Planning Your Perfect Rochester Wedding (Part Two!)

Ok, so it’s not a handy cut out and keep guide – but there’s nothing to stop you bookmarking it! What to wear and how to get there are featured in this piece!

Once the date and venue have been sorted, most brides’ thoughts will turn to their trousseau. Choosing a dress will be both the biggest delight and the biggest headache! Do you go for simple and elegant or Bo Peep with bling?

I didn’t see much in the way of Bo Peep style in Kiss The Bride. Instead, the exquisite simplicity of ‘Sophia’, with its slight 50s feel, contrasts nicely with the sumptuous gorgeousness that is Mercedes, beautiful in traditional white or ivory. Or will you be tempted by the scarlet baked Alaska effect of Montana? If you did pop along to the wedding fair at Cooling Castle, you’ll have seen them there. If you didn’t, they’re at the Rochester Holiday Inn for their wedding fair this Sunday, the 11th, between 11am and 4pm.

At the other end of the high street, family run business Bridal Wardrobe aim to offer a top to toe service not just for the bride, but for the bride’s mum and groom too. Bridesmaids have a choice of 66 colours and fittings are conducted exclusively for one bridal party at a time. From the fairytale to informal in taffeta, organza or satin and lace, they’ll style to suit a bride’s individuality.  

Even wedding rings can leave you with a difficult choice: platinum, gold, white gold, plain, patterned - you’d be surprised how many different types you can find, but Northgate Jewellers offer all the above, plus a bespoke service within their Crystal Pearls range, very popular with brides and their maids. Handmade on the premises, the collection includes earrings, pendants, bracelets and necklaces, from as little as £8!

And it isn’t just in traditional jewellers you may find what you’re looking for – Kaizen Antiques has a large range of jewellery that you will be unlikely to find anywhere else.

Slinders is probably the best known florist in Rochester, with its prime location opposite the castle and their free, personal service to fully appreciate your requirements.

But just to prove to the people of Rochester that there are shops not on the high street, make your way out of Rochester on the Maidstone road to where there’s a little parade of shops with FREE parking. Here you can find Sweetpea and Olive, previously Drury’s, a lovely gift and floristry shop, offering the best service in Rochester, with evening deliveries. And their website is gorgeous!!  

Accomplished photographer Gary Smith  offers a bespoke service of inspiring and evocative reportage and contemporary wedding photos that will capture the mood of your special day perfectly, while the Cliffe Woods based Heartfelt Photography provide a four and a half hour service for £995, which includes as password protected on line gallery for six months. Or, bind your memories in a luxurious leather reportage album containing 70 photos, for £1350.

Sugarpink Cakes is the appetising name for this wedding confectioner; Steve at Icing On The Cake  is also a dab hand with the piping bag, recommended by local bakery, Morleys. And Divine Cakes does what it says on the tin! Incredibly designed to suit individual tastes, gone are the days of just a round fruitcake encased in white icing as your wedding day indulgence!

Traditions wedding cars supply exactly that – a pair of traditional Rolls Royce Silver Shadow for bride and maids. Aarion Luxury Wedding Cars offer traditional, modern and a vintage 1933 Rockne Studebacker, for something a little bit different!  

With chauffeurs in period costume too, an award winning Odds Car Hire Vintage Rolls can’t fail to add glamour to your day – especially when you might be parking your bum on the same seats as owner Ivan’s more famous clientele – including Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Ringo Starr and Stephen Fry!

Stationery is easily found on the internet, but here in Rochester we’ve access to something much more dynamic! Liquidblue, based at The Joiners Shop in the Historic Dockyard, offer a package of personalised engraved acrylic products, including invitations, place names and a table plan that can’t fail to impress your guests!

Are you getting married soon or were you married recently? How about recommending the local services that made your day memorable and special, we’d love to know about them.