We were honoured that my father asked very early on to be in charge of the wedding cars. We arrived in style in a vintage Rolls Royce provided by South Wales Wedding Cars, and other members of our family arrived in a blue Bentley driven by Carl Bennett. I wanted my dress to be memorable, in keeping with our simple, rustic theme, and a reflection of my own personal style. The one and only feature I didn’t want to compromise on was statement lace. Quite by chance, I stumbled across Willow in White Bridal Co on Facebook and saw a photo they posted from a shoot that had taken place a year or so before. I instantly fell in love with the dress, which, whilst not informal, did not look as rigid or ‘weddingy’ as other dresses I’d seen. I particularly loved how effortlessly beautiful the model looked in it. I was sold instantly. I kept my accessories simple, with jewellery from Clogau and a pearl necklace and stud earrings my parents gifted me on the morning of the wedding. In keeping with the colour scheme, Adam and his brother Nathan wore matching navy waistcoats and trousers and crisp white shirts from Marc Darcy. They accessorised with orange ties and personalised tie pins from The Tie Store. We worked with Cartiria Design on our invitations and order-ofservice booklet. We were particularly impressed with the handdrawn map of the local roads and landmarks to help our guests who were from further afield find our venue. We added a personal touch to the invitations by designing our own wax seals. We liaised with StampGoGoWedding, who created the bespoke design for our stamp as well as supplying the wax. We chose a three-course meal for our wedding and were over the moon when the events manager at Llancaiach Fawr Manor agreed for us to have a hog roast instead of one of the set main courses. It went down a treat, and we were overjoyed that many of our guests also took takeaway boxes home with them! I didn’t have bridesmaids, just my sister, Rhian, who agreed to be my maid-of-honour. Fortunately, a smaller bridal party meant I had more flexibility with my budget when choosing a dress. I’ll admit I spent far too long searching for and ordering navy maxi dresses to fit in with our colour scheme, and each time, both Rhian and I were in agreement that they were not right. The dress I picked for Rhian flashed up on my Facebook page as part of Coast’s social media marketing. I fell in love with it instantly and only hesitated for a millisecond as, in powder blue, it didn’t quite match the colour scheme. 35 REAL WEDDINGS
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