The Limes, Solihull
Planning a ‘Second Time’ round wedding with your favourite people – check out Sheryl & Alan’s chilled out, fun wedding at The Limes Solihull!
The Couple
When I met Sheryl & Alan I took to them straight away they were really friendly & up for a giggle. I loved the sound of their intimate, relaxed wedding with an outdoor ceremony at The Limes in Earlswood which is very local to where I live, they wanted their suppliers to all be local.They told me that they met on a Friday night out at a local pub. They are only 19 days apart in age, Alan being the older one out of the two! Sheryl also pointed out that they are both Cancerians, both very alike but can be a bit crabby, home-birds though who love their families loads. They also share a passion for music & going to gigs. The year they got married they were both celebrating their 50th birthdays too!
The Venue
Sheryl says ‘I often used to think when we drove past The Limes in Earlswood that if Alan ever asked me to marry him , this is where I’d want the wedding it to be . Nothing too grand but something a bit special which is what it was! Getting married outside was amazing 🌲’
The Limes is a country Lodge Hotel set in beautiful grounds in near Solihull. It’s an ideal setting for an intimate wedding with a rustic twist. The photo ops at The Limes are brilliant as the grounds are lovely without being to overwhelming & the wooden lodge adds a different, vintage feel for some shots too.
On The Day
I met up with Alan on his wedding day before the ceremony to do a few photographs of him & his son, Henry, who was doing the honour of being his best man. The ceremony was to be outside in the lovely grounds under the wooden lodge, luckily the weather was just right for this time of the year, a fresh bright September day. The wedding was to be really relaxed & informal, the ceremony took place early evening with close family & friends seated happily outside. The lodge was decorated with vintage bunting & white classic roses. After the formalities of the vows Sheryl & Alan looked so happy with huge smiles on their faces. I managed to get some cracking shots them walking back down the aisle while the confetti was being thrown. Then they shared some fizz with their guests which was a great opportunity for me to get some of my favourite images of the day of people mingling & just having fun.
After some formal photographs, which were kept to a minimum so Sheryl & Alan could spend more time with their guests, we wondered off to take some couples portraits. They were great sports just being themselves during these photographs, chatting & interacting while I happily snapped away.
Then to my surprise there was a really cool moment when they brought out Alan’s scooter & some of his other friends had them too, we took a great picture of the couple with their friends on their scooters then Sheryl & Alan had some couple photographs on their scooter too. I loved these images so much, just my cup of tea, as I am a big fan of the 60’s era too!. Sheryl told me that a lot of their friends are in Aces Scooter Club or South Birmingham Scooter Club, they asked their friends to bring the scooters along to add to the vintage theme of the day.
There was a hot buffet of chill con carne, hot jacket potatoes, curry, rice, chips & then mini desserts. The guys made their own tokens so all the guests could get a free drink on them. The meal was followed by the first dance & then partying until the early hours.
The Team
Sheryl & Alan wanted to keep all their suppliers local and they created a lot of the decorations for the tables themselves, so they really put their heart & soul into their day. She said that she used rose petals from a big rose bouquet she had from Alan for her 50th Birthday, she dried them on towels and used them on the tables with lanterns, tea lights & little buckets of popcorn.
Sheryl enthusiastically told me all this helpful info about her suppliers, ‘Flowers I ordered locally using Raspberry moon which sadly are no longer there. I had an idea of the kind of look I was after and initially looked at M and S but the local flower shop were substantially cheaper and the standard was amazing Choose local definitely also you get to talk through everything with them I even gave them some spare material from my sash to have my flowers wrapped with! 💐 My dress I got from TDR in Halesowen as a friend recommended them. I ended up getting a bridesmaid dress in a colour which was more bridal in a tone that suited my olive skin and added some of my own ideas to it.
I had the details from the dress supplier in America and ordered sash material to make a belt and flowers added to it then the dress maker at TDR sowed it all into the dress for me Fantastic service! My shoes were ordered online and I added some clip on flowers from the same company that supplied my dress in the same shade as my dress also had a bag in the same shade too!! Hubbie had his suits come through the post from an online hire company which worked out so much cheaper than the more well known suit shops and were great and the service was brilliant! The cake was made by Caryn at Elite cake design,another local company. We got to taste different flavoured cakes and look at designs in her home before deciding what we wanted and I have to say she certainly wowed us with our beautiful cake Had so many compliments 🎂’
Advice for anyone getting married from Sheryl & Alan
Have a good plan of how much you realistically want to spend. Shop around Google everything It’s your wedding day not anyone else’s so welcome suggestions but inevitably make choices that suit you both ! Try to breath and enjoy the day it hopefully will be the best day of your lives so try not to stress!
Why did you chose me?
Well you were just so accommodating! Everything we asked for, you provided us with fantastic shots and unique photos which when we look through our album it just sums up our day in great detail! It was relaxed fun and beautiful! Can’t thank you enough for providing us with our wedding day memories coming to life every time we open our book!