Weddingbee bios

Bride:Clare

Age: 32 in March 2010

Star sign: Aries

Born: Stepping Hill, Hazel Grove, Stockport

Family: Mum Eileen, Dad Peter and two 'little' sisters Lucy and Sophie.  Lucy is married to Phil and they have three gorgeous kids Jessica Emily and Callum.  Sophie lives in Didsbury with her boyfriend Andy

Work: After drifting between jobs ranging from Bar Maid to Carer, Legal Assistant to Production Assistant, Clare has finally pulled her finger out and started a degree in Multimedia Technology. 

Currently working in a school and as a part time Photographer, Clare hopes to get a super degree to get on to a PGCE to teach Creative Media to GCSE and A Level students

Hobbies: Photography, running, pole dancing and growing, cooking and eating yummy food

Favourites: Music - Rock, Movies - Romance and Fairytales, Books - Post Apocolyptic Novels, Tipple - Fizz, Chocolates - Pralines, Tea - Earl Grey, Colour - Black, Season - Autumn

Groom:Rob

Age: 38 in July 2010

Star sign: Cancer

Born: Bury General, Lancashire

Family: Mum Chris and Dad Bernard. Big Brother Brad lives with his partner Anna-Sofi

Work: After a number of roles, Taekwando instructor, Estate Agent and working in Steve's Model Shop, Rob found himself at Granada where he moved into producing and presenting for Men & Motors.  2002 Rob pursued his ambitions as a stand up comedian, becoming a finalist in the BBC New Comedian competition.  In 2005 Rob, with Tim, set up a production company and has continued with his presenting, stand up comedy and acting.

Hobbies: Muay Thai (Boxing), Comedy, Running, Cars

Favourites: Music - Hard House, Movies - Action, Books - Travel/ Biogs, Tipple - Cider/ Red Wine, Sweets - Tootie Frooties, Pie - Steak and Ale, Colour - Black, Season - Autumn

A very old pic from the early days, 2003, not long after meeting

Our bride Clare was desperatly single and upon Ms Sarah Poynter's suggestion, was signing up for Speedating, with a few reservations.  Martin, Clare's rock, was working with a guy called Rob who had been Speedating a few times and during a call to between Martin and Clare the phone was passed to Rob to put Clare's mind at ease.  Terribly cliche but Clare had a funny feeling the moment she heard Rob's voice, that he might be something special.

Martin donned his Cilla Black wig and borrowed Cupid's bow, the match making ensued.

Martin showed Clare footage of Rob as The Reverend Bob, and showed Rob a picture of Clare in a bra, despite all this they arranged to meet.  At least that is what Clare thought.  

Rob had actually asked Martin to get a load of his female friends to come out for the evening, to meet new girls... Clare, Martin and Rob were in fact the only ones out.  Clare was so nervous that she drank her weight in red wine and spent the evening talking about gas, sewers, bowels and periods.  Inspite of the conversation levels, and scary dancing that followed, Rob asked Clare to see him the next evening.

Six years on the dancing was no better, and the conversation still contains much toilet talk, but a proposal of marriage was made in pyjamas and they couldn't be happier :-)

I fell in love with my dress before we were engaged, I didn't want to try any other on, but my family insisted.  I only tried one other, which was pretty enough.  

As soon as I pulled the dress up my heart jumped and my stomach lurched, it was the one!  The reveal to the my Mum, sister and best friend was through sobs, spluttering 'do I look beautiful?!'  Their response was also teary, so that was good :)

Here is the photo I fell in love with.  It was nothing like the plain style (top right) that I had imagined as a girl that I would wear.  That style was shelved when I tried my sisters dress on, gorgeous on her, not in the least flattering on me!  The other dress gives an idea of the alternative styling that I was to pursue should RD1044 not be suitable.  Thankfully my dress was perfect, and got better with each fitting!

 

After a successful start of wedding planning, the old adage 'too good to be true' bit hard.  We were engaged 26th November and by early December all the bridesmaid dresses were ordered and delivered.  Come summer, the dresses do not fit, the colour isn't right (for one of my girls) my seamstress has gone on holiday and I am heading into Bridal meltdown.

Two stores came good, Monsoon, Ivory Silk for the flower girls and Jade Green from Debenhams for the Bridesmaids.  I was on a budget in that I had already bought them a dress each, but these were stunning, and did not stretch the purse strings too far.  These are now end of line but in terms of suppliers for the UK they are usually good for variety and quality.

I would advise that you do not order too far ahead, advanced bookings may give you time to do other things, but it also gives your flower girls time to grow or diet!  Most suppliers that I approached needed 6 weeks lead times on their orders, but if you are happy with off the peg you can cut it a little finer, should your nerves handle it.

My husband Rob wanted all his ushers in white, he didn't care what they wore, as long as it was white.  He joked that he wanted it to look like a Boys2men video!

All the guys were great sports and added their individual style to their outfit, from casual slacks, to three piece suits with matching wellies, a heavenly cowboy and Pakistani ceremonial robe.

There were of course jibes about butchers, ice cream sellers and asylum orderlies, however female guest and good friend Helen, a fellow bride, exclaimed that the vision of the guys as they appeared over the crest of the hill was 'So sexy'.

For those who have not got a wedding planner the endless planning and labouring at the venue, whilst thoroughly enjoyable in itself, can leave a bride a little detached from the whole princess experience.

As a do it yourself bride, I myself had been feeling ‘un-bridelike’ and with three weeks to go I was worrying a little that perhaps I should be getting more excited, after all I had dreamt of being a bride since I was six.  I had imagined that I would spend months growing my hair and hammering the gym, spend weeks of pampering, moisturising my skin, getting early nights, avoiding any opportunity where I might risk breaking a fingernail or breaking a limb.  Yet here was I still labouring  on the farm moving stone every weekend, earning a new cut, bruise or lump with every job.

I entered the hair salon (Havana, Marple Bridge, Stockport, UK) with no expectations whatsoever, I have had no former experience of ‘hair up’ and I had not visited the salon since I had moved out of town four years previously.  The salon was still frequented by my Mum and youngest sister Sophie, so I new I should be in rather good hands, and I really had no other option but to use these ladies.  Five weeks previous I had been stood up by my friend, hair and make up stylist, on the evening I was due to have my bridal trial.  She subsequently vanished under a veil of scandal and I have not heard from her since.  Havana are based in the village local to my parent’s farm (the wedding venue) and through divine intervention, had received a cancellation for the date of our wedding, it was surely fate!

My stylist was Mandy, I had a whole album of hair designs that I had downloaded to my iphone, she patiently let me flick through all the styles pointing out which part of which style I liked and why.  I explained the theme of the wedding was festival meets country fayre and Mandy asked to see my wedding dress.  With this information, and a notion from me that I was happy to try anything and everything to discover the perfect style, Mandy starting weaving her magic into my dull locks.

As I sat in the chair, coffee in hand and Mandy styling away I suddenly feel a wave of emotion take hold, the realisation that I was going to be a bride!  With each curl that was created, I felt more beautiful and each pin that was placed, more elegant.  I was going to be special, I would be walking up to meet my groom.

There must have been roughly 12 styles, loosely based around four main themes, up twisted, half up half down, side sweeps and braids.

The style I chose was a variation on two of the previous styles, a side sweep, braided at the back with a cascade of curls down one side of the face.

I have pictured some of my favourite styles.

What I would recommend for any bride considering her hair is the following:

1)   Most importantly – book practice sessions.  If you are not happy with the stylist, or the styles, communicate the issues and if needs be try another stylist.

2)   Do plenty of research – leaf through all the wedding magazine, fashion magazines, celebrity gossip papers, take lots of clippings, or screen grabs from websites to show your stylist.

3)   Along with the clippings, take your scrapbook of ideas/ design boards to your consultation/ trial.  This will show your stylist the dress design and general theme of your wedding, they can incorporate these themes within your hair style.

4)   Don’t limit yourself to one style or one specific design – the more variety, the more likely you are to find the perfect style when you try it out.  Remember, not every style will suit every face, body, dress.

5)   Take plenty of photos of the style, from different angles, while you are at the salon, most places will be happy to snap away for you.  You can then view the photos at leisure to ensure you are happy with your decision.

6)   Take advice from the friends and family that you trust.  If you are happy with their style advice on a night out, and can take honest constructive criticism, they will be the best people to help you chose your style, should you be torn between designs.

7)   Wear your hair for you, not how you feel you are expected to wear it.  Chose a style that reflects your personality and style, do not try to be too removed from who you are.  You may not want to wear a starched French upsweep if you always wear your hair laissez faire.  You may be unrecognisable to your Groom, or even yourself when you look back at the photos.

8)   If possible, when scheduling your appointment for the day of the wedding, allow time to rectify any styling emergencies, but not so much time that your style may droop before the ceremony or photos.

9)   If at all possible, should you be able to afford it, ask your stylist if they can be on stand by for touch ups later in the day.  Many styles may not require this, but unexpected weather extremes can upset the most secure of styles.

The best laid plans often go awry, I was very fortunate that my stylist was available at such short notice.   

I hope these tips will be of use to you, I can only offer this advice as a recent bride based on my own experience.   I did get rained on, despite the huge umbrellas, I got hugged and pulled, my curls drooped, my pins and fascinator were dragged out when my hair got stuck on buttons of enthusiastic wellwishers, so many of the photos do not do Mandy’s work justice.  However, despite all the wear and tear, the style held up very well, and still looked a darn sight prettier than anything I could have done myself.  In terms of up do’s I am completely sold, I shall certainly be booking Mandy’s creative talents for any future parties.

Good luck in your quest for the perfect style fellow brides xxxx 

 

My engagement ring was my Grandma Doris'.  She was 19 when my Grandpa proposed, three diamond in platinum setting and shoulders, with gold ring, as was popular in those days.  I inherited at 16, but knowing how clumsy I was, my Mum did not let me have it until I was 21.  I have worn it and treasured it everyday since.

I had always known that I wanted a contemporary wedding band, and that the cut of grandma's ring would not sit well with such a style.  I had long hoped that should I ever get engaged, I be able to use Grandma's ring for the engagement, and get something different for my wedding band.

Rob was very happy with this arrangement, he also wanted to incorporate a family heirloom into the wedding.  Rob's Mum's wedding ring, although to small, is very good quality good, and very heavy.  Our friend's sister is a jeweller and she was able to insert a piece so that it would fit on Rob's huge finger, and Rhodium plate it.

We found my ring at Green & Benz.  It is made of palladium and is the perfect balance of sturdy, industrial looking, with a hint of delicate elegance with the inlaid tiny eternity style diamonds set around the ring.

Palladium is of the Platinum family and as of Jan 2010 is a registered precious metal which must be hallmarked.  At the time of purchase the palladium was approx 1/3 of the cost of platinum, which was a bonus as we saved money by chosing my favourite design, that was not actually available in platinum!  It is a super alternative if you prefer silver coloured jewellery.  It is stronger than silver and will not require coating, unlike white gold, as this is the natural colour of the metal, which can be brushed or polished as other metals.

I love my rings, and it was so wonderful to include Grandma and Christine in the wedding even though they could not be there with us.

When you spend not a great deal on a pair of shoes, surely you can buy several pairs?

I chose my wellington boots before my bridal shoes.  I knew I wanted a pair of Hunters, I have done since I was a girl, but couldn't justify the price tag for mucking about on the farm or general mess.  Now I had an excuse 'they are bridal wellies!'

I had seen a pair of Iris coloured boots on a bride in a magazine and her picture was pasted into my scrapbook.  I looked for online suppliers, Uttings.com have a fabulous range at competitive prices and the delivery was very prompt. 

The next pair I found were my bridal shoes.  Think LouBou satin pump meets David Bowie et voila! You have my ridiculous, comical bridal shoes.  Ivory satin peep toe with a gold glitter encrusted five inch heel and platform.  Practical they are not, tasteful, certainly not, but they made me smile.  They made me laugh out loud in the shop, the Office outlet shop might I add.  Yes these puppies were slashed to a bargain £30!  I knew I would only be able to wear them for the first 10 minutes of the day, if that, so after a call to my good friend and style guru Kate, I bought them.

Now expecting rain, I was covered with the wellies, but what if we were do get sunshine, what would my immaculate pedicured feet want to wear, if anything?  What do I normally wear when I can’t decide to venture barefoot or not? Flip Flops!

My friend Danny owns a clothing store SoleFood www.solefoodshop.com, and they stock Ipanema footwear, he brought a selection for me to try.  I bought the Ivory and Gold pair (pictured) which complimented my theme perfectly, and he gave me a black pair, and a white and navy pair as a resent for the honeymoon, thanks Danny!

So I had a shoe for every eventuality.  I somehow managed to make it up the field in the bridal shoes, greatly assisted by my Daddy’s steadying arm, my Maids of Honours carrying my train, and a whole heap of adrenaline.  By the time I made it to Rob’s side, my knees buckled as my whole body shook with joy, fear and everything else that goes with it on the day, so he took over the job of holding me upright.  As we said our vows the heavens opened and Kate whipped off my shoes and helped me into the wellies for the walk down to the shelter of the bar in the barns.

After an hour the rain ceased and did not make an appearance for the rest of the day, so out came to third and last pair of shoes for the day, my gorgeous flip flops.  Let it never be said that I am not prepared, and never let a girl be restricted to one pair of shoes!

 

Hand picked Hydrangeas, lemon thyme and unknown green foliage.  All grown in my Mum and Dad's garden, hand tied by my Mum's friend Margaret and my super hero Aunty Mary.

The pink and green posies are for the flower girls, and the pink and blue was my bouquet

The venue, a field, a campsite, a barn and a tent, would be decorated with a variety of established potted plants, herbs, trees and vegetables.  There were also hanging baskets and planters from my parent's greenhouse and stable block.  All home planted and hung with love.

Our wedding ceremony was under a tree, in a field, that for the weekend of the wedding was doubling as a wedding venue/ music festival campsite.

If I had to describe my style, I would have to say Rock'n'Roll.  I ventured into Goth for a few years at high school, and over the years I have had to conform slightly, for jobs and the fact that I no longer suited purple hair.  The whole conforming lark doesn't sit too well with Rob and I. Don't get me wrong we are not deliberately different, or socially inept, in fact quite the opposite, we can fit in with most functions, it is just that we are generally a contradiction to most rules.

Due to our personalities and fondness for the alternative, our wedding was never going to be 'the norm', or the expected.

The music would demonstrate a palette of our musical tastes.  The ipod played a play list of my favourite songs on a love theme, ‘I was made for loving you’ KISS, ‘500 miles’ The Proclaimers, ‘Just like Fred Astaire’ James, ‘I feel you’ Depeche Mode, ‘Dream a little dream of me’ Mama Cass and a heap from the Beatles and Muse, to give you an idea.

The evening’s entertainment would be from Rock n Roll covers band The Blackhearts.  We were also going to have a cèilidh with a caller, but at short notice the band pulled out, clash with a folk festival or something, anyway, we saved some money at least.

To get to the tree, under which we would be wed, there was a walk that in heels was pre-timed to take 4.5 minutes.  There were 12 ushers in Rob’s procession, and I had 2 maids of honour, 2 bridesmaids, 4 flowergirls, 8 usherettes and finally Dad and I.  So the procession was more like a carnival parade.

We selected 3 awesome tracks for our grand entrance, the chaps headed the parade with The Prodigy’s ‘Stand Up’. 

The first of my ladies were the sweet little flowers girls played in by Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the sugar plum fairies’ closely followed by the usherettes.  This track was chosen as I danced to the piece in an audition for the Christmas performance, aged 6, but was cast as a snowflake, apparently my grace was suited to that role.  The sugar plum fairies wore tutus, the snowflakes didn’t, I just wanted to wear a tutu!

My entrance piece was the only thing that I had turmoil over.  My first choice, which came instantly was ‘Hall of the mountain king’ from Greig’s Peer Gynt suite.  As a young girls my Grandma had introduced me to this record, and this particular track grabbed hold of me, shook me round the room, made every inch of my skin prickle.  To this day I cannot listen to it without jumping and grinning, something that is not always advisable, when driving for example.  And as my family and friends will tell you, I do not need an excuse to get over excited.

The track starts very quietly, too subtly if you were not expecting another piece of music to start, it builds to the most incredible crescendo, the most rousing piece of mastery.  Would it be too much for a bridal entrance? Would the congregation be clasping their hands over their ears thinking WTF???!!! Would it be tasteless to see a bride raving her way up the field with an inane grin/ tears?

This was the only thing that made me stop and think, perhaps I shouldn’t do exactly what I want to do, perhaps on this occasion, taste wins over.  I toyed with a few other ideas, ‘Morning’ also from Peer Gynt, ‘Les Fleurs’ by Minnie Ripperton, ‘It’ll all come around’ Patsy Gallant, all great, but they didn’t stir me the way ‘Hall of the mountain king’ did.

I don’t know what made me decide to go for it in the end, probably Rob; he supports me in everything (within the boundaries of the law and common decency).

So, that is what I walked out to. 

As you can see from the pictures I did have an inane grin, the whole time, there is not one picture of me without my mouth wide open, something I will apologise for.  But I didn’t jump and rave (possibly due to the heels) and aside from my own satisfaction, having seen a quick snippet of the video, and the congregation’s response, it was absolutely the right choice!

Our cake was created by the gorgeous and talented Amy Davidson.  Amy is the younger sister of my friend and usherette Gemma, and niece of the owner of a fabulous cake shop.  

The cake we chose was based on an existing design, two tone sugar paste in green and white with pink ribbon.  We went for three tier, 2 chocolate sponge and 1 victoria sponge.

Amy crafted the figurines or Rob and I as well as a mini Jamie (our precious pet cat)

CC Cakes are based in Cheshire, UK and are the suppliers of the last five royal wedding cakes, including that of Charles and Di, so we are in good company. http://www.cccakes.co.uk/

We flew to Orlando and had 5 days at our friend's villa on Southern Dunes estate, we had a black Mustang convertible to get around in and did a couple of the parks, Disney's Magic Kingdom, Sea World as well as an airboat ride and gator handling c/o Captain Fred's at Lake Rosalee.  Within 4 days of Floridian cuisine my short shorts were no longer fitting, the diet was well and truly off and the arduous exercise regime had come to an abrupt stand still, and it was too darn hot to go any where fast!

From Orlando we drove to Savannah, staying at the Mansion on Forsyth Park, taking a ride with Old Savannah Tours and a Ghostly Pub Crawl with Tara's Ghost Tours.  My favourite part of this leg was my chocolate martini and cherry & chocolate cake in Lulu's Chocolate Bar on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd mmmmm. We have since watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and got overly excited when we recognised anywhere, especially Clary's cafe!

After our two night stay in Savannah, with a promise to return, we headed for Bat Cave NC, about 30 mins from Asheville, the home of Camp Mishemokwa.  This is where Rob spent 3 years as a counsellor, teaching Taekwando, and became the man he is today.  Rob often talks about camp, and the way the light fell through the trees, the smell of the rain in the woods so I felt really privileged to share this trip with him.  The camp is now owned by semi retired lawyer Darren Blum and his wife Cheryl.  They, with site manager Kenny, have renovated, transformed the two main residential areas for private rental, and are in the process of renovating the bunk houses.  The quality of work and decor is superb, more than we ever expected and their hospitality is second to none. 

We spent two nights at the camp, and a further two down the road in Chimney Rock, at Fibber McGee's.  This was a quaint riverside B&B, which was rather pricey but the location was choice, with a perfect view of the rather phallic Chimney Rock.  These mountains were the setting for the film The last of the Mohicans, this we watched as soon as we got home!

While we were in Chimney Rock we enjoyed dinner at Larkins, and Genny's, we also went boating on Lake Lure.  So of course we also have to now watch Dirty Dancing and get excited with all the outdoor scenes that we recognise.

The last leg of our tour was NYC.  We stayed here on a surprise trip that Rob arranged for my 30th birthday and enjoyed it so much we decided this would be a nice way to spend the last fews days of our honeymoon.  We stayed at the Empire Hotel, ate at PJ Clarke's, the Brooklyn diner, Bella Vita to name a few, met friend's and did the Empire State building, 102nd floor zero visibility :)

We were shattered when we came home, and slept most of the week, but we could not have done two weeks on a beach, think we would have gone crackers.  The weather was great, the food was amazing, certainly plentiful, we both put on a stone each, and the hospitality was so warm and generous.

We are already planning our return trip, best diet in advance!

I need to get the photo's from Rob's harddrive, until then here is an excited me boarding of plane 'The English Rose' at Manchester.