My Best Friend's Wedding - The official photos and read her story!

Further to last week's blog post and the lovely feedback, here are some of the 'official' photos! Charlotte and Kaz look even better and more in love, now they have been professionally shot! Love some of the black and white shots and of course the fabulous pictures of Charlotte looking radiant in her fantastic 'Pixie' from Charlotte Balbier . Of course the dress was from Mrs Jones Bridal Boutique where we have lots of similar dresses from Charlotte Balbier - perfect for that quintessential 'Country Garden Wedding!'

Read her story below..

Congratulations again Mr and Mrs Miles!

Photos courtesy of Maria Ashby-Giles Photography
Venue: The Olde Bell at Hurley
Dress and hair accessories: Pixie by Charlotte Balbier at Mrs Jones Bridal Boutique



My Story:
We wanted to keep our wedding simple, personal and fun. We both love food, fine wine, cooking and music and enjoying all four with good friends, so we wanted more of a party than a 'wedding'.

We chose the Olde Bell at Hurley as it has a very rustic feel, serves amazing food and wine and we just fell in love with the Malt House - its self contained 'old malt' building which was a fantastic blank canvas to add our personal touches to and large gardens for photos (it even had a vegetable garden which I loved!)

We created the invites ourselves, with a little help from family and friends. We backed each one in off cuts of luxurious home furnishing fabrics which meant each invite was different and added a little bit of interest to set the scene for the day. I wanted to keep the flowers very simple and seasonal - I had built up quite an eclectic mix of glass vases and ceramic milk jugs, all borrowed from family and bought in charity shops, and we filled each one with flowers so the colour and scent was in abundance all day! We used homemade chalk boards for menus and table plans which went perfectly with the venue.

For the dress I wanted something light to wear (and thank goodness I did as it was a fabulous day and very hot!). I'd been drawn to Charlotte Balbier dresses as I really liked her unique style, use of lace and little touches. After trying on a few styles I decided on 'Pixie' as I wanted a dress with lace straps and I just loved the way the lace fell over the train, and the little belt added that something extra! It went so perfectly with the venue and was such a perfect reflection of my style.

I love cooking so I made little jars of chutney and jam as favours which went down well and I called on a few favours for decorations - my Mum made 60 ft of bunting which looked fab hung up along the walled garden! We served slow cooked lamb for the wedding breakfast and each table elected a 'chef' to carve for everyone - great fun - and we broke with tradition in having a 2 tier chocolate ganache torte wedding cake decorated on top with summer berries! Finally a cheese and biscuits platter ensured we certainly didn't go hungry!

The day went so quickly (everyone says that!) but it was the perfect refelection of us both. I am only sad I can't wear my beautiful dress again!

Charlotte Miles



My Best Friend's Wedding..

Hi all,

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, 'My Best Friend's Wedding' took place on 3rd June 2011. Since she is now back from her honeymoon (looking so relaxed and v brown!) I thought I would share the photos with you (with her permission of course).

Charlotte Durack, now Mrs Miles has been a good friend since school days, so we are talking (cough...) 20 something years! She is one of my oldest and dearest friends and despite this being a blatant personal exploitation of my blog, I am so happy to share this with you (and she did get her dress from Mrs Jones Bridal Boutique, of course).

The Wedding was held at The Olde Bell at Hurley - in the Malt House. A great 'rustic' venue, perfect for her very British style wedding full of colour and stunning flowers, with simple yet elegant styling - very much like her!

'The Dress' was Charlotte Balbier. She wanted something light, easy to wear and a little unique - not too fussy yet with soft detail to fit in with her venue and styling. 'Pixie' was chosen and it could not have been more 'her'. If I had to describe Charlotte in two words, it would be, 'Loveable' and 'Fun!' - and Pixie seemed to fit the bill - playful frivolity!

We decided to take off the cap sleeves and personalise it for her, to make it easier to wear. She loved the belt and the way the lace fell and we teamed it up with a gorgeous Charlotte Balbier vintage silver comb.

It was a fabulous day - the weather shone brightly and things went to plan. Everyone had a fab wedding and spoke about how personal and fitting everything was for one very special and happy couple!

Charlotte and Kaz - congratulations on being Mr and Mrs Miles and Charlotte, one of my first and most beautiful brides!

We love you from Mrs Jones (and Mr) x

PS- photographs are courtesy of my husband and are not the official ones - just our champagne snaps! Will post the 'official ones' as soon as they are out! x

Opening update w/c 13th June

Hi all,

It is very rare for me to alter my opening times as advertised, but this week, as a one off, we will be closed Thursday afternoon. We will be open in the morning until 12.30 pm.

To make up for this, I will open all morning Wednesday 15th June - no appointment needed and I can take appointments anytime after 4 pm that day too.

Back to usual Friday 17th June open 9.30-5.30 and usual opening hours thereafter.

Apologies for the slight change in schedule but it's a one off for special circumstances!

Thanks

Mrs Jones x

English Country Garden Windows!

Hi all,

Despite the rain (and wind and thunder) summer is really here and we've tried to entice the sun out with our new English Garden Windows! Hope you like them!

Mrs Jones x

http://www.mrsjonesbridal.co.uk/

An Accessory Evening, a Wedding and a Birthday!

Morning,

Sorry for not posting for a few weeks - lots of exciting things have been going on including a birthday celebration for me yesterday, a best friends wedding and of course, our Accessory Evening.....

The Accessory Evening was a great success with lots and lots of new and existing brides. I was really pleased with the high turn out and it was good to catch up with everyone again - and find out about their latest wedding planning news....

The evening kicked off at 6pm where we had Kelly from Tantrums and Tiaras with us showcasing her new collection - lots of sparkly things to play with! We served bubbles and canapes and it was a great evening. It was a fanastic chance for brides to soley focus on matching accessories with their dress and have a good girly evening at the same time!

We had Lydia Johnson with us too (from Mascara) who was on hand to give advice on how to wear hair on the big day - she proved very popular as there was a long queue of people waiting to see her to get their hair put up with their new sparkly hair accessory!

Overall, a great night - one which we will be repeating later in the year. Watch this space for more news if you weren't able to attend the first.

Remember, we are now stocking Filippa Scott bridal shoes and have some fantastic designs as well as a new collection of vintage pieces from Tantrums and Tiaras and tiaras/side pieces from Liza Designs so do come and have a look if you are still in need of hair and accessory ideas!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped out! x

Other news to update you all - my fantastic best friend Charlotte married her fiance Kaz at The Olde Bell in Hurley on Friday 3 June. It was a wonderful day and I was lucky enough to be bridesmaid. The weather was just brilliant and the whole day flowed perfectly. I look forward to sharing with you the photos soon, and of course the dress was from Mrs Jones Bridal Boutique - she looked beautiful! Congratulations Mr and Mrs Miles - enjoy your honeymoon.

Mrs Jones x (now another year older since the last post!)
http://www.mrsjonesbridal.co.uk/