Holly & Stuart’s summer wedding in Cheshire

What an incredible day this was! Holly and Stuart’s wedding in Cheshire was so relaxed and so much fun, it was everything that I love about weddings. From the moment I arrived in the morning to take photographs of Holly and her bridesmaids getting ready all the way through to everyone dancing to the awesome RPJ band (one of the very best bands I have ever seen at a wedding) the whole day was just brilliant.

A huge thank you to Holly and Stuart for asking me to be a part of your fantastic wedding day. I wish you both all the very best for your future together, I know it will be a very long and happy one x

Here is Holly with the story of her wedding day – thank you Holly!

How did you both meet?

Stuart and I had always known of each other because our parents were friends. However,we very rarely crossed paths and had little contact. That was until he came to my 18th birthday party with his friends and we became close from there – I thought it was a case of being good friends but he says he always had other plans! Ten years later, we are husband and wife!

What was the proposal like?

For my birthday, Stuart surprised me with a trip to Cameron House in Loch Lomond. I had no idea where we were going and as we headed north, I kept trying to guess where we were going. I originally thought we were going to stop in the Lake District but we carried on driving north! It was absolutely beautiful and the most stunning location. Everything was perfect there and Stuart arranged for us to go on a sea plane for a treat – I didn’t realise we were going on it until he literally walked me onto the plane! Whilst we were up there, he popped the question and I couldn’t say yes quickly enough!

How did you find wedding planning? Do you have any tips for other brides?

I really enjoyed the planning, I was a very decisive bride. If I found a supplier I liked, I booked them straight away. This helped me and made it more straight forward. For example, I saw a cake I liked and ordered it…. Rather than looking at a million cakes and then going back to the first one, I think this definitely saved me time and stress! I saw my dress in the window of the first (and only) bridal shop that I went to, I said ‘that is the one’ and didn’t look any further. I knew what I liked and didn’t question my judgement on it – this is really important for brides (and their future husbands!), people will always have an opinion on your wedding but you need to make sure you have everything that you want, rather than trying to impress or cater to what other people like. We wanted a big party, and that’s what we got!

My advice would be to find your venue and date first, then look at suppliers and what extras you want – if you start trying to choose flowers before you even have a confirmed location, it’s going to be incredibly long-winded!

Don’t worry if your husband-to-be doesn’t seem as keen to plan the wedding as you, this is very typical of men! He will have an amazing day. My husband said to me, I don’t mind about the wedding, I want a marriage. Consequently, I made most of the decisions with regards to the planning and knew what he would like – he now keeps suggesting that we look at the photos again or re-watch the video, which is a sign of how much fun he had!

How did you choose your wedding venue?

We had a marquee by the side of Partridge Lakes. The setting was just absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t have wished for more – we were very fortunate, as it was a dry day, otherwise, we may have needed our wellies!

This had always been what I planned, since being a little girl, for my perfect wedding day and so, we didn’t even look at any other venues! It was also the setting of my 18th birthday party, where we first met, and so, ten years later, it was a very fitting venue and the perfect place to celebrate our marriage.

What was your favourite part of your wedding day?

It’s hard to pin-point one favourite part, we both really loved it from start to finish. For Stu, I know he properly relaxed after his speech was over… prior to that, he looked petrified and I wondered if he was having second thoughts on it all! After that, he properly relaxed and had a good celebration.

For me, I adored every moment. From waking up in the morning with my best friends beside me to partying the night away until the early hours! I had the best time getting ready at my mum’s house, we all had a girlie giggle and before we knew it, it was time to head to church. Having that special moment with my dad in the car on the way to church, and him walking me down the aisle, meant everything to me and I know how important (and emotional) it was for us both. For a personal touch, we had our black Labrador, Bodie, as the ring bearer – he had a ball and loved the attention!

With the beautiful weather, we were able to stand by the lakeside and enjoy fizz and canapes, before we took to our seats for the speeches and afternoon tea. After this, we had a cocktail hour and the Pornstar Martinis were devoured in the blink of an eye!

One of the highlights of our day had to be the band who performed at the reception – The RPJ Band. I had not realized when I booked them but they were also at Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright’s wedding celebrations, and I can definitely understand why. They were absolutely incredible and really set the most amazing atmosphere and party. Everyone still talks about them and I would book them again without any hesitation. Everyone was up on their feet dancing, it felt like a concert!

I have so many memories that I will cherish but one of them has to be mentioned: As the night got later, we had sparklers outside for the guests. The lake was lit up beautifully (thanks to Lightech) and it just had a magical feel. Stu and I sat with some of our closest friends on the lakeside – we all sat in a circle on the grass, had sparklers, talking, giggling and reminiscing. It was one of those moments that I will remember forever, as everything just felt perfect.

Who were your favourite wedding suppliers?

Neil Redfern Photography and Stuart Appleyard Videography, both captured the day perfectly and we now have the most amazing photographs and video from our wedding. They make me smile every time I look at them or watch the video.

Our cake by Butterfly Cupcakes was simply stunning and tasted delicious – we had different flavours on each layer including raspberry & white chocolate, salted caramel and chocolate guiness!

My bridesmaids looked stunning in their Sherri Hill dresses from The Dress Studio. We had so many compliments about them and I know they felt amazing wearing them.

In the evening, I chose to change my dress – as much as I wanted to stay in my dress, the train was so long, I knew that it might annoy me if I was trying to dance. I really didn’t want anything to stop me partying and having a good time! This turned out to be a very wise decision and I simply adored my second dress by Mac Duggal at The Dress Studio. It was comfortable but still had the wow factor.

The lighting for the marquee and lake by Lightech was incredible and added a very special touch – the lake looked spectacular!

I won’t lie, I never realized how much of a difference flowers could make but WOW. Red Floral Architecture really work their magic and knew exactly what our venue would need. The colours were matched perfectly to out colour scheme and we all loved them. The center pieces were stunning!

My dress was by Pronovias and I cannot fault the service at Bliss Bridal in Bolton. My dress arrived in good time and it was in perfect condition. They were so helpful and professional from start to finish.

The marquee was provided by South Cheshire Marquees and it really was absolutely stunning. From my first enquiry, they were so helpful and attentive with any questions or queries that I may have had. I would definitely recommend their marquees!

The RPJ band were simply amazing and I would book them again in a blink of an eye. From my first enquiry, they were so helpful. We were apprehensive as we didn’t get chance to see them perform before booking them but we were absolutely not disappointed in any way, and they exceeded all of our expectations!

In the evening, we had a hog roast for our guests and I cannot praise The Flaming Hog team enough. They were so professional and the food was absolutely incredible – it went down a treat!

Our DJ, Jeff, from Jamm Entertainment was a true professional and helped make our day run so smoothly and had everyone dancing before and after the band. Jeff would reply immediately to any contact I made and so, this made the planning aspect very straight forward for me. On the actual day, he helped to bring our whole day together (announcing speeches etc) and in the evening, he knew exactly what to play and when – and requests were played as quickly as we put them in! I could not fault him.

My hair was done by Duncan Fisher. I showed him a photo and he recreated it with ease and he was such a great guy. He made our wedding morning so fun and would recommend him in an instant. He also did some of the bridesmaids hair, along with Megan Evans. Megan was also faultless and made all of the girls feel amazingly – I would re-book both in an instance!

My make-up was done by Charlene Evans. I absolutely loved how she made me look and any compliments that I got, I said were all thanks to her! She understood the look I wanted and made me feel amazing. Charlene did some of the bridesmaids make-up too, along with Anna-May Ball.

Anna-May was lovely and she used the Airbase Airbrush make-up, so this definitely helped the make-up last longer. The girls all looked amazing and you could not tell some had had their make-up done by a different make-up artist, so it did not look different but worked well together. Again, I would re-use Charlene and Anna-May for any special occasion!

I was so fortunate that Decadence Wedding Carriages are from my home village of Culcheth – we are practically neighbours. Even if they had been miles away, I know I would have booked them though. The cars were beautiful and in pristine condition, the drivers were lovely, professional and polite. On the way back from church, we even had the roof-top down…. Which was great fun, but played havoc with my hair a little!! They drove us through our village and it was so lovely to sit there, as husband and wife, in their car.

The Paper Doll made all of our personalized stationary, invites and more for our special day and I cannot sing their praises enough. They have an amazing store in Magull, where you can choose everything that you want to make it personal to your taste and requirements.