Wedding Inspiration - It's All Getting Real

It's all getting pretty real now, me and Hollie went to look at a venue yesterday for our wedding. We're weighing up all our options and have a few more places we'd like to have a gander at but it's pretty exciting stuff. I've been turning to London based Wedding Photographer, Tom Ravenshear for imagery inspiration.

Proper pinable stuff. If you guys have any recommendations for possible wedding venues/photographers then just let me know!

See more of Tom Ravenshear's work here.

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Las Vegas Wedding Preview, at The Neon Museum

 Photography by Caleb John Hill of Branch & Cole at The Neon Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada

We've officially been married for one month, as of the end of July! It's fair to say that the wedding day was one of the most surreal, emotional and happiest days of my life, and for our friends + family to travel across to world to share the experience with us was an incredible feeling.

I've got so much I want to share from our wedding + post-wedding road trip; from dozens of Instax snaps of the party and videos of Elvis giving it his best leg jives in Vegas, to more subdued times exploring natural beauties like Half Dome, and sinking endless IPAs down in Monterey...

I know some of you guys caught my Instagram Stories from Death Valley, Yosemite, San Fran + beyond - your feedback was amazing and we had a blast documenting it, we're just sorry it was ver in a flasg. Thanks so much for all the kind comments!

But for now I'm excited to share a handful of preview photos from our pre-wedding shoot with Caleb John Hill of Branch & Cole, taken at The Neon Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada! We were lucky enough to spent a good few days getting to know our photographers; a 5:30am start down at the museum – totally worth it for that absolutely perfect location – to seeing them dancing with our f+fs in the early hours of our wedding day. We raise a PBR to all the folks involved!

Can't wait to share more with you soon.

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Our Las Vegas Wedding Day!

 Pyjamas by Karen Mabon

Newspaper + stationery all designed by us, printed by The Newspaper Club + Moo

Photography by Branch & Cole

The day of our wedding was everything I hoped for. Even a freak stomach bug, which stopped me from eating and drinking for a few days, couldn't stop it from being the happiest day of my life. Recent events in Las Vegas had made me hesitate on sharing this post, but that's not what the city or its people would want. Vegas is a pretty special place indeed, like no other. 

Our week in this crazy city (which included our pre-wedding shoot at the Neon Museum) was made even more special by being joined by 30 of our closest family and friends (and new friends, I'm looking at you Caleb + Levi!), which made it a truly an unforgettable experience. Just thinking back on our time there with everyone makes me want to relive it over and over again.

I'll keep this post short and sweet, but I must give our thanks to a few people:

Paul Smith for making my suit fit perfectly, Drakes for providing me with the awesome emerald green tie, The Newspaper Club for helping us create the newspaper for our guests, The Wynn hotel, SW restaurant + The Little Chapel of the West for being amazing hosts, Travis Allen aka the best and most classy Elvis tribute act you're ever likely to see. Special thank yous are also reserved for Caleb + Levi of Branch & Cole, whose names will live on as the legendary gents who documented every step of the way - I just hope that we made it a great experience for you too (that buffet, right?!)!

Take a look below at how our wedding day unfolded!

Suit by Paul Smith | Tie c/o Drakes | Shirt by Brooks Brothers | Shoes by Mark McNairy x Sanders | Sunglasses by Moscot | Pocket Square by Reiss

 Dress by Victoria Beckham | Shoes + Bangle by Kate Spade

 Watch by Paul Smith

 Our private dining room at SW restaurant at The Wynn, with a little surprise at the end!

Instax memories, 2am beers and glazed donuts
 
Thank you for visiting, we both hope you enjoyed them! We couldn't be happier.
Mat + Hollie

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Planning Our Las Vegas Wedding

Hollie wears - Universal Sandals c/o Teva

We're just back from three weeks in America; 14 days spent around Florida, and eight days taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Las Vegas. I've got a bunch of good stuff to share from our trip, but the main reason why were we're in Vegas was to plan our wedding! That's right, some of you may know that myself and Hollie have been engaged for a couple of years, and soon we'll be setting a date!

So, come summer 2017 we'll be heading back to Las Vegas, with our friends and family, to get it done. I'm looking forward to sharing updates of our progress, which will hopefully bring a nice personal touch back to the blog. So first off, I need to get serious about sorting out a wedding suit, but where on earth do I start...?

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Reasons to Stay at citizenM Tower Hill, London

citizenM Tower Hill, London

This Summer has mostly included myself + Hollie trying our best to arrange our Las Vegas wedding (true, it's mainly been Hollie doing all the hard work), house viewings and hours spent with our heads in financial spreadsheets.  With a big wedding comes a new suit, and I've been meaning to take a couple of days out to visit some tailors to see if I can find the perfect fitting garb.

A couple of weeks ago we made some space in our diaries and booked ourselves in for a couple of nights in the brand new citizenM Tower Hill Hotel. Heading to London soon? Below is a few reasons why we think it's worth staying at citizenM's newest digs.

Location

As I get down to London quite often these days I generally like to book a hotel that is pretty central, with decent walking routes and travel links. When I first heard a new citizenM hotel was opening at Tower Hill I assumed it was going to be too far out of the way to be worth considering, but as we took 10 steps out of Tower Hill Tube Station, and saw were were already there, I knew I couldn’t have been more wrong.


With rooms with views facing the Tower of London, a tube stop literally underneath the hotel (but you couldn’t hear a sound) and a 15 minute walk to the centre of Spitalfields Market we both agreed it was a hard-to-beat location.


Unique to citizenM Tower Hill is the Cloud M cocktail bar, located is up on the 8th floor. Them views. In fact you get a 180 degree panoramic view of London’s hodgepotch skyline. The drinks got the thumbs up too, with Hollie going for some form of Champagne cocktail and I grabbed a strong IPA from Scottish brewery Harviestoun. In terms of citizenM Tower Hill vs citizenM Bankside, they’ve both very different, with the latter having more restaurants close by, but Tower Hill edges it for me with its travel access and locality to East London.

Loake Shoe Fitting Service | Princes Arcade London

After previously visiting Loake's Northamptonshire factory back in May of last year I've become more aware that my shoe collection is way below par. I'm talking smart shoes here...trainers, now those I can do. For anyone that knows me (and probably you guys too?), they'll probably be able to count the times they've seen me in smart shoes on one hand. I'm all about comfort. Trainers hit the button, and have done for most of my twenties. I reckon I've worn shoes on two occasions in this past year, one of those times being in France on the Courvoisier trip. Good memories!

With a summer wedding coming up soon – as well as my own at some point – and my new appreciation for well made shoes, I knew when the time was right there would be only one brand I'd turn to.

I'd arranged an appointment at Loake's Princes Arcade store in London, just off Regent Street, bright and early one Friday morning. The man taking me through Loake's Shoe Fitting Service was Store Manager, Colin Austin. I was in experienced hands. We talked about my footwear history, the occasions I might wear shoes, which styles I'm most drawn to and my issues with wearing shoes on a regular basis. What was the real reason, had I become lazy and just got used to the feel soft, squidgy soles?

One of the main issues with footwear, Colin informed me, was that the a lot of people do indeed wear the incorrect size shoes. One of the reasons for this is because most brands simply don't offer a multitude of widths, alongside the standard shoe sizing structure. Another fact is the quality of materials used and construction techniques. Loake pride themselves on getting it right the first time, never rushing to produce a new style or keeping up with a passing trends.

Wedding Ideas - DIY Confetti Balloons

DIY Confetti Balloons via Studio DIY. I can't wait to show Hollie this, she's going to love it. Potentially a really cool idea for our wedding I reckon. Plus it looks pretty easy to recreate, so it's something I could actually lend a hand with. Win win. Does anyone remember the Balloon Invitation I made?

Visit Studio DIY for instructions.

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