Morning all! Despite all this glorious sun we’re enjoying right now, there are still a good portion of you looking for wedding inspiration for the cooler months – we shared this beautiful Winter wedding yesterday afternoon, and this morning, we have a stylish military December affair. Siân, who is training to be a Primary school teacher, tied the knot with Joe, Captain in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers on 20th December last year, with a ceremony at Chapel Royal St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, followed by a reception at the Andaz Hotel on Liverpool Street.
“As the Army is such an enormous part of Joe’s life it was very important for both of us that the wedding reflected this. When we discovered that we were able to be married in the Tower, there was only one option for us, it is such a special place.”
Photography by Olliver Photographer
“I had always wanted a winter wedding as I find that time of year really special. When I was young I was flower girl at my Auntie’s wedding which was a snowy Scottish wedding, I think that always stuck with me.”
“Our flower were by Fairynuff Flowers – Steph is incredible, I love everything she does so I told her what I didn’t want and the colours I wanted then left the rest up to her. The end result was so perfect.”
The lovely purple bridesmaids and flowergirl dresses were purchased from For Her and For Him, who just happen to have a huge Summer sale on right now readers!
“I loved the unusual lace on my Stephanie Allin dress, that shimmered but wasn’t too showy. I also had ‘the one’ moment, even though it didn’t have sleeves when I tried it on which I was adamant that I wanted.”
“My cousin Elizabeth was my flower girl (it was her mother’s wedding). I didn’t want to go with the obvious Christmas colours so I used purple to compliment the military uniforms.”
“We looked through most of the photographers on Love my Dress and Olliver Photographer’s style stood out to us. They were great on the day and really fit around what we wanted, we didn’t want to spend ages posing and preferred natural photos.”
“I hired Katy of Make-up by Katy, who was so calming and who I wish I had on standby every day. I felt fantastic and my makeup was still in place when I woke up with it on the next morning.
It was important for me that I just had my ordinary curls on my wedding day so I did my own hair.”
“Joe and I met at University, we both studied History at the University of Nottingham. Joe proposed on Christmas day 2013, after I had cooked him Christmas Dinner! We decided to get married the following Christmas period.”
“Standing at the entrance of the chapel with my Dad, seeing all my friends and family and knowing I was going to marry my man are my absolute favourite memories of the day.”
“My Dad, Pat, walked me down the aisle, to the sound of Zadok the Priest. We exchanged traditional Church of England vows and had X readings, which included a Shakespeare sonnet and a reading from The Bible.”
“Our cake was by Cakes by Krishanthi. I saw Krishanthi’s Secret Garden cake on a wedding shoot and fell in love with it. It was really important that the cake should taste good as well as look good. It was a real selling point that she used the best natural ingredients. We had a fruit cake on the top tier and the rest was chocolate torte. There was none left at the end of the evening.”
“For evening entertainment, we hired The Fabulations (booked through Alive Network). I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Fabulations they had the dance floor filled all night and the guest begging for more at the end of the night.”
“Our first dance was to ‘Ain’t no Mountain High Enough’ – neither of us can dance so we wanted to start the dancing off straight away! Plus it’s an amazing song.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“I knew that I was the kind of person that would have a meltdown the night before the wedding if I had a DIY wedding that needed lots of last minute organisation. So I picked some amazing suppliers early on; briefed them, then left them to get on with it. It’s their job, they’re much better at it than you are. The night before and the morning of the wedding, relax with your nearest and dearest and some champagne.
I also visited lots of wedding blogs to start with, however this very quickly narrowed down to just reading Love My Dress (every day) as it had the best real weddings for inspiration. I’m still a regular visitor even though I’m now married!”
Siân, thank you so much for those lovely words – makes all the hard work worth while, and I truly appreciate it. I’m also thrilled that you sourced so many of your suppliers through the blog, including the wonderful Olliver Photographer.
Readers – use the tags at the end of this feature to find similar related content.
Anyone else planning a military style wedding? I’d love to hear from you.
Love Annabel xx
Photographer – Olliver Photographer
Venue – Chapel Royal St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London + Andaz Hotel
Brides Dress – Stephanie Allin from Exquisite Bridal Couture in Winchester
Veil – Exquisite Bridal Couture
Shoes – red suede flat pumps via Pretty Ballerinas
Bride’s Hair Accessories -Fresh flower crown by Fairynuff Flowers
Groom – Military Uniform
Bridesmaids + Flowergirls – For Her and For Him
Florist – Fairynuff Flowers
Cake – Cake – Cakes by Krishanthi
Transport – 2 Red Routemasters from Traditional Travel
Entertainment – The Fabulations (booked through Alive Network
Rings – Pravins
Catering – Andaz Hotel
Stationery Designer – Emily and Jo
Makeup – Make-up by Katy
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.
