‘There’s Magic in That There Day!’ A Royal Tunbridge Wells Wedding: Imogen&Chris

We love the crisp days and low, directional light that Autumn can give, especially when it gives way to the warm and welcoming interiors of a reception venue with stunning, unusual features. Imogen and Chris were married at the Royal Wells Hotel in Tunbridge Wells, where the ceremony room is adjoined by a gorgeous orangery which perfectly complemented their warm, joyous and somewhat giggly ceremony! Classic fifties details abounded, especially that stunning dress, and we tried to make the most of the hotel’s seemingly endless collection of mirrored screens! Enough from us – this is the first time we’ve asked one of our couples to describe their relationship and wedding day in detail, and reading through Imogen and Chris’s rather wonderful reply, we think it was completely worth it!

The love story…

We asked Imogen&Chris to describe each other in three words.

Imogen said; Handsome, genuine, bluesman

Chris said; Beautiful, unique, nutter

Friday night romance… We met ten years ago in a local pub on a drunken Friday night.

We’re getting hitched baby… Chris booked a gypsy caravan in Dorset for my birthday and proposed to me by giving me the ring, shouting ‘we’re going to get hitched baby’ and spinning me round the tiny caravan… there was no question or answer session, just a statement of fact and I think I cried immediately!

Homemade & intimate… Our venue was already styled it’s own way so we added a few homemade touches in the form of our favours and that was it really. We knew we wanted a small wedding and for it to be intimate for our guests, and luckily we found the perfect hotel to tick those boxes.

In the moment… The favourite moment for us both was immediately after the ceremony. Chris turned to me and all he could say was ‘that was amazing’ and though I was a bit shell-shocked, I had to agree, the feeling that we’d managed to get married in front of all our closest family and friends was absolutely brilliant.

The soundtrack… I walked down the isle to ‘Moon river’ because it’s a stunning piece of music and we didn’t want to be too formal with any classical arrangements. Also, my dress and hair were quite 50s Audrey Hepburn inspired (even though Chris didn’t know that when we chose the music!) We returned up the aisle to the cheesy classic that is Lionel Richie’s ‘My Destiny’ because it’s so recognisable from the opening beat and was guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face. Our first dance was to Jack Johnson ‘Better Together’. This song played constantly while I was away at uni in Birmingham. Chris used to drive 3hrs to visit me every other weekend so it makes us think of how great it was to see each other on odd Friday nights but also how sad it was to have to say goodbye on Sunday afternoons- now we don’t need to say goodbye anymore and it just makes us both feel really happy.

♥ Love love love. You guys have magic in them there cameras… After meeting you both we felt really confident that you would fit in perfectly with our day and wouldn’t make us feel too self-aware. I avoid having photos taken at the best of times but I knew I would feel relaxed around you both & the standard of the website and photos we saw in our first meeting were amazing. Photography is a big passion of my parents & they looked at the website & agreed that you were the photographers for us.

On the day itself you were amazing & seemed very relaxed even when our timing went completely out of the window. It was as if a couple of our guests just wanted to take a lot of extra photos!

The quality of the images we’ve received far exceeded our expectations and are the perfect keepsake of our day.  These exquisite photos will live for a long long time on every available frame, shelf and wall that we have!

Credit where credit’s due:

Venue: Royal Wells Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Dress: ‘Cha Cha Cha’ By Ian Stuart from Amante Bride in Reigate – The owner, Liz, was the most superb Lady to help with the fraught dress shopping process. I knew I wanted a short dress and after Mum spied ‘Cha Cha Cha’ through the window of Amante I knew I’d found my dress.

Shoes: Citrine, Belle by Paradox

Accessories: My jewellery was made by Alison Le Fevre of Ginger & Blonde – Alison created the perfect pearl necklace & earrings to compliment my dress.

Hair & make up: My wonderful Sister-in-Law, Helen Chapman, did my hair and make-up.

Groom’s Outfit: French Connection suit from Moss Bros, waistcoat from Debenhams, Kurt Geiger shoes and silver harmonica cufflinks from englishcufflinks.com.

Bridesmaid’s dress, shoes & accessories: Gem’s dress was from Mango, shoes from ASOS, and necklace from Mikey.

Rings: My engagement ring was from Vogue Diamonds in Brighton – Chris bought it on a lunch break while working down in Kemp Town.  Our wedding bands were from Burrells in Tunbridge Wells.

Flowers: Our flowers were supplied by a lovely lady called Josie who works with the hotel on events.

Caterers: Royal Wells Hotel

Cake: Good old Marks & Spencers

Planner: The venue came with a planner, Dee Short, who did a sterling job of keeping me calm and letting everyone know that everything was sorted.

Entertainment: Blues Deluxe were a 4 piece Blues band from Brighton who were recommended to us by Chris’ harmonica tutor, Wilf Taylor.  They learnt our first dance for us and were generally really great guys to make everyone dance from the very first song.  They even let Chris play harmonica on one song & they went down a storm.

Transport: SNC Cars ltd, based in Sevenoaks, provided my wedding car.  Their driver was the calmest influence on the whole day and made sure Dad and I arrived in one piece complete with polos and water.