Robyn & Chris

I don’t usually play favourites but Robyn’s wedding was one of my favourites that I got to be a part of in 2018; sometimes you just instantly click with someone and Robyn was one of those people, we got on like a house on fire when we met at her trial and I absolutely adored the vision she had for her wedding; a big greek garden party, in an intimate setting that had meaning to them and her bridal style was modern and effortless.. SWOON!!

love story

“The story of how we met is quite long, so I’ll do my best to keep it short and sweet.. our extended families knew each other for quite some time, so were close. Fast forward to secondary school where I got to know Chris’s sister (Katie) very well over the years and this whole time Chris was in Canada where had moved before I became good friends with his sister and so we still were yet to meet. Katie and I got even closer after college and one night she came over asking for help urgently, her brother, Chris, was stuck in the US trying to renew his visa so he could go back to Canada with his then girlfriend. Unfortunately, they would not accept his picture as it did not fit the format required. Katie knew I could sort it out and I did, however I then helped keep Chris in Canada for another two/three years! Fast forward a few years and Chris was back in the UK, single I might add and came out on a night out & it was instant connection, we spent the whole night chatting and I was hooked! I decided to end things with my then boyfriend when Chris told me ‘end things with him, be with me .. we have to be together’ and two years in he proposed at his dad’s villa in Spain, beautiful views and just us. Typical me, he was going to propose the first night there, but I kept complaining I had a headache and ruined the mood haha! He got down on one knee after sneaking up behind me and asked me to marry him. His dad’s lovely neighbours were in their hammocks watching and clapping, it turned out they had seen the whole thing unfold and a year later we got married!”

the finer details

“Think intimate garden cocktail party/Greek feast and then DRINK & PARTY.. That was the theme! My step-dad is a chef and Greek, so he cooked a huge Greek feast which went down a storm!

We never wanted a big wedding, actually we were initially going to elope. So, when we decided to go ahead with a small wedding, we knew just a simple garden ceremony and party would suit us perfectly. So we chose my mum’s garden as the ‘venue’ as we knew we would have full control over everything that we wanted to do and as much time to do it in as we needed and there’d be no restrictions or rules. It was also a very good location for most of the guests as they all lived relatively close by. My mum has a beautiful bay tree in her garden which we also thought would look lovely inside the marquee and we had two marquees in total and they very kindly built it all around the tree and my friend and I decorated it two days before the wedding.

I have been to a few weddings and they can be very long days and you often do not get to see the bride and groom at all. It was not a long day as the ceremony started at 4pm and my brother conducted it (we done the legal part a few days before) and he did an amazing job and somehow made everyone cry. We really wanted everyone to have a fun, relaxed day, nice and informal. We kept it as small as possible so we could actually spend more time mingling with everyone. We also wanted everyone to feel at home and a lot of guests came to me saying how lovely and chilled the day was, that they really liked how informal it was. It was such a lovely setting for the day and like I said before we wanted it to feel intimate and somewhere that we were both comfortable and what better place than your mums! So, we feel we really got what we wanted out of the day for everyone that came.”

the look

“For me, finding the dress was so fun! I am not the type to get really dressed up a lot so it was so much fun for me. Knowing what I pictured was probably not what I would end up with, seeing all the different styles and designs. Just playing dress up really, it was the least stressful part and I just enjoyed every minute of it.

I chose Claire as my makeup artist as she regularly does a friend of mines makeup and because she had worked on another bride I knew who did not like wearing a lot of makeup and wanted a subtle look and I really loved how she looked and knew from friends how lovely Claire was to work with and I was very confident that she would do an excellent job, which she did!

I would like to think my style was, elegant but with a slight edge. I wanted my makeup to be very subtle and soft but with a little bit of sparkle. My dress was a lot more glam then I thought I would go for, so the makeup really had to compliment it, rather than match up to it, which Claire did perfectly.

The trial process was really fun! I realised how important it was to have a trial, as over time you can very easily change your mind. It is great to have a solid idea to begin with and see how it ends up looking, then once you have your dress fitting etc and your hair trials you can imagine how your makeup will look and if there are any things you may want to change. Claire was so easy to chat too, she made me feel very comfortable to say if I didn’t like something or wanted to change something. She just wanted to make sure I loved how I looked at the end of the day and I did!

I actually chose not to have a bridal party but had a few of my close friends getting ready with me in the morning who also wanted to be pampered and have their makeup done too. I know all of them were very happy with how their looks turned out and this was without any trial.”

memorable moments

“Oooooo I would have to say, just that you are getting ready with the people you love the most and who love you; everyone is in such a good mood and they are all there because they are happy for you and want to be a part of your day. The hair, the makeup, it is all really lovely and you feel pampered but having all your friends and family joining in is what makes it special.

The speeches were amazing, I laughed and cried. We then danced until the last person was standing and it felt very close and personal which is just what we wanted.

One very memorable moment for me was when we went to have some of the photos taken and we went to the park close to where my mum lives and on the way back I got my veil stuck in a bramble bush, which ended up giving us one of the best and funniest pictures from the day. That photo actually ended up in The Standard in the top 40 2018 wedding photos, which our wonderful photographer sent in along with a few others.”

Words of wisdom

“Try every style of dress, even if you think it will look awful and I’d say to get your trial done once you’ve had a fitting. I’d say to get recommendations for your suppliers from people you trust or like the look of there wedding style and take your time choosing them, they’re services are an investment.”