Alice & Stuart

Wedding Venue & Location

We got married in the church where I grew up – a tiny village in south Cambridgeshire. Our reception was a few miles down the road at the Black Bull pub in Balsham.

Brides come to me seeking something original and often choose to tweak (either a little or a lot) one of my existing designs, creating a veil which is unique to them. Alice chose a variation of the Maisie veil.

How did the proposal happen?

Our first “proper date” (I.e. not sneaking out of work to go to the pub in secret) was a walk around London, from Kings Cross along the canals. On 1st July 2017, my parents’ 39th wedding anniversary, we ended up at a friend’s lunch at the other end of the walk we did. After lunch we had our first date walk in reverse. We stopped at Camden and had amazing ice cream and coffee – my absolute favourite things! It was a perfect day already and I had no idea what was coming. As we were approaching Kings Cross, my feet were aching a little so I suggested we sit on a wall by the canal for a bit.

Stuart was desperate for us to keep going just a few more steps and go up these stairs into an old gas cylinder that had been made into a park. Begrudgingly, I went up the stairs and then we sat down , enjoying the huge metal art installation circling above us. We chatted for a while and then, all of a sudden, Stuart got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, saying this was the biggest ring he could find! I laughed and cried (and said yes very quickly!!) for hours – I couldn’t stop giggling I was so overwhelmed with joy!!

We wanted to tell our parents in person so rang them up to invite them to dinner the next day. Interrupting my parents’ anniversary dinner to ask them over at a day’s notice with a straight face/voice was very difficult.

Where did you meet?

At work! I started a new job in 2015 and met Stuart on my first day. He made some silly joke and I thought “he’s so annoying!”

Then we chatted a few times and I got to know he was actually the kindest, most generous, funny and intelligent man I’d ever met. A couple of months after our first meeting, I got a witty, intellectual invitation over G-Chat…Stuart messaged me – “Pub?”

I must admit I assumed it was a work trip with plenty of colleagues. It was just us two. 4 or 5 G&Ts later we knew we had loads in common (mostly the city Cambridge and musicals…) and he kissed me on the cheek when we said goodbye. The rest, as they say, is history!

Any random, quirky or just plain lovely facts about your relationship, engagement or wedding?

We’re both a bit obsessed with musicals so that was always going to have an influence on our wedding. The table names were our favourite movie musicals with framed movie posters as the centre piece. Our first dance was to “Some Kind of Wonderful” – our live band played the arrangement of the Carole King song from the musical Beautiful. We also had mini tubs of ice cream – like you can get at the theatre!

And there was an unexpected theatrical moment too…in my dad’s Father of the Bride speech, he started talking about how he’d been in touch with a couple of my ex-boyfriends to get a message from them. I (and all my friends!) started panicking a little and then he pulled out a signed photo of Kenneth Branagh wishing us well, and a huge Shakespeare in Love poster with a message from Joseph Fiennes (these are my two absolutely biggest celeb crushes!).

Without Stuart knowing it, the vast majority of the wedding was styled around my pink dress! I fell in love with the Mila Mira skirt at Rock The Frock Essex and really wanted everything to tie in with it. The champagne blush veil was suggested by Molly at Rock The Frock – if she’d have suggested a pink veil before I’d seen it against the dress and my skin, I’d have laughed out loud but it was perfect! The stationery, flowers, ribbons, men’s ties, bridesmaid dresses… everything was chosen after the dress to complement the dusty pink colour with a blush, pale blue, teal, crimson and ivory colour palette.

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Simon Biffen

My Portfolio

I have a big airy studio in Colchester, Essex where you can make an appointment to come along and have a chat, see the collection of veils and sashes and have a try-on to see which works best. I have made accessories for brides all over the world including America, Japan, Australia, Sweden, France and Scotland and if you are not close enough to pop in, we can chat via email or Skype. I am always very happy to post out samples and sketches too so you can ensure the colour and fabric is exactly right before I post your veil or sash out to you.

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