Never a dull moment with Kelly around!
I met Kelly just under 3 years ago now at a mutual friends hen party. Kelly and I shared a room and very quickly got friendly – well this is just Kelly you see, the most lovely, friendly and funny girl you could meet, you can’t help but want to be her friend. Kelly hadn’t long met Matt at this point and it was all fresh and new and very exciting for her, she exuded happiness – so lovely. After the hen do we went back to our lives in Oxford and Bristol but made friends on Facebook and kept in touch via the world of social media. Over the next 2 years I watched their relationship blossom and grow. They were quite obviously a good fit and totally besotted with each other, not to mention a very good looking couple too. Kelly had clearly found the man of her dreams and she wanted to the world to know about it – well who could blame her. It came as no major surprise that then Matt popped the question and she said yes! Happy was an understatement!
When Kelly asked me if I would do her make-up on her wedding day I was really flattered. Kelly is great with make-up herself and regularly has her nails done and generally likes to looks good so I took it as a real compliment that she asked me. – Thank you Kel! Plus I knew her wedding morning would be a lot of fun, and she didn’t disappoint!
Kelly’s trial was great. she wanted a bright bold lip colour so we went quite simple on her eyes. She asked for definition around her eyes and had plans to have eyelash extensions anyway so didn’t want to go over the top. In her trial I gave her a set of false eyelashes so she could get an idea of what the end result would look like with longer fuller lashes. Here’s the picture I took on the day of what we decided on as her wedding make-up. (see bottom of blog for list of products used on Kelly)
Kelly was so full of excitement about her wedding day, it was infectious and I couldn’t wait too…
Soon enough the 15th June was upon us and at 7.30am I arrived at her parents house already to get going. Her good friend and Toni and Guy hairdresser Becky was doing all the girls hair and we set up our boudoir in the dining room. Becky and I planned to work together to ensure all the girls were ready in good time and so we weren’t wanting to work on one person at the same time – namely Kelly!
Kelly had cleverly bought all the girls strapless pink maxi dresses to wear on the morning, it was nice that they all matched and no danger of strap marks or ruining their hair as the dresses could be pulled down. Kelly chose a black dress for herself. It was lovely to have them all looking so similar.
Kelly ‘s bridesmaids were all very pretty blondes who thankfully all suited similar make-up, so apart from a range in foundation shades and pinky blushers instead of bronzers in some places the eye make-up matched completely. (See bottom of blog for products used to recreate this eye make-up)
The look I came up with for the bridesmaids was a classy smokey eye. I say classy because I chose not to blend too high into the eye socket. A great tip to get the most out of your eyeshadow is to dampen your brush before you use your eyeshadow, it will then apply much stronger and darker.
The couple were getting married at 1pm at St Nicholas Church, Old Marston in Oxford! So we had about 4 hours to get Kelly her 4 bridesmaids and her mum ready it was all systems go. Becky and I worked like a well oiled machine (which was lucky since we had never met before) with roughly 40 minutes spent on each person it all went like clock work. Kelly’s bridesmaids, Lisa, Sian, Tracey and Kristy we’re a lovely, bubbly group of girls. We had a lot giggles over the course of the morning and Kelly’s mum and dad did a super job of making sure everyone ate, with pastries and croissants followed by Kelly’s favourites – pork pies and cocktail sausages! Brilliant!!
The bridesmaids wore Dessy dresses bought from Butterfly Bridal.
The bride to be had a very set theme to her wedding – hearts and horseshoes. Horseshoes as a tribute to her beloved horse Frost, who much to Kelly’s disappointment wasn’t allowed in the church 🙂 Just like the rest of the wedding the theme was well thought out. The pink of the hearts matched the pink of the flowers and the grey of the horseshoes matched the girls bridesmaid dresses.
When it came to Kelly’s make-up there were no changes from the trial so she just sat back relaxed (giggled) and let me do my thing. She had followed my skin care tips and her skin was in great condition and the make-up seemed to glide on with no effort at all. I couldn’t wait to see her hair done to see it all start to come together.
Kelly’s mum known affectionately as Dotty was next. She’d been running round all morning looking after all of us and and getting final things done so finally she could sit still. She was wearing a bright pink 2 piece outfit to match the pink of the gerberas. So I chose a pinky cheek to highlight her cheek bones and vintage rose eyeshadow which was a rich maroon / pinky colour. It made her eyes really stand out and was very girlie and feminine. A wash of pinky nude lippy and she was away!
Abi Moore was the photographer on the day, she clearly had built up a great rapor with the family and floated around without anyone even noticing – I love it when a photographer does that. All the pictures in this blog (apart from my amateur one at the start) we’re taken by Abi.
The flowers which were predominantly pink Gerberas were done by a friend and ex work colleague, in Kelly’s words ‘the table displays were AMAZING’. The reception venue was at The Great Barn at Aynho. I’ve had a good look at the website and it’s gorgeous!
The bride wore a dress by Sophia Tolli bought from from Anna Macdonald Bridal in Thame, Oxford. Her headpiece came from Euphoria Couture – it was a bespoke piece bought at National Wedding Exhibition at the NEC, she bought the headpiece before dress and it matched perfectly. Turns out the lady who made it is friends with Anna Macdonald where she got her dress – spooky coincidence!
The wedding rings were handmade by Peter Casey jeweler in Wantage, Oxfordshire. He was able to make the diamond platinum band to fit around Kelly’s platinum engagement ring. Matt’s ring was palladium, handmade and designed. It’s lovely to have your rings made specifically for you if you can. It’s very personal that way.
When I first arrived at the house Kelly couldn’t wait to tell me that her wonderful parents had arranged for her dream transport to take her to the church. Kelly had looked into a horse and carriage but due to feeling like it was a bit expensive and an extravagance she decided against it. So when her parents announced on the morning that that was how she was travelling, was just the icing on the cake for her. You can see in these pictures just how much she loved it! Good one Mr and Mrs Dodgson! 🙂
I asked Kelly for some memories from the day that she would like me to share…
Kelly said…It was great to have the girls all together, dressed the same (pink maxi dresses that I got for a great deal online). The surprise of the horse and carriage sticks in my mind as I was so touched and it made it so special. The morning was filled with laughter and it was great that Emily (make-up) and Becky (hair) were able to work together to get all girls hair and make-up done in plenty of time. I don’t remember feeling nervous or ever feeling panicked about time – it was a very slick operation and all ran smoothly without any hitches. I remember that at various stages throughout the day I kept reflecting on the fact that the day ‘was finally here’ and tried to capture each moment.
Kelly also very kindly said… I was so happy with my make-up for the girls, my mum and myself. I wanted to have something fresh and natural looking and to have nice bright lips to enhance my face and match the flowers. I felt amazing and the make-up stayed on all day – even after many tears during the speeches and the first dance. I couldn’t recommend Emily enough, completely professional, friendly and so so lovely.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Whitehead I wish you many years of happiness!
Make up used on Kelly:
Benefit Pore professional primer
L’Oreal infallible foundation shade 200
Body Shop Mineral foundation 05
Make-up academy blusher
Benefit High Beam
Benefit Lemon aid
Bourjois eyeshadow pot in champagne
Body Shop shimmer cube in Warm 06 using the grey on her base, and the darkest brown along the lash line working upwards at the outer edge.
MAC brown eyeliner
Benefit Bad Gal waterproof eyeliner in black
Jelly Pong Pong mascara
Benefit lip plump
Maxfactor Elixir in Bewitching Coral
Make-up Academy Fixing Spray
Make-up used on the bridesmaids
A range of foundation and blusher / bronzer shades for each of the girls
Eye Make-up consisted of Estee Lauder eyeshadow duo in shells, Bobbi Brown Gel eyeliner in black ink, Benefit Badgal eyeliner and Jelly Pong Pong mascara
Body shop lip liner in light brown
Mac lipstick in Fanfare.
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