Rook Lane Wedding Fair – Tea ‘n’ Cake

Tea ‘n’ Cake offers a boutique tea service run by Tamsin Westbrook, and based in Frome.  With a passion for afternoon tea and English China, Tea ‘n’ Cake offers unique bespoke tea parties and vintage gifts.  Tamsin also hires out vintage tableware to enhance any English Country Wedding.  From vintage dinner plates to cups and saucers, you can hire an entire spread for use at your reception or to decorate your venue.

Tamsin can also provide you with a Bride and Groom picnic hamper, which is perfect to keep you going from the wedding venue to the reception! It contains: Veuve Clicquot champagne, canapes and handmade chocolates. All in a beautiful wicker basket, complete with the vintage china to serve it on and in.

Tea ’n’Cake will have free reign over the café at Rook Lane Chapel on 24^th March.  You’ll be able to relax with a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake served in some exquisite china.

Rook Lane Wedding Fair – Sarah Godsill

Sarah Godsill is a Guest Artist, based in Frome, with an extraordinary talent that allows her to capture every aspect of your wedding, from your vows to the reception, through illustration.

Sarah graduated with a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic in 1989.  Since then, she has worked on private commissions, including portraits, garden paintings, album covers and book illustrations, greeting cards designs and most recently, Events Illustration.

Sarah’s extensive experience has provided her with the unique ability to capture real life through illustration, quite unlike any other:

“Its beautifully English Summertime feel really makes the drawings and people come alive on the page with her vibrant use of colour and ability to capture personalities. I can just imagine how amazing it must be to receive a portfolio of the sketches after your wedding or event.

It’s an illustrated story book of your day and one of the most gorgeous ideas and talents I have seen in a while.” – Alexandra King, ‘Make Me A Dress’.

The A3 pages are presented loose leaf in a handmade portfolio and may include drawings of: The Bride at Home, Last minute preparations, The Venue, The Ceremony, The Reception, The Wedding Breakfast, Speeches, The Cake and The First Dance, providing a unique record of your big day.  Her drawings are the perfect alternative to traditional wedding photography and videos; due to the added personal touch Sarah Godsill is the ideal wedding present!

“We can pick out every one of our guests you’ve drawn so beautifully, and can even tell which precise moments you’ve captured…

It’s such a special and unique memento of the day, and we will absolutely treasure the pictures forever.  Thank you.

Personally, I shall be showing them to all my friends who are getting married in the future…I can’t see why anyone would get married without you there to draw the day!” – Caroline Purser, London.

Sarah will be in situ on 24^th March, recording the day with her drawings.  Feel free to stop her for a chat about what she can offer you on your big day.

  

Rook Lane Wedding Fair – Parade Vintage

Parade Vintage sources unique and original vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories from the 1920s to the 1980s.  Owner Clare Nolan, based in Bath, can provide you with a range of vintage dresses to choose from for your wedding day.

Parade Vintage will be with us at the Rook Lane Wedding Fair on April 24th, showcasing a range of vintage bridal wear.

Rook Lane Wedding Fair – Lolita Noir

Lauren Glover aka Lolita Noir, has been designing exquisite, vintage wedding hair styles for over 13 years.  Lauren began hairdressing in 1998, and quickly developed a passion for dramatic up-dos and wedding hair.  Her talents were immediately recognised as she was a finalist in the Y2K Essex Hair Dressing Academy competition in her first year of training.

Since qualifying in 1999, Lauren has become a wedding hair specialist, based in Frome, creating the hair for over 200 weddings.  She also has collective works of three Wedding Fair displays and five fashion shows; on top of this she has fashioned hair for countless photo shoots, including many wedding and catalogue photo shoots with Kevin Mitchell.

Lauren’s experience and passion for hair allows her to create beautifully classic designs that suit your wedding theme, your dress and accessories.  She can also do your wedding makeup to perfectly compliment your look for the day.  Lauren took part in Rook Lane’s  Frome Wedding photo shoot in 2012, and created a beautiful up-do for our bride.

A frequent collaborator with Deadly is the Female, Lauren’s styling features in many of the shop’s photographic shoots and publicity.  Lauren has appeared at Rook Lane Retro, offering pin-up hairstyles for all occasions as well as style and make-up tips.  We’re really excited to be able to showcase Lolita Noir’s wedding portfolio on March 24^th, and we hope you’ll come along for some vintage style tips and ideas.

Rook Lane Wedding Fair – Events Horizon

Events Horizon is a catering and events company with a difference; they can provide you with anything from a plate of cupcakes to an entire music festival for your wedding – and everything in between.  They have a very simple but clear ethos: local, ethical, excellent value, top quality and … fun!

Run by Keren and Francis Hayden from Frome, they cook all of the food themselves and are more than happy to cater for any dietary requirements.  This means you can design your wedding so that it is exactly how you imagine it to be, and within your budget.  Events Horizon allows you to concentrate on yourselves on your wedding day, whilst they handle every aspect of the food and beyond, should you so wish.

Keren currently provides beautiful bespoke meals to accompany events at the Merlin Theatre in Frome,  the Salthouse in Nunney and many others elsewhere, and recently took part in Rook Lane Retro’s Christmas Spectacular – where her Christmas hampers proved so popular she had to restock the stall twice!

It’s safe to say that Events Horizon create spectacular events and delicious morsels, perfectly in line with whatever event you’re planning.  They are a friendly, personable bunch, who will add sparkle and individuality to any wedding reception.

How to create the perfect wedding….without leaving Frome

Frome is the  best place to get married, and here are several reasons why…

We brought a group of local wedding suppliers together for a photoshoot at Rook Lane Chapel, to show what a beautiful wedding can be created…without even  having to leave Frome!

All the suppliers featured here can be found in Frome, most within a mile of Rook Lane Chapel. Our model bride and groom are Ali and Jason, who are getting married here for real this year!  Bridesmaids were kindly provided and supervised by family members.

Chair covers and decor by Wedding & Event Prop Hire

Flowers by Lesley’s Flower shop

Hair and make-up by Lolita Noir

Bridalwear, bridesmaids outfits and groom’s outfit by Frome Brides & Belles

Photography by Taking Pictures

Rook Lane Loves….Living the Cream

Let’s face it, it’s always a challenge timing the order of the day so that your guests don’t get hungry. At Rook Lane we generally suggest canapés in the garden after the ceremony, but recently we’ve come across a couple of interesting alternatives….

Last week, Michelle and Owain married at the chapel, and instead of traditional canapés and champagne, they opted for fresh strawberries and cream accompanied by home-made lemonade. On one of the rare hot days of the summer it fitted perfectly with their elegant wedding.

A new friend of ours thinks along the same lines of traditional English confectionery. Living the Cream is the brainchild of Jonathan Fletcher – who could be described as a three-wheeled ice-cream man.  The Living the Cream set-up comprises a traditional Victorian style tricycle, fitted with refrigeration unit and parasol, from which wedding guests are served a mind-blowing range of delicious ice creams from Lovingtons in Castle Cary.  With flavours like Mint Humbug, Turkish Delight and West Country Rhubarb & Custard  nestling in amongst old favourites, this is no average ice-cream experience.

As an alternative to post-ceremony canapés, or instead of a dessert course after the wedding breakfast, these ice-creams go down a storm with anyone who wants something a bit different on their day.

Other paraphernalia available from this eccentric and delicious company are a sea-side peep through board and vintage gramophone, which add to the atmosphere of any vintage themed event.

Jonathan is also in the process of reviving Daisy, a Victorian Baker’s Bike which will soon be available to hire as a wedding prop.

Jonathan says   “Daisy would be the perfect guest at your wedding. You could place a basket of flowers on the front, your wedding cake, a chiller filled with Lemonade, Ginger Beer or Champagne. How about a photograph of the groom peddling and the bride sat on the rack?”

We’d highly recommend Living the Cream and Daisy for your wedding.  We believe that no Somerset wedding should be complete without a large portion of dairy ice-cream and quaint eccentricity….

All you need is Love…

Let’s be honest, weddings can be pricey affairs. They can also be somewhat stressful in the planning stages.  The BBC3 programme Don’t Tell the Bride features anxious grooms, armed with a fair bit of free money but hardly any time, facing the challenge of planning a wedding without their bride to be.

The overarching theme of Don’t Tell the Bride, although very entertaining, seems to be that of the stress and uncertainty in planning a wedding, rather than the happiness and joy.

Luckily, at Rook Lane Chapel this spring we have experienced only happiness and joy.  In April, Kym and Will said their vows in front of 200 friends and family.  The chapel was decorated simply and beautifully with cherry blossom from Kym’s mum’s garden, and posies of wild flowers set out in jam jars.

The couple borrowed bunting from friends and neighbours, which they hung up in the chapel, along with photographs of themselves and their children.

After saying their vows in a hand-fasting ceremony, there were poems read by family members and songs including Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds and Dolly Parton’s Love is Like a Butterfly.  Guests sang and danced in the chapel, before going out into the spring sunshine to toast the happy couple.

As the younger children in the wedding party handed out the bunches of wild
flowers to departing guests, someone remarked: “I don’t know why people get so stressed about wedding planning, this is all you need!”

Wood Wedding

Bath-based photographer, Chris Bailey, photographed Paula and Nigel’s wedding at Rook Lane Chapel in August:

He also made a film:

Check out Chris Bailey’s website and Facebook page:

Official website

Facebook

A blushing bride….!

Rachel, the beautiful blushing bride, with her colourful bouquet – outside the Rook Lane Chapel:

Rachel and Neil Applegate married at the Chapel in April 2011. I love this sepia image:

Rachel said: I’m always thinking of our happy day whenever I pass Rook Lane Chapel!  

It was a lovely venue and we had such a fantastic day – everyone commented on the nice relaxed atmosphere.” 

We wish them a long and happy life together….!

xx