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Stephanie & Michael's English Countryside Wedding

Featured Jack Bunney Grooms - Real Weddings

Michael & Stephanie 9^th of February 2013.  
Thank You to Aaron Collett photography for these images. 
All photographs subject to copyright: Aaron Collett Photography, http://www.aaroncollettphotography.co.uk/
 

 Here on the Bunney Blog, I have often discussed how our Grooms seem to be more passionate about their wedding planning than the stereotypical ‘groom’ portrayed in the media and sometimes the wedding industry.  It seems to me that most of our grooms really do care about the planning and get involved, here is a perfect example of a Bride & Groom working together to plan their perfect day, a day that neither of them will ever forget and a day that neither Bride or Groom would change for anything!  

Michael & Stephanie’s English Countryside Wedding.

Before the planning comes the proposal and Michael’s romantic proposal in the Cornish countryside was a surprise to Stephanie, a shock discovery of a bottle of Dom Perignon was quickly followed by a proposal!

 “I told her she could only drink the champagne if she agreed to marry me” Michael said. 

Fortunately Stephanie was thirsty and agreed.   Once there is a proposal there is a lot of hard work to be done.    And Michael was definitely involved in the planning! 

“ I was definitely involved as much as I wanted to be, Stephanie knew the things I wanted a say in and the things that I didn’t have much of an opinion about. We planned those things together and Stephanie was happy to arrange the other things and checked with me before the final decision was made. It worked perfectly for me.”

Not all grooms feel the way Michael does about the wedding planning, but ultimately it is a rewarding experience.

“I really enjoyed seeing it all coming together and being able to get a picture of how it all might pan out.”

Michael was very involved in the planning and also had strong opinions on what he wanted to wear for the wedding day.

“I didn’t want anything fashionable or too fancy that’s not my style, so it’s quite a simple suit made of English wool. I’m very keen on using British produce so it was great that English wool was an option.”

Michael decided that we should make his suit Made-to-Measure and we should hire suits for the rest of the party.   Michael enjoyed the experience of visiting Jack Bunneys very much.

“It was fantastic we travelled a few hours to get to the shop so it was always a bit of a day out. The shop was full of character and the guys at Jack Bunneys were so knowledgeable. I very rarely wear a suit so their advice was gratefully received.”

A countryside wedding surely requires a country Stag-do!  So that means 4x4’s & Sheep dye no?

“We went down to the West Country and did some 4x4ing then headed into a small market town for a meal and too much to drink. On the Friday night my brother and a few others managed to paint me in sheep dye. That was a little hard to explain when I went into work on Monday morning. I’ll get him back.”

To the day itself! And there were tractors with shoot trailers, apricot liquor to keep the cold out and best man bingo!  It sounds and looks incredible.  Some of the touches so unique and personal, this wedding could only have been planned by Michael & Stephanie.

“I felt surprisingly calm on the morning and all the way up to when I first saw Stephanie. Throughout the day we had lots going on so it was always nice when we spoke to people to hear they were enjoying all the little things we’d done for them.”

“I was really pleased with how the tractors and shoot trailers got everyone from the church to Rushton Hall and the apricot liquor helped keep the cold away.”

I don’t know about you but I have never heard of best-man bingo before!  It sounds like an incredible idea, I have no doubt we will all be playing this at a wedding very soon!

“Without the best man’s knowledge we set up a bingo game for during his speech. Each table had a grid of words and the winning team won a bottle of champagne. One table cottoned on pretty quickly and started leading him to say the words on their sheet. Not surprisingly they won the champagne.”

After such an incredible day, Michael had a few words of reflection.

“It couldn’t have turned out better. Everyone had a good time and appear to have enjoyed themselves.  I wouldn’t change a thing!”

Now that Michael has been there and done that, what words of wisdom would he offer to the next Groom-to-be.

“If you want something to happen or be included in your wedding, fight the cause, it should be personal for both of you”

Obviously after such an incredible wedding, life must seem quite dull and boring?    

Or not…

“We went to the Maldives for the week straight after the wedding.

Stephanie planned it, she has amazing patience and read hundreds of reviews of different islands and picked the perfect one.

I’m sat in the maternity wing of the local hospital writing this so it was obviously pretty special. Boy or Girl?”

Ha Ha!! CONGRUTALATIONS!!! To Michael & Stephanie!

Thank you for taking time out to take part in our Bunney Blog.  Thank you for being amazing customers and we are so pleased that your adventure together is just getting started!

Michael & Stephanie would like to thank the following suppliers:

Photographer: Aaron Collett.

http://www.aaroncollettphotography.co.uk/

Venue: Rushton Hall

http://www.rushtonhall.com/

Wedding Dress:

http://www.thebridalgalleryfinedon.co.uk/

Shoes: Kate Spence

http://www.spencelondon.co.uk/

 Flowers: Amanda

http://www.margarites-flowers.co.uk/

Make-up:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liza-Smith-Freelance-Makeup-    Artist/252337718191078?hc_location=timeline

http://www.facebook.com/LeanneEldridgeFreelanceHairdresser

.Caterer: Rushton Hall

http://www.rushtonhall.com/

Tractors: Sharmans agricultural Engineers/ my dad.

Horse and trap:

http://www.elegantcarriages.co.uk/

Fireworks:

http://www.mlepyrotechnics.co.uk/

Band:

http://www.milomax.net/

Others: Stationary

http://www.hand-drawnmaps.co.uk/

Do Grooms Care?

Do Grooms Care? 

I meet a lot of grooms-to-be every year, I mean a LOT!  I supply suits for over 600 weddings every year.  Which means every year I meet at least 600 grooms, and that normally means talking to them at least twice, maybe three or four times. That means I talk to 600 grooms at twelve months in advance of a wedding, about three months before a wedding, two days before their wedding and sometimes two days after.   I think that gives me a rather unique insight into the mindset of a groom to be!  

So what have a learned from this rather unusual perspective?  Well for a start I have learned that grooms do care!   Men may or may not shrug their shoulders and act cool in front of their mates, or family or even their bride-to-be, but the overall majority, really do care.  They care just as much as the bride, sometimes more, some times slightly less, sometimes a lot less but they care.

I am not talking about a ‘modern-man’ in touch with his feelings; I am talking about all different men from all different backgrounds.  They may express themselves differently; some men may have particular skills and can articulate their point better than others.  But they all really do care about the wedding plans, the wedding day and (most importantly of all) the marriage. 

This is not something new but something I have always been aware of.  I talk to grooms-to-be and most of them are genuinely excited for the wedding day and know all about which plans have been made and which ones are yet to be made.

Us guys however are at a distinct disadvantage to you ladies!  First of all, it is considered bad luck to see the dress before the wedding day.  (Why is this exactly?)   Not seeing the dress in the planning stage makes helping with the planning (or the dress shopping itself) difficult if not impossible.   As you look at venues or meet suppliers often the bride is considering the style of dress and how appropriate that dress would be with that venue or product.  So right from the start of the wedding planning us men are on the back foot.  Knocked of balance before we have even begun!

Now the groom-to-be is off to difficult start but it gets worse!  We pick up a wedding magazine; it becomes quickly apparent that women have edited these magazines from a bride’s perspective.   With articles like: “Will you care if your groom gets drunk on your wedding day?”  & “Telling Your Groom What you expect of him”  (these are actual articles, I have researched today).   Not only are we excluded from some of the planning we are now being told what we can and can’t do, with the assumption that we will not do anything at all unless we are given instruction.  Or even worse that we will somehow behave terribly unless told otherwise.

I am sure I am making it sound worse than it really is but my point is the wedding industry can be a sexist place.  Men are often talked down to and generally the assumption is always that the bride will be making any final decisions with or without the grooms input.   But I think the wedding industry is wrong.  I think men do care!  I think if we looked at this whole wedding planning thing from a different perspective the men would not only take part in the planning, they would enjoy it and maybe even increase their wedding budget (and therefore become a good thing for the whole industry) to pay for things that they really want. 

How do we change things?  Well for a start, why can’t the groom see the dress?  Because of some superstitious tradition?  I am pretty sure every wedding rule, etiquette or tradition has been broken over the last few years. Alternative is the word of the day, so why not plan alternatively too?  Who better to tell you if you look beautiful in your dress other than the man you want to spend your life with?  Whose opinions count more than your partners?   

Secondly, we should (and by ‘we’ I mean everyone) all treat the bride and groom as a partnership.  Lets not always defer to the bride to make all the decisions.  It’s bypassing the groom entirely, as if his opinion is some how not valid, that simply cannot be true, after all it is his wedding too, his opinion (no matter how good/bad) is still valid. 

And lastly, Grooms, I know you care.  I know you do.  I have stood in my shop here on countless occasions and I have seen you excited, apprehensive, nervous and ecstatic.  I have talked to you about your plans for your wedding day.  I have discussed your hopes, your dreams and I have listened while you describe to me the ‘best day of your life’.  So I know you care.  It is up to you to show everyone and take an active role.