I met the gorgeous Jo at St Albans Fashion Weeks, wedding fair at
Hatfield House back in 2014. It was a miserable day but the room was packed with
fabulous wedding suppliers and brides to be with their families. We had all
just been to see the great wedding fashion show and were now sipping champagne and
nibbling delicious canapés – I remember the evening well!
Jo came over to one of my tables where we had some example arrangements
and she fell in love with my style and work. Jo’s excitement and passion filled
the room and she was and always has been an absolute delight to work with.
We met up a few weeks later to start planning her
flowers for the big day. Jo filled me in on all her ideas and about her Fiancé
Scott. Jo and Scott met at work – Jo said
it was love at first sight for her. Never being able to look at him and
blushing bright red if he ever spoke to her. But love definitely struck as she
knew that one day he would be her husband. They started talking properly at an
event which is when Scott asked Jo out on a date, “my heart could have burst”
Jo told me. They have since spent nearly every day together at each other
sides, making each other laugh and smile and creating a beautiful home for them
and Scott’s two children.

I always
love to know how my brides got engaged and this has to be one of my favourite
tales of all “I got home after a stressful day at work, to a room filled with
candles and Scott cooking my favourite dinner. He then sat me down and we had a
lovely meal with wine and chatted through our days. Looking back it was more of
me talking and Scott listening as I can imagine he was nervous. He then went to
his briefcase and said I have something to show you…. In Scott’s industry he is
given gadgets and the latest technology to test so I was thinking, “oh no, he’s
going to show me another phone” I wasn’t really in the mood to be playing with
new toys. However, to my surprise as he turned around he started telling me how
much he loved me and that I make him the happiest man alive, and kneeled in
front of me. I said to him “oh-my-gosh this is it”… He then asked me to marry
him and popped open the Champagne, I couldn’t stop the tears of happiness and
joy streaming down my face, it is such a magical thing to happen to anyone, you
can’t even imagine the emotion until it happens to you and you are both in that
moment together. We then called our parents and siblings to share the news.
Scott posted on Facebook “I asked and she said yes” which had a quick fire
response from our friends at the Farriers Arms in St. Albans so we went and
celebrated until the early hours of the morning.”
Jo and Scott got married at the amazing Hatfield House, in the Old Palace
– very fitting for such a romantic couple. Jo wanted her wedding to reflect the
magical, regal feel of the Old Palace, using the history behind the old walls
and in the tall ceilings to inspire their beautiful day.
Jo’s wedding dress was stunning by designer Mori Lee, with a fitted bodice
flowing into an elegant tulle ball gown bought from Belissima Weddings in South Woodham.
The bridesmaids were a mixture of Nude dresses from
Monsoon with the beautiful flower girl dresses from John Lewis with matching
shoes.
The
handsome groom and his grooms-men wore dark grey morning suits with grey double
breasted waist coat. Ice blue ties for the groomsmen and Ivory for the groom
all hired from Waterers in St. Albans.
The lovely Mother of the bride wore
a stunning mint embellished lace layer dress from Jacques Vert with matching
fascinator, shoes and bag in contrasting navy and mint colour.
Jo added
some stunning accessories to her wedding day outfit which really brought the
elegant bridal look together. Her tiara was something borrowed from her sister,
her veil was a Cathedral length Swarovski crystal veil. Her Neck lace was from
Links of London and her engagement ring was from Wartons Jewellers in St Albans with a bespoke
made diamond and platinum ring and her wedding band is bespoke made with 11
stone diamonds set on a platinum band made by private jewellers and Scott’s is
a bespoke make platinum ring from the same private Jeweller.
On the day
Jo and Scott did an amazing job with the wedding décor – they added so many
extras to their day ensuring it was captured from every angle and everyone had
a great time and enjoyed themselves on their special day.

For the flowers Jo chose very elegant pinks and creams throughout the day, from huge urns filled with twigs and foliage at the ceremony, to amazing cream candelabras as centre pieces with pink gerberas, cream roses. Jo's bouquet was a mixture of soft roses and peonies. An elegant bouquet for a beautiful bride.

Their wedding
cake was made by the extremely talented ‘The pretty Gorgeous cake Company’ – They
chose a naked Cake with fruit and flowers for decoration, they had different
layers of cake for each including lemon drizzle, red velvet, chocolate and a
layer of carrot cake it was delicious! They also had a two story white
chocolate iced cake for Jo’s mum’s birthday cake as it was on the same
day.
The Wave
Forms were their evening band, they played the first dance which was Ed Sheeran
Thinking out loud, doing the song justice and no one could not fault their
performance, absolutely awesome. Everyone loved them and they played a huge
variety to fit all tastes and the saxophone really made the dance floor pump.
The Whitehall
String Quartet was booked for the whole day and they played music at the venue
from when the guests arrived at 11.30 until dinner was served at 3pm. Jo and
Scott chose Pachelbel's Canon in D for Jo to walk down the aisle to. Following
that when they signed the register and walked back up the aisle as husband and
wife the Quartet learnt Clean Bandit no place I’d rather be. They
entertained the guests whilst Jo and Scott were off having their photos taken and
all the feedback Jo and Scott had was that everyone said that they were amazing
and really added to the lawn games an champagne reception/ canapés.
To add a
little something extra for their guests Jo and Scott organised croquet, jenga,
hoopla and giant pickup sticks on the lawn. They also decorated with old
fashioned tennis and badminton rackets in old fashioned suitcases to stage the
area. The weather was perfect on the big day and all the guest got stuck in to
a game or two at the outside reception.
A good
friend of Jo and Scott’s and part of the wedding party owns an amazing
routemaster bus company and they organised of a double decker routemaster for
the guests to be taken from the hotel to the venue.
Jo made all
of the stationary by hand and got supplies from online craft shops. Everything
had lace and broach details on to carry the theme of the invites through to the
day itself. The table plan was in a beautiful white ornate frame with the table
names suspended in ribbon which added drama to the plan. The invites and table
cards/ name plaques was hand sown with lace, which took Jo a long time but
looked beautiful once it was finished. They also placed selfie sticks on each
table and an eye-spy game for people to use and help introductions, for example
‘take the shots we might have missed and a photo of everyone on your table’.
The favours
were little spice jars with heart shaped jelly beans in there, they tied a
little note around each of the jars to thank everyone for sharing in their
special day. Jo’s dad also hand crafted an old fashioned sweet cart with Jo’s
mum upholstering it. They filled all of the sweet jars and placed sweet bags
with our name on and the date of the venue as a little keepsake. The cart is
now in the café of Hatfield house.
For the
guest ‘book’ they wanted to be a little different, the idea was for people to
write a little note on wooden hearts and drop it in a wooden frame (a bit like
how the 10p slot machines you used to get at the fairground work). They wanted
to be able to hang this on the wall in their home so that we can always see it.
To finish
the evening off they had sparklers for all the guests which again Jo made
lovely sleeves for allowing her to continue the theme even further throughout
the wedding.
Finally we
will mention the amazing photographer Rob Purbrick who did an outstanding
job. Jo said “honestly one of the most talented people I have ever met. His
assistant was also lovely and they staying with us capturing our day from 8am
to 9pm a pretty full on day for them.” Thank you also Rob for allowing us to
use these images here.
Jo and Scott
are a wonderful couple who are so in love and have the most amazing future
ahead of them. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your day.
Anne x
Thank you to all the suppliers of the day:
Cake: The pretty Gorgeous cake Company
Entertainment: The Whitehall String Quartet
The Wave Forms
Rings: Wartons Jewellers
Venue: Hatfeild House
Suits: Waterers
Wedding dress: Belissima Weddings
Mother of the bride: Jacques Vert
Bridesmaids dresses: Monsoon & John Lewis