Oh I do love a wedding with a lot of COLOUR and Anya and Karl’s purple and turquoise celebration makes me very happy indeed! They were hitched at The Church Restaurant in Northampton in March.
“We just wanted to celebrate everything we have with the people who have been there for us”, began the bride. “We took inspiration from the things we love and who we are as a family. We had about seven months to plan the wedding. Our son, Grayson, was five months old at the time and it had been a challenging couple of years. Going through IVF, finally being able to meet him and finding out he was sick was really hard (he’s made a full recovery now) and then moving house! We had a moment when we realised that we are so lucky to be here as a family and while we’ve been engaged for five years, the time finally felt right!”
“We didn’t want a white wedding or a wedding that was too big”, she continued. “I particularly love purple, have a thing about buttons and collect ribbons to re-use in my hair or for packaging! Karl loves anything unusual and bright, and as a couple we’re generally quite quirky with our choices.”
“It was important that the day was about us, the people we love and just a fun for the kids. We had just 40 guests and quite a few children, so we had an afternoon ceremony followed by drinks and a meal. There was plenty of space for the kids to run around and no worrying about travelling from venue to venue. There were no speeches, no cake cutting (we had cake pops!) and no long evening reception. We wanted everything in one place, with an awesome bar area. We headed back to our house afterwards for lots more chatting, food, drinks and some very excited but tired kids!”
The ceremony was perfect. The couple stood up in front of their friends and family, with their son. “We exchanged bracelets instead of rings”, Anya said. “Both of us much prefer wearing them so it seemed like a perfect choice. Karl found some by RW Goldsmith on Etsy who could make matching ‘his and hers’ bracelets from titanium and anodised in purple.”
There were also no adult bridesmaids and Karl had a best woman instead of a best man. “Since I’m Indian and Karl is English, we included parts of both cultures but nothing completely traditional as that’s not really us. I had a henna evening two days before the wedding and all my close girl friends came over and we just had a great time!”
“Our favours were also unusual – everyone got to choose a pair of socks! We wanted something practical but also fun. I’m not talking plain, boring socks that a random family member gives you for Christmas – I mean colourful, crazy socks with funky patterns! Each pair was different: sausages and eggs, dinosaurs, cupcakes, you name it we probably had a pair of socks to match it. The little girls even got their very own Frozen ones!”
“Our biggest expenses were our photographer and my dress, but both were the best decisions ever! Rebecca, our photographer, fit in perfectly with us all. It was like she had known us for years, and she has a real talent for catching memorable moments. Lucie, who made my dress, was so bubbly and just understood what I wanted from the moment she met me. I looked everywhere for the dress I had in my mind but in the end I knew it had to be made as I was very specific about what I wanted! I thought getting a dress made would be really expensive and out of the question, but Lucie was very realistic and although it was one of the things splashed out on, it cost us under £1000 for my dress and shoes!”
“Our biggest saving was the venue. It used to be an old church, so we had all the beauty of the stained glass windows, and the restaurant had a civil ceremony license so it was perfect in every way. We got an amazing deal as we just hired it for the morning and afternoon.”
“I read some advice before I got married that I’m so glad I followed through with”, she concluded. “Make sure you take a moment out to look around the room and just take everything and everyone in. I tried to do this a couple of times during the actual day, to file that moment in my memory. When we were all sat down to eat and the kids were laughing and playing, I looked around the room with Karl and we just enjoyed everyone we loved being there to share our happiness. We truly had a magical day and we’re just so lucky to have the amazing friends and family that we do. We think it’s more fun when you’re just being yourselves.”
The Gallery
Suppliers
- Photography: Rebecca Walters Photography
- Venue: The Church Restaurant, Northampton
- Bride's Dress: Lucie Greene Bridal
- Bride's Shoes: Pink by Paradox London
- Bride's Headpiece: Lucy Oh Lucy
- Bride's Bouquet: Daisy Blue Buttons
- Flowergirl's Tutus: Treacle Boutique
- Cake Pops: Lillie Loves Cakes
- Transport: Fifties Chic