Up, up and Away! Bright Balloons And Red Shoes For A Fun and Colourful Wizard of Oz Inspired Bride

Good morning beautiful! May we assist you into a new day with an early morning colour explosion – and plenty of balloons! Katie and Ben's wedding took place on 29th September, 2012 at Southwood Hall in Norwich, Norfolk.  I love this wedding for so many reasons – the fun and energy that runs through the photographs taken by multi-award winning photographer Ross Harvey, the bright and colourful nature of the day and, is it just me or is there more than a touch of the elegant Ms Hepburn about Katie?

"Our plan was to have a colourful wedding. Nothing about muted tones of pastel shades worked for either of us and we really wanted to be bright and bold and most importantly have the most fun we could with the people we love.  Having had a life-long love of The Wizard of Oz I knew I wanted to wear red shoes and that is where the colour started.

In terms of decor we used lots of flowers in glass jars, vintage suitcases from the lofts of family members, and handmade tissue paper pom poms hanging from the rafters."

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"Ben and I met at work, although we no longer work together. After a few dates we felt very comfortable being together and never looked back.  We got engaged in New York on our third anniversary. Ben had a plan and I had no idea. I desperately wanted to experience Broadway, it was high on my list of things to do in New York.

After a show on the Saturday night, Ben convinced me to sit a while and soak up the atmosphere as the theatre emptied. He then asked me to marry him, with a beautiful ring that he had taken a lot of care finding in North London, where we live.  We then went to a review bar where the staff took their turn belting out show tunes, it couldn’t have been a better way to get engaged."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"We chose our venue, Southwood Hall, as it is only a few miles from the village where I grew up. We wanted somewhere that allowed us to have everyone we loved with us all the time for the day, gave us flexibility in catering and dressing the room and could allow us to reflect our personalities.

Southwood gave us all that and more. One thing I really wanted was the famous Norfolk sunset to be in our photos, if mother nature performed on the day, and Southwood’s setting made for some fantastic photos as the sun went down." 

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"My dress was by Candy Anthony.  The fifties shape is one that I love and wear often, it works for my shape and is something that I feel really comfortable in. I knew I wanted to have red shoes but initially had thought that would be the only red that would be involved.

When I went to the first appointment the amazing staff convinced me to try the red petticoats, I already had the shoes and the colour match was perfect. The minute I tried it on I loved the fact that the dress was white and you could only see flashes of the red as I moved or sat down. I loved the idea that when I sat down to sign the register anyone that hadn’t noticed would have a huge flash of red.

The dress felt like a perfect reflection of me and how I wanted the day to be."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"I bought my veil online, through an Etsy store. I wanted a birdcage veil to work with the fifties look.  My shoes were from LK Bennett – they were the special edition red Shilo court shoes."

Readers – Franky and I are a little obsessed with the LK Bennett Shilo shoe – so chic and classy, so unbelievably comfortable. I own a pair in patent black and patent navy blue and am coveting a pair in red!

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"I wore pearls that my Grandmother lent me (I haven’t given them back yet!) and a few sparkly pins in my hair from Accessorize."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"I went to Ann at Blofield Florist because she has produced so many beautiful bouquets for me in the past.  I really wanted the flowers to be bright and colourful and took a bit of a mood board in to Ann when I went to see her. She was brilliant and came up with loads of other thoughts and suggestions.  I really wanted to have my two late grandparents represented on the day and Ann worked in one while rose for my staunch Yorkshire Grandad and an Iris for my Nannie as that was her name. I was so pleased with the result and it really made the bouquet felt so personal to me.

The bridesmaid bouquet was a slightly smaller version of mine and Maisie had an adorable wand for her fairy outfit.  Ann also supplied cut flowers for the tables that we put into bottles and jars, that had been collected by family and friends, the day before the wedding.

All the boys had red roses and our mums both had beautiful corsages, I was over the moon with the flowers."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"Our photographer was Ross Harvey. Ross was amazing. We immediately warmed to him and felt that he understood the type of photography we wanted to remember our day by. I had the image in my head of a photo of me with some coloured balloons walking away from the camera which was inspired by a photo I had taken at Disney land a few years before.

Ross was great and took the idea into all sorts of different places, he came up with all the other shots using the balloons and loads of other incredible images. He was fantastic on the day, really putting us both at ease and capturing some heartfelt moments. Our photos really capture the spirit of our wedding and are a wonderful memory of a fantastic day."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"My makeup artist, James Weber, was brilliant at understanding the look I wanted to achieve, capturing the fifties feel without verging into a fancy dress feel.  He made me feel like an absolute princess and was so much fun to have around as we were getting ready.

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"My bridesmaid Beccy's dress was from Vivienne of Holloway and she wore shoes from Hobbs.  We wanted Beccy’s dress to compliment mine but not be too themed. We tried a variety of colours but decided green was the one we liked the most.

My mum made Maisie’s dress. Maisie was three when we asked her to be a flower girl, so still very little and I wanted to make it fun for her. I asked her if she watned to be a princess or a fairy and after some careful consideration she decided on fairy. So we went the whole way, she had some beautiful wings and her flowers were wrapped around a wand."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"My Dad Pete walked me down the aisle to the sound of Israel Kamakawio’ole's 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"My University friend Tom read the Poem 'The Day I Married My Best Friend', which is the poem that I read at his wedding some years before.  Ben’s school friend, Will, read 'The Relationship Promise', by Luke Wright.

We had Jackie Wilson's 'Your love is lifting me higher' as our first dance! We didn’t want a slow track and we don’t have “a song” so we wanted to find something uplifting and celebratory. We were really pleased with it."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"All the boys had red Paul Smith socks for the day and a red and white striped tie from Hawes and Curtis."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"Our invitations had been designed by my uncles and they let me have the elements of that to use in everything else.

The table plan was a notice board with handmade, hand written (by me) cards. Place names were luggage tags that I re-strung with red or green butchers string and again, handwritten by me. I used a lot of red and white striped wallpaper for the confetti cones that I made and all the table names. The tables were named after fictional places."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"Our venue Southwood Hall catered with sausage and mash.  My Mum will always be the best baker to me and there was never any doubt that she would make my wedding cake.

Neither of us like fruit cake and Mum’s Victoria sponge has always been my favourite so it made sense to have that. I asked her if she could make a massive sponge and then we decided that it should be tiered and it looked amazing. It was a dessert for the wedding breakfast and there was none left, which I was a bit disappointed about!"

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"We didn’t do table favours but as the evening kicked off we put out a suitcase of flip flops that I had been collecting for some time for the ladies in heels. Some for the boys ended up wearing them too."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

"Some of my favourite moments of the day included the moment that I woke up and knew it was my wedding day, the moment I saw Ben turn around as I got to the bottom of the aisle, my Dad’s speech, Ben’s speech, standing on a chair on the side of the dance floor as the party was going on all around me and seeing everyone I love dancing and having fun, but ending the day as Mrs Ingram was a wonderful feeling."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"I think there are a lot of pressures and expectations of things you “should” do and they can cloud what it is that you want to do. You have to be really strong and stand up for the ideas you have and the way you want the day to go as a couple.

Be careful with your budget too, it is easy to be convinced that you simply won’t have a great day unless you spend a fortune on all the things on offer. People want to help so make the most of the skills of the people around you and you can make a lot of the things you can buy for half the price.

Most importantly have fun and enjoy every moment of the day."

Wizard of Oz inspired wedding, red wedding shoes, colourful wedding, colourful wedding balloons, Candy Anthony, red petticoat, Photography by Ross Harvey

Find more inspiration here lovely readers; balloons, colourful, Autumn weddings, Candy Anthony brides and Audrey Hepburn.

Huge thanks to photographer Ross Harvey for sharing his beautiful work – you can see more from this very lovely (yes I've met him and he is so warm and friendly!) award winning photographer on Love My Dress here.

I'd love to see some feedback below and hear from those of you who might have been inspired by this beautiful day!

With much love,

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Ross Harvey
Venue + Catering – Southwood Hall in Norwich, Norfolk
Wedding Dress – Candy Anthony
Veil/Headpiece – Etsy
Brides' shoes – LK Bennett
Bride's accessories – Grandmother's pearls + hairpins via Accessorize
Grooms Suit – hired via Austin Reid
Bridesmaids Dresses – Vivienne of Holloway + Hobbs shoes
Flowergirls – made by the brides mum
Flowers – Blofield Florist
Cake – The brides mum
Rings – Hyde Park designs in Hatton Garden
Makeup Artist – James Weber

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Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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