We have a beauty of a wedding for you today! Craig & Sali tied the knot earlier this year in the stunning council chambers of the City Hall, Cardiff followed by a relaxed reception at The Gate . We’re pleased to have both bride & groom share their wedding story with you today. All the images featured were taken by one of our fabulous Lust List Members Aled Garfield Photography . Enjoy x
What was your budget?
When we got engaged and started planning we were working under the assumption that we would be paying for the wedding ourselves. We didn’t really have a budget in mind but didn’t have any savings so had to plan the wedding we wanted as cheaply as possible.
We were extremely fortunate to have help from family with the cost. This meant that we were able to spend our own money on a few special details like the band and the photographer, which were a little more expensive than we would otherwise have been able to afford but made the day all the more special for us. In the end we spent around £8000 in total which was manageable for us, but without feeling like we had made too many sacrifices.
How would you describe your wedding theme?
The theme was a kind of vintage style tea party / summer fete. We wanted something pretty and colourful but relaxed and not too formal. We threw in some quirky details too just to make it our own.
What was your favourite part of your wedding?
Craig: The best part for me was going out and having the photos taken after the ceremony at Roath park. The weather was beautiful – perfect for an icecream!
Sali: I agree, it was a lot of fun! The whole day was so emotional and overwhelming that it was nice to have a little bit of time just the two of us. One part of the wedding that surprised me was the car. We had struggled to find something in a style we liked and ended up booking the car relatively late. The driver was incredible. He had a ‘bridal emergency kit’ in the front seat and kept me at ease on the way to the ceremony, and even did a champagne toast for us both outside City Hall straight after the ceremony. He was the sweetest guy and did a lot to make sure we had the best experience.
Tell us about your Wedding Dress
Sali: The dress was a bit of a sticking point for me. At the time that I started looking I was reading a lot of wedding magazines and not seeing anything that I liked. I wasn’t really interested in a long gown or anything too sparkly, and was drawn to short / knee-length dresses and quirky vintage styles.
I happened to be at a wedding fayre at Cardiff City Hall and spotted a beautiful polka dot knee length dress on a boutique’s stall which I tried on and instantly fell in love with. As a designer dress it didn’t really fit within our budget so I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to find something more within our price range. I didn’t try on any other dresses because I knew that this was exactly the style I was looking for.
I did a lot of research online and eventually stumbled on Honeypie Boutique, a website which sells custom-made vintage style dresses. They had a dress design almost identical to the one that I had tried on for a really reasonable price. I added in a petticoat underneath the skirt and ended up with almost exactly the same dress at a fraction of the cost.
On the day I had so many compliments I could not have been happier. It was something non-traditional and so perfect for my taste and style, without breaking the bank.
Who did you pick as your bridesmaids &/or best man and why?
Craig: I couldn’t pick between my two oldest friends Tom & Jamie, so I picked them both! We have known each other for years and so for me they were the obvious choices. 
Sali: I picked three of my closest friends. Abbie has been a friend since we were teenagers and we both relocated to Cardiff within a couple of years of each other. I shared a house with Laura when I first moved to Cardiff and we had such a lot in common that we have remained really good friends ever since. Christina & I met at work about 5 years ago and we have become really close friends in a really short time. They really are my favourite people. They have all been there for me and for us as a couple at different times. 
We also had a flower girl, our niece Isabella. She was two the week after the wedding and was the star of the show all day. Everybody loved her and she kept everyone entertained on the dance floor all night. 
Why did you choose your venue?
The wedding ceremony was in the Council Chamber at Cardiff City Hall. Neither of us are religious so felt a church wedding would not suit us at all. We were looking for alternatives and the first place we looked at was City Hall. As soon as we walked into the Council Chamber we were sold. The shape, size and grandeur of the room are just so unique, and the wood panelling and decor are breathtaking. 
We’ve both been to weddings at hotels and function venues and although they have been lovely, they can be a bit devoid of personality. For our reception, we wanted something a little more quirky, but with the setup to please all the different groups that would be there. Weddings are a great chance for family to catch up, so we wanted to make sure that was possible by having somewhere that we could dance all night, but the older relatives could sit and have a drink and chat. Thats why we chose The Gate.
Tell us about your photographer
Where to start. We definitely didn’t want a photographer that would be barking orders all day and want to take hundreds of set-up shots. After doing a bit of research online and looking at Aled’s portfolio we loved his documentary style of shooting. Although his set-up shots are fantastic, the remainder of the day he blended into the background and allowed us to enjoy ourselves without being intrusive.
He would take us to a location and give us an idea of what he wanted to achieve, but would give us free reign to be ourselves. He seemed to right away know the kind of things that we would like and made us feel at ease in front of the camera.
On top of that he’s just a top guy. He was so available and happy to answer questions in the run up to the wedding and the engagement shoot, and even since. We really couldn’t more highly recommend him.
How did the proposal happen?
Craig: Beyond buying the ring I hadn’t thought about how I was going to propose, I didn’t have a plan particularly and was just going to wait for a moment to present itself! Once I had bought the ring though, I was so worried that Sali would find it somewhere in the house that I ended up asking her at home a day or two later!
Sali: I got home from a bit of a crappy day at work and Craig had cooked a nice dinner and we were just relaxing watching TV and having a chat about how our days had been. He told me that he’d been out shopping and when I asked what he’d bought he came to me with a ring box and just got down on one knee and asked me right there in the living room! At the time it seemed as though he had been planning it with the dinner and everything, I couldn’t help laughing when I found out he’d just had to ask me there and then so that I didn’t figure it out myself!
Any DIY stories/tutorials you’d like to share?
Sali: I decided pretty early on that I wanted to make the decorations myself. I enjoy crafting and thought it would save a bit of money if it was homemade. The one thing we saved a lot on was flowers.
I knew I wanted a non-traditional bouquet, and because of the style we wanted for the centrepieces they lent themselves well to using artificial flowers rather than real ones. This also meant that I could make them way ahead of time. I shopped around a few home stores for silk flowers and picked up a few bits and pieces there but most of the flowers were bought online.
The colour scheme we were having was pastels and so the flower colours didn’t all have to match. This meant I was able to just pick up the odd few here and there whenever I saw anything that I liked at a decent price. Once we had enough for all of the centrepiece flower arrangements I stared putting them all together and we both thought they looked fantastic!
What was your first dance & why?
Craig: The first dance song was ‘You & Me’ by Penny and the Quarters. The song is from the movie ‘Blue Valentine’ which is one of our favourites. After we’d watched it I read an article in The Guardian about the song itself and how it had been found on a 1970’s demo tape at a yard sale and released as part of a compilation. Ryan Gosling somehow stumbled across it and wanted to use it as part of the movie. In the film his character gives a recording to Michelle Williams’s character as ‘their song’. The first time she heard the track was when they filmed the scene, and her reaction was genuinely moving. We loved it right away and it seemed perfect.
In hindsight, was there anything you would have done differently?
There is nothing that either of us would change. On the day everything went off without a hitch and we loved every second of it. All our friends and family said they had a blast too!
During the last couple of weeks before the wedding day I think we both regretted taking on so much of it ourselves, what with making all the decorations and everything. But seeing it all come together on the day was incredible and made all the stress totally worth it.
Do you have any advice for future couples?
It is possible to spend loads on a wedding day but the one thing you can’t buy is atmosphere. Don’t sacrifice space for your friends in favour of some obscure relative who you never see, or a work colleague who you have known for 5 minutes. Having the right people around you makes all the difference, and you can’t beat having all of your best friends in one room to celebrate with you.
We definitely believe that you can have the wedding that you want without breaking the bank. Sure, you can spend tens of thousands on your wedding day if that’s what you want but we genuinely had exactly what we wanted and had the best day of our lives for a fraction of that.
The only other thing we would say is not to buckle to the pressure of what other people want. Your wedding is your day. Do what you want to make yourselves happy. Be selfish because you’re only going to do it once (hopefully).
What’s the best piece of marriage advice you received?
Sali: The favourite thing that was said to me was ‘always be friends’. I tried to keep this in mind throughout the planning stages of the wedding and although things got stressful at times, we never let it get to us or took any of it out on one another.
Craig: On one of our message cards someone wrote something that has stayed with me.
‘Marriage Advice
1. Sali’s always right
2. Never let the sun set on an argument
3. If struggling with rule 2 refer to rule 1’
What was your favourite thing about planning a wedding?
Craig: For me the best part was the meetings with Lynsey at The Gate. We would go to her with all of our crazy ideas and she was so patient and accommodating, even when we went way outside of their normal wedding packages. Her organisation skills were unbelievable. The paperwork and planning involved in any wedding is huge but we really felt like she went above and beyond for us.
Sali: I loved the ideas stage of the planning. Unlike a lot of girls I hadn’t really thought about what I would want for my wedding, so we were starting from scratch. It was fun reading all those wedding magazines and writing down ideas, and I loved being able to go to Craig and say ‘what do you think about this?’ and have us both be totally on the same page. It was fun to come up with ways to make the day unique to us.
The Suppliers
Photographer: Aled Garfield Photography
Ceremony Venue: City Hall , Cardiff
Reception Venue: The Gate Arts Centre , Cardiff
Bride’s Dress: Honeypie Boutique
Bride’s Shoes: Modcloth
Bride’s Headpiece: Floral hair comb from Etsy
Bride’s Jewellery: Infinity bracelet from Thomas Sabo
Groom’s Outfit: Suit from Moss Bros, shirt by New & Lingwood from House of Fraser, waistcoat Seven 7 Square from Slaters, shoes from Topman, sunglasses by Rayban
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Audrey’ 1950’s style swing dresses by Lindybop
Bridesmaid’s Accessories: Corsages from Pink Lilac
Cake: Cakes 2 Design
Flowers: Handmade brooch bouquet from eBay
Hair: Alison Ward (Miss Bones Makeup)
Make Up: Alison Ward (Miss Bones Makeup)
Band: Rocket Joe Joe & The Old Time Bangers
Caterers: Mad Hatters Catering Co , The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
Transport: Perfect Day Wedding Cars
The Wedding Album
