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The Offbeat Bride: Sara
Her Offbeat Partner: Kev
Location & date of wedding: Rufford Mill, Rufford Country Park, Nottinghamshire, UK — 21st August 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was simple in ceremony but lavish in dress. I had a gorgeous red silk 50s dress and had a bouquet of white roses with diamante and black feathers, which I held with a black silk hanky. My daughters dress complimented mine with a red sash, underskirt and slip on pumps. My groom wore a Ben Sherman pinstripe suit, converse trainers, a red tie and red silk handkerchief.
Our wedding rings were handcrafted to our own unusual design, made from platinum and rose gold engraved with the date inside. My father gave me away wearing a pure white suit, black shirt and white tie.
My table place cards, seating plan and guestbook were black and red with Charles Rennie Mackintosh font and symbols. Each table had a 50s movie star photo to correspond with the seating plan. I had a guest request if she could sit at the Marilyn Monroe table and the reason for this was she came dressed as Marilyn herself!
Our first dance was not 50s inspired though, as we didn't want the usual four minutes of cringe worthy embarrassment we had the “Birdie Song.” We danced alongside my daughter and her friends, it was fabulous and funny to boot. We had a jukebox loaded with songs our guests had chosen which added to the whole 50s party atmosphere.
Our friends stopped the traffic at the ford and we had pictures taken on the bridge which we've always loved. An amazing day that will hold many memories for us in the future.
Our biggest challenge: My biggest challenge was keeping calm when people confirmed then cancelled at the last minute — especially when a good friend texted fifteen minutes before I left for the wedding!
Also a few details were overlooked which at first bothered me but then I was enjoying the day too much to care.
My favorite moment: My favorite moment was leaving our local club “Rock City,” dressed in our wedding outfits, after continuing the night in style and eating burgers at the stand next door. We were approached and congratulated so much that night — it was wonderful. It was also really good the hotel was two minutes away from the club!
My advice for other offbeat brides: Do it your way, however that may be. Any advice given take with grace, but still do it your way as only then will you be truly happy with the end result.
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
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OMG what a dress!!! Sooooooooo beautiful!!!
That dress is amazing. Was it custom made or store bought?
Oh my goodness Nottingham! I went to Uni at Nottingham and I've been pining for it lately (I am a west coast Californian/Seattleite American), and it's so lovely to hear about your Rock City and Rufford Park wedding! The swans at Rufford Park ganged up on us once, about 30 of them. It was terrifying, but such fond memories! Thank you!
Too cool. We used the same font for our wedding! Charles Rennie Mackintosh = AWESOME.
weddings that end up in Rock City = awesome
Oh my goodness Nottingham! I went to Uni at Nottingham and I've been pining for it lately (I am a west coast Californian/Seattleite American), and it's so lovely to hear about your Rock City and Rufford Park wedding! The swans at Rufford Park ganged up on us once, about 30 of them. It was terrifying, but such fond memories! Thank you!
Ooooh thats me!! Thank you for your very kind comments 😀
The dress was based on a Candy Anthony design but my fantastic local wedding dress shop changed it a little and added stuff, and the result was brilliant!! Even if i do say so myself lol
Hey chick,looking good :o) x x
beautiful
This wedding is not me at all, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! You are SUCH a happy radiant bride, I LOVE your pics, your confidence, your grace, and your love with each other is so evident! I smiled and laughed with joy looking through your slideshow!
SO inspirational! Congratulations, and thanks for sharing! 😀
Great wedding! I love that your glasses matched your dress 🙂
Woohoo! Notts girls overtaking Offbeat bride! I love the wedding…and ending up in City…very cooool! We even wore the same glasses. You looked lovely. 😀
YAY!another notts gal! And what a fab way to finish the night at Rock city-i love the place!! wedding looks gorge! They'll be another Notts wedding on here in June hopefully! ; ) x
Congrats on your wedding from another Nottingham offbeat bride 2 be (Sept 2010 with a possible rock city ending too) thanks for the great photos and inspiration
Are all you Notts girls on the Bride Tribe!? We should start a Nottingham group!