Russell & Hannah’s Little Silver Country Hotel Wedding
Hey Folks! Today on the blog is Hannah and Russell’s Little Silver Country Hotel wedding day. Hannah and Russell tied the knot at St Mildred’s Church in Tenterden where Hannah’s Parents, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents also got married! They then went on to Little Silver Country Hotel for their reception.
-Where did you get married, and why did you choose your venue? ‘We decided to follow in my family tradition and get married in St Mildred’s Church in Tenterden. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents got married there and we thought it was lovely to keep to the tradition and get married there too. It also felt somehow ‘lucky’ to get married there as my parents are still happily married. For a reception venue, we wanted somewhere close by so our guests wouldn’t have a long journey in between, so that narrowed down the venues! When we first visited Little Silver Country Hotel, we felt very relaxed and at home there. We loved the fact we would get the whole place to ourselves and that our guests could stay over the night of the wedding. We loved the gardens that the venue had too. We wanted to create a traditional wedding but with fun twists to reflect our personalities. We didn’t have a strict colour theme, we had more of a colour pallet of pastel coral, pink and green.’
-Which flowers did you choose? ‘I love flowers so had been pinning on Pinterest hundreds of flower ideas since we first got engaged! At our first meeting with Steph our lovely Florist (Belle Fleur floral design), we knew she got our vision and she was so passionate about her job. She created flowers beyond our wildest dreams! My bouquet so so beautiful! It had lots of mixed foliage with Miss Piggy Roses, Juliet David Austin Roses and Hypericum Berries. I didn’t want it to look too regimented. The bridesmaids had the same as me but with cream roses so their bouquets stood out beside their dresses. The men had similar style button holes. We had the bouquets tied with matching coloured ribbon flowing down which looked lovely when the wind blew.
On the tables, we had crates with a mixture of wild flowers in peach, pink, lilac and blue tones with sunflowers and lots of mixed foliage. Around the bases of the crates we had small succulent plants for a little twist and it was lovely to give them to guests after the wedding as a memento of our day. We wanted the top table to look a little different and Steph created the best top table display I had ever seen! We had a long garland that went across the top made up of leaves and eucalyptus, amongst the leaves we had bud vases and LED tea lights. At the front we had crates with light up LOVE letters displayed. It really gave the reception room a focal point and all the guest commented on how great it looked!’
-Which style was the brides dress? ‘My dress was a fitted fishtail Mori Lee dress. It had tulle layers and had a sweetheart neck line. I added a jewelled belt to it to define the waist and a veil in my hair. I loved every minute of wearing my dress! When I first went dress shopping, I thought I would go for a lace dress as I love the look of them but as soon as I tried on the lace I didn’t feel like me, I felt like an older version of myself! When I tried on my dress for the first time I remember walking out of the fitting room smiling and my mum and sister said WOW. I didn’t want to take it off and I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards! I was looking for a dress with the wow factor and I knew that this was the dress for me. I didn’t want a huge dress but I loved the way a fishtail dress offers best of both worlds with a fitted top but then flares out!’
-How did you have your hair/make up and why? ‘Gemma and Collette from Ido Bridal Hair and Make Up were absolute stars! I trusted them 100% and kind of let them do what they thought was best. I went for a smokey pink toned eye with winged liner and a mid-toned pink lip. I loved having lash extensions for the wedding they really made me feel special. For hair, I went for a loose curly up-do with a hair vine along the front. I didn’t want my hair to look too structured so it would suit the feel of the wedding.’
-Which colour did the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen wear? ‘The Bridesmaids wore strapless pastel coral dresses with a sweetheart neckline from House of Fraser. The Groomsmen wore navy suits from Next. Russ wore a similar colour suit but it had a slight check to it which made him look different and stand out to the others. They wore nude/gold (a very hard colour to describe!) ties and pocket square but Russ wore a bow tie as that is his thing and again he wanted to look different! ‘
–How did you feel that the day went as a whole? Are there any special moments you’d like to share? ‘We had the best day of our lives, it went better than we could ever have imagined! It was so lovely to have all our amazing friends and family all there in one place just for us! We were blessed with amazing weather which is what I was worried about most! As my Grandparents are no longer with us it was like they were shining down on us making our day perfect. Everything went off without a hitch, the staff at the Little Silver have weddings down to a tee! I didn’t really have to think about anything on the day and during the run up they were always there when I pinged them an email with 100’s of questions and what if’s! Walking down the aisle was one thing I was scared about, I didn’t want to cry or look scared but actually on the day I just smiled and giggled my way down there looking at everyone’s smiling faces. After the ceremony, Russ and I were really overwhelmed, it was so great to have some time together and chat in our amazing wedding car (provided by Chic n Cheerful) before we went back to the venue. We both felt in shock for most of the day, that we had got married! We couldn’t stop smiling! It was amazing to have my friend’s wedding band play in the evening. I had kind of booked Paul’s band, The Groovemores before we had even got engaged! They offer such fun and funky upbeat music everyone loved them. One highlight was the band doing a cover of Mr Brightside by The Killers and everyone was dancing and singing along! Lastly we would both like to thank James our AMAZING photographer! We were pretty fussy with photographers and knew what style we liked. As soon as we met James we knew he was the one for us! James not only captured our day perfectly but he was always there when we needed him, to hold my bouquet, to organise people, to arrange my dress it was like he was in 100 places at once! He even gave Russ an energy bar as his tummy was rumbling after the service! One funny memory was climbing over a stile in my dress so we could get a photo in a field! I had to have help climbing over it and then I got caught in a load of thorns and brambles! James and Russ had to then spend 10 mins unhooking my dress and setting me free, all in the name of getting a good photo!! We felt relaxed and comfortable around James and we feel that shows in the photos. We have had so many compliments on how wonderful our photos are. Thank you James for giving us memories of our day that will last forever.’
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