13th July 2010

Louise and Graeme’s Wedding at Cakebread Cottage

After a church wedding at The Church of the Holy Cross, Sarratt, Hertfordshire, Louise and Graeme held their wedding reception at home in the sweetly named Cakebread Cottage. Louise had spent all year doing all the preparations for a home wedding and as you will see from these pictures, it definitely paid off! Graeme is a pilot for Easyjet and his Scottish heritage was worked into some of the details of the day from the Scottish piper that piped them into marquee to the Ceilidh dancing, and of course Graeme’s kilt!

Louise looking radiant in her dress

Louise and Graeme were married at The Church of the Holy Cross

Gorgeous pinks and purples used in the bouquets

Making their way to the reception

The reception was held at home in Cakebread Cottage

What wonderful colours in the decorations!

The guests make their way to the marquee in the field behind the cottage


Scottish piper piped them into the marquee


Top tier of cake made by Graeme’s mum

Ceilidh dancing in full action!


The marquee lit up at night

22nd June 2010

Vintage wedding in Jersey

We are excited to show you more of this lovely vintage wedding. The venue is Longueville Manor, on the stunning island of Jersey, and it was styled by wedding planners, Grace & Tailor. The whole idea for the wedding came from a simple square of lace, found by Gemma, the bride, in a vintage store. The dress was made in Spain, in the style of a 1930’s wedding dress. The bridesmaids’ dresses all had an individual twist to suit each of them and the brief for the hairdresser was ‘to look like they were about to walk down the catwalk’. Their hair was amazing, as were their shoes! Being a shoe-aholic I was very envious of the pairs of Laboutin, Chanel and Jimmy Choos that lay around the room.

Gemma wanted to keep everything as locally sourced as possible. The flowers were all grown in the grounds of Longueville Manor, and arranged by the hotel’s own florist. The vegetables for the meal were also all grown in the hotel’s vegetable garden. The bridesmaids gifts were bracelets made from Jersey Pearl.

The entertainment throughout the day was very well coordinated. Nick, the groom, is a musician so having music at their wedding was very important to him. First there was a string quartet when Gemma walked down the aisle. During the service, Nick’s fellow band members performed a song they had written especially for the couple. Then a jazz quartet played during the afternoon reception. After the meal, while the marquee was being made ready for the evening, an acoustic performance took place by the pool.

During this, suddenly a Scottish band walked onto the lawn, loudly playing their bagpipes and drums. It was a great surprise for Gemma and Nick – and it gave me goose-bumps is was so good!

Finally, Gemma’s father, a huge Beatles fan (being a Liverpudlian himself!) had brought in a Beatles cover band to play in the evening, called The Classic Beatles. They were the best cover band I’ve ever heard.

The party continued way into the night, and it was with great reluctance that I managed to tear myself away from the wonderful hospitality of the bride and groom and their families.

Gemma in her dress made from Portuguese lace

Gemma in her dress made from Portuguese lace

Arriving at the ceremony - both are very excited!

Arriving at the ceremony - both are very excited!

In the grounds at Longueville Manor

In the grounds at Longueville Manor

The bridesmaids looking like they've just stepped off the catwalk

The bridesmaids looking like they've just stepped off the catwalk

Marquee styled by Grace & Tailor

Marquee styled by Grace & Tailor

The seating plan in an old traveling trunk

The seating plan in an old traveling trunk

Table centre pieces and room decor - all flowers from the garden at Longueville Manor

Table centre pieces and room decor - all flowers from the garden at Longueville Manor

Nick & Gemma

Nick & Gemma

The acoustic band by the pool

The acoustic band by the pool

The Scottish band

The Scottish band

The brilliant Classic Beatles cover band

The brilliant Classic Beatles cover band

Party time

Party time

Gemma & Nick Swietlik - their own box of daisies

Gemma & Nick Swietlik - their own box of daisies

7th June 2010

A sneak preview of our Jersey Wedding…

We couldn’t wait to post the photographs from our wedding at the weekend. Although not all are quite ready, here is a taste of a very special day.
The wedding took place at the stunning Jersey venue, Longueville Manor. Gemma, our bride, was inspired by vintage Portuguese lace for her day and chose the talented London based stylists Grace & Tailor to help create the day. Enjoy these photographs and a full post with details and photographs will follow shortly.

Longueville Manor, Jersey

Longueville Manor, Jersey


vintage styling

vintage styling


Portuguese lace dress

Portuguese lace dress


gorgeous fans for the guests

gorgeous fans for the guests

25th May 2010

Inspirations – Spring colour scheme, flowers and favours

Our previous blog was about Victoria and Ben’s wedding in Hertfordshire. The details and colours that made up their wedding were so beautiful that we thought they deserved to be showcased in a separate piece.

They chose to use colours of silver and white with a dash of aubergine. This was worked beautifully throughout: in the flowers, decorations and accessories, with the aubergine colour appearing in subtle ways. The top table had aubergine chiffon around their chairs whilst the rest of the chairs in the marquee had silver chiffon. Little bridesmaids complimented their ivory dresses with the same aubergine chiffon tied as a waistband. Even the cake had a slight colouring of aubergine on the fondant petals.

Andrew Fleming was the florist and he produced beautiful bouquets and amazing table centre pieces, as well as decorating the church with his wonderful displays. Again aubergine effectively featured throughout. Tall, silver candelabras were stunning when lit, giving the marquee such a warm glow.

Other lovely touches were the white grand piano, being played throughout the meal; the white dancefloor with sparkly lights; and decorative trees which surrounded the dancefloor with blue fairy lights.

Finally, we have to comment on the favours, as they were so very clever. Each guest had been bought a lottery ticket! Let’s hope someone went home richer that night.

Bouquet and confetti

Bouquet and confetti

Flowers in the entrance to the Church

Flowers in the entrance to the Church

Layout 2

Chair covers and lottery card favours

Chair covers and lottery card favours

Marquee showing silver and white colour scheme

Marquee showing silver and white colour scheme

Centre piece and cake detail

Centre piece and cake detail

Glowing candles and sparkly trees

Glowing candles and sparkley trees

9th March 2010

A unique boutique wedding planner..

Savoir Weddings organise boutique weddings for contemporary couples.

Run by Josie and Dan – oh yes grooms-to-be, you can have your very own male planner – Savoir Weddings work with couples who want to do something a little bit different and step away from tradition. “We felt there were many companies catering for more conventional weddings but we wanted to offer something for those who wanted to do things differently” says Josie. In particular, Savoir specialise in planning festival style weddings (both Josie and Dan have a background in music events), green/eco friendly weddings, home receptions and weddings abroad.

Savoir Weddings can come in to help couples at all stages of the planning process. They offer a variety of services from sourcing creative and unique wedding suppliers to consultancy in a particular area, to full planning. “We like to think we make the planning process and day as smooth, relaxed and stress free as possible for all our brides and grooms and help them have a wedding they didn’t even know was possible!” concludes Josie.
http://www.savoirweddings.com

The following are some photographs from weddings Pearl Pictures have photographed in the theme of festival, eco and home reception weddings.

musicians

cool musicians


making use of existing materials

making use of existing materials


home reception

home reception


teepees - festival style

teepees - festival style


flowers from the garden

flowers from the garden

18th January 2010

A Christmas Wedding, London

Sasha and Christopher Morphitis were so lucky with the weather for their Christmas wedding – it snowed! They were married in Camden Registry Office, witnessed by their families, and then went on to enjoy an entertainment-filled evening at the Old Crown in Highgate, North London. Here they were joined by all their friends. After the speeches, the bride took centre stage and sang for her new husband. She was followed by her husband, Christopher, who entertained the guests with a musician friend with wonderful cultural music.

Sasha before the ceremony

Sasha before the ceremony

Sasha & Christopher Morphitis

Sasha & Christopher Morphitis

Sasha sings at her reception

Sasha sings at her reception

Christopher Morphitis

Christopher Morphitis

Wedding cake made by Sasha's mother

Wedding cake made by Sasha's mother

22nd December 2009

Wedding in Lavenham, Suffolk

Ben and Holly recently married at the picturesque tudor hotel, The Swan, in Lavenham, Suffolk. A December wedding brought with it a Christmas theme, and the couple brought sparkle to the occasion with clever details, flowers and colours. All that was missing was snow to complete the Christmas fairytale theme!

The picturesque tudor hotel, The Swan

The picturesque tudor hotel, The Swan

The Ceremony

Holly's cape and bouquet perfectly complimented the winter wedding

The elegant button holes that complimented Christmas

A traditional ivory rose is turned into a stylish Christmas button hole

The bridesmaids wore a lushious green

The bridesmaids wore a lushious green with corsages in ivory & green

Original and fun, the favours were Christmas tree decorations

Original and fun, the favours were Christmas tree decorations

With fairy lights adorning the room, the couple take their first dance

With fairy lights adorning the room, the couple take their first dance

15th October 2009

Lucy gets married!

Our very own Director at Pearl Pictures, Lucy, got married to Matthew Barbour on 5th September this year with an English country garden wedding in Wiltshire. “We wanted a wedding that was truly personal, so chose to have a marquee in the garden where I grew up” says Lucy. “The idea was to start with a very english, country feel at the church and move the day through to a chic and contemporary styled marquee to reflect our life in London, where we have lived for the last 10 years.”. With guests transported to the quaint country church by a red London routemaster bus, Lucy and Matthew opted for a horse and carriage. Once back at “The Chestnuts” the champagne flowed and guests mingled in the garden to music by the “Stickey Bass Jazz Trio”. Once in the marquee the guests sat at tables named after trees in the garden and dined on cannon of lamb with summer vegetables, followed by lemon and passionfruit tart. At 9.30pm, one of the Ushers, Nick, played with his band “The Black Hats”  and the guests danced the night away until carriages at 1am. Photography by Graham Morgan & Jemma Watts.

Guests arrived at the church in a red London routemaster bus

Guests arrived at the church in a red London routemaster bus

The two bridesmaids wore taupe chiffon dresses by Dessy

The two bridesmaids wore taupe chiffon dresses by Dessy

The bouquet was made up with ivory, champagne and pale pink roses

The bouquet was made up with ivory, champagne and pale pink roses

Lucy's lace gown was from Caroline Castigliano, while Matthew's suit was hired from R.Scott & Co in Cirencester, Glos.

Lucy's lace gown was from Caroline Castigliano, while Matthew's suit was hired from R.Scott & Co in Cirencester, Glos.

Fresh rose petals were thrown as confetti

Fresh rose petals were thrown as confetti

The reception was held in the garden of Lucy's parents home

The reception was held in the garden of Lucy's parents home

Inside the marquee

Inside the marquee

The happy couple cut their wobbly cake!

The happy couple cut their wobbly cake!