Tis the season for WEDDINGS - Summer 2017

In the past month I have had the privilege to be a bridesmaid at two weddings. One was for my boyfriends sister, and the other for my best friend of 16 years. I'm not sure how many pictures either party would want me to include so.... here goes.

 Both weddings had one huge thing in common.... I love the brides a tonne.... as illustrated below........

 I digress... let me get back to the meat of the article. WEDDINGS. If you care to visit my pinterest page you will see that I've put a fair amount of thought in what I'd want for my own wedding. For both the blushing (ha ha ha, makes them seem innocent) brides I thoroughly enjoyed my bridesmaids duties.

Wedding 1 - The coopers

Wedding no.1 was my other half's sister. She is his younger sibling with an imagination and a half. She planned and executed most of the wedding whilst her groom remained focused on getting their first property purchase completed. This beautiful couple got engaged in Paris, on the Eiffel tower in 2015 (watch me be wrong on this date) and soon checked out wedding venues.

Their final choice of venue was:

Looks like Hogwarts from this angle. This is the roadside view which shows off the original and older ascetic. From the other side it is a little more modern, including a car park.... As a wedding venue this was really convenient. The wedding couple live up the road but also as it was a Best Western, it meant guests could stay over. Size wise the venue was a lovely size for the Cooper wedding party with a really traditional aesthetic which matches the above pictured exterior. As a venue, I could only point out one downfall which was that the bar was not in the same room as the main reception room. In the case of the Cooper wedding, luckily the personality of the majority of the guests meant that the wedding was still kept to the main reception room with brief visits to the bar. It did however mean that the party poopers stayed in the bar area (which was used by the rest of the hotel guests too) for most of the night, not involving themselves with the main wedding party (and PARTY it was).

Our bride no.1 was also a vegan and with that she brought a few twists I'd never seen at a wedding. The main meal included vegan options which is so rare but also the cake and cupcakes were all vegan. Some vegan options (by this i mean which are available in supermarkets) are grim replacements, such as vegan cheese. Violife smells and tastes like feet..... The cake however was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten! The icing was AMAZING. (sorry for the poor pic quality)

More quirks that our bride brought to this wedding was her choice of flowers and colours. Her favourite colour is electric/royal blue which was reflected in the brides parties flowers and clothing:

Wedding 2 - The Tamplin's

Wedding no.2 was my best friend of 16 years. Although not actual family, I've known this lovely lady so long that her family are just like family. I've been away with these lovely people on holiday and seen all her siblings finish primary school and begin secondary, finish secondary and then move onto jobs and adulthood. Her wedding was last night so not as many pictures as yet (being bridesmaid I was without my phone for most the time).

The Tamplin wedding was held in Bromley in:

As a venue this ticks all boxes really. The wedding, as it was a sunny day was held outside under a pergola. It was picturesque! The inside of the venue was decorated tastefully with the sit down meal and reception being held in the same area without the need to move tables. The bar was also in the main reception room. Although the picture above shows the lovely dated exterior of this venue, the indoor reception part of the wedding was held in a more modern extension of the building which didn't hold the same period charm. It was however a lovely big reception room which accommodated all the day and evening guests comfortably and kept the whole party together all night.

Food wise, we didn't have a food selection so the food chosen by the bride and groom were chosen to suit all. A Cesar salad, followed by a roast chicken main and a meringue, cream and ice cream desert. All three courses were delicious and also servings were really big for a three course meal.

Our bride no.2 decided not to have a number of floral room decorations nor bouquets. She worries these are costly and get wasted which is a huge pity. Instead she only chose to have button holes for the gents and one bouquet for herself. Instead us bridesmaids had fans to hold on the day which came in use on this hot September day!

Mine

I have provide you with a collage of what I'd like my wedding to be if i won the lottery and could have it all (can find links to all of these on my pinterest page):

As you can tell by the above, currently i have an idea of a red and navy wedding. This will likely never happen as my Mr hates Navy. Too school uniform in his mind. Oh well. A gal can dream....

ALSO.... not engaged.


Two beautiful days with two beautiful brides. I'm so happy to have been involved and privileged to have been bridesmaids for both these ladies!

Wishing them and their Hubby's many happy loved up years!

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