Charlotte and Robbie - 25.07.21
Charlotte and Robbie got married this July at the stunning Aswarby Rectory country house in Lincolnshire. Charlotte looked absolutely stunning in her bespoke Susanna Greening Designs dress. Check out Charlotte and Robbie's brilliant proposal story and Charlotte's fab tips for any bride currently planning their wedding.
Tell us about you...
Name: Charlotte Wilson-Bliss
Wedding Date: 25 July 2021
Location of Wedding: Nottinghamshire
Tell us your proposal story …
We’d decided to go on a lovely big holiday which was to be my first ever long distance flight to the beautiful city of San Francisco in September 2018. We’d planned a lot into our trip including two trips to Alcatraz, the Walt Disney museum, a secret speak easy bar, an adventure to find the house from Mrs Doubtfire plus so much more. On the second day of our holiday, we planned to go to the Walt Disney museum in the morning and then afterwards we’d take a hike down to a hidden beach, Kirby Cove, not far from the famous Golden Gate bridge with a breath-taking view (if the foggy conditions were right). We wanted to go there for the views as most of the photos you see of the Golden Gate bridge are from the other side, so wanted to get a different perspective and also to use the rope swing seat we saw photos of online. When we got down to the beach the rope swing seat had gone but the view was beautiful – the weather was on our side and the famous fog had been kind to us so we got to see the beautiful bridge in all its glory.
As a side note to the story, we’d purchased a small bluetooth camera shutter clicker for the holiday specifically so we could take photos on our phones from a distance so we didn’t need to keep asking strangers to take photos of us. This device was quite temperamental and needed many clicks to take just the one photo so it was pretty hit and miss.
So, back to the story! We made it down to the beach and have a beautiful view to show for it. Robbie set up his phone on a tripod (unbeknown to me he’d actually began recording a video, rather than setting it up for a photo opportunity) and we stood together posing for a picture with the beach, the sea and the bridge in the background. After a couple of seconds posing with big smiles, I turned away to wipe my hair out of my eyes (it was quite windy) and turned back to see Robbie down on one knee with a ring box in his hand. To this day, Robbie still sticks by his version of events which was that he wasn’t able to finish asking me the big question before I said, “yes!”. We caught the whole thing on camera, but luckily for me you can’t hear what was said over the sound of the waves in the background.. unlucky for me it also caught the moment where I almost slipped and fell down! We then spent hours being giddy, not being able to tell any of our family back home due to the time difference. It was quite nice to be in our own little bubble before we announced the news!
What advice would you give to any future bride currently planning their wedding?
It’s so easy to get swept up in the planning. Pinterest can be your friend but also your enemy (I got stuck in the depths and really struggled to find what I wanted, a lot of the photos on there don’t take you to the source website so beware … you won’t always be able to find what you want).
Take a deep breath, take a step back and think about what YOU really want as a couple on the day. It’s your special day to celebrate your relationship and commitment to each other, people might try to sway and persuade you to do things a certain way – but it’s not their day to plan. Don’t feel pressured get this, that or the other because someone else has suggested it or did it at their wedding. Start with your venue and everything else will then start falling into place, this will give you an idea of what décor, dress, entertainment etc. will suit.
You don’t need to go to bridal shops and try on every style of dress if you don’t want to. You don’t have to go to all the wedding fairs if you don’t want to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, you don’t have to spend a fortune. Be unapologetically you and don’t panic, it all works out in the end.
What is the one thing in your opinion every bride needs on her wedding day?
A great group of people to get ready with – to keep you calm, keep you smiling and as relaxed/excited as you can be! It’s your wedding day, after all.
What was the biggest pain point when planning your wedding and how did you overcome this?
Suppliers that don’t respond/ignore you before backing out last minute. In our case, it was the baker for our cake with about 4 weeks to go. It was frustrating as it wasn’t an out of the blue circumstance and there was a lack of forthcoming communication from them to us, we had to do all the reaching out and chasing.
It was important for us to take a step back, many deep breaths and realise that at the end of the day it’s just a cake to us. In the grand scheme of things (amidst Covid) a cake wasn’t a big deal to us – let’s face it, you can’t keep it (unless you freeze a tier/slice), you can’t frame it, it just gets eaten. So we just grabbed one from a supermarket with a couple of punnets of fresh fruit the night before and took that along with us instead. It looked and tasted good!
How did you choose your suppliers?
We really wanted to support small, independent and local businesses where we could and managed to do so with a couple of exceptions, one of them being the cake mentioned already. We found a lot of our suppliers/vendors via Instagram, wedding blogs/accounts and through word of mouth. There are various apps and blogs/groups that you can find online which have recommended/partnered suppliers you can contact. Be authentic to yourselves!
Suppliers...
Venue:
Aswarby Rectory
Instagram: @aswarbyrectory
Photographer & Videographer:
Gill & Gee Media
Instagram: @gillandgeemedia
Hair Stylist:
Katie Gaunt
Instagram: @hair.by.katie.at.studio.m
Florist:
Elder & Wild
Instagram: @elderandwild
Wedding Dress:
Susanna Greening Designs
Instagram: @susannagreeningdesigns
Shoes:
Vivienne Westwood / eBay
Kilts:
MacGregor MacDuff
Instagram: @macgregorandmacduff
Wedding Rings:
Temprell
Instagram: @temprell
Hair Accessories:
Sarah Vuong Bridal Jewellery
Rose Comb