Laura & Paul

Here Laura, Paul and their amazing team of suppliers share their top tips, wedding entertainment ideas and contact books with you. Planning sorted!

The Couple

Theatre designer Laura hit it off with barrister and pilot Paul online, and they decided to meet after an entire evening of trying to out-quote each other with phrases from Blackadder, as Laura remembers, “We both gave up and decided we needed to meet!" But she admits to feeling cautious before their first date. “I remember meeting him in a pub far away from my house, in case he was a bit weird! I’d arranged to text my mate Denise every half hour to say I was alright. But I met Paul and my first impression was ‘thank god he looks like his pictures!’ From that night, we didn’t want it to end! It sounds so corny – I’ve never believed in love at first sight; meeting someone and knowing ‘this is it!’, but that’s what happened.”

Two years later, they were engaged, with wedding bells set for 18 months later, on 22 April 2017.

The Proposal

Paul popped the question in romantic Rome, under Bernini’s baroque sculpture, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. This was Paul’s turn for nerves, as Laura explains:

“We both like Bernini, and we’re massive film buffs, so we decided to go to one of the churches that’s in the film Angels and Demons – Santa Maria della Vittoria – to see Bernini’s sculpture. It was our second day in Rome, and Paul wanted to go there first thing. I couldn’t understand why he was rushing; turns out it was because he was so nervous he just wanted to get it done!

“We stood in front of the sculpture in silence, then whispered ‘this is beautiful!’ I reached for an information pamphlet, while he was fiddling for the ring in his pocket. When I turned back, he was there with the ring! I was stunned, but straightaway I said ‘yeah!’ After a minute… we ran out of the church and I did a full freak out! On the last day of the holiday, we had to go back to the church because we didn’t even remember it!

“Paul knows how much I love Rome, so it was really special he proposed there – Boy did well!”

We ran out of the church and I did a full freak out!

The Style

Laura and Paul’s style was uniquely DIY, with loads of lovely handmade details personal to them.

“Everything just had to have some kind of connection with me and Paul and who we are, so it was all a bit mish-mash! I’m not a big romantic, but actually it was romantic because it was all about me and Paul. It wasn’t pandering to what you think a wedding should be – it was literally just us, doing what we wanted to do.”

…it was romantic because it was all about me and Paul.

Immortalizing their unique wedding vibe, was one of the UK’s top wedding photographers, videographer, personal friend and wedding guest, Andrew Billington:

The Setting

Lancashire lass Laura married Paul in a beautiful gothic church, Pleasington Priory, not far from their reception venue, Preston's Samlesbury Hall – a Tudor stately home reputed to be haunted.

Laura explains, “I’ve always grown up with Samlesbury down the road. We were brought up on a story that my uncle had gone to a party there and seen a ghost. He wouldn’t go back because of the ‘white lady’. I love ghosts, and we both love that Tudor era. We didn’t have to do anything to it – we loved the dark wood… the ‘Tudorness’! The reason we picked it was because of what it looked like, and it ticked so many boxes.”

My uncle had seen a ghost… he wouldn’t go back because of the ‘white lady’.

The Details

So, you’re Head of Workshop and Design for Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre. You have 18 months to prepare for your big day. Cue some of the best wedding DIYing we’ve seen!! Enlisting Paul’s skills, their range of personal touches is impressive, with loads of fun old-school details – from the invitations to the flowers, the table conversation-starters and the favours, to the wide array of lawn games. We’ll let Laura tell you all about it…

“There were certain things that we definitely wanted and knew we were happy to pay for – we fell in love with the venue, we definitely wanted a band. But there were a lot of things that I thought ‘I can do that myself’.

“We made all the games, all the signs and all the chalkboards. I made my own bouquet; I just got really natural-looking artificial flowers - it looked grand. I made all the button holes for the boys. I did a lot! It saved on the budget, so we could spend more on the things we really wanted.”

The Invitations

“We’re big bookworms, so all our invites were like retro library cards. I bought an old typewriter off eBay, so I hand-typed all the invitations! With the library cards, guests got a slip inside which I’d stamped, and a ‘book’ to return (the RSVP). I bought Ladybird Book postcards as RSVPs, which were picked individually for the person. My Dad is a car mechanic, so his was How It Works: The Motor Car. The farm one was for a friend who works on a farm and so on... Some people wanted to keep their RSVP card, so I’d put my email address on so they could RSVP that way too!”

The Tables

“All our tables were named after films and TV shows that me and Paul love, and that mean something to us. Each table had a little laminated movie poster on it, on little easels. The top table was Princess Bride. It’s one of mine and Paul’s favourite films since we were children. In the film, the hero Westley says ‘As you wish’ instead of ‘I love you’, and I had this engraved on Paul’s wedding present, which was a watch.

“One table was Monsters Inc. which was one of the first films we went to see together. The other tables were Indiana Jones, The Goonies, Ghostbusters, Blackadder, Battlestar Galactica, and, of course, Star Wars. We are massive Star Wars fans – when we first met, we knew we were in trouble because Paul had a Star Wars phone case and I had a Darth Vader keyring!

“I made four fortune tellers for each table, which had little dares on them related to each table’s film, so when you were waiting for the food you had people doing random things! If you were on the Monsters Inc table, you had to scare someone – ‘Go up behind someone on another table and shout boo!’ and on the Star Wars table, the dares were things like ‘talk like Yoda for a minute’, or ‘walk to the bathroom like C3-PO’. It was great fun!”

The Seating Plan

“Instead of a seating plan, we did a quiz to find your table name. Everyone had to look through the retro wooden library box to find the library card with their name on; each card had three clues they had to solve to find their table, like why we’d picked the table name and a quote from the film. It was a way of getting people chatting, to find out who they were sitting with, and find out little bits about me and Paul.”

The Guest ‘Book’ & Favours

As big game players, Laura and Paul’s unconventional guest book was a set of wooden Jenga blocks on which their guests were asked to write a message to the happy couple.

“When I was away on my hen do, Paul made our favours. We’re mad on chilli, so he made chilli jam, and limoncello marmalade to represent Rome and me. We bought little Kilner jars and I made the ‘Willstead’ (my new surname!) labels for the jars.”

Let The Games Commence!

Blessed with beautiful weather, Laura and Paul’s wedding celebrations were accompanied by loads of fab lawn games, some of which were handmade specially for the occasion by our creative couple.

“I’d made a booklet for the venue, which explained where everything was and what to do, and it had all the rules of the games in it.”

“We had lawn darts. I made big rings for targets and spray painted them yellow, blue and red, and then I bought massive darts, which you literally chucked to scored points.

“I made the quoits and the marble game, and I bought giant inflatable pass the pigs, croquet, and giant Jenga. Paul had set it up in the morning, so by the time we got there it was all ready to go.

“And I made big chalk boards to keep score. We did three of the games as a competition. It got sooo competitive! Trophies were going to be awarded at the speeches and I was getting hounded all day by my guests because wanted tp play on and win. So actually, it never got announced because they were still going at it. I was at the airport, en route to my honeymoon, and I had to announce who had won on Facebook!”

The Dress

“My dress was from Wed2B, and the style was Aphrodite, in ivory. I’d never heard of Wed2B before, but they’re like a wholesaler. You don’t book, but it’s one-on-one service, and it’s just rails of dresses ordered in sizes. You buy off-the-peg, so they’re not expensive, but you’ll probably need to have it altered by someone else – all I needed was the hem taking up. It worked out so much cheaper, than a ‘proper’ wedding dress shop.

“It’s really weird but as soon as you put that dress on, you just go ‘this is it!’ Aphrodite was the second dress I’d put on – it had that vintage look, and it was lovely – and every dress after that, me and my mum kept looking at each other and going, ‘It’s not that one’. You do just know.

“The blue bridesmaids’ dresses were from John Lewis, off-the-peg of course!”

as soon as you put that dress on, you just go ‘this is it!’ … You do just know.

Laura’s unique wedding dress store perfectly describe her beautiful dress:

From The Dress Supplier

Effortlessly romantic, the delicately beaded and elegant Aphrodite gown was Laura’s dream dress. This beautiful soft tulle wedding dress is from The Heidi Hudson Collection which blends lightweight fabrics and elegant silhouettes for the perfect touch of bohemian style.

Relax, have fun and if you need to try on a few more styles, all you have to do is go back to the rails and pick again!

Our exclusive dresses are off-the-peg and limited edition, the best thing of all; brides-to-be get to take home their dream dress the very same day.

Wed2b and Heidi Hudson

Hair & Makeup

“I don’t usually wear makeup, so I trusted Becky and went designed as me!”

Her Dancing Shoes

Very sensibly, Laura got her feet into a fab pair of uniquely iconic Converse, so she could tear up the dancefloor in flair and comfort!

The online company that Laura enlisted to create her beloved footwear were Custom Converse. Owner, Sarah Mahoune explains the options available and why their dedicated dream team are always up to the challenge:

He Wore

“I bought Paul some Star Wars cufflinks as an engagement present, which he wore on the day. They have the phrases ‘I love you,’ ‘I know’ from the film on them (In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia tells Han Solo she loves him. Han replies ‘I know’!), and we had this engraved on our wedding rings too, as well as on the cake.

“The wedding colour was blue, so all the groomsmen wore deep blue suits.

“Paul wanted to stand out against the boys so he wore a light blue tweed herringbone check three-piece suit (style name, Rambo!), with brown shoes for the day. He’d always wanted cowboy boots, so he got some to change into later!”

The Flowers

Laura had plenty of time to make her own bouquet and button holes, because she used some gorgeous natural-looking flowers in blues and whites from The Range. But what was the significance of the flowers she chose?

“I wanted hydrangeas to remind me of my Grandma – she had a hydrangea bush at the front of her house. I was very close to my Grandma and she’s no longer with us, and Paul’s mum is no longer with us, so we had yellow roses to represent his mum, arranged around a board with the pictures of people who aren’t with us anymore.

“I’m a massive Lego fan, so the boys’ buttonholes all had a Lego figure at the bottom. Paul had Superman, Paul’s brother Dan had Batman, and my brother had The Flash – because he’s a cyclist, obviously?! Our dads had Indiana Jones, because Indy was our hero when we were kids, and our dads are our heroes.

“I had a little Princess Leia on my bouquet because she was my hero when I was a kid. My sister-in-law Abi is a massive Harry Potter fan, so she had a Harry Potter. And it’s a bit of an ongoing gag with my other sister-in-law, Michelle, because she constantly lives with Frozen at the minute, because of my niece Bethany, so she had a Frozen figure!” Altogether… Let it gooooo!

The Rings

“We designed our own silver wedding rings, and Rob Punshon jewellery made them for us. They’ve got our fave Leia and Han Star Wars quote engraved inside (‘I love you.’ ‘I know’).”

The Cars

Paul arranged their big day wedding transport through Malvern Wedding Cars, as Laura explains her smooth journey to the church. “The car company had just planned pickup perfectly, so hitting traffic had totally been factored in – I arrived at 5 minutes to, and was walking up the aisle bang on time.

“One of the cars had a really loud horn, and we kept using it as little Bethany (my flower girl) loved it! And we had the roof up and down on the jag, for the full experience; it was great! The drivers were brilliant.”

Katie Winstanley of Malvern Wedding Cars has the details:

The Ceremony

“The ceremony was at Pleasington Priory Catholic church, so we had traditional Catholic hymns, and then a soloist chorister performing Pie Jesu and Ave Maria. I walked up the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon.

“If you’re getting married in church, you have to be very respectful and traditional, which is lovely in itself. I was worried because we had a full mass but there weren’t many Catholic guests, but everyone came out saying they loved it. The priest, Canon Kenny, was absolutely brilliant – he was funny at the right times, and he was sincere. It set us off on a really good note for the rest of the day.”

“I’d sent Paul a card that morning saying ‘I will see you on time,’ so I was relieved to get there early because I would never have lived it down! Suddenly it was like ‘Yay, I’m here – brilliant! Let’s get it done!’ I’m laughing in this picture because Canon Kenny said ‘you are my ultimate bride: you are the first bride I’ve ever had who’s been early!’

“Paul wouldn’t look at me, though. There’s a picture of him at the altar – he looks so nervous! We do tease him now for it, but Paul denies it saying ‘I’d turned around and saw the car pull up and I just wanted to get myself together before I saw you.’ We laugh about it now!

“But it’s really weird when you get to the front and you’re together – it all becomes fine. Because you just think, ‘I’m alright, I’m here with my best mate and it’s fine.’”

when you get to the front and you’re together – it all becomes fine… I’m here with my best mate.

The Reception & Wedding Breakfast

Our newlyweds’ celebrations continued at Samlesbury Hall, with games and merriment galore! Laura describes the afternoon, “We had Pimm’s when we got to Samlesbury, and canapés like mini Yorkshire puddings, and black pudding – proper Northern!

“We were all outside, because the weather was brilliant, so everyone was chucking pigs around and getting very competitive with the marbles.”

Laura and Paul had so many personal touches and in-jokes that made their wedding totally true to them, and their love of music and films was always central. As they entered the Great Hall as “Mr and Mrs Willstead” they were accompanied by Redbone’s Come And Get Your Love chosen because of their love of film, Guardians Of The Galaxy.

“We did the speeches after the breakfast, which was probably a bad thing, because we had a very drunk best man! It was brilliant, but he can’t really remember what he said. My sister-in-law, Abi did a speech too, but I didn’t want to – I just thought ‘I’ve spent 18 months getting this baby on its road and when the day comes, I’m sitting back and enjoying it!’

“One of the funniest moments in the best man’s speech was when he said ‘obviously Paul wasn’t Laura’s first choice...’ to which my reaction was ‘what?!’ He said, ‘Paul does come second to this’, and he pulled out a giant lifesize cutout of Han Solo! He quickly added, ‘and obviously Laura wasn’t Paul’s first choice...’, and then he gave him a little Yoda!”

he pulled out a giant lifesize Han Solo! …I’d so marry him!

The Witch

The Samlesbury witch trials are one of the most famous and significant in 17th century British history. To keep the fun moving between the end of the wedding breakfast and the start of the evening party, Laura and Paul invited a very special historical guest – and defendant – to entertain them, to rapturous LOLs.

“At Samlesbury, you can hire a lady who performs as one of the Samlesbury witches, Janey. She has warts and everything. It’s absolutely one of the funniest things! She asked me for the names of two people I wanted to prank and who could handle it, because she says she’s ‘desperate’ and she ‘wants a fella’…!

“She’s telling the history of the place but she’s doing it in a way that is totally funny. She talks about the white lady ghost who fell in love with a protestant, so it was a whole Romeo and Juliet story. Then she grabs the lads out and she proper goes for them. She had Paul say the actual words ‘who’s the daddy?’ but when she got our friend Liam out it was so funny. He likes to play pranks on all of us, but she got him on all fours… for what probably felt like a good half hour – everyone said it was the best thing! She’s amazing!”

The Cake

“We are geeks! I always wanted a Star Wars themed cake. From a distance, I wanted it to look like a wedding cake, with flowers to match my bouquet, but when you go up close, it’s totally Star Wars – there was a Millennium Falcon, TIE fighters, an X-wing and the Death Star, so it was like a dog fight around the cake! The topper was a silhouette of Han and Leia, when she says ‘I love you’ and he replies ‘I know’.

“Our top layer was limoncello as a little nod to Rome. The middle layer was chocolate fudge, and the bottom layer was coconut and key lime – it was so gorgeous… seriously nice!

“Suzanne from The Frostery is amazing at what she does. Her cakes are phenomenal! She will do exactly what you want, so it’s about working out what’s important to you. She sends you a proper drawing of what she wants to do – I’ve got it framed and on my wall!”

The Evening Party

“In our early days together, because it was all very quick, I had a full-on panic, so Paul sent me the video for the Goo Goo Dolls, Come To Me, and told me ‘I’m the first verse, you’re the second verse’. My friend Danni projected the video onto the walls for our first dance. It was almost like a full circle because the last verse is ‘Today’s the day I’ll make you mine.’ It was perfect for our first dance. I still well up when I hear it!”

Today’s the day I’ll make you mine
So get me to the church on time
Take my hand in this empty room
You’re my girl, and I’m your groom

“Our second dance was Something I Need by OneRepublic. We had to have something that was a bit silly, as I couldn’t deal with all the emotion – it was getting far too soppy! The lyrics made it quite light-hearted. It was still romantic, but it’s not a tearjerker.

“The band were great because they kicked straight in after that, and just kept the energy going – it was brilliant.”

The Band

“We loved The Royale, and we played their song snippets for Paul’s dad. They had quite a few Beatles songs in their set, and he’s a massive fan, so he was like ‘hey, they’re good!’

“We thought it was great that they obviously cater for the generations, and we wanted everyone on the dancefloor. They’ve got new songs and they’ve got the old as well, and they’re really good – that boy can sing!

“They sent us a playlist, and they were all brilliant songs. There was one song that I went running on to, but that dancefloor was never empty; there were people dancing all night, it never dipped. Even in the DJ sections, it was just non-stop. It was brilliant!

“When you look at Andy’s photos, there’s one where we’re all dancing, with neon glasses on, and everyone says ‘that’s got to be when they played Bon Jovi (Livin’ On A Prayer)!’ – everyone remembers that!

“When you’re at the ceremony, you’re very aware of everything because you’re so nervous. When it gets to the party, when you’re on the dancefloor, you are so happy and chilled – you’re almost euphoric and it all becomes a bit bonkers!”

On the dancefloor… you’re almost euphoric…!

What We Learned

Budget and do it your way…

Give yourself enough time to be able to save up, so you can do what you really want. Try not to conform to what other people want you to do: do it for you – like our Star Wars wedding cake!

Be confident, keep smiling and rest assured…

Try not to stress about it because it will be an amazing day, and as long as it’s what you want, it will be fab. If the bouquet or cake doesn’t turn up, people will just think you’d decided not to have flowers or a cake. There were odd little things that didn’t go right for us, but they just become the funny stories, so there’s no point in worrying about it.

Relax and enjoy…!

It goes so quickly, so in the time that you’re there, just really enjoy it and do not fret about anything. It’ll be a brilliant day no matter what, because it’s you and your best mate getting married, with everyone you love around you.

The Magic Makers

Music, atmosphere and vibes of love and fun Alive Network, UK-wide | Classical singers – the ceremony | Band, The Royale – the evening party | Photographer & Videographer Andrew Billington Photography, UK-wide | Bride’s attire Dress: Wed2B, UK-wide | Shoes: Customised Wedding Converse, UK-wide | Accessories: Debenhams, UK-wide | Groom’s attire Three-piece suit: Marc Darcy, UK-wide | Bridesmaids John Lewis, UK-wide | Hair and Beauty Rebecca’s Hair and Beauty | Wedding Cars Malvern Wedding Cars, North West of England | Flowers and table décor Handmade by the bride and groom, with help from The Range | Wedding cake design The Frostery, Lancashire and UK-wide | Stationery Handmade by the bride, with help from eBay, Waterstones, The Range and Poundland | Venue Samlesbury Hall, Preston, Lancashire | Wedding Rings Robert Punshon Jewellery, Staffordshire