Sarah and Ben married on the 2nd of August this year in an extravagant, red themed rockabilly style wedding with all the trimmings and more!
When Sarah came to visit Chaos' studio we were over the moon to find out she wanted a Red Wedding Dress! We love people who have exciting, original ideas- making something different from the norm is right up our street. So we went ahead with this brilliantly individual project and throughout the process we loved to hear about Sarah's other great ideas for her big day.
"We met and went out when we were at secondary school. Our first date was on the beach. Ben then got in touch again through Facebook
(over 20 years later)… and the rest is history!"
"We got engaged in February 2013. Ben woke up one morning and said ‘I dreamt we got married last night! It was great, shall we do it?"
"I’d seen a long red corduroy skirt in a knitting pattern book many years
ago and I knew that that was the silhouette I wanted for my wedding dress, I
also loved that it was red. I never
wanted a big white wedding."
"I’d seen a long red corduroy skirt in a knitting pattern book many years
ago and I knew that was the silhouette I wanted for my wedding dress, I
also loved that it was red. I never
wanted a big white wedding."
"I always said that if I got married I would run away and get married in
Vegas; I’d be dressed as Marilyn Monroe and my husband would have to dress as
Elvis. We’d have a drive through wedding
in a pink Cadillac. After visiting Las
Vegas, even though I have a penchant for the kitsch and tacky side of life
Vegas was a step too far for me. We had
a rockabilly 50’s style theme. It is an
era I love and women were very feminine back then. I am not a ‘pretty girl’ and like bright
vivid colours and this was reflected in the bold flower arrangements and my
bouquet."
"I love living in Frome and wanted to get married in the town that we
live in. Rook Lane Arts Center is an old
chapel (and arts center now). It has the
most beautiful stained glass windows and when we went to see it we both felt it
was perfect. Ben told me when we got home that he
could see us standing in their with his son Charlie and our son Elijah aka
‘Elvis’."
"We chose the big things together like the venue. Ben and I knew we wanted our celebrations
after the wedding to be held in a barn and to have a hog roast and a great
band. I spent a lot of time with my mum
planning the other details. Mum was
amazing when it came to organizing catering and sourcing different a lot of the
things we needed. Dad found the barn and
the band."
"We styled the whole event ourselves, from making the invitations, table
decorations and favors, to setting out and decorating the barn. Almost everything was homemade. I spent a lot of time on the inter-net
gathering ideas to begin with. I put
them all together in a book and began to put a picture together of how we would
like our wedding to be, from the pink flamingos, bright sunflowers and giant
red bows to the bridesmaid dresses and beyond. A work friend of mine made our cake and a family friend did an out of
this world job of our flower arrangements for the barn and Rook Lane. We bought a lot of the bits and pieces e.g.
the two adult bridesmaid dresses, men’s ties and bracers and the bridesmaid buckets
from e-bay. We provided our own cars and
I made all the small bridesmaid dresses and all the bridesmaid’s fascinators."
"It was as I thought it would be, but I hadn't realised it would fly by
so quickly. It was very hard to talk to
all our guests and take it all in."
"Best part... I can honestly say all of it.The funniest moment probably had to be when
our niece, who was also one of the bridesmaids, came back into the barn after
raiding the fancy dress box for the photo booth just before the speeches. She was dressed in a pink cowboy hat, comedy
glasses, nose and mustache and of course a feather bower. She jumped up on stage and flashed the
enormous pair of multi-colored snakeskin underpants she had also found amongst
the fancy dress costumes. When she
lifted up the eight layers of her meringue bridesmaid dress, there was a
fleeting moment of horror followed by 100 people erupting in hysterical
laughter at the boldness of this comical little lady. It was totally priceless. It was also great watching the men in the
wedding party getting together and flexing their bracers… We've got some great
photos of them all together."
"My words of wisdom are- assign jobs to others; people love being involved in your big day and it
takes some of the stress off of you. Take a moment during the day to look around yourself and take it all in…
it’s over in the blink of an eye. And
with that in mind you really need a great photographer, the day goes so fast
you need something to look back on and remember all the little things. Oh, oh and finally, get a guest book. It’s great to sit down after the wedding is
all over and read the lovely, funny and moving messages people have written for
you both."
"I loved having my dress made by Chaos, I really looked forward to my
fittings. The ladies were friendly,
helpful and accommodating. Seeing how my
dress was progressing each time was really exciting. It was an enormous part of the wedding
planning. I was a little saddened when I
left the last fitting that it was all done and I needn't go back again, but very excited that the next time I would see my dress
it would be totally complete and I would be wearing it. The result was that I spent my wedding day
wearing a dress that made me feel like a million dollars."
"A lot of the suppliers we used are fairly local to Frome or we made
things ourselves."
For my bouquet, men’s buttonholes and ladies corsages we used Mells Walled Garden. They grow all the flowers on site and it is
opposite the Mells Tithe barn where we had our celebration.
Frome Valley Catering did our
catering. The food was amazing; we had
afternoon tea with a hog roast in the evening.
The staff, how it was organised and laid out, everything about it in
fact was great. They even arranged the
chairs, cutlery and crockery.
The Talbot Inn supplied our
bar. The pub is on the opposite side of
the road, so seemed the logical choice.
The staff were really helpful and friendly and the beer and cider are
locally sourced.
Our band was Lady Winwoods Maggot. A loud punk rock, hoedown, jump around type
of band. They were great! They’re local to New Milton.
The dress agency that was supposed to supply the men’s suits let us down
the day before, whilst we were decorating and organizing. Luckily my brother stepped in and spent 8
hours driving around getting mid grey suits in the right sizes for all of the
wedding party… but I am reliably assured that all weddings have some sort of
last minute made panic.
We absolutely loved making Sarah's amazing gown- red and fuchsia dupion with a high neck, fifties figure hugging silhouette and statement bow on the back.
We wish her and Ben all the best for the future and hope that their wedding inspires others to be a bit more out there and individual-it looks great!
Frances and the chaotic team x
