Hannah and Tom married on the first of August in Wimbourne Minster and the Chaos team were lucky enough to have been invited to witness such a lovely ceremony. With a theme of Butterflies and Dinosaurs we knew that this wedding was going to be a special one and we are thrilled to be sharing it with you.
'We met each other three
years ago, internet dating! I was fairly new to the scene but Tom had been on quite
a few dates! We met for a drink and I think that we both new that this could be
something special.'
'We got engaged a few days
after my birthday last year, 4th August. We had decided to go for a
walk on the beach but after a busy day, I suggested that we just went home. Tom
was absolutely insistent that we went to the beach (which did give me a clue!)
and so went down to Shore Road in Poole. This was where we had had our 3rd
date two years earlier. After a while of walking, Tom got down on one knee and
asked me to be ‘His Mrs Easthope!’….with a Haribo ring…and of course I said
‘Yes!’
There were some people
celebrating a birthday on the promenade and they ran down with some champagne
for us…just perfect!'
'After lots of very excited
phone conversations, we pretty much began immediately. We were both so excited!
That evening we sat down and began writing our guest list (which was very long
to begin with!). It all felt very daunting. For years I had been going to
weddings and thinking about what mine might be like. I thought that I knew what
I wanted but all of a sudden I had to begin making decisions and I then didn't actually know where to start – it was a very strange feeling.'
'Many people questioned our
theme throughout our engagement and it became quite a talking point. Some
people thought I was crazy and others thought it was great….Dinosaurs and
Butterflies! Thomas has always had a
fascination with dinosaurs and I had always wanted to be an archaeologist when
I was younger so it seemed to fit! Butterflies….because it couldn't be just
dinosaurs (and we both love butterflies)!!!
This ended up being the
driving force of all our decisions. It helped having a theme for decision
making and also helped us make it unique. Alongside this, we kept to
quite a vintage theme and had afternoon tea with vintage china along with lots
of bunting adorning anywhere we could think to hang it!
Our colour scheme was
decided after meeting with Frances for the first time as I fell in love with
the Libby dresses that I thought would be perfect for my bridesmaids and the
fabric came in a gorgeous navy blue. Once I had spoken to Tom about it, we decided
on navy blue with pink accents and began to move forward from there!'
'This was quite an easy
choice for us as I knew straight away that I wanted to get married at Wimborne
Minster. I had spent a lot of my childhood going to church there and it held
many happy memories for me.'
'For our reception we were
very lucky because my parents live in a National Trust mill – White Mill, Sturminster Marshall. The
National Trust were really helpful and said that they would allow us to close
the mill for the weekend so that the reception could be held there. This was
wonderful as it had been where I had grown up and is such a beautiful setting
by the River Stour.'
''We pretty much did
everything ourselves. We originally decided to do this because we thought it
would be cheaper (how wrong we were!) but also because our theme was so unique.
Tom is a brilliant artist which helped and so he designed a logo/ motif that
ended up being used for lots of our stationary and things like our cake topper.'
Once Tom had designed the
logo and we had both worked on the overall design, one of our friends laser cut
our invitations and orders of service. Then began the big task of printing out
the insides and putting it all together – cue mothers, fathers, friends, lots
of glue and ribbon!'
''We also did things like buy
cardboard letters H&T and paint them in pink and blue with stripes and
spots, Tom made our cake topper out of foil and fimo and we put together big
noticeboards of pictures throughout our lives. One of my bridesmaids made us
lots of lovely things to go in the marquee like bunting that said Mr and Mrs
Easthope and did up an old suitcase for our cards to go in. All of these little
touches are what I think made our day special for us.'
'We were very lucky to have
so much help from our friends and family and friends of our parents. There was
a group of wonderful ladies in my parents’ village who were a brilliant support
and all brought with them different expertise. Two of them made the button
holes for the men and page boy, two of them put together the flowers for the
marquee and others helped with decoration and making the marquee so special.'
'It was all I thought
it would be and more! It was a very surreal experience because, after all the
months of planning, there is nothing else you can do! I remember standing at
the top of the aisle thinking I really
hope that I haven’t forgotten anything!'
'So many parts of the day
were wonderful! Walking down the aisle was amazing! It was something that I was
really worried about but I loved it. When I arrived at the back of the church I
could see everyone waiting. Some of the children from my school had come to see
us get married and they were sitting near the back. They heard me arrive and
all turned around which did make me feel quite emotional.'
'Having my Dad there meant a
lot too as he had been very poorly in the years leading up to the wedding and
it wasn't until the morning of the wedding that we knew whether he was going to
be there or not. Because of Parkinson’s disease and a respiratory condition, he
had lots his ability to walk but, with amazing determination, the help of a
wonderful physiotherapist and lots of practice walks down the aisle, he made it
to the church and all the way down the aisle!'
My words of wisdom are:
'Make sure you begin planning and making things early if you are
planning on
doing things yourself. I read this in lots of magazines but still didn't leave quite enough
time to do things stress free…we were still making the Orders of Service the afternoon before the wedding!'
' Make sure that you communicate exactly what you want with your
suppliers. They will probably be very experienced in doing weddings but they
won’t know exactly how you pictured your day. It’s much better to have that
conversation well in advance rather than when you are feeling more stressed
nearer the time.
'Make sure you take a quiet moment together on the wedding day,
away from everyone else, as the day goes so quickly and it will be over before
you know it. We also decided to walk around each table, together, after the
main part of the afternoon tea (before the cakes came out) and spoke to
everyone. Spending time together and time with each of our guests was very
important to us.'
'Having my dress made by
Frances and her team really was one of the best experiences and made our day
even more special for me. I was really nervous to find a dress that was going
to make me feel amazing but that was going to be comfortable also. From start
to finish, the process was so brilliant and I would recommend it to everyone!' I initially went into Chaos
after seeing the blackboard sign outside and thought I’d pop in for a look.
After speaking with Frances
about my experiences of wedding dress shopping so far (not good) and ideas that
she had for me, I knew that making the decision to have my dress made by Chaos
was going to be an easy one.'
'Receiving the designs was
so exciting and seeing my dress taking shape was just brilliant. The design
changed quite a few times along the way because of new ideas both Frances and I
had but this made it all the more wonderful. In the end, I couldn't have been
happier. I was so comfortable and felt amazing. I am now very sad that I don’t
get to wear it again!'
Hannah wore a dupion corseted gown with embellished lace overlay, cap sleeves and matching veil.
Suppliers:
Sorrels Professional Caterers (excellent food and very helpful)
Collins Marquees
Carnival Flowers, Wimborne
Old Crocks Vintage Hire
Chill, The Party Band (they were absolutely brilliant)
Murakami Photography
Rob Beale Ltd (toilet company)
Deborah Wakley (wonderful hairdresser!)
We are delighted for Hannah and Tom and wish them all the best for the future- we think their Dinosaur and Butterfly theme was amazing and one of the most brilliantly unusual weddings we've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.
Frances and the Chaotic team.
x
