As some of you may have noticed, Bryony + Max graced the pages of Style Me Pretty yesterday. When a couple get featured on arguably one of the biggest wedding blogs in the States, you know it’s gonna be a good one 
Bryony + Max came to us with a very clear vision of what they’re wedding was going to be about. The one thing they were 100% certain about was that they wanted themselves + their guests to feel relaxed and have fun! Bryony and Max married at The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, England, a perfectly fitting venue for a laid-back wedding which also clearly had a fantastic attention to detail. Their quirky English charm continued throughout the day, with Bryony + Max choosing to transport themselves and their guests with a London red bus. The attention to detail was most apparent at Bryony + Max’s off-beat reception venue, The Kitchen Garden Cafe, a hidden little gem off one of the busier streets of Kings Heath, Birmingham. The Kitchen Garden Cafe is a lovely little organic cafe and shop situated just off the busy streets of Birmingham, providing a unique + intimate twist to traditional reception venue options. Bryony had spent the last year or so collecting a mix of different vintage tea cups as part of the table decor, accompanied with small pots of jam, homemade marmalade and sweeties!
Did I just drop some Charlotte Balbier + Jimmy Choos in the same slot? YES I DID.
If your Mums table cloth looks awesome, we WILL use it for a backdrop.
This is Max. He will be playing the role of “Groom” today.
Love this guys tactic. Do cheesy smile. Get cheesy smile.
WHAT A BALLER!
The sky isn’t even near the limits for this little dude. Who says you shouldn’t try to pull the bride?
Formals… apparently.
PEACOCK INVASION
KUNG FU MAX!
It’s the concentration on their faces. Gets me every time.
Not sure what’s happening here but it’s our blog so if I wanna post it… I will.
BOUQUET ATTACK
LOVE THIS!
boom ɯooq pow.
The classic “Groom holding the bouquet by his crotch” shot. It’s in every wedding album.
I’m gonna just come out and say this. There’s way too much emphasis on “styling” in wedding photography today + we rarely share details shots on the blog but Bryony + Max made Kitchen Garden Cafe look AMAZING so it kind of only seemed right to share these.
Don’t care if we don’t no Salsa, we’re still tearing up the dance floor.
Details:
The Frock: Thea by Charlotte Balbier
Max’s Suit: Armani
Jewelry/Accessories: Hair comb – Flo and Percy, earrings – Vintage Headresses, bracelet – Magpie vintage
Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy
Rings: Vault 88
Vintage Tea Sets: DIY/Collected
The Bus: Route Master Buses
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Flowers: Bouquets were ivory peonies / Button holes were avalanche roses / Ladies corsages – avalanche roses + freesias.
Band: Alma Latina
Q+A with Bryony:
Q: How did you both meet?
Max and I met through a mutual friend. I had gone to school with her and they had met whilst both doing their masters degrees. After I finished university I met up with my friend and mentioned I was looking to move out of my parents and she invited me to live with her and her friend (Max). I moved in, in October, it only took us until July to get together.
Q: Describe the proposal…
We decided to go to wales for the weekend, where Max’s family have a cottage in hills. On Saturday we went for our usual walk on the beach in Aberdovey. There was wind and sand whipping up in our faces, but Max insisted on going for a walk…. I wanted to walk around the shops… Half the way down the beach, Max ran off like a lunatic and shouted to me to follow him, I was still grumbling about the wind and not running when I noticed him writing something in the sand. It said… “Marry me?”. I love the question mark. I laughed and laughed and eeked out a yes! Then we went and had some fish and chips! I’ve got a few pictures if you want to see.
Q: Did you have any intended theme or colour scheme for the wedding?
Our over riding premise was that we wanted a really laid back day. We wanted people to mingle have fun and we didn’t want to be constrained by what you are supposed to do. We’d been to venues where we’d been told the entire layout of the day and there didn’t seem much room for us to make any decisions, which really didn’t appeal. So I didn’t set a colour theme. I let my nieces choose their brides maid dresses in what ever colour they liked, Isabelle the littlest bridesmaid was adamant she wanted purple (its her favourite colour). The twins Jessica and Laura chose shades of pink which all complimented each other. I really didn’t want to force them to wear something they weren’t happy with and didn’t feel comfortable in. I suppose there ended up being a bit of a botanical theme, which wasn’t intended initially with the Birmingham Botanical Gardens as our wedding venue and the Kitchen Garden Café as the reception venue. My friend Jess had given me the tea cups idea which also was a nod to vintage which spun the cake stands, tea pots and cup cakes and vintage bus..
Q: What “caught your eye” when choosing Kitchen Garden Cafe as a reception venue?
The Kitchen Garden Café is a matter of metres from our front door and whilst we were making all our wedding decisions we would go there and drink wine. We originally had a different venue booked which we’d fallen in love with, but unfortunately as it was quite small we were having to make contingencies which was really pushing the budget up. We had a frank conversation at the Kitchen Garden Café over a glass of wine where we discussed the fact that spending more on the wedding would not make it any better. It was a glorious evening in June and the garden area was an absolute sun trap. It clicked at that point that this could be the perfect venue for our laid back day. The bare brick walls are beautiful and we loved how intimate it would be for our wedding, and how local too!
Q: What was the most memorable part of the day?
There are so many memorable parts to the day. Walking down the aisle and seeing all my family and friends and of course Max waiting at the bottom looking nervous. Everyone walking round the botanical gardens, fizzy in hand. Arriving at York road on the bus at about 6pm and everyone pouring into the kitchen garden café. Everyone sitting outside in the sun enjoying a pre dinner drink just as we had wanted.. Seeing how amazing the Kitchen Garden Café looked all set up with my tea cups and bunting. And the speeches. My Dad and Max, clearly fans of the spotlight, gave speeches more like stand up, and they went on for an epic amount of time. Everyone was heckling and getting involved which I loved… although the best man I think was a little nervous after My Dads and max’s speech, and his ended up being the shortest of the night.
Q: What was your favorite wedding purchase?
I loved my dress and my jewelry and my shoes….. It was so much fun being able to create a glamorous look for myself. I spent so long agonizing over the jewellery and shoes…
And of course all the tea cups…. I absolutely love them. I have over a hundred and cannot bear to part with them… I feel sad when they’re hidden away, so I take them out and drink a bit of tea out of them sometimes, or when people come over I make people wait for sugar whilst I dig out my favourite sugar bowl and Victorian silver tongs!
Q: How did you choose your photographers?
I googled photographers in Birmingham and Chris and Dani’s website popped up 1st on the list. WE immediately loved their shots which looked like something you’d want to see on your wall. They were different and we loved the light they captured.
Q: Any advice for future Brides + Grooms?
My advice would be to create a day you will enjoy yourself. Try not to be dictated to by family, friends and vendors… although take on board the capabilities of your vendors… It is your day and there are no rule books. Sometimes it’s best not to discuss the details too much as everyone has an opinion. Most people said that our day felt really personal which was want we wanted to achieve and I think this was because we really did do what we wanted. Anything too stuffy wouldn’t have been enjoyable for us. We ended up having such an amazing day….
Q: Could you give us a summary of your wedding day in as much detail as possible?
Max and I were separate the night before traditionally…. I stayed at my parents house with both my brothers (one had returned home from London and the other from Korea), my sister, my nieces (bridesmaids) and my mum and dad. We had such a lovely evening catching up and eating Chinese food and drinking champagne. In the morning I was up and at the hairdressers 8am. I spent 2 hours in there having my hair set in rollers like a granny!!! I felt really anxious having my hair done. I just wanted to get home and get my dress on. My dad picked me up and I got back home to find my wonderful cousin/make up artist putting the finishing touches to Laura. Her hair looked lovely as did her makeup. I made myself busy whilst she finished doing the other two. After I had my make up done I just wanted to get my dress on. My mum was trying to get me to eat something, but I had no appetite. I went and put my dress on and instantly felt the part. I didn’t have any nervousness after that.
When we arrived at the Botanical gardens there were a few guests milling about in the car park. We were led into an area for me to have my interview and for us to wait whilst everyone got into the room. Before we made our grand entrance, Dad was making us all practice walking down the isle slowly (as he’s been getting grief from my sister for walking her too quickly). We’d chosen “You’re so cool” from True Romance for me to walk down the isle too, but I cant even remember hearing it properly now. I wanted to make sure I came in at the right time so that we had all the dramatic parts of the son. As the doors were flung open Isabelle had a mini freak out (she was first down the isle, very brave)… but she did a fab job and found her way! When my Dad and I walked in i couldn’t stop smiling at all the people in the congregation, I even did a bit of waving. My Dad said he had a little tear in his eye that stayed there for the whole ceremony.
When I got to Max, he had a squished button hole and make up on his lapel (from bear hugging people I’m informed) but he looked very relieved to see me. The ceremony was very informal with max and I laughing pretty much the whole way through. Max even called me Bryan during our vows. I had to correct him. I do have a tongue twister of a name Bryony Helen Kennedy Young. We had two lovely readings read my our mums. They did a fab job.
When it as time to walk out we had our favourite song by Koop playing. Max wouldn’t move until he heard the song start, we dashed outside and had a little hug in the glass house grabbing a glass of champagne we headed outside started mingling with all our family and friends on the terrace. It was such a lovely part to the day, there are so many people you know and love its hard deciding who to talk to. The photos part to the day was lovely too, we couldn’t stop smiling.
When we came back to the terrace we mingled a bit more and then it was time to get on the bus to the kitchen garden café. The bus was amazing, it looked so fab. It was great riding on the top deck with everyone, my brother tried to get a few songs started, but they were a bit rude!!!
When we arrived at the kitchen garden we had a bit of an audience, everyone was looking and staring and waving. When we went in, everyone was sitting outside having a glass of wine and milling about. They were all looking at the tables which had been set up by my mums collegue. She’d done an amazing job. The tea cups were all laid out and the bunting was up. We spent an hour outside basking in the glorious sunshine and talking some more.
Dinner was delish as were the cup cakes and desserts. The speeches were spectacularly epic. I’m told they lasted over an hour and 15 mins. It was like watching standup and I thought they were all so funny, though I was a little nervous about some of the content, Max’s speech was fantastic, I’d never seen him like that, it was a revelation, I don’t think anyone laughed harder than me. My friend Jess was heckling the whole way through and everyone was shouting and applauding. It was perfect!!!
After the speeches the evening do properly started. Our fabulous latin American band started playing and everyone got up and did a bit of salsa with Max leading!!! We had a few lessons before the wedding and Max couldn’t wait to try out the moves he’d learnt.
We then realized that our lovely photographers were still there!!! They’d stayed all day and had another wedding the next day! They took us out for a few more shots, by that point it must have been about 12. We had a late license to 3am. The band had finished their set and it was time for the part play list to begin. I just remember my sister and my nieces with their swishing dresses dancing all night. Everyone danced and it was amazing. Finally at about 2.30 I realized I was exhausted and it was time to go, so we headed off.
We had fun, we danced, we were merry. It had everything a wedding should have. None of the fusty tradition we desperately wanted to avoid.
All the photos I have seen show everyone laughing and smiling.
It was a truly amazing day.
Thanks guys. You are awesome.
