Stylish Bride in Rime Arodaky & The Strongest Bride Tribe Ever!
Written by Melissa Woods
Photography by Will Patrick Wedding Photography
When a bride and her tribe look this strong!
I knew within seconds that I had to feature this stylish real wedding shot by our latest Book Of Love directory member, Will Patrick.
The fact that the bride, Kelly wore this cool AF gown by my all time favourite, Rime Arodaky is just the kick-off! Cast your eyes over her awesome #bridetribe in their palm tree print wrap dresses….
… I can’t cope!
‘‘ I was obsessed with my dress on the day. I tried so many on and but only this one made me feel really truly comfortable and special. ‘‘
That’s what it’s all about but more on the outfits later. Let’s rewind and find out a bit more about this super-cool couple.
Kelly and Joe met in a self-professed ‘very millennial way’…. via DM on Twitter. t’s important to point out that it was Joe who messaged Kelly btw…
‘‘ I’d been hoping to run into you somewhere but it doesn’t seem to be happening! Would you like to go for a drink or something sometime?? ’’
The couple had grown up in the same town in the Midlands but had never met despite having tons of mutual friends.
‘‘ I guess it had to wait until the right time, that’s serendipity right?! ‘‘
Joe proposed at the top of Ben Nevis, 5 years after their initial Twitter chat. Both keen walkers and Harry Potter fans, Kelly and Joe wanted to see the amazing viaduct that the Hogwarts Express goes over!
‘‘ Before we went up Joe had over heard the lady in the gift shop say the weather warnings were really bad and if you get to snow and can’t see the path come back down…we did have snow and we couldn’t see the path but Joe thought the engagement would be ruined if we didn’t reach the top so we ploughed on. It was terrifying!! ‘‘
On the way back down, people being too near us or me singing Moulin Rouge at the top of my voice ruined three opportunities Joe had to propose so, on the little wooden bridge over a waterfall not far from the bottom of the mountain he finally got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! ‘‘
Starting completely blind, Kelly had no idea I had no idea what she wanted her wedding to be like.
‘‘ I’d kind of thought about but wasn’t the sort of girl who had a Pinterst board or anything, we couldn’t even decide which country to do it in for ages. ‘‘
One thing was for sure, they wanted something cool and unique. Kelly and Joe eventually decided on the awesome Sunbeam Studios in Kensal Green, North West London.
‘‘ When we finally visited our actual venue we fell in love, it’s round the corner from where we bought our first home and it was a bit of a blank canvas that felt grand and kind of wedding like but so different at the same time! It’s a Victorian car showroom that’s now a photography studio…Stormzy shot his first album cover there which I was BUZZING about. ‘‘
‘‘ Once we’d seen the venue our palm theme came organically. We love palms and a good spikey succulent (we’d be kicked out of North West London if we didn’t, ha), I’ always wanted a palm bouquet and the white blank canvas of the venue with the greenery of palms just felt very cool and suddenly made sense, the theme just kind of rolled from there then and palms took over! ‘‘
In true un-wedding style, Kelly and Joe knew they wanted to do something different but still wanted the day to feel like a wedding. They bucked a lot of the traditions and tried to focus on the bits that really meant something to them.
‘‘ We were both adamant we wanted to do our own vows, even though we’re super emotional and knew we’d cry it felt important that we tried to express ourselves and how we felt about entering into our marriage to each other in our own words.‘‘
Turning it upside down in more ways than one, the couple decided to have a couple of speeches before dinner and the rest afterwards, breaking things up a bit. They also decided to give their guests the opportunity to mingle after dinner by having dessert canapes back in the ceremony room with the teas and coffees, perfect for anyone with ants in their pants!
Not wanting to pick and choose, Joe decided not to bother groomsmen as such. Kelly on the other hand found a role for everyone!!
‘‘ Joe has loads of mates he didn’t want to choose and I really wanted all my friends who weren’t bridesmaids to have a role in the day so I created Usherettes! I had my step sister and 5 friends wearing any green outfit they liked and had corsages made for them all and then they did the groomsmen type jobs of handing out order of services, confetti etc. They were much better than lads would have been if I do say so myself! ‘‘
But perhaps the biggest non tradition of all… and one of the most contentious in this day and age was what they decided to do about the name change.
‘‘ I have known for a long time I didn’t want to change my name to a man’s name when I married but I always presumed I’d double barrel. Turns out Joe hates double barrelled surnames, so that was out! He agreed with me that he felt it didn’t make sense anymore that a woman should change her name and he wanted our marriage to start off on a totally equal footing the same as I did. ‘‘
After lots of consideration, Joe came back with the idea to portmanteau the 2 surnames together, Davies and Ashford…
… Ladies and Gentleman, I introduce you to Mr & Mrs Dash! Who else loves this?!
‘‘ This totally defines the broad minded, forward thinking, supportive man I’ve married, I was so proud of him for this decision. ‘‘
So are we Kelly, so are we!!!
When asked if they would do anything differently, the only thing Kelly could come up with was this:
‘‘ Tell my Dad to do his blazer up as he walked me down the aisle, it does my head in when I look at the pictures! ‘‘
Advice-wise, Kelly says:
‘‘ DON’T GO ON PINTEREST!
I’ve been to so many weddings in the past few years and so many of them all look the same because everyone looks at the same social media content. Think for yourself first and then social media can help facilitate that! ‘‘
Hands up if you think Kelly is a cool bride not just a cool bride but a wise bride too!!! 🙌🏻
Check out the full gallery for what looks like an incredible day and a true un-wedding!
Bride’s Dress: Rime Arodaky
Bride’s Shoes: Michael Kors
Photography: Will Patrick Wedding Photography
Venue: Sunbeam Studios
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: bespoke
Hair & Makeup: ByJodie
Groom’s Attire: Next, Asos, Moss Bros & Mrs Bowtie
Flowers: Flowers by Alina
For anyone wondering about the amazing photo-booth… it was handmade a their sister and brother in-law!!! Who doesn’t love a good ol’ DIY wedding feature?!
I’d love to know what you think about this AWESOME couple, their AWESOME bridesmaids and AWESOME wedding venue?! Feel free to comment below and share with any future brides who are looking for inspiration!
