Ikea

I am not the most patient of people so when photographer David McNeil told me about Caroline & Callum’s upcoming wedding at the beginning of this year I was already dying to see the results. The couple not only found David through Rock n Roll Bride but Caroline proceeded to tease me with regular email updates on their wedding planning gorgeousness – from her amazing David Fielden dress to her perfect Vivienne Westwood shoes (I loved them so much I even attempted to make my own Rock n Roll Bride version!)

The couple got married in May and did a fantastic job DIYing pretty much everything! Caroline collected a gazillion (I’m pretty sure it was that exact number) empty bottles for all the venue flowers and centrepieces. The couple hit a flower market at 4am the day before the wedding to collect all the blooms and make the bouquets and boutonnieres on the morning whilst simultaneously folding the 17-fold accordion-style wedding booklet – phew! Inside the booklet was the order of service and info about the wedding as well as a secret section (which guests were invited to find after the ceremony) containing bowing score cards (the couple had bowing at their reception and started with a ‘first bowl’ instead of a first dance!) a frame to use in the photo booth (booth supplied by Boothbox) and a mini history of the venue – Shoreditch House.

The table runners were all Ikea fabrics, painlessly sewed by Caroline’s Mum and a friend, which looked fantastic set up with the red flowers, ‘Hello My Name is…’ place card/stickers and all the different types of bottle ‘vases’.

Caroline even made her Bridesmaid’s dress herself (you may remember she also made her own gorgeous yellow dress for their engagement shoot.)

Instead of a cake, the couple had baked 3 different types of cookies and set up a tin bucket, glasses of milk and red & white striped paper ‘party bags’ to go with it. Caroline’s brother also made them a surprise cake topper – the pair on a surf board with Caroline in her dress!

Phew – what a lot of gorgeous details huh? Well I’ve saved the best for last – just read this and weep!

So C bought my engagement ring from a pretty swanky and well known jewellers (that’s not why he went there, it was where the nicest ring was and the lady, as you’ll see, has been super helpful!)

Since then we have been in and met up with the same lady, who is the manager there, a few times… to get E ring resized, to choose my wedding ring and then again to choose C’s. So, we have spent a fair amount of cash in there, but NOTHING compared to others there (overheard 2 sales there previously, one for a £32,000 watch, and the other some jewellery to the tune of £160,000!)

WELL! Every time we go in we stay ages, drink champers and chat with her as she is our age and comes from similar part of the world as us, is just married, doing up a house too etc etc…basically genuinely get on. So, we go to look at rings and talk pets I sneakily show her a pic of my shoes which she shows the other girl in the store too and we all swoon. THEN, she says…
“Listen, you’ll have to come in a bit closer to the wedding a show me what your dress looks like”

Me: ‘Absolutely!”

Her: “And we’ll have to pick out something together for us to lend you for the day as your ‘something borrowed’”

UHHHHH queue shocked silence…did she really mean what I think she meant? Cos as far as I knew only royals and celebs ‘borrow’ jewellery!

BUT YES! She said it again when we went in to get C’s ring and so I can pick some FAB jewels to ‘borrow’ for our wedding! My dress has too much going on already to have a necklace… but I think a fab pair of earrings wouldn’t go astray huh!?!

UM, WOW!? I just believe it! My mom jokes that I’ll be walking down the aisle with Dad on one side and a big security guard on the other!

So, yeah, a few weeks before the wedding I went in and together she and I chose an amazing pair of earrings that would work perfectly with the lace on my dress but not be too much for the whole ensemble!  I thought I saw the price (she never showed me any prices, just kept bringing more pairs over) and thought it was £10k…wow.  THEN Cal went to pick them up the week of the wedding and saw the price for real (again, wasn’t told it, we were told they were insured and when I was a bit nervous was told just to be careful as you would be of any jewellery!)… uh yeah, £25,000 something borrowed!!

Thanks to photographer David and the gorgeous couple Caroline & Callum for sharing their amazing wedding story with us!

ps Yes – again, a million images – but it’s worth the scrolling to see all of these!

Credit: David McNeil Photography