Here at Old Down Estate we have a wide range of suppliers. However, picking who you want to use can be quite a daunting experience.
Here is how it went for me
The Cake
I wanted a very different wedding cake. I was after a 3-tier cheesecake. The only ones I could find were very expensive and nowhere near my venue.
I went along to a wedding fayre near my venue where I found the perfect florist, we hit it off straight away. This is just what I wanted, someone who I knew I could trust and was just lovely! Not trying to sell me something that didn’t fit just to get the extra money. I also went on to explain to her what I was looking for in terms of my wedding cake and straight away she knew the person to use.
I went home and looked her up online and arranged a date to go down and meet her. She made lots of different cheesecakes for us to try and again we hit it off from the minute we walked in.
The second supplier was booked on first meeting!
Photographer
When it came to our photographer this was one of the most important parts for us. So, I gave this to my husband to look after (not as crazy as it sounds!). My husband knew what to look for as he worked with photographers every day. We went to meet with Matt, who he recommended and all I can say is ‘wow’ he was fantastic! His personality was so fitting with our day and he was more of a friend by the end of our meeting. He was a major part of our day and we spent more time with him than we did our guests.
When we received our pictures after, I cannot explain how happy we were. To this day I still send him messages thanking him for what he did. Words cannot describe how amazing our pictures are.
The Dress
I first went shopping for my dress a few months after I had my little girl, so I wasn’t back to pre-baby weight, but too excited to wait I booked an appointment.
I went in and picked a few dresses to try on, as did my bridesmaids. The experience was horrendous! The lady told me I was too big to wear particular dresses and wouldn’t even let me try some on. She just kept pointing towards the sale rack.
I left and just cried! Not how I was expecting to feel after trying on wedding dresses for the first time.
I waited a few months and booked an appointment with a different dress shop. The experience could not have been more different! I was welcomed by warm smiles and lead to the changing rooms with champagne for myself, bridesmaid and my mum. We all chose some dresses for me to try on. The lady helping also brought in a few for me to try on, I said no to a couple but one dress I wasn’t too keen to try on, but I trusted her and went with it. WOW! It was the dress!! I felt like a princess!
I stood there on the platform facing the closed curtains, excited to see the reactions. She opened the curtains and everyone was speechless, tears were shed and my best friend just saying ‘That’s the one!’ No other dress would compare now.
I came out feeling on top of the world, the way you should feel when coming out from trying on wedding dresses. I wanted to do the scene from pretty woman and go back to the other dress shop and say ‘Big Mistake. Big. Huge!’ (I didn’t!)
Hair & Make Up
Hair and make-up was an easy choice. One of my close friends from school was an amazing make-up artist. Straight away I knew she was the one I wanted to do my hair and make-up. We had a few trials and then a trial for my bridesmaids as well. We tried out different hair styles as well, I knew I had to have my hair up, I always wear my hair up and although there were some really nice styles for having it down, I got married on a beach (so quite windy) but it wasn’t me. I would look back at my wedding pictures later in life and ask myself ‘why did I do that? I never wear my hair down.’
My maid of honour came up with the design for my bridesmaid’s hair and did it on the day. (This meant my make-up artist had more time for mine). It could not have been more perfect, everyone looked amazing and even with tears shed no make-up was smudged, it stayed for the entire day.
The one piece of advice I would give when choosing your suppliers, make sure they aren’t just amazing at what they do. But also, someone you can have a good relationship with because you will be talking to them a lot!