Josephine's Wedding

Could you tell me the basics, when/where the ceremony was, the reception venue, general numbers of guests.

My wedding was held on Monday 1st August 2011 – 3.30pm til late! It was at Morningside Baptist Church in Edinburgh, followed by a reception at Edinburgh Central Hall. We had just over 200 guests. Our Budget was £8000.

What would you describe your theme as being?

We didn’t really have a theme as such but the most important things for us were that everyone felt welcome and included in all parts of the day and that the day was very personal and reflected us as a couple, as well as being a lot of fun! In particular, there was no colour theme at all as I really wanted to avoid a “matchy-matchy” style wedding so we could have an eclectic mix of bright colours in everything and not be limited in our choices. For instance, the flowers were a bouquet of bright blues, ivorys, lilacs, oranges and reds.

The only theme that accidentally developed was a recurring motif of bunting – used on the invitations and in the church and venue decorations – this mostly came about because I am a little bit obsessed with bunting and ended up making around 50m worth of the stuff for our decorations!

What was your dress like, what inspired your choice?

I wore a Sassi Holford ‘Hayley’ dress in ivory. It was strapless with a lace and bead embroidered bodice, a wide silk-chiffon waistband with a thin silk ribbon tied on the waistline, and a full A-line silk-chiffon skirt with a fairly big train. I knew relatively early on in my search that I wanted a dress with a sash on the waistline as I wanted to accentuate my small waist and I’m really drawn to vintage styles from the 1940s and 50s. However, I also quickly discovered that I have expensive tastes and didn’t have a budget to match, so it was fairly depressing for a while there! Luckily, I found my beautiful dress at Bliss, a specialist second-hand studio in Edinburgh, and was able to buy it for a third of its original price as it was an ex-sample dress. I actually nearly didn’t pick it off the rail as it looked odd on the hanger, but thanks to June, the lovely owner of Bliss, I did try it on and immediately fell in love with its 1950’s inspired shape, the delicate fabric (I’m not a fan of shiny satins), the amazing detail on the bodice, and that all-important waist detail.

It’s so hard to choose! I loved walking down the aisle and seeing all our friends grinning like mad at me and Dave waiting at the front of the church. I loved that Dave’s dad conducted the ceremony and how full of laughter and joy it was. And I loved our first dance, which was totally unrehearsed (Dave had accidentally got locked in a toilet when we had planned to practise it!) but it was so perfect and was a brilliant moment of realisation that we’d just got married!


Shoes? Who? from where? Why?

In all honesty, I was only really bothered about having comfortable shoes that weren’t strappy, peep-toed or pointy! So after much searching, I found that Bliss (again!) stocked Meadows Bridal shoes and they had a style called Pearl that was round-toed, available in ivory, and enough in keeping with the 50s look of my dress, but also a comfortable 2¾“ heel and reasonably priced. Hardly anyone sees your shoes anyway under a dress as big as mine!

What little things do you think made your day special for you and your guests?

Both Dave and I really loved that many of our friends and family were involved in the day. As a way of decorating the church we asked guests to bring along a bunch of “cheap and cheerful” flowers to the ceremony and these were placed in jam jars of water all around the church, and later, the reception venue. It felt wonderful that people were so willing to join in with this unorthodox idea and it was lovely to walk into the church and see it full of the flowers everyone had brought. We also asked our musically talented friends to perform during the ceremony and reception, which made the day so much more personal and special to us. I walked down the aisle to a song written by a very old friend of mine, and we actually had our first dance music played live by our friends’ band Chasing Owls, who performed their song “Wedding Song” – a perfect fit for the occasion!

I can’t emphasise enough how awesome it was to be able to share the whole of the day with every one of our guests. It did mean that we had to make compromises in terms of venues and in particular food, but it felt so good that nobody was left out at any point, especially when many people had travelled a long way up from England to be with us.
And on a selfish note, I just loved wearing my beautiful dress and seeing Dave’s reaction as I walked down the aisle to him! I still can’t believe that I didn’t cry (and he did)!


How would you describe your makeup that day, what inspired your choice?

A lot of my friends know how much I love a classic red lipstick, so once I had this amazing 50s style dress it just made sense to go old school Hollywood and wear my so-called “signature look”. Rather than hiring a make-up artist, I chose to do my own make-up on the day but treat myself to really good quality new make-up. For the statement red lipstick I splurged and bought Chanel’s Audace Rouge Allure Lipstick and the equivalent lip pencil, which made all the difference to the lipstick’s staying power. As the lipstick colour was so bold I kept the rest of my make-up very natural – just basic foundation, concealer, and powder (all from Clinique), a bit of blusher and eyebrow pencil (for my very fair eyebrows!) and the really great High Impact Curling Mascara from Clinique for big, curly lashes. I love this mascara because it really does curl your lashes and it’s impressively waterproof, surviving any tears I shed on the day!

If you could change one thing......?

I wish I hadn’t forgotten how to tie the bow on my dress and given up so that it hung in a loose knot all day. But maybe it looked better that way... And it would have been nice if I’d got to the church on time!


Is there anything you still wear from the day?

I’m still enjoying the lovely make-up that I bought for the day but I haven’t dared attempt to put my dress on again, much as I would love to!