One of the contributing factors when making such a big change to my business was in actual fact my own wedding! Mr LF Designs and I knew from the start that we wanted our day to truly reflect us as a couple and small personal touches unique to us were definitely the driving force for this! Planning the wedding also really made me love the world of all things bridal and as I aimed to find modern bridal accessories I knew this was an area that I wanted to explore and develop products for. Early on in the planning process I realised that my bridal style was minimal, however just because I wanted clean, modern lines didn't mean that I didn't want to add personality and fun to the day and this drove the redirection of my business into this space. We also knew from the start that the things that we chose to invest in we wanted to be able to repurpose or reuse after the wedding day and this has been a key part of my jacket development. This is why it was so important to create designs that can be worn not only for the big day but the events leading up to it and beyond.
A little about our wedding...
We had such a fab day so of course I have to cover this in my blog (any excuse to talk about it really!). Our day took place at the amazing Thirsk Lodge Barns (check it out if you're not familiar, it is a STUNNING venue with the most amazing team) on a Saturday in April.
As I said earlier, we were really keen to make sure the day reflected us and this meant doing the things that were important to us and skipping those traditions that weren't... even if some of these were unpopular opinions! With this in mind, we kept the day laid back with BBQ sharing board catering from the lovely Blues Catering, who do maybe the best fries we've ever eaten and this seemed to be a mutual feeling from our guests too and so many people said this! The florals were super natural as if they had always been there with an abundance of foliage, pretty white florals and the most amazing smelling herbs. A huge shout out the the floral magician that is Laura from Mint & Moose, we gave a very vague brief, yet she somehow managed to create the most perfect florals that were exactly what we were hoping for. Our photography was no different, we really loved the natural documentary style photos of Lyndsey from LSM photography, we're not one for photos and didn't want to be away from our guests for hours on end taking them so we wanted a photographer that would take natural shots in the moment and Lyndsey did not disappoint!
Personal Touches...
We wanted to add as many personal touches as possible throughout the day and we had a few favourites that we wouldn't change for the world so I just had to share them and perhaps if you're planning your own wedding would highly recommend...
Our ceremony readings - this was an important one for us and we took this time to really look into this and find readings that reflected us and meant something. This led to finding my now absolute favourite quote ever:
"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutual weirdness and call it love" - Dr Seuss
It gave all of our guests a little giggle and summed us up perfectly!
Cupcakes over cake all day long! Now this did mean no traditional cake cutting but they went down a treat with our guests, plus it meant the cake to icing ratio was absolute perfection! Shout out to BB Bakes for creating the most amazing dairy free cupcakes for us!
Sweet table... We both have the biggest sweet tooth so this was at the top of our list, the sweet jars were actually our first wedding purchase, 2 years before the day! We made sure to include our favourites and everyone loved snacking on these throughout the day. One of our favourite personalisations was on the sweet table too, a custom runner with the quote "I love you lots and lots like jelly tots", this is a saying that we have been saying for years so we had to include this somewhere.
Sparklers and fire pits - now this was another personal touch that we had to include. The proposal took place the day before bonfire night in the garden during lockdown complete with sparklers and a fire put so it was really important for us to add this to the day. It was such a lovely way of commemorating this memory and sharing it with our family and friends. We actually had this in lieu of a first dance, I couldn't imagine anything worse for me personally than a first dance as it filled me with dread, so this was a super fun alternative that everyone could get involved with.
Investing in items we can reuse - we did this a lot! Our bud vases were actually drinking glasses which meant after the wedding we could use these as glasses rather than having 12 vases we didn't need. We used an Instax camera for our guestbook which we also took on our mini-moon and will be taking on our honeymoon (this went down so well with our guests too, would definitely recommend!). We made our own table runners which have now doubled up as decorating sheets - after all you can never have too many of those! And my all time fave, the sweet table runner mentioned earlier will be shortened and made into a wall hanging as a little daily reminder of our big day!
Wedding newspapers - anyone looking for a fun way to show the order of the day I can't recommend this enough! We designed and printed them at home so they were super cheap and went down a treat with the guests. Filled with photos, a little puzzle corner and info about the venue it was a personal way of including all the info everyone needed and made for a great talking point.
The biggest personal touch of all... mini golf as an activity! MR LF Designs created a mini golf course for our day and I absolutely loved it! We both come from competitive families and have very competitive natures so knew we needed some sort of game included in the day and I have an avid love of mini golf (random, I know) so this was the perfect addition to the day. It gave a fun activity for the lulls in the day for guests and really got everyone together. (Just incase anyone is wondering I did lose which I was not happy about!)
From the Laura Fernandez Designs Collection...
I of course made a jacket too and this is where the 'Crazy In Love' jacket began it's life. As a big fan of Beyonce (we actually walked back up the aisle to 'love on top' - great exit song by the way!) I thought what a great slogan to incorporate into a jacket! I also added our wedding date under the collar in roman numerals which Mr LFD also had under his suit collar so it was a lovely touch for us both to have the same personalisation, plus it made a great photo op! I was so grateful to have the jacket too, after all it was a Saturday in April in the UK so a bit of warmth as the temperature dropped in the evening was greatly appreciated, plus it served as a fun take on my something blue!
Everyone is there to celebrate you!
If we could give any advice for your wedding day, it would definitely be to do the things that represent you as a couple, after all, everyone is there because they love you and want to celebrate your big day! I! It's so easy to get drawn into the 'expected' traditions but if they don't match your style or personality then why do them, so stay true to you and most importantly...have fun!
Love Laura x
If anyone is looking for some insanely talented suppliers, check out the list below, these superstars made our day!
Venue - Thirsk Lodge Barns
Photography - LSM Photography
Hair & Make up - Sonia Schofield
Catering - Blues Catering
Cake - BB Bakes
Florist - Mint & Moose
Suits - Antich Fine Tailors
Dress - Wed2Be / Perfect Fit Bridal Alterations