Hello beautiful,
Today, we have something truly special to share with you. The first of our monthly feature, Real Bride! Our first beautiful bride is Lisa Rimmer (nee Thompson) who married her partner, Alex, on April 24th 2015, at Lancashire Manor Hotel, Pimbo.
We asked Lisa to spill the sugared almonds and tell us everything about their special day!
How did you meet?
"Like all of the cool kids today we met online. We met via the dating website OKCupid. I messaged Alex first, and he didn't reply for nearly a month. There is a good explanation for this (apparently!) – he was travelling through Australia at the time and didn't check his e-mails until he got home. He actually replied to me on 1st April saying “I hope I'm not too late...” Fortunately for him he wasn't and we started chatting on Facebook and soon arranged to meet up. He likes to joke to this day that he is still playing an epic April Fool's joke on me!"
How did he propose? Or did you take the plunge?
"He surprised me with a weekend away in Paris for my 30th birthday and we spent the first full day there seeing some of the sights, including a trip up the Arc de Triomphe and lunch along the Champs Elysees. We had a lovely day and in the evening had a cruise on the Seine. It had been such a long day, I was really tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel, but Alex insisted we go and see the Pont des Arts bridge. This had been known as “lover's bridge” as people attached padlocks to the bridge with their initials on. He asked me to turn round so he could get a photo of me looking towards the Eiffel Tower in the background, and when I turned back round, he was down on bended knee with an engagement ring in his hand! I immediately said yes and burst into tears! We celebrated the next day with a trip up the Eiffel Tower and a lovely, but expensive, lunch there."
Tell us about planning your wedding…
"It's ironic as we originally started with a very small wedding planned with just a registry office and a family meal afterwards. This gradually grew and when we started looking at proper wedding venues it took on a life of its own. When we saw Lancashire Manor we both immediately fell in love with it and knew it would be the perfect venue. Once we booked that, we then moved onto everything else including cars, flowers, cake, decorations, dress, suits and of course stationery! I recommend all brides plan as far ahead as they can. I found that the arranging of the wedding wasn't as stressful as I did most of it as early as I could so it wasn't as manic near the end. I really enjoyed the planning, more than I thought I would, and looked forward to sorting things out at weekends."
What were you most excited about?
"Obviously marrying Alex! The biggest thing was bringing both of our family and friends together all in one place, particularly as some travelled and we don't see them that often. For me having planned it and envisioned it for 18 months beforehand, I was also really excited, and a little nervous, about seeing the venue on the day and how all of the disparate elements would come together."
Did you trust your other half with any of the planning?
"Simply… no! I'm joking of course, I needed him to pay for things! In all seriousness, I did do most of it myself but I would normally run things past him, even if he wasn't always listening! He did attempt to help with some things, such as the wedding favours, but he couldn't even thread some hessian twine through a small hole!"
What was your theme?
"The theme was rustic with pastel colours. Most of our decorations incorporated wood, hessian and pale pinks. It wasn't a normal block colour theme, we just wanted something a little different that went with the room we got married in, which is a converted barn."
How did Zoe incorporate this theme in to your stationery?
"Zoe took on board our theme and helped to design stationery that complemented this, so for example our invites were all in pastel pink. These included a gorgeous brooch of diamante's and pearls. She also did an amazing table plan for us which was backed onto a hessian backing board within a white vintage picture frame."
How many bridesmaids and pageboys did you have?
"I had one bridesmaid and a flower girl, and a Best Man for Alex."
Tell us about the big day itself…
"Luckily everything went to plan so there were no traumas on the day - apart from Alex doing karaoke later on much to the amusement of all our family and friends! I wasn't nervous which surprised me and more than anything was just looking forward to it. There were a few tears as I walked down the aisle - and that was just my Dad! The civil ceremony was lovely but flashed by and then we followed up with a quick ride in the wedding car and a glass of prosecco which was really nice as it was the only real time we had together on the day. Once we got back to the venue, we had our official photos and fortunately the weather held out. The wedding breakfast was excellent, not too many embarrassing stories from the Best Man, and my Dad had been practising his speech for months. Alex managed to get a few jokes and anecdotes in at my expense, including calling me Bridezilla, which he'll pay for later! The evening disco was great, we had an LED dance floor which everyone loved, and our photographer did a photo studio upstairs with various props which most people took advantage of. Overall, it was the happiest day of our lives and worth every penny and all of the planning."
What was the easiest thing about planning your wedding?
"I wouldn't say any of it was easy! I found it only became easier once I knew exactly what I wanted and I was focused in on those things. At the beginning, it seemed so far away and hard to make a decision on themes, dresses and colours, for example."
…and the hardest?
"Choosing the right husband! Actually the hardest thing was we had to change a few suppliers along the way for various reasons which then meant starting from scratch with them, explaining what we wanted and our theme etc. Luckily these happened with plenty of time to sort things out, I can't imagine what it would be like if this had happened in the last few weeks before the wedding."
Where are you planning to go on your honeymoon?
"We have booked a two week holiday at an island resort in the Dominican Republic in October this year. We haven't been to the Caribbean before so we are both really looking forward to it. People were so generous at the wedding and we are so grateful to everyone for their contributions."
After discussing the wedding at length, we asked Lisa to talk us through her experience with LMSB, and working with Zoe to design her perfect wedding stationery…
What was your experience with Zoe like, as a designer?
"First class. She was so helpful and accommodating, full of brilliant ideas, and she was always willing to make time for us. She works so hard and you only have to look at the stationery she produces to see what a talented and creative designer she is. We were amazed at some of the stationery she has produced for other people, and not just for weddings either, and the range of styles, colours and accessories she makes use of is incredible. Not just that, but she keeps you up-to-date at every stage which is so important when you are wondering where things are up to. The best thing about working with Zoe was that not only did we get great stationery, but we also made a great friend."
How did you feel when you saw the finished designs?
"Absolutely delighted – we loved them! They were exactly what we wanted and packaged nicely too with her branded packaging. She also gave us a little scented candle with a wedding scent as well which was a really sweet touch."
Did your guests like your stationery?
"Our guests loved our stationery! People thought it matched the theme really well and how we had integrated certain elements. We had quite a few people say our invites were the most beautiful invites they had ever seen, which we think is the ultimate compliment for Zoe's work. People were commenting about how fantastic the invites were before they had told us they were coming!"
Did you get any particularly positive feedback for your theme and design?
"We did get positive feedback on our theme – I think people weren't expecting it and obviously it isn't the usual classic white wedding."
Would you recommend LMSB to friends and family?
"Without a shadow of a doubt I would recommend LMSB to family, friends and anyone who would listen. I would recommend them for anything you might need stationery for, not just a wedding, and we have already talked about other things we might use Zoe for in the future. I can honestly say the stationery was one of the easiest processes because Zoe made it easy, but also one of the best, because the final product is so professional and exactly what we wanted."
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We are so grateful to Lisa for sharing with us the details of her special day, including all the planning and build up to the big day. A beautiful and romantic tale of modern dating, and love, leading to a gorgeous and exciting wedding day. It sounds to us as though the whole day went exactly as Lisa had anticipated and planned, and the feedback given regarding Zoe’s work designing and creating the wedding stationery makes everyone at LMSB very happy indeed. It can be very time consuming and stressful planning and organising a wedding, and bringing everything to life exactly as envisaged requires a lot of commitment. As a designer, Zoe is dedicated to ensuring she can do everything possible to assist you, and reduce some of those pre-wedding jitters by taking care of all the little details that can really make your wedding as unique as you are.
Zoe is thrilled that Lisa and Alex were so happy with their stationery, and over the moon to receive such positive feedback from their guests. I asked Zoe to weigh in on her experience with the happy couple…
“I met Lisa and Alex at Lancashire Manor, their perfect wedding venue, last year. They were one of the most friendly couples I’ve ever met! They came over to LMSB from Pimbo, for their consultation, and had a very clear vision of what they wanted – a vintage wedding. This changed slightly as they went along, to include rustic elements, and Lisa did a fab job of tying the two together perfectly.
"We worked hard and very closely together to create something amazing for the big day, meaning over time we have become good friends. I hope Lisa and Alex stay in touch. They were a pleasure to work with and get to know.”
What a beautiful wedding, thank you Lisa and Alex for sharing your big day with us and for being our FIRST featured Real Wedding. We really hope you all enjoyed reading about Lisa and Alex, and we can’t wait to share our next Real Wedding feature!
Much love,
Let's Make Something Beautiful
