a colourful Japanese inspired wedding | uk wedding blog

For me, this wedding is not only about the gorgeous images of Hannah and Shimpei but the a gentle nod towards the groom’s Japanese heritage. A wedding is all about the coming together of two families and quite often two cultures, it is always so lovely to see that acknowledged. Throw in some gorgeous colourful florals, 1000 paper cranes and a very happy looking family, and you have a perfect wedding.

Photography by Sophie Duckworth 

Eden Blooms http://www.edenblooms.co.uk/ – Hazel and her team are awesome

Dress – Raelynn by Maggie Sottero. Shoes – Jenny Packham

Hair and makeup for bride/bridesmaid/mother of bride by Katy Richards http://www.weddingmakeupandhairstyling.co.uk/. Katy was brilliant – so calm and collected in the face of doing so many people’s hair and makeup! She took her time, listened to what I wanted and made sure I felt my absolute best. I can’t recommend her enough.

Dresses – Alfred Sung in Midnight. Shoes – all their own shoes, Accessories – Earrings and Necklaces from Etsy. Two of my bridesmaids were in Canada and I really wanted each bridesmaid to choose their own dress so Alfred Sung made the most sense given the choices available!  My flower girl’s dress was from Debenham’s.

Suit and cufflinks by Hugo Boss

Sophie Duckworth Photography – Sophie is not only an incredible photographer, but she just understands what it is like to get married. Even when you are aiming for a calm and chilled out day, things can get a little hectic at certain times. I would never have been able to get through the day without her! Sophie was amazing in the morning while we got ready, was able to keep my family controlled during the group photos, and captured every perfect moment of our day. She has been able to take photos that we will cherish for years and years!

All the invites, seating plan, menus, name tags etc were designed and printed by my uncle, which gave a real personal touch to the occasion.

The Barn at Bury Court http://www.burycourtbarn.com/

We are definitely not a very ‘crafty’ couple so at the beginning we wanted to keep it a theme to a minimum.  I wanted the bridesmaids to have bright flowers as it was autumn time, and we wanted everything to be vibrant! We then came up with the idea of folding origami cranes as a nod to Japanese tradition. We have some very dedicated family members (Shimpei’s lovely parents) who really went the extra mile for us by folding the majority of the 1000 paper cranes! We humbly withdrew our skills! Strangely, until we had them all at the venue (after a group exercise of untangling wires), we didn’t realise how much of a focal point it would become, but it worked amazingly well. The cranes were a mixture of plain colours and patterns, which really added to the warm colours in the venue.

We wanted to avoid formal wedding favours – not only due to the additional cost but also because sugared almonds aren’t really our thing! Instead we decided to give each of our guests a paper crane as we feel that is something memorable to keep after the day.

Marks and Spencer’s! We really wanted a chocolate sponge cake rather than fruit, and this went down a storm!

We decided to have a quick ‘minimoon’ to Santorini in Greece directly after the wedding, but will be doing a longer (more adventurous) trip in March to New Zealand

Rollercoaster, http://www.rollercoasterband.co.uk/ Super, awesome band – we absolutely loved the mix of music they played and we even got a few extra tunes out of them at the end of the night!

Shimpei also really wanted a photobooth for the wedding, which I was slightly unsure about, but it ended up being the best decision we made. The photos are brilliant and really funny. We even got my grandparents in with some funny hats on! We rented through PoshPhotobooth (http://www.poshphotobooths.com/)

For me, the whole day was so amazing – it’s really hard to choose. I suppose one moment that really stands out for me was when the band played ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons, and everyone who was on the dance floor surrounded us in a circle and started jumping in time to the music. Shimpei picked me up and I just remember feeling so happy to be with all our friends and family (and a bit concerned that he might drop me!)

I am a definite control freak when it comes to planning but Shimpei was so great at helping with the organisation that it made me realise it’s a real team effort to make the perfect day – although there are some bits that need a woman’s touch! Remember that the little bits you agonise over will all fall away on the actual day. It’s all about spending time with the people you love and celebrating the best day of your life!