Bride and groom outside Layer Marney Tower

Today’s real wedding has beautiful styling details; from the intricate lace detail on the wedding cake to the pretty floral table arrangements on log slices with pearl strings. Because of the groom’s love of Chelsea, Julie and Martin wanted a splash of blue in their wedding styling, and they found some really cool blue bottled water that did the trick.

Layer Marney Tower, a stunning Tudor palace in Essex, was the setting for Julie and Martin’s big day — and wow, what a venue; just perfect for this classy wedding, photographed beautifully by Jasmine Jade Photography…

“Classy, Fun and Us — that was what we aimed for when panning our wedding. Our theme started with wanting to incorporate Blue for Martin’s love of Chelsea FC, but nothing too obvious. A trip to Barcelona revealed the fabulous Solan de Cabras water bottles were the perfect way to do this; they looked stunning on the tables.

“The rest of the theme came from the invitations, which we chose just because we liked them. They were a chalkboard style and we were able to have signage and our table plan and names made to emulate the same design. The water bottles provided a handy place to hang handwritten chalkboard name labels.

“The ceremony was humanist — very unusual, very personal, and evidently very touching as there was not a dry eye in the house. The flowers for the ceremony were white and simple, a nod to my Italian heritage.

“Because we wanted the day to be a very sociable occasion we didn’t want to block our guests’ views of each other with large centrepieces, so our fabulous florist created a low-level, delicate decoration on top of slices of log that Martin sourced locally. The log slices then also provided handy stands for the self-carve roast beef — the carver of each table was revealed by guests checking under their chairs for the apron!

“One of the highlights of the reception was the quiz about us which produced incredible amounts of banter and bribery amongst the guests, and was more of an ice breaker than we could have imagined!

“Having our son ‘interrupt’ our first dance to join Martin in a break-dance was absolutely amazing and he really was the star of the day.

“Everything from the beautiful blue sky, the gasps of people watching the magician, and the superb fireworks before the bacon butties served from a fairy lit camper van at the end of the evening, made this our perfect wedding to remember forever.”

Chalkboard wedding countdown

Wedding cards

Reflection of white bridesmaid dresses in mirror

Wedding shoe

I Do written on sole of wedding shoe

Wedding dress hanging on mirror

Bridal belt

White wedding bouquet

Lily of the valley bouquet

Rose buttonhole

Bride sitting having hair done

Bridal hairstyle

Bridesmaids doing up bride's dress

Reflection of bride in mirror

Bridesmaids

Bride's bridal belt

Bride with belt holding bouquet

Bride with bridesmaids in white dresses

Boy pulling down shirt cuffs

Helping boy with buttonhole

Boy hugging mum on her wedding day

Groom standing by window

Groom and best man in wedding ceremony venue

Bride, bridesmaids and pageboy in back of wedding car

Bride getting out of classic wedding car

Bride and bridesmaids walking to wedding ceremony

Groom standing at altar as bride walks down the aisle

Groom shaking pageboy's hand

Groom and pageboy doing special handshake

Groom and bride sitting in wedding ceremony

Bride with hand on groom's knee

Bride and groom reading wedding vows

Bride and groom kiss

Wedding ceremony reading

Bride and groom walk back down aisle

Reflection of bride and groom in door of wedding car

Bride and groom in back of wedding car

Classic wedding car

Layer Marney Tower

Layer Marney Tower

Fountain at Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom walking up Layer Marney Tower driveway

Wedding party outside Layer Marney Tower

Wedding party

Wedding drinks table at Layer Marney Tower

Drinks menu

Magician doing trick at wedding

Pageboy giving hi-five to magician

Bride and groom at Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom

Bride and groom in barn at Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom in barn at Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom walking across courtyard of Layer Marney Tower

Bride standing in front of window at Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom outside Layer Marney Tower

Bride and groom in grounds of Layer Marney Tower

Bride's veil blowing in wind

Groom sitting on steps of Layer Marney Tower with pageboy

Bride and groom in wedding breakfast room at Layer Marney Tower

Wedding seating plan

Wedding table display

Blue glass bottles on wedding table

Cancer Research UK wedding card

Log slice and flowers for wedding table centrepiece

Wedding table flowers

Small vase of flowers on wedding table

Wedding cake

Elegant wedding cake

Wedding card box

Wedding sign

Pouring champagne for wedding speeches

Wedding speech

Groom speech

Groom speech

Bridesmaid with arms in air

Bride speech

Bride, groom and pageboy on dance floor

Bride and groom watching fireworks after Layer Marney Tower wedding

Photography: Jasmine Jade Photography

Venue: Layer Marney Tower, Essex

Wedding Dress: Suzanne Neville ‘Love Affair’ with Belt from Suzanne Neville ‘Mimosa’

Shoes: Rainbow Club

Suits: Moss Bros

Bridesmaid Dresses: Wtoo 809

Flowers: Miss Lily’s, Colchester

Cake: Made by a Friend

Catering: Bouquet Garni

Stationery: Optimal Print

Transport: Rolls Royce Provided by Layer Marney Tower, Bus from Talisman Coach Lines, and Black Cab Provided by Family Member

Table Names, Seating Plan and Drinks Menu: Chalkboard Company

Favours: Cancer Research, Solan de Cabras Water Bottles

Pianist and DJ: PianoDJ

Magician: Greg Williamson

Videographer: BVS Digital