Date: 29th July 2017

Venue: Newark Castle Gardens , Evening Reception: Newark Town Hall

Photographer: Emily Florence Photography

How did your partner propose?

Thomas my partner and myself were on a week away in Edinburgh for our second anniversary which is one of my favourite places. His parents had bought us tickets to go into Edinburgh Castle. Just before the 1 o’clock cannon went off Thomas was taking some photos of me sat down with the views of Edinburgh behind me and he surprised me with a handmade box with a lovely gold ring within the box and he asked me to marry him. Straight away I said ‘Oh my god , have you asked my dads permission’ Then of course I said yes!

Why did you choose the dress you did?

I went to the house of Oliver with my mum and my chief bridesmaid and sister Natalie. We didn’t expect to find a dress that day as I hadn’t looked properly in other stores. As we walked in we saw a lovely princess dress in the window , but straight away I said to my mum it wouldn’t suit me. We went inside and we decided that we would all pick out some dresses for me. What I had in my mind was a tight fitted lace dress. I tried on about 7 dresses of what I ‘thought’ I wanted but none of them made me feel amazing. After feeling quite down about the whole situation my mum told me to try on the dress I saw in the window so I thought to keep my mum happy I will try it on. The lady comes in with this dress , straight away I thought oh wow its huge and this instantly put me off as its not what I imagined wearing. I put the dress on and instantly I felt like a princess, My only issue with the dress is that it was a boob tube dress and I don’t like my shoulders. I walked out of the dressing room and my mum instantly started crying and my sister said it was the best dress she had seen on me. I loved the dress but i was so unsure about my shoulders being on show. The lovely lady in house of Oliver told me to try on a lace jacket which goes over my shoulders and sits on the dress. When I put this on I knew this was the dress for me. To get married in a castle and to have a princess dress was perfect.

What was your theme or colour scheme and why?

We didn’t really have a theme in mind when we started to plan our wedding , it was one of the last things we thought about. We didn’t want it colourful as we didn’t want the colours to clash with dresses and flowers. We decided to keep the theme nice and plain and add the colour within the flowers. Our colour scheme was originally going to be red , but as it was a summer wedding dresses in red were very rare to come across. I went bridesmaid shopping with my girls and we came across lilac/grey dresses, the girls tried them on and we loved them straight away they were just do delicate and elegant, perfect for a summer wedding. Plus they were a bargain! We matched our Bridesmaids dresses with the flowers and table decorations.

What was your highlight of the day?

The highlight for myself was of course marrying my husband Thomas. But seeing both of our families together was brilliant. Its not very often our families get together so it was great for them all to meet and for them to witness us get marries and celebrate the biggest day of our lives. The day goes past so quickly , make sure you have a moment to yourselves and don’t concentrate on trying to say hello to everyone , your guests will come to you.

A huge Congratulations to Chloe and Thomas from us all here at House of Oliver. I love that you took such a relaxed approach to choosing your colour scheme and it all tied together really well. Your engagement story gave us a little chuckle too – it’s definitely important to get permission!

Your dress looks absolutely gorgeous and you accessorised it perfectly with the jacket! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness in you married life and thank you for being our first House of Oliver Blog Bride

Katie, Jade, Roxy, Vicky and Jess xxx