A Sicilian Love Affair

In her wildest dreams Lady Cressida Ward never thought that love would be on the cards when she and her beautiful daughter Lily Rose left good old Blighty for a new and exciting life in Paris. But in the Paris spring time with such a romantic setting she met her ‘ame soeur’ – soulmate. The wonderful man in this love story is Doctor Ludovic Toro half French and half Sicilian who was very well known for his kindness and compassion in the community. It was a match made in heaven and after a whirlwind romance the two were set to be married. Purely Events organised their first wedding in the UK at the Chelsea and Kensington Registry Office and also assisted the couple with their wedding in Catania in Sicily for over 100 of their close friends and family. The wedding was a 3 day affair with guests arriving from all over the world. The amazing ceremony took place in a stunning church in Trecastagni which was beautifully situated on a hill with spectacular views of Mount Etna.



Cressida wore a stunning Pronovias Famosa dress, a dazzling grecian inspired gown featuring draped sleves and accentuated with a beaded belt and shoulders.

There were 5 page boys a mix of Sicilian and English and of course Cressida’s daughter Lily Rose was a little bridesmaid along with Ellie who was maid of honour, Ellie’s dress was from Coast.



Hair and Make up designer was Louisa Lang one of Cressida’s closest friends who also runs two hair and beauty shops in Somerset www.goldshair.co.uk.
After the ceremony the wedding party moved onto a private villa Casa a Trigona which was only 8 kilometres from Catania and has the most amazing views in the North of Sicily including Mount Etna and the beautiful coasts of Taormina and Calabria


The evening entertainment began with a traditional Sicilian band

The guests sat down to what can only be described as a food extravaganza after an amazing array of canapes on the terrace overlooking the wonderful sights of Sicily the party were then treated to a four course menu which of course included a typical Sicilian Pasta dish which was delicious.
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The Table plan was tied to a little tree – each card had the couple’s own logo which was personally designed for them by www.michellefielder.com


Each guest was treated to a little cup and saucer with the logo again inscribed on each cup.

Before the evenings dancing began the couple cut their cake by the beautiful swimming pool and let chinese lanterns off to signify the light of their ever lasting love for each other.


Fareen and Saadi’s Wedding – Botley’s Mansion in Chertsey

Fareen and Saadi were one of the most beautiful couples we have ever had the pleasure of working with. We were honoured to assist them with the organisation of their wedding – everything from managing their guest list, creating an escort card table, decorating the venue, organising and liaising with all of their suppliers, managing their budget, liaising with the team at Botley’s Mansion, to managing their day ensuring everything ran completely seamlessly and to time. My most memorable moment was helping Fareen into her wedding dress she looked breathtakingly beautiful. There was so much detail, including a sweetie table, a Groovybooth photo booth, a caricaturist, a play room complete with craft table and games for the younger guests. The cake was designed by Maki Cakes www.makiscakes.com whose cakes were beautifully handcrafted. The flowers were designed by the amazingly talented and creative www.lilysflowers.co.uk . The whole day was captured beautifully by Chanelle and Craig from www.segeriusbruceblog.com and Mark Lenik from www.lenikweddingfilms.com . The night ended on a high with a firework display from Firestorm Fireworks. We loved the suppliers they really were a pleasure to work with and are some of the best in the industry. Fareen and Saadi were delighted with our work in the brides own words ……
“There is no doubt that the daunting task of planning a wedding would be impossible without someone like Louise. She has been tremendously organised, helpful, and a constant source of reassurance when things became overwhelming. I am sure that the day itself would never have run nearly as smoothly without her, and we both would have have been far more stressed. Thanks Louise! ”

A Vintage Christening

After organising Claudia and Fintan’s wedding we were delighted to be asked to style their little girl Scarlett’s christening at St Edmunds catholic church in Godalming Surrey. We created the most amazing vintage cake table. The cakes were produced by Jo Burton from Jo Burton Bakes. We styled the house with pretty bunting, cracked glass vases and beautiful roses. The cake table was the talk of the party.








Everyone was completely wowed by the vintage cake table – it always proves to be a real talking point. And surprisingly it was not only the women who loved it but there were lovely comments from lots of the men too!


The cake pops were yummy and looked delightful with pink sprinkles and vintage buttons on top of them.


We served the strawberry’s in vintage style cups and poured the cream from a beautiful teapot – a quirky way to eat them we thought!




Even Scarlett enjoyed a cake pop!!!

The Launch of our Vintage Cake Table

Wendy was leaving the UK to move back to America and wanted to throw a party to say goodbye to all her friends. Caterers were brought in to feed her guests but Wendy asked Purely Events to create a dessert table that would wow everybody. I hope you will agree that the vintage dessert table we set up certainly did that. It looked beautiful and was a real talking point as guests arrived – in fact when Wendy walked in and saw the table for the first time at the party she cried……what a fantastic reaction! Enjoy our pics….

‘Roll Up Roll Up’ it’s Dexter’s big top party

It was a circus extravaganza for Dexters 6th birthday party with Coco the Clown and Sam our amazing circus performer who ran a complete workshop for the kids teaching them not only to tightrope but also the skills of juggling and plate spinning. Dexter loved going to the circus and it only seemed appropriate to give him a party to remember with tasty circus themed food of hot dogs in special red and white stripped plates and ice cream from our themed ice cream parlour. All the guests got to take home a sweetie bag from the stunning circus themed sweetie table. The party ended on a high with all the children being put into teams and taking part in our specially designed games of soak the clown, tin can alley and the clown ball toss game. The party started with Mabel, Dexter’s sister greeting the little guests in a makeshift photobooth which was made out of wood and painted red. Each child was given an admit one ticket which allowed them entrance into the spectacular party.





Once inside the children were greeted with circus style music and they had a chance to see the amazing ice cream parlour table which had an array of wonderful toppings including smarties, marshmallows, popping candy and much more.

The big top boxes gave a great circus feel to the ice cream parlour table.

On the ice cream table Dexter had his own personalised ice cream cups which said Dexter’s Circus. Once the children were given their ice cream in the cups they could put on their own toppings which all made for a really fun experience.



As part of the ice cream parlour table the children were offered a drink which was served in beautiful bottles and a specially designed sign saying ‘Drink Me’ on the front.

As well as the ice cream parlour table we also created a sweetie table where we colour co-ordinated the sweets to match the simple, yet bold red and white stripe of the parties colour theme.





We also wanted some bunting to help create a vintage feel to the party and to have it personalised with printed circus font letters. We were so lucky to have found www.deborahsparks.co.uk she actually created the name Dexter’s circus on the bunting. All the flags were double sided with invisible seams and made from 100% cotton fabric. We can not recommend Deborah enough for her stunning bunting and her speed of delivery, we shall certainly be using her wonderful products again.

Once outside the children were kept captivated by Sam who performed an amazing juggling show. He also spent most of his time giving the kids an opportunity to juggle themselves with coloured handkerchiefs and peacock feathers. The kids even got the chance to walk the tight rope.



After all that fun the party ended with team games and these photos as well as all the photos from the party were captured courtesy of David and his lovely wife Claire Long from www.davidlongphotography.co.uk