"Being ginger you have to avoid some colours..." This is what bride Jo said about choosing her colour scheme and it did make me laugh! She is so elegant and sophisticated I'm quite sure she could have worn ANY colour combination and looked a million dollars.

You've got to hand it to her though - the mix of coral, peach tones, pale pinks and a splash of gold is absolutely delicious, not to mention her unique headpiece and covetable Jimmy Choo's. All this attention to fashion detail and Jo even managed to make all of the paper goods herself, they are super super lovely.

We mustn't forget to mention the groom of course, I really like Max's individual style, the sexy pair really make for some beautiful portrait images. Oh and then there's the Mariachi Mexteca, as in from the Doritos advert? they played at the drinks reception which means there was plenty of Tequila. True Story.

Enjoy lovelies!

Jo The Bride: I first tried on a Jenny Packham dress at the NEC Birmingham's Wedding Show, it was called Willow, absolutely stunning dress, I was hooked. I visited the Wedding Club in Birmingham to see her latest collection back in November 2012, I tried a few on, but Esme was the one! I knew I didn't want a traditional wedding dress and they just didn't suit me. I wanted my girls to see the dress to help me decide, so I arranged to try it on again in the January, it was the Silver/Ivory dress, I was so excited but the girls faces were not impressed, I saw the dress in a different light and the silver next to my ginger hair was not doing me any favors, I couldn't believe how different it looked in different light. I knew there was a different colour and maybe it would go better with my colouring, so after calling round a few wedding shops, luckily for me Go Bridal, Birmingham had the ivory/ivory version in and I could go and try it on, so I gave it one last shot and I'm so glad I listened to my gut as we then had the IT'S THE ONE moment.

My headdress was also Jenny Packham, which was bought on a fab day out in London with my Mum and girls from the JP Accessories Boudoir, the shop assistant was the friendliest, nicest lady! My Jimmy Choos were a must, also bought on another girly day out; getting married was a fab excuse for lots of girly day's out.... Always wanted Choo's and wedges, as I am more stable with them. My earrings were from Topshop, ones that I already had and matched perfectly with my headdress. My bracelet was made up from the pearls of Max's Dad's late wife and my Dad's Grandmothers locket which had a picture of me and my dad in, my Dad passed away in 2011 so I wanted to incorporate lots of him through my wedding, we also named the bar The Grizzlers Arms in honor of him and the favor's were Cancer Research UK badges and everyone wore them to remember him.

The very talented Jodie Hazelwood did my makeup, I booked her two years before the wedding! when I saw her work I just knew I wanted her to do my makeup and she made me feel like a million dollars, literally. She recommended the also talented Jeni from Ruby Tuesdays, Coventry who styled our hair, which she did a great job of doing exactly what we wanted, soft and romantic.

Max opted for a suit from Selfridges and had it tailored at Clements and Church in Birmingham where he also bought his shirt, tie, pocket square and shoes, he never let me see any of it until I saw him at the church on our wedding day and he looked really handsome

Max went to boarding school in Worcester when he was growing up due to his dyslexia and in the little village of Great Witley was Great Witley Church which stands attached to Witley Court which is part of the English Heritage site. Now when we first started dating back in 2005, he took me there to show me where the school was and that he used to go to the church with his family. It is the most wonderful church, which does get compared to the Sistine chapel in Rome. The first time I ever saw it took my breath away, and we used to go to watch plays in the grounds and often took my late dog Sam for walks. We were always going to get married in a church but the case was where, and we thought about Great Witley but didn't think we would be allowed to be married there as we weren't in the parish as we are both from Wolverhampton, but Max wrote a letter to the Rural Dean explaining that he grew up in the area and how much we would love to get married there and we couldn't believe it when she agreed, it was fantastic news!

We were just so excited to get married in that beautiful church, the ceremony was just perfect (apart from my veil getting stuck in the grate lol!) It was a traditional service, with an organist, we had 3 hymns and 3 readings, the vicar was a family friend to Max, he christened, confirmed and now married him, it was really special for us to have him do the service. Max wrote a mini-story about us in the order of service, we wanted it to be a special keepsake for people, it was lovely.

I knew I always wanted a loose pale pink/coral/gold colour scheme, as being ginger you have to avoid some colours and I do love that colour combination. However until I found the bridesmaid dresses I wasn't going to commit to anything, as I thought its better to find the perfect bmaid dresses first then the colour scheme will follow, lucky for me I found the most gorgeous pleated, floaty, maxi dresses from Ted Baker. I wanted something that would fit into the romantic/rustic vibe I was trying to create.

I can't thank Elizabeth Barlow of The Golden Afternoon florist enough. A very talented lady and a fabulous friend. She re-created exactly what I wanted with adding her own twist. The flowers matched perfectly with the colour scheme and added to that romantic/rustic feel, you're a superstar and forever grateful!

We hired a little vintage Austin Healey for three days over the wedding, which actually cost less than typical wedding cars and we just got my bridesmaids boyfriend to drive the bridesmaids in his nice car (money saver). I bought all the wedding ribbons from eBay and everyone put them on their cars the morning of the wedding.

We were so so lucky that we were able to book Mariachi Mexteca for our drinks reception, we booked them back in 2012, when their first Doritos ad came out, and their popularity has just grown. They really did kick of the celebrations and everyone got involved, especially with the tequila we laid on! They were absolutely brilliant and lovely gentlemen.

We had a local DJ to us for the evening and we met with him beforehand to discuss playlists, Tom Blackwell did a great job and got everyone up, we really didn't want the disco Dave type and he really was good!

Our canapés were a leg of Serrano ham, carved by a chef with figs, honey and ciabatta, an idea I saw of Rock my Wedding and our caterer was able to do it for us. We had a sit down meal, a starter of goats cheese on walnut bread, chutney and rocket, followed by a lime and elderflower granitta, main course, carved legs of lamb, potatoes and pepper salad followed by lemon tart, poached pear and caramelized fig ice cream. We had a cheese cake tower and the incredible 4-tier victoria sponge wedding cake was cut up in the evening along with a hog roast and chips. The cake was made beautifully by Fantasticake who is an old school friend from art class and she is a extremely talented cake designer/maker, the cake was still moist the next day when we sat down with a cup of tea, it really was the best cake I've ever tasted!

We chose the amazing Kelly from Lola Rose Photography to shoot our wedding, I knew I wanted her straight away, I loved her style. I really wanted natural images that told our story especially as we didn't have a professional videographer and I can honestly say we didn't need one as she documented the whole day and capturing moments I forgot or never knew happened. I hardly knew she was there and allowed us to get on and enjoy the day without taking too many posed pictures, even though she did seem to capture all the ones we needed, just fabulous!

As a Graphic Designer I was lucky enough to design and produce all the wedding stationery you see and I actually do it as a side line to my job as a graphic designer for British Gymnastics my Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-is-Ginger/317407321633164 so any enquiries welcome!

So if I could pass on any advice is to be organized and do things as early as you can, we did the order of service months before the day, I wanted the run up to be chilled and to enjoy it and we really did, the day before the wedding, relaxing with family and friends was so lovely and stress-free. I just wish I could do it all again, I ruddy loved it, but I am excited to see where life will take us now!

Photography by
Lola Rose Photography
Gown Esme Jenny Packham | Florist A Golden Afternoon | Venue Springhill Barn | Cake Fantasticake | Caterer Country House Occasions | Stationery Love Is Ginger | Light Up Letters Vowed And Amazed

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