I truly love seeing a bride in glasses – we’ve blogged many of them here and today we will be adding Jen to the ranks with these fun, bright and beautiful images taken by Sarah-Jane Ethan.
Jen and Phill who are a match.com dating site success story (we have had many such success stories feature on Love My Dress!), tied the knot on 20th April this year at the Grand Hotel in Tynemouth.
“We both love quirky things and wanted a bright fun, retro/vintage feel to the day. Having both been married before, we wanted the total opposite of our first wedding and were determined that it would be a relaxed and fun party for our guests. My mum bought her dress as soon as we got engaged (encouraged by me!) and our red colour scheme came from there.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Sarah-Jane Ethan
“Phill and I met on match.com in June 2010. It was sort of love at first sight and we both knew that we had met our soulmate. We got engaged in April 2013, when Phill took me away for my birthday weekend and proposed with a barn owl at Colchester zoo. I love owl and this day was just so special to me.”
“Our amazing venue was the Grand Hotel in Tynemouth. I (Jen) am originally from the North East of England, having moved south in 2002. Our wedding was originally planned to be in central London, but in November last year, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and we immediately decided to relocate our day to the north, so that things would be easier for my mum.
Mum’s diagnosis gave me the excuse I needed to make some changes, as I was beginning to doubt some of the London plans that I had made! Moving our big day turned out to be the best decision ever and thankfully, mum is doing well!”
“The venue was also styled to reflect my love of owls and our joint love of birds (something I never dreamt I would enjoy, before meeting Phill!) My weekends were filled with shopping and friends, rather than celebrating blue tits feeding from our bird table in our garden.”
“I had my dress made bespoke by a designer online and was assited by Luda Taylor at Bridal Alterations who made things fit like a glove
I love the 1950’s style as it suits my shape and wanted something I could move around in and dance the night away.”
Jen’s shoes were from good old M&S – how pretty!
“I wore a handmade, bird cage veil and pill box creation from Georgina Blyth Millinery (on Facebook), who I met at a vintage wedding fair.”
“We had the amazingly talented Sarah Jane Ethan photograph our wedding. Sarah-Jane’s work really stood out, she had the style we were looking for, nothing formal and with a quirky eye for detail. When we spoke for the first time over the phone, it was like we had known each other for ages. That was it, it had to be her!”
“My dear Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘Someone Like You’, by Van Morrison. The words summed things up for me. We walked out to Queen’s You’re My Best Friend.
We both wrote our own vows for the ceremony, as it was important to us that we shared publicly our feelings for one another, and that when we met, are lives changed and we knew that things would never be the same. We cried, our guests cried and our registrar even admitted that she had a little tear, something she rarely does in her role. It was a very special moment.
Our readings included ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ from Captain Coreli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Berniere and The Foundations of Marriage by Regina Hall were read by two of our close friends. We chose them as we loved their sentiment and the words are so true, yet beautiful.”
“In terms of decor, we had intage bird cages, candelabras, feathers and sparkles! We had collected the cages and candelabras for months beforehand, as we knew exactly the look we wanted. It was great fun scouring flea markets and antique fairs to find what we needed.
My Mum also made some DIY decorations, and spent hours cutting and rolling cardboard roses, and covering decoupage letters to make our ‘LOVE’ and ‘MR & MRS’ signs. Thanks mum!”
“We hired an amazing magician, David from Corporate Illusion, who blew everyone’s minds with his tricks, and a vintage styled Photo Booth from Snaparazzi.”
“We had so many favourite parts – getting ready on the wedding morning with my girls, taking my dad’s arm and walking down the aisle, seeing Phill for the first time, and the realisation that everyone we loved was in one room, standing up and clapping us as we were declared husband and wife. Just amazing!”
“Our first dance was to ‘Everything’ by Michael Buble…our song from the beginning! We ended with john Legend’s All of Me, as it summed up just how we felt that day.”
Wedded Wisdom…
“Take every moment in as the day passes so quickly and is so overwhelming. Try to sneak a few minutes with your husband, even if it is just nipping outside somewhere quiet, to hold hands and look at the night sky.
We donated to Cancer Research to honour my mum and dad, who have both suffered from cancer, and some family members who we sadly lost fairly recently. I created a scroll to thank people for joining us and explained that in lieu of traditional favours, we had chosen to donate instead.”
I love this wedding, love it! I hope these photographs have made you smile. A very HUGE congratulations to you both Jen and Phill, thank you so much for letting me share your bright, beautiful and make-me-happy style wedding.
A huge thank you too to photographer Sarah-Jane Ethan for sharing her photography with us today. Sarah-Jane takes bookings all over the UK and world – if you love the photographs you see here today and would like to find out more, please visit sarahjaneethan.co.uk.
Have a beautiful Friday evening all,
Annabel
Photographer – Sarah-Jane Ethan
Venue + Catering – Grand Hotel in Tynemouth
Veil – Georgina Blyth Millinery
Shoes – M&S
Accessories – Jon Richard, Debenhams
Grooms Suit – Moss Bros
Bridesmaids Dresses – Phase Eight
Flowergirl Dresses – BHS
Pageboys – Next
Florist – Busy Lizzies in Tynemouth
Cake – House Of Cakes
Entertainment – Magician via Corporate Illusion
Rings – Hatton Garden & Earnest Jones Entertainment
Stationery – Tree of Hearts
Hair & Make-up – Pins Petals and Powder
Photobooth Hire – Snaparazzi
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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.
