There’s something about a black-and-white wedding. So crisp, so glam, so timeless.
Kat, a buyer for JD Sports, and Austin, who owns a car hire company and taxi firm in North Manchester, worked with amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Fiesta Sol to make the wedding of their dreams a reality while planning from overseas, and we think they totally nailed it.
The couple’s big day is a total fantasy in crisp whites and sharp blacks amidst a backdrop of lush greens – and don’t even get us started on that exquisitely elegant chuppah. We also love that the bride made the slightly unconventional choice to dress her bridesmaids in white gowns with black sashes tied in bows – such a timeless, classic look.
Despite a few mishaps, from the comical (the groom’s pants split!) to the not-so-comical (a hora mishap left the bride with whiplash – but don’t worry, it all ended well), this day really was just about perfect. We’re in love with Pedro Bellido’s incredible, authentic photos, and he sure knows how to capture an action shot.
Over to the bride…
How we met
Kat, the bride: We met in a bar in Manchester through a mutual friend on my husband’s birthday – he still comments how I was the best birthday present!
A Memorable Venue
Finca La Concepcion was the only venue we went to visit, we thought it really suited what we were looking for when we looked at photos of the venue online. Then, once we went to see it, even in the drive up to the venue along the entrance I started to cry as I just knew it was the one! It made me very emotional. It was better in real life even than the photos, every wedding guest commented on the venue, the setting was just perfect.
A Fab Planner
We wanted to make sure it was fun for all of our guests and a day to remember. We used the amazing Fiesta Sol as our wedding planners which really helped to make our day memorable, and the violinist certainly set a fun tone for the traditional Jewish dancing which continued into the night, our guests are still talking about it now almost two years on.
Hair + Makeup
I knew that getting married at the end of July in Marbella would mean I would definitely be hot – I have long hair so knew I’d have to have an updo just to keep me cool, especially with such a heavy and long sleeved dress.
I wanted something which wasn’t too formal so opted for a low back bun with a jewelled piece to add a bit of glamour, with two curls to frame my face at the front to keep it romantic.
For my makeup I opted for subtle toned down glam with a nude lip and a tiny gold glitter liner, which you could only see when you got close, to make my eyes sparkle.
Dress
The dress itself was exactly what I had been looking for, I wanted something which covered my arms so it would be suitable for the chuppah but also wanted a sexy element to it so the fitted style and low back really did everything I wanted. I opted for a long train and heavy lace to give a Spanish feel to it.
Veil
My veil was probably my favourite part of my outfit, it was a 3m long cathedral veil with a lace edging which really brought the whole look together.
Shoes with Surprise Soles
I wore Sophia Webster with butterfly wings, white and silver with the most amazing detail on the sole of the shoe – ‘Wifey For Lifey.’ I am still obsessed with them now. They were a surprise gift before my wedding from my husband.
The handsome groom
A custom made tux from Hugo Boss with the softest fabric, also quite lightweight so he wouldn’t be too hot. He wore a stunning pair of Louboutin, black patent and suede with a chunky sole and red bottoms for a flash of colour.
Bridesmaids in White
I had four older bridesmaids – my best friends! I put them in white fitted floor length dresses with thick black sashes around the waist tied in bows at the back. I really wanted our wedding to look timeless and worried that by choosing a colour I would look back in years to come and regret it. I think the bridesmaids looked very classy, especially next to the ushers in their black tuxedos.
A Floral Chuppah
I wanted something really elegant, all white and overflowing with flowers to the front, it looked perfect in all of our wedding photos but beware when picking your chuppah flowers as we had a huge bee flying around us mid ceremony and my husband and I almost burst into giggles pretending to ignore it during the ceremony.
Our music choice
For our first dance we are huge fans of The Lumineers song ‘Ho Hey’ but thought it wasn’t easy to dance to for our first dance so we went with something a little more traditional, Etta James ‘At Last’ sung by our incredible band Cool Fire. As soon as the band had finished singing our first dance song they surprised us with ‘Ho Hey’ which really made it a moment we will remember forever.
White Flowers
All white – roses, peonies, orchids and hydrangeas. My florist was amazing and managed to execute exactly what I was looking for down to every detail.
Photographer
We used Pedro Bellido who was absolutely incredible, he captured some amazing moments, nothing too formal or staged, just mainly everyone enjoying themselves. We opted to save and not get a videographer, however we do regret this as we would love to watch the whole day back again.
Entertainment
An amazing Spanish couple who sang and played guitar for our pre and post ceremony receptions really helped to set the tone for the day. Then we had a violinist who played me down the aisle and then got the whole crowed going for the Jewish dancing.
We had Cool Fire band for the party later and they played our first dance, they were amazing and had everyone on their feet dancing the night away. They are such nice people too who surprised us with our favourite song straight after our first dance – for me that was one of the best moments of the entire wedding!
Hora
Two of the funniest/most shocking moments of our wedding day were when we were enjoying ourselves (a little bit too much!!) during the traditional dancing…
Whilst jumping over around 6 of his friends lying on the floor my husband managed to split his pants down the middle!! As the fabric was so lightweight they just tore into two (hands over eyes emoji!). Luckily, one of my good friends is head of design for Christopher Kane and has years of experience with a needle and thread so managed to sew my husbands pants back together in the loos!
My shocking moment was when i decided to jump in the sheet which the ushers had just been throwing my husband up and down in… unfortunately they didn’t take into account the weight difference between us so they threw me so high up in the air i managed to somersault and land down into the sheet on my neck!
The entire crowd gasped and the music stopped for a second but thank gd i was OK! I was very lucky to not have been seriously injured and came away with whiplash needing 6 months worth of physio and acupuncture. Our amazing photographer managed to catch an amazing photo of me upside down in the air which we all still look at and laugh today – lucky escape!
Honeymoon in Bali
We spent 3 weeks travelling around Bali, we planned it online ourselves and stayed in four different hotels but if you were to visit we would definitely recommend staying at the Ayana Hotel – the service was incredible and if you can afford it definitely stay in one of their private villas with a pool, we had our own butler and it really made it something we will remember and cherish forever.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
The best advice we received which I always pass on to friends is that make sure you and your partner take 5 minutes to stand away from everyone and look around at everyone enjoying themselves and have a catch up as a newly married couple. We made sure to do this and it was lovely, otherwise there was that much going on and that many people we may not have spoken to one another at any other point!
Kat & Austin’s little white book
Photography – Pedro Bellido
Wedding planner – Fiesta Sol {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Finca La Concepcion
Bride’s shoes – Sophia Webster
Groom’s attire – Hugo Boss and Louboutin
Band – Cool Fire
Honeymoon – at Ayana Hotel
What an amazing wedding I am the bridegrooms(Austin’s) mum and couldn’t have asked for a nicer place. Staff were fantastic. Violinist was amazing. The band were unbelievable, and the photographer captured everything Austin and Kathryn wanted.