How did you find out about Sophia Grace Couture?

I did a lot of research into brands I liked before visiting any shops. I liked the look of both Calla Blanche and Wona Concept and looked up shops which had both these brands which lead me to Sophia Grace Couture.

How would you describe your experience at Sophia Grace Couture?

It was just perfect. Charlotte led my appointments and was so lovely. I did end up visiting two other shops after Sophia Grace as I was too scared to commit to the dress I loved straight away! I must say the experience at Sophia Grace topped them all, it was so much more intimate with just myself and bridal party in the suite rather than multiple brides… not to mention how beautiful the entire of Sophia Grace’s interior is! Such a relaxed yet luxurious experience.

Tell us about your dress and why you choose your particular gown

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Sophia Grace Couture was for the Wona Concept Jazz dress, which I did end up choosing. However- initially I wanted a much bigger overskirt and train to have that princess look as I thought when else will you ever get to have the huge train!? But I also wanted the fitted dress to party the night away in. I fell in love with one fitted dress, but an overskirt of another dress, we thought this could definitely work but to be sure I went away to think about it and visited a couple other shops just in case (but everyone kept saying they thought I’d already found my dress elsewhere!). In the meantime, Charlotte got in touch to say she’d ask Wona about creating the overskirt I liked in the fabric of the Jazz dress, and they said yes! I was over the moon, and they created the absolute perfect dress just for me.

How did you meet? Are you happy to tell us about the proposal?

My husband and I had somehow been Facebook and Snapchat friends for many many years and had even had the odd random conversation but had never properly met- I had seen too many videos of him making me think he was a ‘boy racer’ and had the totally wrong perception of him! My best friend was doing the standard- trying to find me a man thing, using my tinder and swiped Luke, I was like no not him!! Somehow, he persuaded me to go on a very romantic first date, hiring a boat in Windermere, The Lake District and I soon saw I had the total wrong idea about him. A year and a half later me and Luke went back to Windermere to stay over for a spa break, just after Christmas. I didn’t know but Luke had asked my dad what he thought about him proposing on Christmas Day, and showed him the ring! After a relaxing spa day and a few cocktails, we went for a meal in our hotel and Luke had arranged for us to sit in a quiet corner where he proposed when we were served our favourite meal- fillet steak!

What was your inspiration for your wedding? Did you follow a specific theme or colour palette?

What made you decide upon your chosen venue?

I’m an interior designer so the whole look of the wedding was a huge thing for me, I couldn’t commit to any wedding venues because something as simple as their carpet or curtains would annoy me so much- I’m a total perfectionist!

In the end we used a venue for our wedding ceremony and hired a marquee which was in my parent’s garden for the reception meaning I could do anything I liked to the interior. I even transformed the look of the ceremony venue with blossom trees on pillars to create an almost canopy for us to walk down the aisle underneath.

There wasn’t a theme in particular but we had initially considered getting married in Mallorca and I think the Mediterranean look did inspire our wedding in terms of pink flowers and hanging vines around the marquee, this was very much blended with a English garden, princess (almost beauty and the beast with lots of gold candlesticks, mirrors etc) vibe. Our colours were different shades of pink, olive green and gold throughout.

Having our wedding reception at home made it even more special and personal, no one else’s wedding has ever been there, so it was totally unique to us.

Tell us about your wedding

Our wedding was absolutely perfect to us! It rained the majority of July but somehow on our wedding day 26th July the weather was perfect, sunshine all day! Everything went even better than expected and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

We had our ceremony, then headed to the reception where there were garden games, cocktails, and a live singer, followed by the wedding breakfast. Once evening guests arrived, we did our first dance followed by a surprise Abba tribute which was absolutely amazing, and the guests all loved them!

What was the most memorable moment?

I don’t think I could choose just one most memorable moment, but coming into the wedding reception with all of our guests spinning their napkins in the air to music was fabulous, along with the Abba tribute we booked surprising our guests after our first dance!

For me, I also absolutely loved walking out of the house with all my bridesmaids and bridesman singing and dancing to Unwritten to shake off the nerves. All the neighbours were outside waiting to see us, and it was just fabulous!

Do you have any advice for future brides visiting Sophia Grace Couture?

I think maybe just don’t put pressure on yourself or worry about finding the dress straight away, I definitely had this worry that I would never find what was right for me in time but the girls at Sophia Grace make you feel so relaxed and help so much and as I said earlier even managed to arrange for Wona Concept to bespoke make an overskirt for my dress- they really will go above and beyond to make the experience fabulous!