East-meets-West : Wedding of Tracey + Robert : Part I

What a fabulous treat I have for you today. A wedding full of colour, lush details and adorable cuties. This is Tracey and Robert’s wedding day - one which truly reflected who they are, what they love and that simply tells us ’This is Our day!’… without screaming out loud. What I adore about days like Tracey and Robert’s are the details planned to perfection and with subtle elements which reflect who they are as two people - yet now joined as one. If you’re ready for a little Something Blue and Double Happiness Red – we have it right here… along with all the details from Tracey herself! All wedding photos captured by CG Weddings based in Cheshire.

Engaged … We went to Tenerife to celebrate Rob’s 30^th birthday. Staying in a beautiful new golf resort hotel we arrived the night before Rob’s birthday. I did have an inkling that a proposal was imminent as he had dropped many hints after a few drinks over the past few months. Intrigued to see if he would be proposing on holiday, I offered to unpack his suitcase to test him! If he said’ no’, that meant there was a ring in the case but if it was a ‘yes’ then I knew there wasn’t – to my annoyance he said yes! We went out to explore the area and we walked past a jewellers; as always, I dragged him over and pointed out the rings I liked, and asked when he will propose. Rob’s answer ‘One day babe’. We had been together 7 years and I was forever asking when he would ask me to marry him!

We arrived back to the hotel, Rob then asked me sit out on the balcony with him. As I went to sit next to him at the table, he told me to sit opposite him instead. I pulled out the chair opposite him and there was a jewellery box wrapped up on the seat. I became all shy and got all goose pimply. When I looked up, Rob was on one knee and he asked me to marry him! I just couldn’t believe it and kept repeating “Are you joking?!”  … I of course, said Yes!

Bloom Swoon … In keeping with the East-Meets-West theme I chose white Phalaenopsis Orchids with greenery for my bouquet and Akito Roses for the bridesmaids.

The Venue … Our search for the perfect venue didn’t take too long – being a natural born organiser at heart, I had been obsessive about weddings for many years and kept files and files of wedding ideas for when I would finally be planning my own big day! I had a list of potential venues and after working out our rough guest list and what we wanted from our wedding, we chose Thornton Hall on the Wirral. It was a fair distance from where we lived but when we saw it, we just knew it was the perfect venue - it felt comfortable and suited us both. We chose to have our ceremony in the garden pagoda.  Our wedding breakfast and evening reception took place in the new purpose built suite, the Torintone.

The Bridal Gown … My western style wedding gown was a strapless, new A-Line ivory gown Blue by Enzoani.  It was an elegant yet simple gown with a scattering of crystals in different areas, so always caught the light as I moved. The dress had a button up back, and I finished off my outfit with a handmade lace bolero. I went to Nottingham to buy the lace and asked a local seamstress to tailor one for me. My ivory peeptoe shoes were from Dune with a sparkly diamante silver bow.

I kept my jewellery very simple. On the morning, Rob sent up to me a beautiful white gold necklace with a single pearl and matching earrings (which I had personally chosen) plus a beautiful silver Tiffany necklace – but I opted for the pearls. I also wore a pearl bracelet with a silver horseshoe.

I wanted to look like a princess, so I finished off my look with a beautiful heavy regal style tiara from Ivory & Co and a three tiered cathedral length veil with crystals.

Rob wore a chocolate brown Prince Edward suit with an ivory cravat and brown and white checked waistcoat from Greenwoods. The groomsmen wore the same suits but with sage green cravats and an ivory waistcoat.

My two older bridesmaids wore sage green duchess satin full length gowns from Coast, and my two little flower girls wore ivory dresses with sage flowers and petals from BHS. I bought shrugs from Coast of the same colour fabric as the older bridesmaids’ gowns, and asked my seamstress to make big co-ordinating sashes for their dresses.

The Ceremony … I wanted a Western style wedding with Chinese touches, so we had white Chinese lanterns delicately hanging off the tree branches in the garden of the grounds, as our ceremony was held outside, in the Chinese style Pagoda. I had Chinese music playing in the background as the guests waited for my arrival. My Dad brought scented sandalwood fans back from Hong Kong which we gave to the female guests. Each one was tied with co-ordinating ribbon and the boxes containing the fans were finished off with a personalised label, of the double happiness symbol, our names and the wedding date.

… So this is Part One of Tracey and Robert’s wedding day… come back tomorrow for more gorgeousness of this East-meets-West celebration! Hope you have a lovely Bank Holiday… Carms x