiday Monday!

Oh dear…writing this with a bit of a sore head this morning…we all went to Notting Hill Carnival yesterday! Still, onwards we go with my wedding story!

I wasn’t nervous at all about the wedding service itself – I was actually really looking forward to it! But I was REALLY nervous about walking down the aisle!

I had a whole vision of things that could go wrong. I could run out of music, or I could trip up, or I could go at the wrong time… would I cry… the list was endless! Plus as we were getting married in a cathedral, the aisle was REALLY long!

I loved the idea of it, but I was just really nervous at the thought of so many people looking at me (even though that’s the idea!).

It turns out, as with everything I worry about – there is no need to worry. When we arrived, we came through the doors (which open onto the aisle), and I could see all the guests down the bottom end, turning around to have a look. The thing is, the aisle was so long that at this point all they could see were our silhouettes, which I thought was quite cool.

We were all just standing there for what seemed like ages but what was probably only a few seconds – thinking, what do we do?! Do we go? None of us could remember from rehearsal what on earth we were supposed to be doing! Then Father James appeared – what a relief! – and told us all what we had to do.

We had a lovely archway of flowers that we all walked though – we walked down the aisle to the ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’. Matthew is the worlds fastest walker, and as a result I now always walk really fast everywhere (otherwise with him I would get left behind ha!) – so it was really hard for me to not walk really fast and to slow down!

Luckily my dad was brilliant at this, even though there was a couple of times were I was practically dragging him along! Everyone said after how nice it was that we didn’t leg it down the aisle, as it gave them time to see us!

I can’t remember seeing any specific faces because there seemed to be so many – but I do remember seeing Matt at the end and feeling very happy

I didn’t fall over (not that it would have mattered), I didn’t run out of music and I didn’t get lost. All the worrying for nothing. It is one of the nicest parts of the day and you are only going to do it once, so just ENJOY it, and remember how excited everyone is to see you!

Love

Emma xx

Hey wedding lovers!

So while I am still on the getting ready bit of my big day – I thought I would do a little post on what I wore.

So, my dress as I have mentioned before was from Claire Pettibone (Lucia). I got it from Blackburn Bridal Couture in Blackheath in London. You must all go there as Russell and Mandi are fabulous. I’m taking Charlotte!

My dress had a detachable train which was great for the Cathedral but then it came off for the party!

My flowers were from Libby Ferris. I had seen a cover of Cosmo bride with loads of candy coloured roses on it, and I took that in to show her!

I had pink, dark pink, pale yellow, white and a sort of burnt purple roses and the girls had the same but mixed with peonies and just in the pinks.

My something old was a little six pence that the lovely people at the car company gave me, which my dad drilled a little hole in and we tied a blue ribbon through and tied it round my bouquet.

My something borrowed was my mums pearl earrings and my something new was my dress!

My underwear was from Rigby & Pellar – see previous posts where I rave for ages about how great they were!

I did all my own make up, I loved doing it. I had a half hour on my own just sitting there with all my nice new stuff from NARS and Dior and MAC and had a lovely time!

I din’t have a specific colour scheme, I just wanted it all to be as colourful as possible, because it is summer and that’s what summer is about!

My shoes were from Rachel Simpson, I looked for everywhere to find a nice pair of gold sandals and these were perfect. I have to admit though that I changed into a pair of white flip flops from topshop after the dinner!

My jewellery was from Yarwood White, I think the necklace went with the dress perfectly and everyone asked where it was from, they thought it was vintage. My mum got it me for my birthday!

Hope you like!

Love

Emma xx

Hurray Hurray it’s Fri-day…

My wedding tale continues – and today I am all about the hair! All photos by Sophie Laslett (except the first pic which is by my mum).

I was insanely lucky with this. My hairdresser Stuart has done my hair for AGES (since I lived in the Midlands), and I still go back every few weeks to have it done with him. No one in London has ever come close. So not only was I lucky enough that he did my hair (and all the girls and my mum) on the big day, but he came to the wedding too.

When I went up to have my hair trial, I said I wanted to look like a ‘boho Cheryl Cole with a bit of Jennifer Anniston thrown in’. And within half an hour he had done it. No faffing, half an hour and we had it sorted.

I had a little plait across the front (like a picture of Jennifer Anniston I had seen at the Oscars haha) and then he made it all bouffy at the back – back combing it and curling it. I loved it. I added in a couple of lovely little hairclips from Yarwood White and it looked fab.

I will say however that the morning was not without its drama’s… poor Stuart was half an hour late because the hotel car park was in an impossible location that was only slightly harder to find than the holy grail itself… so this led on to a chain of events where all the girls hair was running late too, and so when the flowers/cars/Sophie turned up it was utter chaos, with no one ready and me downstairs in full regalia sorting out room changes and photographs!

So…. make sure you allocate a bridesmaid per thing thats turning up. They can’t help if they don’t understand what is going on and all you can do is stand there looking terrified! So one for flowers, one for cars etc etc. that way everyone is waiting for their own job, and it is easier to control.

Also, and this is REALLY important MAKE SURE EVERY ONE KEEPS THEIR PHONES WITH THEM (including you as I lost mine almost immediately and didn’t find it until the next day) – at one point it was me and Sophie upstairs in my room (which was lovely because I got some nice pics), but no one else! And I couldn’t find anyone! And for some random twist of fate, my room was about a 3 mile walk from reception… which didn’t help!

Anyway. The good news was suddenly everyone turned up at once, including Stuart, to put on my veil. My veil was MASSIVE. My dress was not big, and because I was getting married in such a big venue I needed to add a bit of drama. So I added the biggest veil ever!

This picture makes me laugh – here is Stuart hair spraying my veil up – Mandi from Blackburn Bridal said if I hair sprayed it up then it would stay all bouffy – so here we are in an action hairspray shot!

Note how Cazza is opening Champers. This is EXTREMELY important. My poor mum had bought champagne and orange juice but when all the chaos began we didn’t open it… at the point of hairspraying the massive veil I had gone beyond orange juice and had cracked straight on to practically swigging it out the bottle. Good times…

Another big tip… If, like me you are having ’super-veil’, then make sure someone is on hand to supervise it. By this I mean pick it up.

Alex my MOH did a sterling job until I went out to have my photo taken with the cars after the ceremony… it had rained while we were inside and I trailed it all over the floor and the end got all wet… which made it heavy! She was not impressed I had gone without telling her! This meant that she then had to pick up 1.a wet veil and 2. constantly stop it from going anywhere near my dress!

So always tell your MOH where you are going if it’s wet

Anyway, after half an hour of chaos (including 10 minutes where my mum lost the pin off her flowers – my poor mum, it really was a constant flow of things happening!), everyone was ready, back on time and back on track!

And then we all had a nice glass of champagne.

Then we were ready to start the 3 mile trek down the stairs to leave for the church! Stay tuned….

Love

Emma xxx

I like to think I know a little bit about weddings, so can judge fairly. I am honest with Brides when they ask me what I thought of the day. Emma asked the same…

As you can understand, she doesn’t want any pictures of the day going up until she’s back from Costa Rica (in a few weeks) and has had a chance to look through them all. Not to mention that she hasn’t seen Sophie Laslett’s final pictures either! I can’t wait for those! We even got to do our own Electric Wedding shoot for fun. Thanks Sophie!!

But I want to bring you my highlights of the day….

* Ceremony
When I realised Emma had arrived & looked back to see her stood at the beginning of the aisle under an arch of flowers, I shed my first tears of the day.
I looked over to Matt who looked so excited he was almost bouncing where he stood. At which point I was instructing Rob, in an over excited manner, to take pictures of everything!
“Quick, get Matt.”
“Oh don’t miss Emma.”
“Oh now Matt”
“The BRIDESMAIDS!!!”

* Speeches
Well done all!! They were fantastic! Emma’s dad, Mike, gave a very funny & heartfelt speech about Emma & Matthew which re-lived his memories of his little girl & how Matt asked for his daughter’s hand. I welled up more than a few times!
Alex, the Chief Bridesmaid did a very funny & animated speech about how she knew Emma & her memories of Emma & Matt. There was a lovely picture of Matt wearing something very dodgy & 80’s looking that was passed around!
We also heard from Matt, his dad & the Best Man… all well worthy of a mention as they were great.
I love the speeches & these were brilliant.

* Food
This was the biggest group talking point.
As Emma & Matt are vegetarian, they decided to have a meat free meal. This alone was a topic of converstation, but once it had all been tries.. I can safely say to anyone, including my man- “Book those caterers!!!!”
They were great. And not just the food! They were friendly, helpful & fun.
The Green Grocers, Norwich. I salute you.

* Wedding breakfast
This is especially referring to the table decor, but not forgetting the hanging pom poms.
The flowers were so pretty on each table & we had seeds for wedding favours. I’m gutted as I lost mine! So Em, if you have some spares.. I really wanted to plant them!!!
The best bit & I have to be careful not to steal her thunder here… was The ‘Who’s Who”.
I know how hard this was for Emma & Matt to complete! But it was absolutely well worth it.
Everyone in the room was in the book & it made conversations fun to start & made everyone laugh!

I told Emma exactly what I thought. It was easy!
Oh. Simply. AMAZING.
Well done indeed!!!

A HUGE Thank you to Robert & Jo Conway, Mike & Jane Welch, all the beautiful Bridesmaids & Ushers, plus The best man, Tom & The chief Bridesmaid, Alex. You did a great job & it was perfect!

Can’t wait to see the pics now!

Hurrah!
Charlotte xx

A while back we did a little post on behalf of one of our readers Lucinda – who has a totally gorge dress she would like to sell. She found a buyer who unfortunately fell through, so it is back on the market – and she has reduced it for a quick sale.

Lucinda is getting married in August (congratulations Lucinda!), and has purchased as very fabulous Claire Pettibone gown.

Unfortunately she is now getting married in Venice and the gown isn’t quite right for the venue (lets face it, this isn’t very unfortunate at all is it! Jealous? Us? OF COURSE WE ARE)!

So now she is looking for a new home for her super fabulous dress, and she wants to see it go to a good home because its so beautiful!

The gown is Lucia… It’s a US size 6 (UK size 8-10), and, take it from me, this dress is spectacular.

Check out the dress on Lucinda’s ebay page here

If you are interested, then give us a shout at info@electricwedding.co.uk and we will forward it on to Lucinda.

Be quick, because you have about 30 minutes before I cave and buy it myself – a girl can have more than one wedding dress can’t she?

Good luck!

Love

Emma & Charlotte

I read an article in the Mail online recently (their showbiz column is the best breakfast time reading around!), about a model who had been airbrushed on the cover of Health magazine to make her look  heavier.  Apparently the model had lost so much weight between the initial casting and the shoot, that they had to add inches to her through the photo shopping process to avoid her looking to thin!

The information came to light during a debate over the size zero row, an ongoing issue in the modelling world.

Since I have become engaged, I have probably purchased three times my body weight in wedding magazines, and I have to say, that compared to most fashion magazines I read, the models used in wedding magazines look slightly more real than most (when I say slightly, I mean – at least their ribs aren’t protruding through their dresses. Lets face it, they are still pretty much a vision of unattainable perfection).

This however, has not stopped me from feeling compelled to make myself into a whole new person just for my big day.  With so many things thrown at us – diets, perfect skin, perfect hair, teeth whitening, body wraps, detox’s, facials – the pressure on us brides to look photo perfect for our big day is absolutely ENOURMOUS.  My facebook profile page alone has become a target for every wedding diet plan advert in town! (As I realise that these adverts are targeted at a certain demographic, it had led me to conclude that they assume every engaged girl on facebook is interested in starting some form of weight loss plan).

Indeed, the first thing I did when I got engaged was go on a diet.  I nearly killed myself in the gym (I still am!) because I have convinced myself that I have bingo wings.  Has it worked? Maybe, although no one would ever notice apart from me.  I didn’t have any treats for 3 months and I was pretty miserable.  I was in danger of becoming so hungry that I would be walking down the aisle randomly biting into the guest’s arms, hallucinagenicly mistaking them for cheese and pickle baguettes.

I have now reached the conclusion that yes, exercise is good and eating healthy is very important but as long as you do these two things, your size is was it is.  I am supposed to be this size. I will never be super skinny (it’s easy to write this now, but wait until my next attack of the bridal body blues – then it aint so easy!).

The second thing I did was go out and buy myself a £95 pot of face cream.  This cream is well known and adored by celebrities the world over.  Fresh off a long haul flight, I stared at my haggard reflection and lathered on the cream, expecting to suddenly transform into a Cheryl Cole style glowing vision.

It gave me the worst dry skin I had ever had.

4 weeks later, I switched back to my trusty Olay beauty cream – £4.99? Love it.

My point in all of this is that – yes it’s nice to buy beautiful make up and treat ourselves to a nice moisturiser.  Yes its lovely to go to spa days as a treat,  yes its lovely to eat healthily and its essential to partake in a bit of exercise a few of times a week (yoga? I’m its biggest fan. I am in fact training to become a teacher…)

BUT

At the end of the day, when you walk down the aisle you will look more beautiful than you ever have before, and that’s because you happiness will shine through.

So brides, lets give ourselves a break.  The best beauty treatment you can ever have, where people will give you the most compliments, is a smile.  And you don’t get a smile from eating lettuce 3 times a day do you?

Bring on the cake (and the cheese board… I can’t wait for mine!)

Love

Emma xxx

PS What is your view on Bridal Boot Camps? A quick win or a week of torture? Charlotte and I are currently researching this topic and want to hear your views!

My favourite piece of jewellery that I own is a pink ‘Emma’ necklace that I got from Tatty Devine.

Everytime I have worn it someone had asked me where I got it from!

Anyway the reason I wanted to write about the necklace today was I thought they would make fabulous bridesmaid gifts!

You can choose from five different letter styles: Billboard, Bloody, Ladybug, Original and Sundae.

You can then choose from over 25 different colours and also choose your charm! You can choose from a heart, star or lightning bolt.   Mine is Sundae writing with a heart charm.

Check them out:

And if you want to go that little bit extra, then you can have your letters in glitter, or mirrored silver or gold!

You could get the necklaces in the bridesmaid names, or if you are feeling creative, think of some wedding words to design the necklaces around! I know what I am having.  But I can’t tell of course, because that would ruin the girls surprise!

Visit Tatty Devine and get yours now!

Love

Emma xx

As any of you who have already read my flower girl post will know, when I was 5, the only thing that was important to me in the world was becoming a bridesmaid. Alas, this dream has not come true, and despite numerous letters, Jimmy Saville didn’t quite manage to fix it for me.  I now have forced my sister into agreeing to have me when she gets married, and every day sit and hope that one of my close friends will get engaged!

However, when I started looking for dresses for my own bridesmaids, I wasn’t so sure that this was an ambition I still wanted to fulfil.

Have you seen what’s out there?!

So at this point I should probably introduce my team bride…

Alex – my maid of honor.  Have been friends since the first year of uni when they were the only ones left in reading week and Alex had broken her leg.  Alex has red hair, likes dramatic makeup (red lips, eye liner) and the 50s is her favourite era.

Helen - my sister.  Has no choice about being bridesmaid as I have already said I am being hers in order to fulfill Jim’ll Fix It dream.  Helen has dark hair, always has a nice suntan (in contrast to my milk bottle like complexion, gah), and is very on trend in her style. Has just moved to a house where she has a walk in wardrobe (I hate her a little bit).

Cazza – became friends when we all went on a camping holiday to Norfolk and we discovered we both used to play the pedal organ when we were teenagers (yep, we were really cool).  Style icons include Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg, and her style is vintage chic.

Rachael – met the same night I met Matt, at the now infamous Primal Scream gig at Brixton Acadamey.  Rachael has recently acquired a very 20s style short haircut and is a big fan of a wicked dress – she owns over 45.  Her style is comfortable cool.

Alex - Maid of Honour - Style = 50s fabulous

Cazza - Style = Vintage Chic

Helen - my sister - Style = bang on trend

Rachel - Style = cool and comfy

Four very different girls, with four very different personalities.

This was not an easy task.  All of my girls had an idea of what they wanted, and of course, each idea was different.  Of course it was going to be different.  If it was the same, they would all look like each other and be the same person!  

I had no intention of putting them in something they hated or felt uncomfortable in.  That would be awful for them and make them miserable.  But the problem is, that when you put all the ideas together, the list of requests looked like this:

No strapless,  not long, not short, something sexy, pretty not sexy, something that gives a waist, something that isn’t too structured, something simple, something different, no green.

So how do you get a dress that everyone likes that suits everyone?

The first idea that came to me was that everyone has a different dress in the same colour.  Now, this would be ok if I had more time, but it was January and the wedding was six months away.  I couldn’t take four girls shopping together for a different dress for each of them – it would be chaos.  But I couldn’t take them on their own because I simply didn’t have enough free weekends! 

Next idea, dresses that were in the same palette of colours but not the same dress.  I had seen loads of pictures of girls in artfully mismatched dresses in wedding magazines.  They looked lovely.  The reality of it was, it was too much of a faff.  There, I’ve said it.  If I had a stylist then great, but I don’t, I have four girls and limited time and it was not appealing.

I also had this bee in my bonnet that high street dresses wouldn’t be any good because they wouldn’t fit correctly.  I thought I had to get proper measured dresses.

After 6 weeks of scouring the internet in a state of sheer panic, I found (or shall I say, thought I had found), the answer.  I found a dress from the Dessy range of bridemaids dresses which was perfect.  What is more, it could be brought in different styles if it didn’t look right on some of them.  It all seemed ideal. 

The first place on the list that stocked Dessy in London was a place called JS Couture.  As with wedding dresses, the first free appointment was 6 weeks away. It was cutting it fine, but if I ordered the dresses by end of Feb there would enough time.

So all the girls cleared their diaries for the end of Feb and that was that.

Or so I thought.

The day before the big appointment, I get a call from JS Couture.  They just thought they would ‘let me know’ that they are no longer stocking the dress I wanted to try on. Or even Dessy at all.  There was a short silence while I sat for approximately 5 seconds taking this in.  Politely I asked, ‘is there any reason why you are telling me this, the day before my appointment? The appointment I had waited 6 WEEKS for?’ 

Apparently they only found out that week.  It didn’t matter to me. 6 weeks wasted.  Of course, they had many other dresses in stock. That were all over £275. 

There was a second, smaller, 3 second delay before I let loose a rage that I never knew was within me! I had become the bridezilla I never knew existed.  6 weeks wasted, and now there was no time to order anything.  Even if I went to another Dessy shop Id never get an appointment in time.

I still had the girls free for the day, so I had no choice.  Crash helmets on – it was off to Oxford Street to brace myself for a high street assult like no other.

I would like to point out at this stage that Dessy dresses are still lovely dresses, so if you can get an appointment do. But JS Couture? Sorry guys, you suck.

Dessy Dresses

At this point, I was on the verge of a bridal breakdown!  I sat at my desk at work frantically staring round and calling people at random who weren’t picking up.  I could have been calling the speaking clock or the police for all I knew.  Then my mate Kate comes over and sees me looking rather distressed – and in a second says… ‘Get in the car, we can go to Brent Cross now. Its late night shopping, we can try on loads of dresses and then pick them in advance to make it easier for you on Saturday.’

Another person who I am eternally grateful to, and who is an absolute legend.

What followed was Kate and I stalking round Brent Cross at 9pm on a Thursday, taking armfuls of dresses into fitting rooms, and trying them on simultaneously while walking up and down the changing rooms pretending it was an ailse.

It hindsight I can laugh about this whole story, but at the time I can assure you I could not!

My ridiculous idea that the high street wasn’t going to deliver was utter nonsense.  I need to big up the following retailers; Monsoon, Reiss, Topshop and Coast for having the best Brent Cross teams going.

Saturday rolled around, and off to Oxford Street we went.  Having tried most of the high street on myself, I was able to steer the girls in the direction of the best dresses for them, and as a result the whole process was ten times quicker.  By lunchtime we were happily sat in China Town with a dim sum lunch and 4 dresses purchased.  

I am still on a crusade to find a reasonably priced bridesmaid dress stockists (or every day boutique or shop), that sells nice dresses.  There are tonnes of these places on American websites but the UK is lacking.  Are you one? Or did you get yours from one?

Answers on a postcard to emma@electricwedding.co.uk – I am not letting this one slide.  After all, my bridesmaid moment is still to come!

The winning shop for my bridesmaid winning purchase? Monsoon.  They all look gorgeous.  Which dress did we get?

Nope, still not telling! Stay tuned and you’ll see!

Love

Emma xxx

I thought I would write about one of the most fun things I have done whilst planning the wedding,and that is getting the outfit for my flower girl!

I have always wanted to be a bridesmaid, ever since I can remember.  When I was 5 I was writing to Jim’ll Fix It every week asking for him to fix it for me to be one.  By the time I was 6 I was so desperate I asked my mum if she would be an ad in the local paper.  I just wanted to wear a big poofy dress and pretend I was a princess.

Alas, my time never came, and so I pledged that if I ever had a flower girl I would put her in the most princess like dress ever.  And so I have.

Isabella is the daughter of my oldest friend Lizzie who I have known since I was 3.  She is 2 and a half, and so will be a very grown up 2 and three quarters when on the big day.

I have worked in the toy industry for some years now and so have been aware for some time of a gorgeous little girls fancy dress supplier called Lucy Locket.

Lucy Locket make the most beautiful flower fairy dresses you have ever seen, and I think they make unique flower girl dresses!

Isabella will be wearing a hot pink fairy tutu with matching butterfly wings and halo.

And to finish it off, no boring bouquet for her. She will carry her very own butterfly wand, complete with ribbons.

She may well end up upstaging me!

And finally, get a little teddy bear version! Perfect for a little flower girl pressie!

Altogether now….Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Emma xx