Lauren and Jon's PIZZA wedding at Mama J's Italian Kitchen in Looe, Cornwall
Lauren and Jon's PIZZA wedding at Mamma J's Italian Kitchen in Looe, Cornwall
Two words... PIZZA WEDDING!!!!!!!
I think all of my professional dreams have come true! After this experience I love being a wedding photographer in Cornwall more now than I ever did (and that was alot already)
Colour, Love, Faeries, Dancing Unicorns, Chasing Rainbows and PIZZZZZZZZZA! It doesn't get any better than this really does it! What an awesome day this Mama J's Italian Kitchen wedding was! Lauren and Jon, The sweetest and funniest couple! Their own incredibly sweet vows, wedding rings in a pokeball, PIZZZZZZZAAAA! Going to the beach in the rain, kiddies in fancy dress, PIZZZZZZAAAA!, a dancing unicorn and lots of Pizza.
I often wonder how my couples got to this awesome stage in their lives, how they feel when they look back on their wedding day, what their fave moments were and what advice they would give to other engaged couples planning a wedding. So I ask them...
Lauren and Jon, I would love to hear the story of how you met and fell in love?
We met online and the running joke is that the "distance: nearest first" filter worked out great for us! Jon and I were both single parents to toddlers and our first date ended up being in the local soft play crawling around on hands and knees and chilling out in the ball pall with our kids! We spent hours and hours each day on the phone losing ourselves in conversation. Two weeks after meeting for the first time we had bought a car big enough for our combined total of three children, and within eight weeks we had moved in together. It was intense and very quick but we were head over heels.
Tell me all about the proposal?
He had been calling me "wifey" for what feels like forever. Getting married was always on the agenda, it felt natural. Always a 'when' rather than an 'if'. After a very busy 2 years, having had a baby together, I decided to make the plunge and go to uni to get a degree. On my first morning, surrounded by children in the breakfast chaos he gave me a Pokeball and a Pokemon card. In the ball was the most beautiful ring, channel set with a rainbow of stones and the Pokemon card was 'the proposal'. After some snotty happy tears, I spent my first day as a student on a total high.
What wedding venue did you choose and why?
My amazing mum owns a restaurant on the seafront in Looe called "Mama J's Italian Kitchen" *subtle plug*. She offered to host us and it was absolutely the right decision and made the whole day special, a real family occasion.
What was the vibe of your wedding?
We love bright colours, the more cheerful the better. We had no specific theme but it ended up tying in well anyway. Mama J's has strong branding and colourful decor so we decided to enhance and go with the venue. We always knew we wanted a less traditional wedding, no formalities. We decided to legally marry a few days before so we could write our own ceremony conducted by our amazing friend Dane. We also had lots of children there so our remit was "epic kids party with more booze, food and snogging". I think we did it!
What are your favourite memories/moments that you think of when you remember your day?
Jon: The evening party with an amazing band, seeing all our friends have an absolute whale of a time and celebrating hard. All finished off with a spontaneous dance off.
Lauren: My most cherished moments are the more romantic ones. Our first dance was probably the most special. Jon isn't much of a dancer, he hates being the centre of attention so for him to dance with me, and enjoy it was amazing. I was welling up the whole time. My other favourite was the time we spent with Jamie taking photos on the pier and the beach. It was silly, breezy and lots of fun. Time out for the two of us.
What advice would you like to give to couples about planning the day and any advice about the day itself?
Don't be afraid to be yourselves, to create your perfect day not what the wedding industry demands of you. Try not to stress out too much, don't crash diet (love is blind and all that). Be realistic. An amazing day can be whatever budget or scale you want. You are planning a marriage, not just one day.
On the day... a time travel machine. You will want to do it all again over and over! Cherish those little glances and feelings, Jamie will capture them forever anyway though!
What special details did you include in your wedding?
My dress was probably one of the obvious ones. I don't really do traditional! Jon wore Deadpool socks. We both read "Scientific Romance" during our ceremony, and wrote our own vows. I guess the thing that reflected us most was our chilled out camping weekend vibe. Lots of our friends camped with us and spent the morning having lightsaber battles with all of the children.
What resources did you use to find the perfect vendors and suppliers?
We didn't really have a whole load of vendors. Aside from my mum who took care of the venue and catering, I bought the decorations from facebook and Ebay. My flowers were from Sainsburys. My friend and I spent a weekend baking our super yummy cake and stringing lanterns. We used a local band who came highly recommended. The Rock n Roll bride facebook group was a lifesaver too!
I love food and music! Let's talk about food and music?
Now you are speaking our language! Aside from the whole getting married thing, food and music were the most important thing to us. Mama J's has an amazing wood fired pizza oven and team of staff who cooked up a feast of appetizers, pizzas, salads, and pasta. We followed it up with an ice cream buffet and cake.
Music!
My family isn't very big, but we have chosen family too. My godmother's daughter Katie is a talented musician and agreed to play as our guests arrived and she played an acoustic version of "Everlong" as I walked in.
Bache!! A local band. The atmosphere was fabulous, the dancefloor full and it all got pretty sweaty!! Our first dance song was "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story. Our relationship is first and foremost based on a true friendship. We are rather partial to some Disney too.
Your wedding team?
Mama J's. Fab food, fab venue, fab team.
Bache. Music
And if you are reading this then you have stumbled across the best photographer in the wild wild south-west.
Why on earth did you choose Webb Family Photography as your wedding photographer?
Being somewhat untraditional I had already entered Jamie's engagement shoot competition before an official proposal or ring. On my first uni day, the day of the official proposal an email from Jamie landed in my inbox saying we had been chosen. It was meant to be! Having done the shoot and fallen in love with his style and cheeky charm we decided to book. Besides my husband Jon, Jamie was probably my best online impulse buy!!
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
We are so grateful to all our friends and family, and new friends too. They are infinitely supportive and we wouldn't have had our epic day, or life without them!
Jamie's Favourite Moments from Lauren and Jon's PIZZA wedding at Mamma J's Italian Kitchen in Looe, Cornwall
Ever wondered what it would be like to have me as your wedding photographer? Actually, I always wonder too. So I asked Lauren a few questions so that I could find out...
How did you find me and why did you decide to hire me as your wedding photographer?
Your engagement shoot Facebook compition popped up somehow on my feed and I entered for a giggle. We decided to hire you after meeting you and seeing the results of our shoot together. We loved the relaxed natural feel, how you were happy to work with our weirdness!
how would you describe your experience of working with me?
Working with you was perfect from start to finish. Nothing is too much hassle and you are attentive, friendly and professional. Your enthusiasm for photography, and for people, shines in your work and your attitude.
What was awesome?
Everything was awesome!! To the tune of the Lego movie theme...
I'm not sure how to put it better than that. Any concerns we had were shattered. Everything worked. The rain didn't matter. You conjured up rainbows with photographer powers (okay maybe not) and the photos are just beautiful.
Was there anything that was not so awesome or could be improved?
Nope. I literally can't think of one thing.
Would you recommend me to others and what would you say to someone who is thinking of working with me?
I would and I do lots! I would tell them to meet you and let your enthusiasm and spark speak for you, and look through all your amazing galleries. Ours is the best. Obviously.
This feedback gave me all the happy feels! Thank you so much Lauren! x
Let's have tea!
Planning a cool, quirky and non-weddingy wedding day and would love to have the real, beautiful and fun moments of it day captured? Want to spend your day having fun and not having to keep stopping, being overly directed and "saying cheese"? want a photographer that will run off to the beach with you in the rain? I might just be the perfect fit for you. Let's find out? Get in touch and let's meet for an informal chat about your day over a nice cup of tea (my treat)...
Katy and Matt had a super fun and relaxed DIY wedding on Dartmoor. With VW Beetles, speeches that made people ugly cry, a broken bridesmaids dress, a Magician, live music, a homemade bar, Ice cream and pizza vans, a totally dreamy moment where it was raining as the sun came down and we got amazing photos, sticky buns on the dancefloor (yep! haha) and an absolute banger of a party!