Wild AT HEART
Article printed in Northern Ireland Wedding Journal, Spring 2012
"Wanting a relaxed and romantic feel to their wedding day, Laura and Ben hosted their reception in a field under themed Tipis decorated with wild flowers and ivy… "
" Blind dates can so easily go wrong, but for Ben and Laura, their first blind date was the beginning of something very special as Laura reveals: “We met in London on a blind date set up by my cousin who is a great friend of ours. It was pretty much love at first sight, although I didn’t like the shirt he was wearing!”
Two years later, while enjoying a romantic Champagne picnic in a park in London, Ben proposed. “ I had an inkling that he might propose then,” reveals Laura, “but we finished up and got on our bikes to pedal home, me feeling a little despondent that he hadn’t popped the question! Then, as we were cycling side-byside down a quiet residential street, he asked if I wanted to hear a poem he had made up. He then said: “Violets are blue, roses are red, I would be ecstatic if me you would wed.” I nearly fell off my bike!”
Confessing that she likes to leave things to the last minute, wedding plans were slow to get under way, but Laura explains that despite this, everything seemed to just fall into place.
Laura’s first task was to choose her wedding dress, a truly bespoke creation as she reveals: “My God-mother made it, but I designed it. I tried on a few dresses in London and took all the bits I loved about each dress and put them into the design for mine. It was silk, in a creamy ivory shade with a fantastic gold lace panel in the back. The little sleeves were also made from lace and it featured a low back with buttons down to my tailbone. It is beautiful and everything I had envisaged. It really encapsulated my style and character.”
The pretty flower girl dresses were from Monsoon, with cream trousers and a white linen shirt for the pageboys from M&S. Wanting something a little different for her bridesmaid Clare, Laura chose a strapless, peach puffball dress from the Anthropolgie wedding website in America.
Ben wore tails from Parsons & Parsons, a fitted white shirt, brown brogues, a blue tie from Reiss and a double-breasted taupe waistcoat from a boutique in London.
Best man Dave and the 10 groomsmen also wore tails.
Outfits sorted, it was time to plan the wedding and reception. The family’s local church in Inch was the obvious choice for the ceremony, but the reception venue was anything but ordinary.
Following their dreams of a relaxed and romantic wedding day, Laura and Ben planned on using Tipis for their wedding reception. “We wanted a very relaxed wedding and something a bit different but also with that ‘wow’ factor,” she reveals. “So we booked five Tipis from Magnakata and placed them in a field overlooking a lake.
“We wanted to use wild flowers in the Tipis and lots of ivy draped along the tent poles,” Laura continues. “We also had lots of dried lavender. My mum and her friends did incredible displays in the church fit for the royal wedding! Petals and Pots did fabulous bouquets and twisted willow and daisies for the flower girls heads as well as the men’s buttonholes. Courtney understood completely what I was after and they were better than I could of imagined! Blue Moon Event Design did a fantastic job of decorating the inside of the Tipis.”
This couple’s taste for the unconventional continued with their choice of wedding cars – Laura’s God-father’s vintage car to take her to the church and a tractor and trailor to transport the newly weds from the church to the reception.
Even their wedding cake was a break from the norm. The bottom layer was a whole Swiss cheese made by friends in Switzerland who kindly gave it to the couple as a wedding present; the middle layer was fruit, made by Laura’s mum and decorated by her aunt and the top layer was chocolate made by a friend.
For the lunch reception meal, guests enjoyed canapés, followed by a main course of cold fillet of beef with mint and mustard dressing, new potatoes and salad. With tart tatin and salted caramel ice cream for dessert.
Being a wine merchant Laura was very particular about the wine being served on the day: “The wine was very personal as that is my passion, and I knew what I wanted to drink for years,” she explains.
“I picked a 2007 Crement de Bourgogne, Dufouleur Pere et Fils. It is quite rare to get a vintage Cremant. It is made in the same way as Champagne using the same grapes and miles better than a lot of Champagnes but hugely better value. A fantastic sparkling that I got Tindal Wines to import especially and now we stock it.
“My favourite wine region is Burgundy and as we were having fillet of beef, I had to pick a great red to match it. As it was a lunchtime wedding, I didn't want anything too heavy, so a 2005 Cotes de Beaune Villages from Bouchard Pere et Fils, fitted the bill perfectly. Medium to light bodied, with bright red fruits, a great complexity and an amazing length - absolutely delicious!”
And with good wine, comes good entertainment, provided on the day by Irish band Pure Blarney who also Dj’d.
In keeping with their afternoon wedding, Laura and Ben chose ‘Afternoon Delight’ by Starland Vocal Band as their first dance. “We had a lunch reception so it seemed apt, and we love that song! It felt ecstatic,” recalls Laura.
“Throughout the day, looking around at all our friends and family who all seemed to be having a wonderful time was just fantastic.”
THE LITTLE DETAILS
VENUE STYLING & DRESSING: Blue Moon Event Design, www.bluemooneventdesign.com
CATERING: Provided by Catherine Pringle, Wedding Caterer
WINE: Supplied by Tindal Wine Merchants, www.tindalwine.com
WEDDING DRESS: Designed by Laura and made with love by her God-mother
GROOMSWEAR: Tails from Parsons & Parsons
BOUQUETS & BUTTONHOLES: Petals and Pots, www.petalsandpots.co.uk
WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY: Dylan McBurney, www.dylanmcburney.com
