Rustic Romance

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

The First Signs Of Spring.

December 21st, 2011

I love those (The first signs of Spring I mean) and now we are in the deepest darkest depths of winter I thought it I would give you all a little ray of sunshine in the form of George and Mike’s April wedding.

One of the signs I appreciate the most is the promise of bright and colourful blooms, daffodils, crocuses, tulips….. all of which George used for W-day. Officially one of my favourite bouquets of 2011.

Oh and clearly now everyone needs a swing. And a cake with ladybirds on it.

All of the pretty images are courtesy of Rosie Parsons.

An Incredible Experience

The dress was from “Cocoa Couture” in Cheltenham, designed and made by Cara Wagstaffe. My brother’s girlfriend made me an appointment way before I was even thinking of getting the dress. We had a long engagement as I had a one year job in Canada so when Lottie said she had booked me in for an appointment just over a year before the wedding I thought she was mad. I had no intention of getting The Dress when I went in. Cara and her assistant listened to what style of wedding we were having and my thoughts on the dress (there weren’t many, except that I wanted straps!). They pulled out one with an empire line for me to try on. I would never have picked it out from the hanger but it was stunning on – very ‘Jane Austen’, which I liked.

The dress I tried on was a prototype, and over the next year Cara made one to my exact measurements. I even got to pick the fabric. It was incredible.

A Sense Of History

I really wanted an antique lace veil – when else will I ever get a chance to wear a veil again! I’m drawn to antiques for their sense of history. When I first tried the dress on Cara at “Cocoa Couture” leant me an antique cathedral length lace veil to get the full effect. In fact, the dress with the veil was what completely convinced me this was the dress. Cara hired us the veil for the wedding day.

I cannot walk in heels. I wanted to be able to dance all night. After much searching on the internet I ordered some salsa dancing shoes with a Cuban (small) heel in ivory satin. Dancing shoes are great as they are designed to be comfortable, you can often choose which heel height you want, and you can order most in ivory satin. They do take a while to arrive though so order well in advance! On the day they were really comfortable and pretty.

A Spring Palette

We didn’t want everything to be too “matched” but our loose colour scheme was royal blue and yellow. The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Dessy and they call the colour “electric blue”.

We hired the groomsmens’ attire from the same place as the groom, another small local business: “Nicholas Smith formal suit hire” in Worcester. They were the only suit hire place we could find where you could actually try the suit on in the size you would have on the day. The guys wore dark grey morning suits and ivory waistcoats. They wore shirts with a normal collar and normal ties as Mike is not a fan of the crevatte or the wing collar. It looked really smart. The ties and handkerchiefs were ordered in the same fabric as the bridesmaids from Dessy.

My Favourite Thing

Sophie Chamings based in Cheltenham, did the makeup for myself, my bridesmaids and my mum. None of us wear much make up so we wanted a natural look, but Sophie was also very good at persuading us to go strong enough for it to look good in the photographs. Unfortunately I forgot all of my touch-up makeup so I am pretty shiny in the evening photos after the Ceilidh!

Shen Hassan at “Beautiful Wedding Hair” did my hair, my bridesmaids’ hair and my mum’s. Shen, by coincidence, lives just down the road from us, which was lovely. Wherever possible we tried to use local vendors, the local community is really important to us both.

I was the only one with an updo. I went for a side chignon. I didn’t want to look too severe or have my hair scraped back, and I wanted a vintagy look. My hair was probably my favourite thing about the look –it really felt special.

The First Signs

Our florist was another local -Jo Hiorns of “Simply Flowers at Aston Cross”. Jo is absolutely lovely and we were so pleased with the flowers. We didn’t want anything formal, we emphasized that we’d like the flowers to look almost unarranged. We wanted seasonal, meadowy flowers. We went for deep blues and yellows as I wanted the wedding to be bright and yellow and blue are opposites on the colour wheel.

I’m not sure what the names of all the flowers Jo used were, but she definitely used Irises! I loved the flowers…

Capturing The Light

Our photographer was Rosie Parsons . As soon as I saw the images on Rosie’s website I was convinced she was the one for us. We wanted relaxed documentary footage. I wanted someone who could capture the personality of us, our guests, and our wedding without lots of formal shots. You can also see the quality of Rosie’s images in terms of the crisp focus and great quality of light she captures. When we met her, she was so incredibly nice that we had no doubt she was our photographer.

Lady Cake

I am intolerant to wheat, so cake was an issue. My mum is a keen baker and she had always said she would make me a wheat free cake for the wedding. She did a fantastic job and the cake was delicious! We had traditional fruit cake. Mum found a local cake maker who would decorate the cake for us. The cake was mum’s domain, she designed it in collaboration with Lucy James at “Cracking Cakes”. Lucy executed and interpreted mum’s ideas brilliantly.

They incorporated the celtic pattern I had used on the invitations, and added some ladybirds –this was a surprise and related to an anecdote my dad told in his speech.

A Whole Lot Of Talent

We had a Ceilidh performed by “Between The Acts”, followed by a disco DJ’d by a friend.

When we first started thinking about our wedding, we both knew we wanted live music. We really didn’t want a covers band though, so we started thinking about more folky music, which ultimately led us to a Ceilidh. We got engaged at a folk festival so it seemed perfect. We went to see “Between the Acts” perform at another wedding and they were absolutely amazing – not just a ceilidh band but a collection of amazingly talented musicians. It went really well and got everyone dancing and mingling as you have to swap partners and dance with everyone. So many people have commented on how brilliant it was. However, 2 hours was enough (it was exhausting) and I knew my friends would go mad if there was no cheesy disco to end the night –hence the disco to finish things up. Between the Ceilidh and the disco we also had fireworks, a gift from Mike’s parents. I love fireworks so that was really special and gave people a chance to cool off after the Ceilidh.

Reclaimed Pretty

We decorated the marquee with fantastic bunting from Zoe at “Beautiful Bunting”. We were going for a country, festive feel and that was perfect. The best thing about the decor was the table-centres. My brother Tom has a company called “Sticks and Stone” which uses reclaimed wood or ‘problem wood’ from a tree surgeon to make wedding hire and bespoke furniture such as wine racks and candle holders. He made us the most beautiful candle holders from a reclaimed oak beam. It was so special to have something made by my brother as part of the decor.

Useful Advice

When you get engaged, before the madness starts, decide on your priorities –what will make the biggest difference to your enjoyment of the day? Our first priority was not to let the wedding be a source of stress. Our second was to have as many of our friends there as possible. Our third was to have some form of live music. Every time we found something seemed to be leading to too much stress or complexity we asked ourselves if it was really that important.

One thing that made our wedding special was the help we got from family and friends: my brother’s tablecentres, and MCing, a pigroast from Mike’s uncle, the cake made by my mum, the bunting erected by a host of friends and siblings, the jamjars(!) borrowed from villagers, and the use of the lawn of the ex-vicarage following the ceremony, to name just a few of the ways people helped. We also used local small businesses as much as possible and this made it feel like a real community event. We met so many nice people that way too.

Photographer – Rosie Parsons

Brides Gown – Cocoa Couture

Cake – Cracking Cakes

Maids Dresses – Dessy

Blooms – Simply Flowers at Aston Cross

Ceilidh – Between The Acts

Table Centres – Sticks and Stone

Those table name cards? so easy breezy yet effective. Simply print of your chosen name in a fancy font, print off and glue to a card covered in pretty wallpaper…. lovely.

Anyone else having a yellow and blue colour scheme or getting married in the Spring?

Do tell.

Big Only A Few Months Away Love

Charlotte xxx

16 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags:

D.I.Y Backgarden Glam.

December 19th, 2011

Rock My Wedding readers Helen and James have had a wedding they can be proud of. Not Just becasue they pretty much did it all themselves.. but because it is so clear to see that everyone they invited had the time of their lives.

They married on September 24th 2011. The ceremony was at St James the Less Church in Dorney and the reception was in a field at the back of Helen’s parents house. The eye candy today is the fine work of Assassynation.

The Biggest In The Shop.

My dress was Benjamin Roberts 2058a, I knew I wanted a lace dress but thought I’d have a smaller dress due to my reception being in a field however I ended up falling in love with the biggest dress in the shop! That’s probably why the bottom is all black and torn now!! I ended up buying it from another bride off Ebay who had fallen pregnant so wouldn’t be able to wear it for their day.

I also wore a lace shrug which I bought very last minute from The Wedding Warehouse in Ascot which went perfectly with the dress.

As Pretty As A Princess.

I didn’t think I’d have a veil but the girl I bought my dress off gave me a veil with it as it matched the dress and I’m so glad I did as I felt like a princess! I wore the Tiffany necklace James bought us for our 1 year anniversary and a bracelet of his Mum’s which was my something borrowed!

Dancing Shoes.

I don’t do heels and as my reception was also in a field I wasn’t about to start! I ended up buying embellished ivory pumps from Barrats of all places! They were so comfy and perfect for dancing the night away.

Keeping It Simple.

I decided early on I would do my own hair and make-up not only to keep costs down so we could spend on more important things (alcohol and food!) I knew I wanted to keep it simple as our day was quite relaxed and simple. My bridesmaids and flower girl were on hand to make sure I looked my best.

Sprigs And Plumes.

Our colours were sage and lavender so I decided I wanted a bridal bouquet purely of lavender sprigs and I wanted the bridesmaids to have plumes of babies breath as it looks so romantic and simple. The buttonholes were sprigs of lavender and babies breath and looked so natural like everyone had just picked them fresh out of the ground on the way in! The bouquets and buttonholes were made by Simply Flowers a mobile florist.

The pew ends were just plumes of babies breath tied with sage ribbon that I made myself the day before. My mum cut some fresh lavender sprigs from her garden and we added one to each plume. There were fresh hops hanging from the balcony in the church which added to the relaxed feel to our ceremony.

I made the table centres myself, I didn’t want massive fussy floral displays as that’s not our style so I filled some cream planters from Ikea with some purple bedding plants.

Searching For Sage.

From the word go I wanted my Bridesmaids in sage green, finding suitable dresses in this colour ended up being a nightmare! Coast did a full length and short length sage dress but they were just out of my price range. I very nearly gave up on my colour choice when I found the perfect dresses in Linea at House of Fraser. The little shrugs were in Wallis. The flower girl dress was from Next and her headband from Monsoon, I wanted her dress to be similar to my own and it was perfect with the tulle and flower belt.

The Grooms choice.

I left the Groomsmen completely up to James. He wanted to be reasonably casual, vintage style and decided early on not to have a jacket. He found the prefect grey waistcoat and matching trousers in Topman which he bought for himself and his two best men. The best men wore them with a pale blue shirt and lavender skinny tie. The page boys wore similar waistcoat and trousers from Next.

Relaxed and Unfussy.

James wore the same waistcoat and trousers as the best men but with a lavender coloured cravat. James finished his outfit off with wrist accessories and a pocket watch. I loved how casual yet smart he looked, the entire outfit was so his style, especially the rolled sleeves and wrist accessories! I loved how unfussy our outfits were as we’re such relaxed people anyway.

Beautifully Captured.

Our photographer was Assassynation and I found her through another bride’s wedding report, the style was exactly what were were looking for, relaxed, fun and incredibly arty. We knew she’d be able to perfectly capture the relaxed feel of our day and of us as a couple. I also knew she had a great eye for details and as I was making a lot of things myself I knew she’s capture them beautifully!

We had massively high hopes for the photos as sassy is super talented and we were not disappointed. Her photos are beautifully shot and really show what a beautiful day it was emotionally as well as aesthetically.

Unfussy And Delicious.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times that we are a relaxed couple! Well for that reason we wanted a cake that was unfussy and delicious but still a little different. We decided on a 3 tier Victoria Sponge as it ticked every box and it fitted perfectly in with the style of our day. It was also absolutely divine! It was made by a local cake maker Ann from Cakes Unlimited.

Talented Friends.

All our entertainment was provided for us by our friends. We had one of our friends play guitar and sing in the church whilst we signed the register, two more of our friends played guitar and sang songs for us to dance too including our impromptu ‘First Dance’ We were adamant we wouldn’t do a first dance, it just wasn’t our thing to slow dance to love songs however we ended up having a first dance purely as we were the first ones up on the dance floor when our friends started playing! It was the White Stripes’ song Hotel Yorba!. Then we had a friend who DJ’s finish the night off and get everyone up on the dance floor.

Pins For Favours.

Our favours were so personal to us. James battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year which is a cancer of the lymphatic system. We decided to buy their charity pins for each of our guests to help fund research into the disease. I made up little cards to go with them all explaining the charity, what they do and a bit of information about the disease such as it’s the most common cancer in under 30’s.

For the children we did goody bags with colouring books, bubbles and curly straws to keep them happy!

A Mix Of Influence.

Our décor was a mix of country garden party with a little Indian theme running through as we love India and got engaged in Udaipur in Rajasthan and honeymooned in Kerala and Mumbai. The country garden theme was in the ivy running up the marquee, the bunting, haystack seating areas and the location right in the middle of a farmer’s field! The Indian theme was in the table names and signs and the table plan.

I wanted hessian runners on the tables to keep the look rustic and casual and they looked perfect with the ivory linen and white washed chiavari chairs. I bought the hessian from ebay and my mother in law kindly hemmed the hessian for me for all the tables.

We Did It All!

Our wedding was so special to us because we did it all ourselves. As we were holding the reception in a farmer’s field at my parents house we had to sort out every aspect of the day from food and alcohol to toilets! The run up to the wedding was stressful trying to organise delivery and installation of all aspects and at times we wished we’d just gone to a hotel but on the day when it all came together and watching our guests having fun and relaxing on our hale bales we knew we’d made the right decision.

My parents have had their house since the 60’s so I grew up there and it was such a lovely feeling to have my reception there with all my and my families past happy memories mixing in with the ones being made and had right there.

Delegate.

My advice to other brides particularly those who are doing it all themselves is delegate on the run up to the wedding so you’re not doing it all yourself and then on the day if anything happens or comes up assign someone else to deal with it and then forget about it. The toilets stopped working halfway through the meal and were starting to block up, there is no way we were going to be sorting out blocked toilets on our wedding day so we asked my dad to sort it out and then we got back to socialising with our friends and enjoying the evening and the toilets were sorted out in 10 minutes.

Dress Benjamin Roberts

Lace shrug The Wedding Warehouse

Necklace Tiffany

Shoes Barrats

Maids Linea at House of Fraser

Photography Assassynation

Cake Cakes Unlimited

It. Just. Looks. Like. FUN.

Clearly they didn’t spend a million pounds on it, we have here a dress bought off of ebay, high street fashion galore and a wedding reception based at home (ok a ruddy great field near home). But it looks a million dollars.

I’m not sure what the exchange rate is at the moment but I reckon that’s pretty good going.

Adam.

15 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags:

The Woodland Flower Fairy.

December 12th, 2011

So, you know on “Don’t Tell The Bride” when the narrator makes out that every single one of the hapless grooms ideas are complete Pony?

Admittedly a lot of the time they are… but I saw one a few weeks back (The one where they ended up with Posh and Becks thrones… and the groom swore blind that they weren’t tacky) and at one point the groom decided that the venue was going to be a farm. Well, suffice to say, he got absolutely slated by the narrator for that decision, but I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one sat at home (shouting at the telly) who was of the opinion that a wedding on a farm sounds really really cool.

Our couple today certainly agree with me, after a church wedding at St. Matthews in Rowde the party kicked off at Chris’s parent’s farm. Chris, by the way, is dashing the groom. Christiane is the beautiful bride, and Rachel Hudson was the lady with the lens. Kate Hassen was second shooter.

A Fairytale Come True.

A split-second moment in the Disney movie ‘Fantasia’; Two little girls watched wide-eyed as a beautiful centaur (half woman, half horse) looked back over her shoulder and kicked back her long, elegant, rose-strewn tail with one elegant hoof- and the dream was born. Looking for a dress that was a cross between a centaur’s rose-strewn tail and a flower fairy’s gown (another childhood dream) was no mean feat, but my sister knew exactly what I wanted, and with the wonderful help of Anna, at Anna Mcdonald Bridal Gallery in Thame (a beautiful, quiet haven from the stress of choosing ‘the dress’) and her dressmaker Sue, we created it!
Anna helped me to select my gorgeous Paloma Blanca gown, and after ordering it (with extra tail length of course) Sue set to work on adding the 40 metres of tulle to give it that dreamy, creamy, fairylike look. My sister and I selected beautiful fake flowers and I arranged them into clusters for Sue to attach at the hips and strewn down the train. I loved my dress to bits, and kicked it back all day long!

The Woodland Fairy.

I opted for a garland crown of flowers for my hair, rather than a veil or tiara, as it felt a softer look, more likely to fit in with my woodland fairy theme, and my dreamy dress.

Shoes For A Pound.

Chris and I had been traveling for a year together when he proposed to me in Vietnam. By the time we got to India in march, my thoughts were all of wedding plans! We managed to scoop my bridal shoes (black Indian slippers with pale gold embroidery) for about a pound! Bargain! I was so nervous about tripping up walking down the aisle though, that at the last moment in the church porch I kicked them off and walked down the aisle barefoot to be married. No-one could tell under all that tulle anyway! I slipped them back on again as we left the church.

Go And See The HeadMaster.

We had our hair done at headmasters in Bath. Natascha, my hairdresser, was very patient with my many changes of mind, and we finally decided that with the flower garland, it would be best to have simple, big, loose curls for me (which she did beautifully) and half-up curls for my beautiful bridesmaids.

Dark Eyes.

A good friend, Jamie-lee o’Brien and her assistant Nicci Tanswell came to do our make up. I didn’t want my whole face to look too heavily made up, but I did want to have dark eye make-up as a contrast to that big white dress and all the pale flowers in my hair. Jamie-lee was wonderful, she and Nicci did a fantastic job of everyone’s make up and I felt beautiful!

Down On The Farm.

I am a florist, so for me the flowers were one of the most important parts of the day. I had a berries and blush woodland theme, and I wanted the inside of the marquee to feel green and leafy. We gathered blackberries, hops, elderflower berries, branches of late summer apples and all kinds of branches of leafy green foliage from all around the hedgerows on the farm, and I bought hundreds of the creamiest of pale pink and white heavily scented White o’hara roses, bombastic spray roses and quicksand roses, along with white ranunculus, stocks and scabious. To create a bit of height I arranged tall bottles with branches of apples, blackberries and hawthorn from around the farm along the tables amongst overflowing bowls of roses and fruit, and Chris and the boys even dragged a few small trees into the marquee to give it that woodlandy feel. In the Church I decorated the porch with loads of farm foliage and some clusters of roses, with long branches of berries and fruit overhanging. Inside the church I placed two large urns overflowing with flowers, berries and fruit at the top of the aisle, and tied flowery sheafs on the pew ends.

I had two good florist friends to help me who were both fabulous in their dedication to my vision for the day!

Grey Champagne.

Chris had a best man and five ushers. All the groomsmen wore their own grey suits, and my two nephews who were pageboys had little grey three piece suits. All of them wore matching champagne coloured ties. Chris had his grey three-piece suit made in Vietnam, in the town where he had proposed to me. It was so smart, and fitted him so perfectly! He looked very handsome waiting for me at the church!

Someone Who Cares.

Our photographer, Rachel Hudson, did an absolutely fantastic job! She made us feel so relaxed, nothing felt posed or unnatural. She managed to capture every moment of our day and yet we didn’t feel that we spent hours standing around for pictures – after a few romantic shots around the farm we were back with our family and guests to join in the fun!

The gorgeous album that she sent to us is full of so many happy memories and the beautiful oak-carved presentation box for the CD with all our images was a fantastic detail! The whole experience made us feel that she cared just as much about our photos as we did.

Three Tiered Treat.

We bought our cake from marks and spencer, three-tiered with the top made of chocolate, the middle of sponge and the bottom of fruit cake. We decorated it ourselves with apple branches, blackberries and flowers from around the farm.

Jazz Masters.

My younger brother is good friends with a jazz band, and we knew straight away that we wanted to use them! Their playing was so absolutely fantastic that several times I looked over to see our guests simply standing and staring in fascination! Everyone was up and dancing and the party didn’t even slow down until almost 3am!

Let There By Love.

Our very first dance was ‘let there be love’ by Nat King Cole, a song that we both loved for its simplicity, and also because we often listen to nat king cole in the evenings.

Keep The Doctor Away.

We didn’t really have any specific wedding favours that we wanted to do, but we placed apples from the farm on each of the place settings to tie into our theme- the apples were small but tasted very sweet!

Bringing The Outside In.

We wanted a late-summer, woodlandy, fruity feel, and we wanted our guests to feel as though they were outdoors, so we kept the sides up on the marquee for as long as possible and used haybales as outdoor seating areas. We strung lanterns in the trees around the marquee, and in one area of the garden we hung silk Vietnamese lanterns that we had bought on our travels. Under these lanterns we had a borrowed thai canoe, from which the caterers served our ‘round-the-world’ starters of thai street food, south American empanadas and Indian malai koftas.

We had long tables in the marquee and we bought very long lengths of a biscuity-coloured fabric to cover them so that we got those uninterrupted sweeping lengths of table. We sourced some old wooden planks to place down the centre of the tables, onto which were placed the bowls of roses, the tall bottles of berries and branches, glittering golden tealights, the wine, the champagne and big bowls of late summer fruits for dessert with jugs of cream.

We hung small glass globes containing tealights at different heights from the roof of the marquee so that it glittered and glowed over the trees, the flowers, the glasses and the guests all evening.

Boutique Anna Mcdonald Bridal Gallery

Dress Paloma Blanca

Hair headmasters in Bath

Photographer Rachel Hudson and Kate Hassen

Settling down to read though Christiane’s report, having already feasted my eyes upon the stunning W-day eye candy, it was no surprise to learn that Christiane was a florist. Firstly, it answered one big question that I’d had… Isn’t that the bride on her hands and knees trimming a load of foliage – shouldn’t she be getting ready or something?

Secondly, it explained why this celebration was so floral. There’s flowers in hair, flowers on dresses, flowers on the cakes. If not flowers then foliage, fruit and farm stuff. Ok, I’m not sure what “farm stuff” is but I was desperate to complete my alliterative witterings.

Chris and Christiane certainly succeeded in bringing the outside in for their woodland themed farm wedding. And I think you’ll agree that Christiane’s dream of becoming a flower fairy also came true – in spectacular fashion!

Adam.

38 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags:

The Apple Of My Eye.

December 8th, 2011

Hi Guys, I’m not saying anything today. Nothing at all. I’m just going to hand you straight over to Anna…

Ohh the beautiful polka dot pages of RMW, where would I have been in the 12 months leading up to our wedding if I hadn’t found you!

So, I have been a slight addict of Rock My Wedding, and did a small lap of our sitting room when I got an email from our wonderful wedding photographers Craig and Kate asking about submitting our wedding!

Before I recount the day, I thought it might be helpful to give you a slight introduction to Jonny and I and our relationship.

Jonny and I met at university, but not really by the conventional route of stumbling into each other on a night out, our paths only really crossed thanks to the TA. We had both signed up to train in the Army alongside our degree, me with a thought of fit men in uniform and earning some cash, and Jonny with a foresight that he would, one day, join the army. There are few people who have seen me after 3 days of minimal washing, after a 4 mile run and with cam-cream dripping off my face…but Jonny has, and he still wanted to marry me, definitely a keeper!

So our relationship grew across two universities and heavy work loads, me studying Architecture at Nottingham, and Jonny Computing & Management at Loughborough. After university we managed to steal a year together before Jonny packed himself off to Sandhurst, and I went back to do another 2 years at university. Tough times – involving minimal sleep for both of us, and many tears (my end) over the phone. I’d like to think that we pulled each other through that year, but the truth of the matter is that, my now husband, is the bravest and strongest man I have ever come across, and it was he who single headedly managed to reassure me and calm my nerves, whilst being up against one of the toughest training systems that there is (if you’ve been watching the TV programme you will understand what I mean!).

Jonny Commissioned August 2010, and booked for the two of us to head over to Cyprus for a week to relax with each other in the sun before my return to university and Jonny being sent off for more training. Whilst we where out there he proposed. My father was serving out in Cyprus when he was killed in a parachuting accident when I was just 3 months old, and Cyprus for me has always been a place of mystery… where my life changed so drastically, and where I lost a part of myself and my history. It was there, standing at my father’s memorial on the RAF base that Jonny asked for his permission to marry me. Later that day after cooking me dinner, and we watched the sun set and the stars pop into the sky Jonny got down on one knee with a ring that he had designed himself – three diamonds (three is my lucky number), two of them green (yup, green is my favourite colour)! Those who know me would tell you that it is vary rare that I am speechless, but after Jonny had asked me three times I finally managed to squeak out a ‘yes’.

And there starts our wedding story…

Happy Days.

Jonny and I got married in Ufford, Suffolk on the 3rd of September 2011. The wedding was held at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, and then had the reception at the old rectory paddock in a beautiful marquee. Jonny and I live in the West Country, but I simply couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere different to Ufford, for me it held so many memories of growing up. When my father passed away, my mother moved back from Cyprus with me as a new born, and my sister of 2 years to live with my grandparents until we got on our feet. I have spent many happy days running around Ufford, and I think deep down I always knew I would get married there. This did however build in a slight logistical element to the wedding, but it was worth it, being able to stay with my grandparents the night before, and walk to the church in the afternoon.

The Price Of A Car.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel trying on dresses. In the first shop I almost got snow blindness with all the choice and I must have tried on nearly every style of dress they had with very little luck. It seemed so strange putting on dresses that cost more than my first car, and to know that it would only be worn once, but I took my mum with me who was the most amazing support and egged me on. I had always been sure that I would wear something very Grecian, but as soon as I put on my first lacey number in the second shop, I knew it would be lace all the way. Jonny would be wearing his military uniform, and there was something lovely about trying to complement a uniform that hasn’t changed in hundreds of years with something that look equally classic! I found my dress in Nottingham by chance. I was running a little late, and I almost didn’t try the last dress on…it really didn’t look at all impressive on the hanger, but as soon as my housemate had persuaded me into it, everything fell in place. My dress was called Gatsby by Maggie Sottero, the material was almost champagne in colour and the lace was detailed with gems and pearls, with the most amazing train. As soon as I was in it I couldn’t stop smiling and I knew Jonny would love it too.

Ebay Bargains.

I hadn’t given a moment thought to veils or accessories, even though I love all things pretty. My veil was half price as it was such an unusual colour to match my dress; it had a scalloped edge with teardrop pearls all the way round. For the evening I wanted to take off the veil, and so I bought a vintage leaf broach from ebay, and then wired hair combs onto it and my sister put it in for me that evening. My earrings where also from ebay, they where vintage costume jewellery and only cost me £2, but really helped make my outfit and helped to bring green through as the colour scheme. My grandma also lent me her pearl bracelet which went with the vintage look of my outfit. It was so special to be able to wear something with family ties… my ‘something borrowed’.

Teeny Tootsies.

Like most ladies I am shoe obsessed, my friends always tease me for my tiny feet, but then grumble that I get most of my shoes in the sale as not many people have size 3/4. My wedding shoes where no exception. With 75% off in Kurt Gieger, green with a slight platform (to give me some height) they had my name all over them. I really wanted shoes that I could wear again, and these have already been out on the town several times!

Neither Up Nor Down.

I had my hair and make up done by the very talented Charlotte Elizabeth. She was so lovely to have around on the morning of the wedding and completely put me at ease. I tried to keep my make-up fairly soft as I don’t normally wear too much, and Charlotte did it perfectly. I normally wear my hair down, and so I decided I’d look too different to wear it up on the wedding day, so I had it half-up half-down so that my veil could fix in, and to keep my hair out of my eyes.

Road Side Blooms.

Flowers where left to the last minute…I knew we couldn’t afford a florist within our budget, and I loved the idea of having relaxed arrangements, less fussy and more homely. We ordered the flowers for the wedding the week before from the local farm shop, who also pulled in a favour from a local florist who ordered us in some white roses! The flowers for the church where put together by my mum and aunties the day before and the flowers for the marquee where done by bridesmaids/cousin/sister the night before. Mum and I also made my bouquet, it took us about 5 minutes and I was so proud of it. I have always loved succulents in bride’s bouquets, and so bought a pot of 3 succulents for £4 and had a go at wiring one in myself, and the small daisy flowers I found growing wild at the side of the road! The buttonholes came from our garden, we picked green lavender for devotion, olive for peace and rosemary for remembrance…they smelt amazing!

Flip Flops And Flower Girls.

As I’m so petite my lovely bridesmaids said they where happy to wear flats/small heals so that I didn’t look too tiny! In fact they all ended up wearing flip/flops which looked amazing. We ordered their dresses online from In Wedding Dress, which allowed them to pick the exact style that they wanted and then we picked the colour together to go with the green colour scheme. They all looked stunning, and I cannot thank them enough for everything they did to help… without these girls so much would have been left undone. Darcey, our lovely little flower girl wore a dress from Monsoon, with the same green as the bridesmaid for a big bow at the back. Jonny’s boys hired suits from Moss Bros as they could all go to their local stores to get fitted up! Again we tied the green through the cravats, but went for a grey suit as to not clash with Jonny’s uniform which was a very dark Blue. The Guard of Honour all wore their ‘Blues’ (this varies with regiments). They all looked so dashing…there were many female admires for the boys in uniform!

A Man In Uniform.

My gorgeous husband, what to say, he took my breath away as I saw him when I walked into the church. Jonny wore his blues with his sword, and he looked so smart. I walked into the church to Jonny’s favourite piece of music, I didn’t want to down the isle to the usual music, and actually I only decided the music as we drove over to Suffolk the Wednesday before the wedding. The Earth Prelude by Ludovico Einaudi came on Jonny’s iPod and as he hummed along saying ‘I love this music’ my mind was made up. It was really important that the music was personal to us, and this really set the scene. The organist also played the music from Pride and Prejudice (my favourite film) whilst the church filled up and when we signed the register.

Safe Hands.

It’s a very daunting prospect when you set out to pick your wedding photographers. After all, when the best day of your life is over it is the photos that you look back over to make you smile. I found Craig and Kate online after looking for a photographer in Suffolk. As soon as I read about them I knew there where right for us, their bubbliness and passion for photography bursts out of them. This was confirmed when we met up for our pre-wed photo day in Dorset, I have never met two people who can put you at ease so quickly. Jonny hates having his picture taken and I’m equally awkward, but after we got the photos back we knew we where in very safe hands for the wedding. I am still amazed looking back at the photos at all the details that they picked up over the day. I really hope to stay in touch with Kate and Craig as it was a real joy to have them at our wedding, they were there more as friends than photographers.

Super Mum.

My mother is my hero. Jonny’s Nanny and my mum baked the cake, Mum iced it, and then I made the tiny bunting and the wooden cake topper. The cake had a large chocolate base, a lemon middle tier and a sponge top. My mum then also made 130 of each of the mini puddings that we had for desert, where were beyond amazing! I had also made some chocolate tiffin the day before what we stacked into towers around the cake. I stamped some cheap brown bags with our A&J stamps, so that if people where too full they could take some home for a mid-night snack or a hang-over cure!

The Spirit Of Jazz.

Our music was supplied by the Jazz Dynamos. They played instrumental music whilst the drinks reception was served and then they put on a killer set in the evening. The dance floor was filled, and remained rammed the whole night, they really knew how to get people in the mood, and the atmosphere was perfect. I cannot recommend them highly enough!

Kissing You.

Our first dance was Des-ree : Kissing you. Jonny chose the music, and insisted that we took a dance lesion to prevent him marching me round the dance floor. It gave us the confidence not to be too awkward on the day, and it was great to have some time alone on the dance floor.

A Little Favour Enterprise.

I wanted the favours to be something that people would want to take away with them and something that would last. Whilst I was at university I had the amazing opportunity to use the laser cutter to make models. I also was able to sweet talk the technicians to let me use the facilities to make my wedding invites, signs/name places and the favours. These I designed on CAD, and then cut/burnt them out of wood, they where really unique and they had great impact! Not a single packet of seeds was left behind and lots of people commented on them. I’ve since thought about setting up something on the side to offer the same service to other brides, so maybe watch this space!!!

A Blank Canvas.

Our Marquee came from Country Marquees East Anglia, a small family run business. We opted for an unlined canvas traditional poled marquee. These guys where great to have on hand before, and offered superb advice and guidance leading up to the wedding. The marquee gave us a beautiful blank canvas to really make our own. I wanted to make material bunting to go all around the outside, but time simply ran out. So, instead I made the bunting out of Wallpaper. This gave me a huge range of patterns, and was easy to cut and wiz through on the sewing machine. The trunk and the type writer I picked up at car-boot sales, and the lanterns and camera I found at my mums house!

People Make The Day.

Our wedding was a blur, but without a doubt the best day of our lives. I think what is important to remember leading up to the wedding, is that there is a reason for you all gathering, for the two of you to become man and wife, and that it is the people that will MAKE the day, not all the finer details. I can’t even begin to explain what the atmosphere was like, but it was so relaxed and friendly and it was amazing to be surrounded by all the people we love the most in the world. I would recommend surrounding yourself with brilliant people who are all happy to muck in. My family, friends, bridesmaids and ushers were epic, and without all of their help the wedding would have been so hard to pull off. If you put lots of work into the preparation, you will be able to really relax on the day and know that those around you will be able to sort any small issues out! Finally enjoy the planning process, follow your heart, and what is important to you, and make it personal to you and your future husband.

P.S – married life is bliss!

Venue the old rectory paddock

Dress Maggie Sottero

Shoes Kurt Gieger

Hair and Make-up Charlotte Elizabeth

Photography Craig and Kate

Entertainment Jazz Dynamos

Marquee Country Marquees

Maybe I ought to say a bit now then…

The green colour scheme sits so perfectly in the setting, and the apples are a really nice fresh touch (we love a bit of fruit at Rock My Wedding).

Also, Anna – I love all the laser cutting – there is defo a little business for you there just waiting to be set up! Failing that I think you could probably go into floristry instead by the looks of things….

Adam.

38 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags:

It’s A Blue, Bright Blue Saturday.

December 7th, 2011

Usually I start at the beginning but today (just for variety and all) I’ll start at the end.

Leila spent the last moments of W-day in A & E. And no it wasn’t anything too serious.

Leila managed to fall off the stage as she was having such an immensely brilliant time. So I guess if you are going to spend the first eve of wedded bliss exchanging your gorgeous gown for a green paper one…. it might as well be for this very reason (and this reason only)

As well as the falling-off-the-stage hilarity there was also some quite fabulous fashion going on at Tom and Leila’s big day, including my favourite kind of jewellery (Turquoise and Native American influenced in case anyone is remotely interested) a perfect easy-breezy up-do and nude-hued maids.

And quite possibly the best table naming idea I have seen in a long long time.

For those of you who missed Monday’s post on the pressures of having or indeed not having exactly what you want come W-day Leila described her theme as “Spanish, fiesta, colourful, country…vintage theme? – very mis-matched but all the things we loved!”

Cool.

And it so worked folks.

Oh and for any of those wondering how to make your photobooth that little bit different why not set up a tea for two scenario outside of your venue? Genius. And if I was planning I would definitely be stealing this idea. And no, I wouldn’t give two hoots that it had been “done before”.

All of the colour pop images are courtesy of Andrew Squires.

Polka Dots and Bold Brights

We didn’t really want to have all the wedding party matching, as we quite liked the whole colourful mis-matched theme and bringing people’s own personalities into it. So we told the told the Groomsmen to wear their own suits either blue or grey and then we gave them green polka dot or blue polka dot ties. Tom, the best man Steve, Tom’s Dad and my Dad and step Dad all had brightly coloured flowers as button holes.

We also bought different coloured polka dot hankercheifs for the guys to wear in their top pockets and had their initials sewed into them to make them unique.

A Dapper Gentleman

Tom wore a slim fit, bright blue suit from Reiss – we had looked everywhere for this colour and could not find it anywhere as it is such a rare colour in a suit and especially as Tom is 6ft 4inch it was so hard trying to find him one that fit! We thought we were going to have to get it specially made but then we saw this one in Reiss and it was beyond perfect.

Tom wore his yellow polka dot hanker chief in his top pocket, along with his silver time piece, which I had bought for him as a wedding present and had engraved with his initials and the date of our wedding. He wore brown leather braces, a skinny polka dot tie and bright yellow polka dot socks to finish off the look. – He looked so dapper and old school gentleman – I loved it!

Charming Nudes

The bridesmaid dresses were nude colour with sweet heart top and pleated. I told them to choose their own belts and shoes so that they could bring their personalities into it and add some colour to the day – I liked the idea of nude as it really makes the flowers stand out. I made them each a charm bracelet, with charms I had collected from boots sales. The flower girls wore matching dresses with bright coloured butterflies on them.

My friend Jess Bing made all the usherettes flower corsages each in a different bright colour – they were made from layers of material and tied around the wrist with ribbon.

Old, New And Totally You

My dress was from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company – I had loved their website immediately as I knew I wanted an old dress that told a story. I always wanted a dress that suited my personality and that wasn’t just a ‘wedding dress’. I love old things as it’s so exciting to think of who has worn the dress before me and how their life was back then, I also like the fact that it has that worn look rather than shiny and new. The dress was from the 1950’s but also had a very Camelot-esque feel to it – which really appealed to my boho/gothic side. I had to have the dress customised to make it a bit more modern and sexy, so Lizzie Burns – an amazing Designer and Stylist did this for me – she shortened the length of the dress, cut off the arms and brought the neck right down into a sweet heart shape and lowered the back. With the left over material she made two arm bands that tied onto the dress and which I could remove when I wanted to party!

I had made a belt to go with it out of turquoise and silver beads (from the Bead Shop in Brighton) and Lizzie sewed this onto the dress to help emphasise my waist and bring out the Camelot/boho feel.

I could not believe how much I loved my dress and how perfect it was for me!

Lots Of Lash and Wind Swept Pretty

I wanted my make-up to be natural, with pinky lips and pink cheeks but also have a lot of emphasis on the eyes, to really bring them out. My sister (Zara Sloan) is a trained in doing make-up for weddings – so she was obviously my first choice! I wanted blue eye-liner so Zara used this and then did slightly smoky corners around my eyes to really bring out the blue, then used some lash extensions at the corners of my eyes to help widen them. The loads of Lancome Hypnose mascara – the water proof version!!

I did my own hair, I wanted the messy wind swept look (which turned out to be a given with the weather we had!) I used the ‘hair donut’ to pin curls up and create a high, unruly bun, with bits falling down. Then I fitted the head piece just above my fringe and pushed the grip in underneath, so you could see it from the back.

Hand Tied And Natural

The amazing Jo Osbourne did the flowers for my wedding and at really short notice as well! I must have annoyed her by using the phrase – ‘Can I have non-weddingy style flowers please’ about 200 hundred times! Jo was brilliant she really listened to everything I said and was spot on with the theme of ‘very colourful and natural looking’.

My bouquet cost £40, A very loose, natural looking hand tied bouquet of cerise Germini, orange Dahlia, blue/purple Lisianthus, lime green Bupleurum, pink Veronica and dusting of white Gypsophilia. Foliage was included to protect the flower stems.

A Beautiful Contrast

As my style has always been a mish-mash of things and my jewellery embraced this idea as I went for Native American style pieces with bright turquoise colour. Again I like the history behind the jewellery and the big bold colours. I’m not really a formal girl so I wanted to get my personality into the look. The bracelet was a one off antique piece bought for me by two of my best mates Sophie and Kate from The Two Feathers shop in Brighton who specialise in Native American clothes and jewellery. My sister then bought me a necklace from the same place with the same design and colour of the bracelet. As the chain was too small, I made a longer chain and added a long bit of chain that fell down my back with a turquoise bead on the end to complete it.

I didn’t want a veil as the detail on the dress was so beautiful it would have looked a bit too much, so my friend Beth kindly made me a head piece by weaving string and beads (which she had collected from her travels in India) together. I loved the contrast of the bright blue with the faded, vintage look of the dress.

Capturing Colour

We chose Andrew J R Squires to take our pictures- he was a friend of ours but also we had seen his work and it was exactly the style we were after for our wedding. He has a way of really capturing the mood of the moment and bringing out tiny details that tell a thousand things about the scene, person, event, he is shooting. He did our engagement shoot for us and this really helped to put us at ease in front of the camera. Andy has such a great eye for colour and knows how to get you into the perfect place for a really unique picture. We also felt so comfortable around him and trusted completely that he would do a fantastic job for us.

The Fiesta

We did all the decoration ourselves as we had decided on a Spanish, fiesta, colourful /country, vintage theme – very mis-matched but all the things we loved. We wanted to really put ‘us’ in to the wedding. We trawled around boots sales and markets to collect the lace table cloths and all the different jars, jugs, bottles and rusty tins, for the table decorations. We collected loads of old bottles and used bright coloured candles to finish off the look. We couldn’t find the right coloured napkins and for a cheap price –so I bought a load of second hand ones from Ebay and then died them pink and orange – then I tied a pink ribbon around the orange ones and orange ribbon around the pink ones.

For the name settings I got loads of limes and sliced into them and added the name cards. Tom is a graphic designer so he created all the table signs, seating plan and toilet signs and we went for a rustic wooden signs sticking out of old cider bottles.

We had simple bulb lighting around the dance floor to emulate a night in Granada we once had (our love of Granda and the chilled, fiesta way of life inspired a lot of our design). We had paella from the Brighton based ‘Viva Paella’ company and they cooked this in front of the guest so the smell and colour of it all really added to the theme. We designed the bar around my dad (he is called Julian) – when I was younger I always said that if I had a bar I would call it the Papa Jules Bar and finally we got the opportunity – Tom designed all the signs for this as well and we loved having a drink with my pa there later on in the night!

And The Lord Said…

Neither me or Tom like wedding cake, so we just created a cheese and red wine corner at the wedding and made a sign saying “ And the lord said….Let them eat cheese!” We are massive cheese lovers and we thought what better than to have a whole area dedicated to cheese! Our friend Emily Wareham from ‘Cheesy Pleasey’ made us a massive jar of her home-made pickle!

For our entertainment we hired a traditional flamenco dancer, singer and guitarist. They were amazing and really gave the wedding the spanishy –fiesta vibe we were going for. The dances were very moody and passionate and full of colour and emotion.

Mix Tape

We chose Zero 7 ‘Destiny’ as our first dance as it was on a compilation CD Tom made for me when we first started dating 7 years ago and when you listen to the words it just felt like it was written for us. Our friend the gorgeous Sarah Gardner (lead singer of Derrier) sang the song for us – she did such an amazing job that some people thought it was just the CD of the original playing. That was definitely one of the highlights of the wedding for us.

For favours we got castonets for the boys and sandlewood carved fans for the girls (which I threaded coloured ribbon through the handle and wrote the date of our wedding on).

Make Do And Mend

The cheese and red wine corner we made out of old wooden apple boxes, vintage sacks and old wine racks. Tom’s Mum’s friend Terri brought in wild vines to drape over all of it.

We borrowed the bunting from our friend Jess, whose family made it for her wedding and every flag was a different bit of material. It was really special knowing that she had used it for hers as well.

We had the photo booth area and decided to an old vinateg tea party for this – we found old furniture at Shabitat and did an indoors-outdoor thing which was really fun for pictures.

A Celebrity Special

The wedding was so special because it was created purely from our minds, everything we thought of we created and made ourselves. What made it extra special is that we had so many friends and family help us to make our vision a reality and as the day was as much about them as it was us, that made it all the more special – we owe them the biggest thanks!

Loads of things went wrong on the day itself but it was full of so many great people and so much love that no one even noticed and everyone just kept saying how lovely it was and that they really felt that they were at a wedding made specially for me and Tom.

One amazing thing our friend Ali (who is a booker for festivals) spent the summer getting video messages from the likes of Adele, The Inbetweeners, Blondie, Hughie from the fun loving criminals, Mark Ronson, 2 Many DJs and loads more – all saying Leila and Greeno have a wicked wedding day – it was such a shock and completely blew us away – so funny as they had no idea who we were!!

Try Not To End Up In A & E

One bit of advice, try not to take on too much yourselves – we were a little frazzled after so much organising that we were knackered on the actually day.

Have some good groomsmen and usherettes to rely on, on the day so you can relax and enjoy everything. (Try not to worry).

Just go with the flow when mistakes happen and…

Try not to end up in A&E on your wedding night – true rock on roll bride and I have the blood stains on my gorgeous dress to show for it!!!

(nothing serious just fell off the stage onto a champagne glass and cut my hand open – too much bubbly methinks!)

Brides Gown – The Vintage Wedding Dress Company

Gown Customisation – Lizzie Burns

Photographer – Andrew Squires

Entertainment – Flamenco Dance

Grooms Suit – Reiss

Florist – Jo Osbourne

Did you like what I did with the title there? no? oh. I thought I was being clever.

So Monday was all a bit serious on the W-day front what with Done to Death and then yesterday as well what with Jenny’s reflection on her own big day…. So this afternoon we decided to do a one eighty and post what might possibly be the least serious thing we have ever done.

As reader Carrie put it (*waves*) – Here at RMW HQ we try not to take ourselves too seriously sometimes, we want you all to be inspired admittedly but we also want you to have fun.

Looking forward to seeing you later folks.

;-)

Big Laughter Is The Best Medicine Love

Charlotte xxx

24 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags:

Rustic Pastel Perfection.

December 6th, 2011

Bryony and Jamie really got stuck in with the old D.I.Y. Bryony wanted their rustic pastel theme to compliment an overall hand finished look and I think that is exactly what she got. I love the random scrabble pieces a bit too much and the idea for favours is a stroke of pastel genius… but I won’t spoil that suprise just yet.

Navyblur are a photographic force to be reckoned with – They are turning out such beautiful work at the moment that we can’t get enough of them here at Rock My Wedding. You guys loved the nautical engagement shoot of Sam and Miriam that we brought you last week so Navyblur are back today with Bryony and Jamie’s D.I.Y riot of a rustic wedding…

Wow.

Our wedding was at All Hallows Church in Tillington in September. We chose Duncton Mill for the reception as it had the real WOW factor, situated by the lake, completely secluded with the whole of the lake to walk around and explore. It was magical.

Total Perfection.

My dress was from a wedding dress shop in Brighton called Perfection. The dress was called ‘Ulrika’ by Charlotte Balbier, It was antique creamy gold lace – which I loved for the vintage style. It was tight form-fitting with a puddle train.

I really wanted straps and lace for my wedding dress which was simple but very feminine and made me feel special. Once I tried it on I felt excited and really lovely. I also added by sewing on my own pale pink velvet ribbon around the empire waist to add colour and make it a little more my own.

A Touch Of Home.

I got my veil from another shop in Brighton called Ozone – it had a beautiful scalloped edge, it was full length and floor sweeping. I loved the unique but simple scalloped edge detail. I wore beautiful drop, gold and pearl earrings from ‘Grains of Gold’ jewellers in Brighton.
I chose gold to match my engagement and wedding ring. I wore a beautiful Nottingham cream lace garter with a blue ribbon which I bought from the most amazing wedding shop in Nottingham by a designer Kula Tsurdiu. I loved this because it brought a little bit of traditional Nottingham (my home town) to the South. I also chose a vintage style crochet/ lace headband – which just finished off the vintage look.

A Pair Of Pearly Pointers.

My shoes were from rainbow club, from the shop Ozone. They had an asymmetric strap with refined pleated detail across the foot with a pointed toe. They were a pearly cream colour. I originally wanted something striking, contrasting red or pink, not in a wedding-style, but realised with my dress it needed to be simple and classic. And I loved these shoes because they made my feet look delicate and with the unusual cross over strap- had an added interest.

Give Me A Wave.

My friend Nat helped with my hair and my makeup. I don’t usually do much with my hair and mainly wear it down, so for my big day I wanted something a little different yet still myself. So Nat put my hair in rollers and gave it a lovely wave, then put the headband in and took two sections of my hair back from each side and pinned it at the back. My Sister Susie (who was our florist) put a few sprigs of Gypsophila in at the back to match my bouquet.

My makeup was Bobbi Brown, which was well worth the money. I wanted a dewy, fresh look with a little rouge and subtle eye shadow, eyeliner with Chanel mascara finished off with my Molton Brown red lipstick. It was understated chic and still very me. I wore nail varnish by nail inc – called ‘KATE’ – which was specially made for Will and Kate’s wedding. The colour was pale creamy, pink’y beige. I think Kate actually wore something very similar :)

A Blooming Good Sister.

I knew exactly what I wanted when it came to the flowers; which were a vintage, country garden feel, lots of pastel colours with bright yellows. My sister Susie who has just finished her training in floristry – was the obvious choice to do our wedding. She did an amazing job and worked so hard, but she did exactly what id dreamed of and Jamie and I were so pleased with the result.

My bouquet was full of the most beautiful selection of different garden roses, September flower, loads of Gypsophila, Lisyanthus and cryspidia – which I love. The whole thing was tied with pale pink velvet ribbon and vintage lace- which was cut to be long and trailing to add a bit of a statement.It was stunning!

My bridesmaids – who were my two sisters Susie and Lydia both had gorgeous bouquets of gypsophila which looked just beautiful and striking, wrapped in soft pink velvet ribbon and vintage lace – again to match my wedding dress.

The button holes were made by myself and my two sisters. They were really fun to make – but a lot of work goes into making one, which I never realised. We used two cryspidia, small sprigs of gypsophila and a eucalyptus leaf to back the flowers wrapped in raffia string – Jamie got daisies too and a pink velvet ribbon tied in a bow to make his different from the rest.

Matching Not Essential.

My bridesmaids wore 50’s style dresses from Jigsaw, they were the first things I bought when planning the wedding. I just loved them and because they were in two colour ways which made it perfect. Susie wore a gold marble-like patterned dress with contrasting electric blue netting underskirt
Lydia wore the burnt red colour with dark red underskirt to match. I didn’t try and make everything match – everything just work well as a whole – the bridesmaid’s dresses were chosen for the rustic autumn colours which fitted perfectly against the pale pastels.

The groomsmen all wore their own black suits with matching pale blue ties, which they were given as gifts also.

A Little Different.

Jamie got his suit from Charles Tyrwhitt on Jermyn Street in London. He really wanted a smart, grey, classic tailored suit. He loved the small dog tooth textured pattern which just made it a little different from the usual wedding attire.

He teamed it with a pale blue smart woven, cotton tie – also from Charles Tyrwhitt, a smart plain grey waistcoat which matched the ties perfectly as it had a pale blue, silk back. His black shoes were from New Look. His Dad Laurie had also given him vintage 1930’s gold, art deco cufflinks which were passed down in the family. Laurie had got them engraved with Jamie’s initials and the date of our wedding.

The whole ensemble made him look amazing, and suited him so well. I just wanted to get down the aisle as quick as I could to be with him.

Friends With A Lens.

Of course we couldn’t have had anyone other than our lovely friends Christine and Xander at Navyblur . We’d seen them do their magic at some of our other friend’s weddings and knew they would capture our day perfectly, and in the style we wanted. (fun and with an artistic flare)

We had a previous engagement shoot with them and we had such good fun and got so many wonderful photos, our wedding photos were in safe hands. Having the two of them with us all day was great because it meant we could have pictures taken through all the moments from getting ready to the final goodbyes in the evening.

Pale Candy Cake.

Our cake was a three tiered cake made up of chocolate, lemon and Victoria sponge. The icing was unusual butter cream, pale lemon coloured icing applied with a textured effect. We went for lemon instead of white icing to fit in with our pale candy coloured theme. The cake toppers were made by me. I bought two wooden doll shapes and painted little figures of Jamie and me (not 100% true to life). I also cut out a little card tie and collar for the groom. For the bride I made a tiny paper bouquet and used a piece of lace to fix the bouquet to the doll.

Our wonderful Cake maker was Louise Yates, from Brighton. She was wonderful and made our cake exactly how we wanted and delivered on the day and set it all up perfectly. She added a ring of gypsophila to the base of the cake to finish of the look. It looked beautiful and very effective.- It tasted great too!

Let The Music Play.

My older sister Lydia and my brother Phil both played and sang two songs at the church as we signed the register, Calico Skies by Paul McCartney – a real favourite of Jamie’s and mine when we first started going out and Adele’s cover of the Bob Dylan song –‘Make You Feel My Love’ which Lydia sang beautifully.

For the evening party we hired our close friends and former bandmates of Jamie’s – an amazing function band called Wolfpack. Again they had played at our friends’ weddings and have played many a time at our local pub in Brighton.

We knew they would be fantastic and really get the party started, and as they were close friends we were able to have a fairly big say in the setlist, which meant it was personalised to our tastes.
Wolfpack played a real variety of tunes, from 60′s motown and 80’s classics to modern dance floor numbers which had all our friends and family up and dancing away.

Two of our friends also surprisingly entertained us all by jumping into the lake at the end of the night- I heard it was a bet!

So This Is Love.

Our first dance right until the day was a choice of between two songs- ‘As the world falls down’ by David Bowie, from the film Labyrinth. – this one meant something to us as we both love Labyrinth and the song is such a sweet song – but also a bit cheesy and we weren’t sure everyone would know it was a bit tongue in cheek.

Our other choice was- ‘So this is love’ from Cinderella (Disney) I LOVE Disney. Again this was a really sweet waltz tune which was only about a min long which was great for us :) .

In the end, on the night – we chose the Cinderella song. it ended up being the wrong version that was played- but no one noticed our confused faces!

Pastel Perfect.

I chose Ritter Sport chocolates – as they were in the perfect pastel colours. They were really tasty too! I designed and printed our little J&B stamp on brown paper and then cut them into strips. I then wrapped the strips with our stamp around three chocolates. They looked really cute. And cost me a fraction of the price of wedding favours you get in the shops.

Hand Made Touches.

My main aim was to make and decorate the wedding with loads of handmade touches and make it really personal to us. Our overall theme was rustic with pastel colours.

To decorate our traditional style marquee, I collected loads of vintage tins, jam jars, glass vases and pretty tea cups. My sister then spent a whole day filling the containers with beautiful, simple flower arrangements all around the venue and down the centre of each table. I made metres and metres of pastel coloured bunting to decorate the walls of the marquee. I also bought a few garlands of white paper doves which were beautiful. I made big pastel coloured paper pom poms to hang around the poles and walls – these were really effective and added big splashes of colour.

For the rustic theme we asked a gardener friend of ours to cut up loads of old logs of different sizes to use as decoration. We placed flower pots on them to create height and differing levels. We also used big logs to place the cake upon, and to display and lay out the puddings and food. I also bought lots of hessian fabric which I cut into long thin strips as table runners for the tables.

Love Letters.

We loved the idea of using our initials throughout the wedding – which was a lovely personal detail. We bought three wooden letters J&B to decorate the top table. My Dad also carved his own wooden letters too which was so sweet. They really added to the rustic and personal appeal. I bought large 3D card Numbers which I then painted in pastel colours and fixed onto sticks, then placed them into pots of lavender. These made the table numbers.

All the place names I made from found bits of wood and scrabble letters- all the guests have kept these after our wedding, which is just lovely. I also used scrabble letters and our J&B logo to decorate the guest book and table plan.

A Perfect Result.

What made our wedding different was that everything we did was either by ourselves or friends and family, therefore it meant that our wedding was really personal and had all the touches and details we wanted. I tried not to buy things readymade and instead made them myself or enlisted my friends/family.

It was hard work having to organise and arrange all the elements of the day but it meant that the end result was just perfect for us. I would say that if you do end up doing a lot of the organising yourself; on the day let all the things you’ve planned and thought about go – and enjoy it. Do not worry whether things aren’t completely perfect otherwise you will not be able to enjoy everything you have worked towards. Try and enlist as much help as you can. Above all remember it’s about YOU and the person you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with! The rest is just material.

Venue Duncton Mill

Boutique Perfection and Ozone

Accessories Kula Tsurdiu

Dress Charlotte Balbier

Tailor Charles Tyrwhitt

Bridesmaids Jigsaw

Photographer Navyblur

Flowers Susie Cooke

Entertainment Wolfpack

The Scrabble, oh the scrabble… The time and thought that has gone into every hand finished detail of this wedding has blown my mind. It’s a brave decision to set yourself so many D.I.Y projects but to complete each one in such an original way and with such an eye for design…

Bryony and Jamie, I take my hat off to you both.

Oh, I also take my hat off to the pair of September Skinny-dippers… ;)

Adam.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

25 comments »

Posted in Rustic Romance

Tags: