A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing a testimonial pop up in the House of Elliot Facebook feed from beautiful bride Cari who wore our Lottie Elliot vintage lace wedding boots. As soon as I saw the photo by Simon Gough Photography I knew that I had to have a House of Elliot ‘Real Brides’ feature of her amazing historic Welsh wedding at Pencoed House. What I loved the most about Cari’s wedding look was that she stayed true to her own unique individual style and the result is just stunning.
We hope that this feature, which tells a bride and groom’s wedding story in their own words, is the first of many and we are so grateful to Cari & Matt for sharing their special day with us!
Nicole x
So how did you meet your husband and how did he propose?
Matt and I have been together for nearly 16 years, and engaged for nearly 14 of them. I went back to university in 2006 to train as a teacher. We didn’t want to start booking our wedding, until I had a permanent contract, which took a while. It took the two of us being room bound with food poisoning whilst on holiday in Tunisia for us to decide, ok, lets get the ball rolling. Within 2 weeks of arriving home, we had booked the venue and set a date.
We were married at Pencoed House Estate, just outside Cardiff. With Matt coming from a very small family, and me a typical large South Wales family, it was difficult, but we were able to keep the number of guests quite low. This gave us an intimate, relaxed wedding that we wanted.
We wanted to let the venue speak for itself, being such an amazing, historic venue. Matts interests have him looking to the future (He works in IT and is a self confessed geek), my interests have me looking at natural things and history (My degree is in archaeology and environmental studies). We wanted this to be reflected on the day, and so had a combination of both our interests dotted around the venue, the table plan and even our wedding favours.
I wanted a look that reflected me, with added elegance. I was actually let down regarding my first choice dress, and on a whim found my Maggie Sottero dress in a local wedding dress shop. I already had the boots at this point, and so needed to find a dress that would compliment the boots. As soon as I put the dress on, before even seeing it in the mirror, I knew it was the one. My mums enthusiastic nods simply confirmed this. The staff at the wedding dress shop (Wedding Belles of Wales, Pyle) were amazing, they even suggested raising the dress a little more than needed, so that the boots showed as I walked. By having such a timeless, simple look with the dress, I wanted to make sure that the rest of my look was also simple and unique. My hairdresser was able to create a fantastic look, even managing to incorporate my grandmothers necklace into the design.
Everyone will tell you, I am a bit of a shoe-aholic (My last home had an entire wall dedicated to displaying my variety of shoes!). Boots in particular are a favourite of mine. Whilst looking at Facebook one evening, I saw an advert for House of Elliot. I thought, Wow, these look beautiful, and the company is named after one of my favourite TV shows from my childhood. The staff were so helpful, answering all of my questions, quickly and honestly. They didn’t even mind, when I asked if it would be a problem to send them back if they didn’t match my dress! The boots were a total success. Everyone, and I mean everyone wanted to see the boots, and many, many photos were taken of them!
Everything! Cliche I know, but there is nothing I would change. Matt worked so hard in doing the majority of the work beforehand, he even made the cake stand himself. He promised me he would do everything he could to give me a perfect, stress free day. In true Matt style, he did not break his promise. I thought I was being sneaky, by arranging a surprise for him on the day, a piper to play as everyone arrived. He was very surprised, but then he surprised me, by giving me a beautiful mother of pearl heart necklace during his speech!
Don’t fall into the trap of ‘you have to…’ Shop around. Make sure you are both 100% comfortable with all of your suppliers, service providers etc. Don’t loose track of your own styles and personalities. Make sure the day reflects both of you.
The boots were so comfortable, i was one of the few women, who did not have to change into ‘comfy’ shoes as soon as the dancing started, even after I spent the majority of the evening on the dance floor!Simon Gough was able to capture the atmosphere perfectly throughout the day in his photographs. I am so glad that he was there from the start to the first dance. He captured every moment, without us even noticing he was there for the majority of the day.
