SIMPLY

Chelsea and Mark tied the knot at The Warren Estate with elegant touches of blue throughout

Images courtesy of Pure Image Photography

From an early age, Chelsea and Mark had known each other; their mum’s worked together and were good friends. The mum’s changed jobs and time passed but fate brought the families back together. In 2015, Mark’s mum, Michelle, was getting married to Daniel (her now husband). Chelsea retells of the time they went wedding dress shopping, “We were chatting about how Mark had just moved back to hers following a breakup, both mums were suddenly getting excited of what colour hats they would wear ‘when’ me and Mark got married! All this, bearing in mind we hadn’t seen each other in a couple of years!” Soon enough Chelsea ‘matched’ with Mark on Tinder and messaged saying, ‘Fancy seeing you on here’. It’s safe to say the rest is history, love blossomed and on Chelsea’s birthday in 2017, the day they got the keys to their new house, Mark got down on one knee. Chelsea explains, “I was in floods of tears. I just wanted to get married there and then!” The excited pair had to wait a little while though as they welcomed their daughter Dolcie into the world and then again due to the Covid-19 restrictions. However, it’s safe to say the day was worth the wait.

Chelsea Ella French and Mark French finally said their vows on 18th September 2022 at The Warren Estate.

Here, Chelsea tells us more about their day...

I am addicted to the colour blue. Even all my jewellery has sapphires!

I had a mood board to style our day. The theme was ‘Simply Beautiful’.

I’ll never forget my first consultation with Silvia at Delicate Daisy explaining my vision to her was incredible. She instantly went to select flowers together perfectly.

My brother luckily is very creative, and I like to think I am too. We made a lot, the signs, tableplan, crates and more! We also made mine and my daughters veil which was lovely.

I wanted my bouquet to be artificial so I can keep it forever. It was exactly what I had envisioned.

The cake was simple and the flavour was Cherry Bakewell (Mark’s favourite) and white and milk chocolate chip (my favourite).

Everything had blue hydrangeas, blue huckleberries, cream roses and eucalyptus. I believe everything just looked amazing. I feel like a little kid at Christmas when I think of the wedding décor.

We searched everywhere for the right colour blue I wanted Mark to wear. Stuart from Essex Waistcoats had made a few waistcoats for my brother so I thought I’d go down to his warehouse. I walked in and straight away I saw the colour! The weight lifted off my shoulders.

After the ceremony we had ‘Dan the piano man’ to play during the reception drinks.

My dress was from ‘Essence of Australia’ I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it although there were touches that I wanted to add!

My parents surprised us with the releasing of doves which was incredible, I cried when I first saw them, we literally had no idea, it was always my dream to do it on our wedding day.

From 8 o’clock in the morning, my brother ran around like a headless chicken making sure everything was perfect and I couldn’t thank him enough.

Make sure you both have a bit of time together to take it all in and compose yourselves.

The day was just amazing, such a surreal feeling. Everyone’s there to celebrate you both. All the people you love and enjoy being with in one place at the same time. When does that ever happen?

I’d love to relive as much of the day as possible! It was only the next day I asked Mark if we could renew our vows on our first wedding anniversary, but he wasn’t keen! I’m hoping I can get him to agree on a party at least.

Try and allocate bridesmaids jobs; for example, to keep hold of your bag, make sure you eat something, take you away for make-up touch-ups or your final mirror check before evening guests arrive.

CHELSEA’S TOP TIPS!

• Don’t sweat the small stuff!

The Warren staff went above and beyond to make sure our day was everything we wanted it to be.

• Make sure you have clearly communicated with photographer on what pictures you want and even where and how.

• Don’t worry about anyone else as long as you’re both happy.

• Finally, just invite who you want there, it’s your day!

CHELSEA AND MARK’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK Venue, www.warrengolfclub.co.uk | Photography, www.pureimagephotography.co.uk | Suits, www.essexwaistcoats.co.uk

Flower arch, http://bellissimaflowers.co.uk | Flowers, https://delicatedaisy.co.uk | Alterations, www.facebook.com/IvanasAlterations Hair, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063910423099 | |LED letters, www.kmshire.com | Flower girl outfit, www.instagram.com/thefairygodmotherfd | Dove release, https://truedoveways.com | Pianist, www.facebook.com/ThePianoManEssex

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