Elizabeth and Tymour met in New York in July 2006.  Elizabeth and a friend she was visiting were out one evening at a cocktail lounge when she first saw Tymour.  They hit it off immediately and talked until the early hours.  The following day they went out for dinner before Elizabeth went back to England.

After staying in touch for several weeks by email and phone they arranged to meet in Rome for a second date and then continued their long distance relationship across the Atlantic, with one of them flying over to see the other every three weeks or so.  After seven months Elizabeth moved to New York to be with Tymour.

The Proposal

Elizabeth and Tymour had just moved into a new apartment when on December 5th 2008 Tymour cooked them dinner.  He asked Elizabeth to get the dessert out of the fridge and when she opened the door there was a beautiful engagement ring on the middle shelf.  Tymour got down on one knee and proposed, and after crying for about five minutes Elizabeth finally said yes!

Hen and Stag Parties

Tymour went to Montreal, Canada with six of his best friends for a long weekend.  The nightlife is really fun and they found Montreal to be a beautiful and interesting place.

Elizabeth had two hen parties, one in England where she went out for dinner with ten of her friends and one in New York.  In New York Elizabeth and her hens went for traditional English afternoon tea at Alice’s Tea Cup.

Wedding Theme

The wedding theme was ‘vintage chic’ as Elizabeth wanted a very classic and elegant wedding with unique vintage touches.  The colour scheme was pale duck egg blue, and they used white love birds and bird cages as a main feature of the wedding theme.  Elizabeth sourced vintage wire birdcages and dotted them around the wedding venue, and they had beautiful bird cage lanterns that held tea lights.

In honour of their parents and grandparents, Elizabeth found the original photographs from their weddings and put them in crystal frames on a grand piano in the hotel.  They also had a dessert room where Elizabeth filled apothecary jars with Old English fudge and truffles, and they had platters of macaroons from her favourite ‘Ladurée’ at Harrods and mini American style cupcakes from Lola’s Bakery.

The Bride and Groom’s Outfits

At first Elizabeth had set her heart on having a beautiful simple Grecian style wedding dress, but the more dresses she tried on the more she realised she wanted a more classical A-line dress.  She went to the bridal boutique at Saks Fifth Avenue and as soon as she saw her French Alencon Lace Amsale dress she knew it was the one.  She had previously seen it in bridal magazines and had fallen in love with it but with a price tag of $8000 it was out of her budget.  Luckily Saks were closing their bridal boutiques and all the dresses that day were 70% off, so she got her dream dress for around $2500.

Keeping with the vintage theme, Tymour wore a classic slim fit black tuxedo with a bow tie.  The tuxedo was from Hugo Boss and he wore shoes from Ferragamo.

The Bridal Party

Elizabeth had four bridesmaids who wore Barry Jay dresses and two flower girls.  Tymour’s brother was best man and there were five ushers, three of his good friends and Elizabeth’s two brothers.  The groomsmen all wore tuxedos.

Flowers

To Elizabeth the wedding flowers were probably one of the most important parts of the wedding and after looking at what seemed like one hundred florists she found Nancy at Blooming Perfect.

The wedding flower colours were a mix of pale green, pale vintage pink and cream.  They used vintage roses, scented tuberose, spray roses, blousy peonies, amaranthus, orchids and large hydrangeas.

The Ceremony and Reception

As Elizabeth is British, Tymour is American and they live in the US, American immigration wouldn’t recognise their wedding in England and they would have had to be separated for around a year.  As a result they decided to hold a simple legal ceremony in America, allowing them to come to England and hold a big ceremony after.  As the wedding ceremony in England wasn’t legally binding they held the blessing outside by the lake at Chilston Park Hotel in Kent.  They both wanted a ceremony outside and the fact they had already legally married enabled them to do this.

Eighty guests were present at the reception, also held at Chilston Park Hotel, and they were joined by an additional thirty guests in the evening.

The Cake

The wedding cake was three tiers and was from Cakes 4 Fun.  One layer was chocolate, one layer was coffee and the final layer was buttercream sponge.  It was decorated in pale blue fondant with two fondant love birds on the side and sugar flower hydrangeas.

The Photographer

The wedding photographer was Bruce Neville of Inframe Weddings.  Elizabeth fell in love with Bruce’s work as soon as she saw his website – he really captures some wonderful moments.

The Honeymoon

Elizabeth and Tymour went to Mauritius for a week of relaxation followed by a week’s safari in South Africa, where they stayed at an incredible lodge called Kampama Karula.

Memories
“There are so many. Our ceremony was probably the most incredible thing, outside by the lake on such a wonderful day.”

The Wedding Community

“There are so many resources you can find. I also loved looking at other real weddings for inspiration.”

Tips and Ideas

“Stay calm. It’s the little details that make your wedding day special, not a big budget.  Meet with as many suppliers as you can before making any decisions and most of importantly enjoy it - everything from the planning to the ceremony.”

Bride’s Top Tips

“Have an idea of what kind of wedding you want and look at lots of real weddings online and in magazine for inspiration.”

“Have a hair and make-up trial to make sure you will feel happy on the day with how you look.”

“Always look for special offers in magazines and websites - I found a 25% voucher for my wedding cake. Little things like that here and there can really help.”

Groom’s Top Tips

“Support your bride if she is doing most of the planning and remember to keep a close eye on your budget.”

Best Buy

“Our little bird cage lanterns which were around £20 in most places but I found them at an online wholesaler for 70 pence each!”

Bride’s Beauty Tips

“Look after your skin, take your make-up off every night and use a good moisturiser. I had regular manicures to keep my nails healthy, ate plenty of fruit and vegetables and drank lots of water about six weeks before the wedding.”

To view more fabulous pictures from this real wedding take a look at The Real Wedding of Elizabeth and Tymour 04/07/2010 blog post on The Wedding Community Blog.

Photography: Inframe Weddings

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