Cinematically Cool South Downs Wedding In Vivienne Westwood Gown

❤️ The TWC Effect – Our brides, their way ❤️

Francesca and Joshua poured their hearts into a wonderfully sentimental wedding day to encapsulate their love story. Sharing the day with friends and family the pair made sure that their nuptials would be remembered as a perfect celebration of them and their loved ones, here is the lowdown… 

How did you meet?

Josh and I both worked at a supermarket nearly 11 years ago and he spotted me on the deli counter working with my now sister in law Amy, his brother’s wife. He would always look for excuses to have pizzas made by me at work! Josh asked his brother and sister in law to set us up. Soon after we became cinema buddies and went on regular movie trips together, often followed by my favourite dinner Tagliatelle Carbonara! We were friends turned lovers and became inseparable. Josh is my best friend! Everything felt so natural with Josh! We just completely get each other and supported each other’s future careers. We continue to watch movies together and love watching old time romantic movies. 

Was it love at first sight?
Yes for Josh, I will let him type this one:

I first saw Fran walking a barrel into the yard at work. Her bright blue eyes, infectious smile and bubbly personality captured my heart, and I knew from that moment she was the one I wanted to spend my life with. I would then look for any opportunity to see her, eating lots of pizzas as a result. Once I managed to get her attention, we quickly became friends and our love grew. She is my best friend and my biggest supporter, she is my soul mate.

Fran:
I was blinded by heart break and being single at the time. Josh came so naturally into my life and was a good friend in times of vulnerability and distraction, little did I realise I was falling in love with him, everything was so calm when I was with him everything just made sense!

I was no longer anxious and over thinking, everything was so organic and easy! I felt myself around Josh. It wasn’t until I rejected him and was so set on just being friends, did I realise I started to feel jealous! Our introductions and story really does feel like one for the movies! He is such a beautiful human inside and out. He is a true gentleman and I feel so lucky he chose me.

Who proposed and how? Lovely details, please!

Josh proposed and I asked him to write this one:

Fran used to joke about getting a Tiffany ring, I always knew that I had to get her a Tiffany engagement ring as I knew how much she would love it. I always knew I wanted to marry her and thought about how I would propose. I always imagined standing at the top of a mountain, with an amazing view. Once I managed to get enough money together, I spoke with Fran’s mum about getting an engagement ring and showed her one online. I then asked her permission to marry Fran. We then arranged to visit a Tiffany store in London, while Fran was at work. To cover our tracks I turned off our cameras so she wouldn’t see me leaving. We then went to London and looked at rings. There was one ring that stood out on the display, which also happened to be her size. Even after looking at various rings, I ended up buying the one in the display. After buying it we quickly went to Boots to get a carrier bag, as I felt so nervous walking around with a Tiffany bag.

Once we got back home I asked to see Fran’s Grandad Ken. Ken has always been such a huge part of Fran’s life, and she  also saw him as a father figure growing up. I wanted to ask his permission to marry Fran as I wanted to do it the traditional way. After getting his permission, I went to see Fran’s nanny’s grave. I wanted her to be included as Fran and her were so close. While at the grave I asked for her permission also.

Fran’s mum and I then discussed how I would propose. I told her I wanted to go to the top of a mountain. We were going to Corfu in September 2022 and she told me about Mount Pandokrator and we agreed that this would be the place. Before the flight I asked Fran’s mum to pack the ring in her luggage, to prevent Fran from finding out.

While in Corfu we decided on a nice sunny day to go to the mountain, to make it perfect. I remember the car journey up the mountain as Fran was particularly glowing. When we got out of the car Fran’s mum passed me the ring and I hid it in my pocket. Once we got to the top of the mountain Fran made a joke about getting married, as there was a monastery at the top. I then guided Fran to a spot that had a beautiful view. I then pretended that I was going to take a photo of Fran and told her to face away from me. I then got down on one knee and asked Fran to turn around. I then asked her if she would marry me. I still remember how excited she was, to the point she didn’t actually give me an answer. I then asked again and she thankfully said yes. From that point I could not wait to marry her and have a ring of my own to carry around. I love wearing my ring as it feels like Fran is always with me, whenever I miss her I can just look at my ring and play with it and I feel relaxed again.

Did you have a theme for your wedding? How did it come about?
Fairytale timeless, romance with an edge! Gatsby vibes, like something out of the movies. 

We went with how we pictured our day when we closed our eyes! Josh and I had similar visions and I really wanted it to be a joint decision of what each other’s styles were with little elements of our personalities and our favourite things!

Country music touches, motorcycles, our fave classic movies, our fave cars and even my fave flower hibiscuses! We wanted to create an experience for our guests!

We knew we wanted fireworks, lots of flowers and a venue that we could revisit one day in the future! We wanted a timeless venue and when we saw Firle Place it just fit the vision completely! My ring is Tiffany and when we saw the big Tiffany blue doors at Firle, we decided we must incorporate this into our stationary. We used pops of colour through our stationary and accessories.

We wanted lots of romance but with an edge! Ethereal with some feminine touches like lots and lots of roses! Lots of personal elements! My dress really inspired me to go for draping.

I had a million ideas and I wanted to make sure Josh helped and chose every decision together.

I also looked to my nan and grandad’s wedding! I lost my nan in covid who I was super close to and showed throughout my wedding planning journey. I wanted to honour my Nan and I saw my nan had the most gorgeous red bouquet on her wedding day so I had a second bouquet made in memory of her! My very own red bouquet with a modern twist! My nan also wore the most chic butter yellow dress to my mum’s wedding and coincidentally I was toying with the idea of the most gorgeous butter yellow dresses that I had set my heart on! It wasn’t till looking back through old photos I saw she wore that exact shade so it had to be!

I also found out my nan’s wedding dress was made of silk and my dress was also silk! I did not know this detail until my mum sent me an old news article that had details of her and my grandads wedding day in it. I felt like she was with me all the time while planning through little moments like that. I also had our cake maker make a little butterfly hidden on our cake as whenever I see white butterflies I like to think it’s my nanny in some way! (Before grandad walked me down the aisle a butterfly flew around my sister in law and then flew around myself and my grandad! It was a very emotional moment between the three of us as Amy’s mother who we also lost during covid not long after my nanny)

Location and how you found it? 

We actually went to look at a different venue in the area first before Firle Place popped up on social media, so we figured we would go take a look. Firle was a brilliant location as it wasn’t too far from where we lived and I drive past it on my way to work. I did not realise they held weddings there but Firle Place and village was near Alfriston and Alciston, where we often went on dates together.

We actually spent our wedding night in the Starr Inn where we often went for lunch, it has so much history and is truly a stunning area. I also realised that the last time I went to Firle Place it was to go watch husky racing with my sister in law Amy and the family including Amy’s Late mum who Fran was close to so it felt really special when we realised. My Grandad Ken also told me that he used to deliver bread to Firle in the war with my nan’s dad. 

How did you find The Wedding Club? Tell us about that moment when you found and chose your dress – how did it make you feel when you put it on for the first time?

 I unknowingly actually found my dress on my first appointment. It just took me a little longer to realise it! I wanted to try on lots of different styles and it was the opposite of what I had in mind for myself but for me and my style Vivienne Westwood made so much sense! It was bang on my budget which I didn’t realise until after (another sign) and I just felt so comfortable in it! I felt like me! My dress stylist was amazing! She was honest and knew it was the one for me before I did! I am forever grateful for her encouragement!

Which designer did you wear?
Vivienne Westwood

Where is the suit from? Why was it the perfect fit?

Boss! My partner wanted to feel good and to feel confident so it has to be a brand that he felt was him! Boss has a bespoke made to measure service where you can choose the fabrics, the style all the way down to the buttons! Everything he chose by himself and he had lovely little details like my handwriting sewn into his suit. The suit was made exactly to his measurements in Germany and I cannot recommend this service enough!

Did you have speeches? Who performed them?
We had my maid of honour and now sis in law Amy and Josh’s best man Nathan make a joint speech! Nathan is Josh’s brother and his wife Amy and I have been friends for over a decade before I was with Josh! We joke about the goal being that we wanted to be sisters.

My step father surprised me with a beautiful speech, completely off the cuff.

Josh also did a speech and I was so proud of him!

Our vows were scarily similar!! We both individually sent our vows to our photographer Katie, who we are both super close too and she said when she read them it was mental how similar our vows were to each other’s! 

Did you have a first dance? What song did you choose and why? How was the performance?

We really struggled to choose a song for our first dance until we were at a country music festival and heard this song by a new country artist at the time, Nate Smith. I don’t usually cry at songs but when “I don’t wanna go to heaven” came on tears were just streaming down my face! We both knew then it had to be that song!

The dance was good until Josh spun me around and caught his foot under the train on my dress! I fell down and we were both laughing so hard I couldn’t tell Josh that it was his foot stuck on my dress so I could not get up! (Bussell your dress, ladies) although it felt so embarrassing at the time the pictures actually came out super cute! 

How was the party?
Amaaaazing, we really wanted a big party and a lot of our budget went on this! We went with the music and entertainment company ALR and chose a version of BEAT band! We liked that they mixed up modern and old songs and mashed them together with a live DJ and incredible world class singers! We paid for some musicians to stay on to create an after party ALR live experience! We wanted everyone to just let loose and go for it! 

Wedding planning advice for brides to be? 

Ok so I have a few..

Don’t leave the important bits to the last minute! If you are doing personal vows start writing them early as you can always edit and add to them!

Get all the legal bits done and book that must have vendor first and early!
Build yourself your very own dream team of venders who you can completely vibe with and get you both as a couple!

Book a videographer! After the wedding is over all you have is memories and photos and videos (a video of my grandad walking me down the aisle just brought or the pictures and memories back to life) it is a great way to relive everything and also see what you may have missed while your guests were enjoying themselves! 

Create your own dream team and make sure you, you feel they really care about your day and vision!

Treat yourself a day or 2 before to a pedicure/ manicure or even a massage. Switch your phone to silent and really try have an hour or two to yourself before the mad rush. Your wedding is what you make it and want it to be! Don’t sweat the small stuff. 

One moment you’ll never forget:
My 94 year old Granddad walking me down the aisle!  A moment I will never ever forget. The minute I got engaged I knew I wanted my grandad to walk me down the aisle so we pulled out all the stops to try make our wedding happen in 2 years! I really didn’t know what would happen as my grandad had 2 strokes in the same year! I am forever grateful! Grandad has now become somewhat of an internet sensation online with him walking me down the aisle going viral! He also wrote and read us the most beautiful poem for the ceremony.

❤️
Dress – Vivienne Westwood available at The Wedding Club
Hair & Makeup – Liz Patey
Planner/Co-ordinator – Blue Door Weddings
Venue – Firle Place
Photography & Videography – Katie Rogers Photography & Russell Kent Nicholls
Music – ALR