TIM AND NIC'S HAMPSHIRE WINTER WEDDING

Are you planning your winter wedding here’s a lovely wedding for you for an inspiration, photographed by Sam Gavins.

TELL US THE STORY OF HOW YOU MET

We actually met on Twitter, back in 2011. We followed each other for a little while, engaging in each other’s tweets; and then after a few weeks of messaging, decided we’d meet up. We met up in Brighton, where Nic was living at the time, and hit it off straight away. The next years flew by and here we are after getting married on our 7th anniversary.

NOW ABOUT THE BIG DAY! WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION? HOW DID THE DAY LOOK LIKE? DID YOU STYLE IT YOURSELF?

In terms of a theme for the wedding, as the big day was on 25^th November, we decided to go for an autumn/winter theme. We’ve always loved the colours around that time of year, so that played a big part in choosing the flowers, the cake, and actually our suits. We used Instagram and Pinterest for some general inspiration – it’s great to see how other couples have styled their wedding – and that really helped, as we were planning this by ourselves.

TELL US ABOUT THE CEREMONY AND RECEPTION LOCATIONS. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE VENUE AND WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?

It was really important for us to have our wedding near our home here in Hampshire, so we decided upon the beautiful city of Winchester as it’s only “down the road” from us and we both love it. As our families and guests would be travelling from afar, we thought it would be an ideal location and a place that they might fall in love with too.

Nic did the majority of research into venues for the day, but we both agreed that the Hotel du Vin had the best to offer and would be perfect for what we wanted. We weren’t wrong, they truly outdid themselves in every aspect and the staff were more like friends. We opted just to have the reception here, and our service in the Castle Room at Winchester Register Office.

YOUR OUTFITS – TELL US ABOUT YOURS AND BRIDAY PARTY

We didn’t intend to have the suits we did, but we happened across them whilst we were shopping for Christmas presents in Guildford and we couldn’t resist them. We went for a light/medium grey, woollen, three piece suit, with a plain white shirt and red tie. The suit and tie was from M&S, and the shirt was from T.M.Lewin. I think seeing David Gandy advertising the suit really helped us with our choice

FLOWERS, DECORATIONS ETC

Our florist Kate, from Martha Rose Flowers, was recommended to us by Hotel du Vin. She made us some beautiful arrangements comprising of a mix of seasonal flowers and foliage in deep berry colours with touches of creams, mixed with berries and seed heads for a textural look. We had low glass vase arrangements on each table centre, and a low-long arrangement with trailing ivy and matching flowers for the cake table – we used the same arrangement for the Register Office. The florist made some wonderful button holes to match too, with ours being that extra bit special – they matched our suits perfectly.

CAKE

We were really fortunate to have a friend that makes cakes as a hobby and my word, the cake she made for us was absolutely stunning. It literally combined several ideas we’d seen on Pinterest into a magnificent, three tier, coffee and vanilla sponge, semi-naked cake with seasonal fruits and flowers. It looked and tasted beautiful, and everybody commented on how incredible it was. It was Lynne’s favourite cake to make and we’re so grateful that she did it for us.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Our photographer Sam, from Sam Gavins Photography, was truly wonderful. She too was recommended to us by the Hotel du Vin, and I’m glad they did because we wouldn’t have wanted anybody else to photograph our day for us. We got together early in the year and fell in love with her the moment we met. There was just that spark, and we knew that she was perfect. We said that we didn’t have any specific requests for how we want the day photographed, or in fact what we wanted photographed – other than some photos of us with family members – we just wanted her to feel like she could be creative and photograph the day how she wanted to.

Sam was with us for the entire day, from 10am right through until about 9pm – much longer than we ever expected, but we were all having so much fun and Sam was joining in the dancing. It was important to us that Sam felt like our friend and a guest at our wedding, not just a photographer, so we made sure that she was seated with the wedding party for dinner.

The photographs that Sam took were absolutely stunning and captured the day so well. It’s hard to put into words how beautiful they are, but you can see for yourself. We really did choose the perfect photographer for our day.

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST FUN PART FOR YOU?

The most important part for us both wasn’t just about being able to get our families and close friends together to help us celebrate tying the knot, but also for them to enjoy themselves and have a bloody good time!