Last Friday (3rd July 2015) I had the absolute pleasure of photographing the wedding of Laura and Susanth, they both got ready at the beautiful 5 star Alconbury Guest House before heading to the gorgeous High Rocks for their wedding.
Leading up to their wedding I asked Laura and Susanth a handful of questions about their particular wedding theme and other wedding details, here's their answers;
1. What is the theme and colours of your wedding?
We have gone for a 'classic' (and hopefully 'classy!') wedding feel, and our theme colours are cream and pale blue.
2. How did you come up with your theme?
It was partly accidental! To be thrifty, I had ordered a dress online to be made in China , but when it arrived it didn't look as nice as I hoped. Fortunately Cancer Research UK came to the rescue! - My mum noticed that their local store started selling second hand wedding dresses, and I found one that fitted beautifully. It was much more of a classic wedding dress style - even slightly more 'princessy' - than I would have generally envisaged choosing, but it looked lovely on. And so after that we just made other choices in keeping with that style, so for example, tailcoats for the men. I have always loved blue hydrangeas and I liked the combination with romantic cream roses, so that's how the colour scheme happened. I'm afraid Susanth didn't get too much say! ;-) We are also having a marriage blessing in a Church, a couple of days after the civil wedding, and for that, we will be in Indian dress, so I feel very lucky to get to wear a sari as well as a traditional white dress.
3. Please list the name and website of the wedding pros you’ve hired:
Wedding Venue(s) - High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells
Photographer - Gavin Conlan (gavin conlan photography Ltd)
Video - Felicity at The Wedding Video Company
Entertainment (Band) – Take 5 Party Band
Florist - Bromley Blooms
Wedding Dress Designer - No idea! Second hand from Cancer Research UK charity store.
Bridal Hair Stylist - Jo Walker, via Make Me Sparkle agency
Bridal Make Up Artist – Jo Walker, via Make Me Sparkle agency
Wedding Cake - Cakes by Penny and Sue
Bridal Shoes - Pink by Paradox London
Wedding Planner - Me (with a little help from Susanth, Mum and Dad)
4. How did the two of you meet?
We met through a mutual friend, Lindsey, who Susanth went to university with in the U.S. Lindsey was worked at the same charity as I was volunteering for in Hyderabad, India. She introduced me to Susanth and his sister when we all went for pizza and ice cream one Sunday. Later, we got chatting on social media and decided to meet up... the rest is history! :-)
5. How long did you spend planning your wedding and have you any budget advice?
We were very restricted because of visas - we got engaged in December, applied for the 'marriage' visa which we received at the end of March and then could we start planning, but we only until August before the visa expires. So it was about 4-5 months! I can tell you that most wedding venues and suppliers expect much more than a few months notice, especially for summer weddings. But we have been really lucky finding a great place and many wonderful people to help us. It has definitely helped that we are getting married on a Friday, rather than weekend day. So, for budget conscious brides I would recommend doing that, and for other budget advice, I would say, just take a step back and don't get carried away - you don't /need/ to spend thousands of pounds hiring a funky car for 3 hours, or on a dress you will wear for less than one day. Check out charity stores, check out Preloved. Having a lovely day isn't about what you spend, it's about having a fun and meaningful day with the people that matter. Having said that, don't skimp on a decent photographer - after all, the pictures will be the things that last. ;-)
6. What are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?
Having Susanth put the ring on my finger and feeling the joy of that moment. Also having a live band for me is really special. Not to mention catching up with lots of friends and family since I lived abroad for 8 years. So that's three things!
Susanth says, "Seeing Laura walk down the aisle".
7. Any other details I should know about?
Our first dance will be to 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz.. We had a hard time choosing because I love so much different music but Susanth is not keen on so many things. But this piece is contemporary to when we have known each other and is a happy, cheerful, chilled out love song. We are following it up with 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' as I love the late, great, Nina Simone and I hope that will get everyone dancing. We have a little wedding webiste at http://susanthandlaura.wix.com/wedding. We thought this would be handy for providing info to our guests, although we discovered the URL was just too much for some of our older relatives to figure out. :-D
Whilst I'm editing their wedding I wanted to share a selection of my personal favourites with you to enjoy, feel free to use these images on your social media profiles (as long as you do not remove my watermark) and feel to leave Laura and Susanth a lovely comment below!!
All the best, Gavin
