Frances and Oli's 'Cosy Club' Wedding

My first encounter with Frances and Oli was at Bournemouth Town Hall wedding fair. With a tear in her eye Frances stopped to speak with me at my stand. As she listened to the musician Phil Smith playing ‘All of Me’, the emotions washed over Frances as it was ‘their’ song. 

 With the short conversation we had Frances’ story really touched me and I hoped that I would hear from her again.

When meeting for our initial consultation I learnt that this lovely lady was a truly inspirational bride. Despite being born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome she certainly hadn’t let her condition get in the way of life! 

Over the years this crippling illness had affected her mobility and after having reconstructive surgery multiple times Frances had learnt to walk again. With the support from her now husband Oli, Frances fought everything that was thrown at her which made her even more determined to walk down the aisle on her wedding day.

During the planning stages of their wedding they both knew exactly what they wanted and that was to include as many sentimental memories as possible. With Oli’s passion for rugby and cycling, Frances' love of flamingos and special memories of feeding the swans with her late dad these were all important elements of their décor.

Breaking tradition Frances planned to make her own bouquet as she wanted to be able to keep it forever. Frances felt that every time a flower was picked it died and she didn’t want that on her wedding day, so instead she made this amazing brooch bouquet with Oli and packed it full of everything they loved. It also had pictures hanging from it of their loved ones that couldn’t be with them on their special day...

Remembering how Frances’ dad called her his little mermaid it was only right Frances looked like a real-life mermaid. With her designer 'Ian Stuart' dress altered to a fishtail influence by Caroline from Chameleon Bridal Boutique and her pretty twinkling make-up, Frances shimmered and shone all day.

I couldn't get away with not mentioning five very special people in Frances' life...

Their wedding ceremony took place at Throop Church with the reception at The Cosy Club in Bournemouth. This venue might be a surprise to some of you (it was to me!) as I never would have thought that they hosted weddings.

For months before their wedding day Frances had slowly been building up a collection of decorations, all of which had personal sentiment. With rugby ball and flamingo bunting, light up flamingos and rubber swan lights there was some serious decorating that needed doing on the day. 

Not only that but the tables needed laying with different napkins for each table and the mason jar favours were to be put out for each guest. The children had an array of gifts on their place settings as well as balloons and personalised bunting tied to the backs of their chairs. It was these little personal touches that made Frances and Oli’s wedding special to them.

My team and I arrived early in the morning to make sure both floors were decorated as Frances and Oli had planned. Arriving first thing also meant we could be there to meet with Bev from Magic Mirror Booth who set up her photobooth ready for the evening fun. The image on the opening screen was of Frances’ dad and Bev had personalised the photo frames to match Oli and Frances’ theme of flamingos, rugby balls and mermaids.

Once we had finished the decorating two of my team went home leaving myself and Abbey to co-ordinate the rest of the day. With the welcome drinks on the roof terrace and it being an extremely hot day, we waited at the entrance to greet all the guests and show them the lift up to the 3rd floor.

Poised with his pen Paul from Cartoon Face was waiting upstairs to draw caricatures of Frances and Oli and their guests...

...whilst staff from The Cosy Club served everyone Prosecco and cupcakes.

When it was time to ask the guests to make their way down to the 2nd floor for the wedding breakfast, Abbey and I made a start on laying out the biscuit and sweetie table for the evening nibbles. Frances and Oli had thought of every little detail and with personalised sweetie bags it was the perfect finishing touch.

Due to it being a particularly hot day the ‘Jazzie’ cake inspired by Frances’ and Oli’s favourite sweetie and made by Frances’ mum’s friend, David Olsen, had been stored in a cool place to avoid it melting! 

Now we could bring the cake out ready for everyone to see once they came back upstairs. Such a cute cake topper of Frances as a mermaid and Oli in his rugby kit!

Keeping an eye on my watch I prompted Oli’s best man Pete to announce the start of the speeches. As a surprise to his wife, Oli had organised something really special for Frances. During his speech Oli handed Frances his phone and asked her to...

Once the speeches had finished everyone made their way back upstairs to continue the wedding celebrations. With a quick turnaround Abbey and I took down all the decorations so ‘The Cosy Club’ could turn their middle floor back into a restaurant.

Tidying the decoration boxes ready for when Frances and Oli came back to collect their decorations meant our job was now done. After saying our goodbyes we left everyone to enjoy the rest of their evening whilst we headed home.

If your wedding venue needs decorating then myself and my team are happy to decorate with your own decorations, as well as making sure the rest of your day runs smoothly.

Frances and Oli’s wedding shows that you can be as imaginative as you want when it comes to décor.