We like to think here at Rock My Wedding we listen to our brides and this real wedding is a perfect example of the budget friendly and chic D.I.Y type of affair many of you have been asking for.

Jenna and Andy were married in April 2009 at Morden Park House registry office with a reception at the Windmill pub in Clapham Common.

The cool couple managed to pull together the vast majority of the pretty details themselves with help and advice from family and friends.

Take a while to read Jenna’s planning notes as it makes for interesting ideas that are totally achievable and certainly some of the loveliest favours I have ever seen.

All of the beautiful images are courtesy of Jordan and Ines Banks of Source Images.

A Romantic Gown

My dress was from Christine Daniels bridal shop in Basingstoke, the dress was a Romantica dress by Eva Jordan –the shop was at the back of a florists, totally hidden away, you wouldn’t know it was there if it wasn’t for a dress in the window amongst the flowers…I knew it was the one when my Mum, my Mum’s best friend and my best friend all started to cry when I walked out the changing rooms before I’d even seen it!

I also had a beautiful antique looking hair clip which was only £8 from Boots! and my jewellery was borrowed from my gorgeous Gran, a pearl necklace and diamond earrings and I changed my necklace in the evening to a “Jenna” necklace Andy had bought for me one anniversary.

Wear What You Like

We didn’t have a colour scheme…The Groom had a bespoke suit made at Robert Tracey, a beautiful 3 piece grey suit which I didn’t see until the big day, he got his blue tie ( a coincidence my shoes matched his tie!) from Hackett on Saville Row and wore black brogues.

The best man wore a suit he had with a pink tie which happened to tie in with the flowers, I only had one bridesmaid and I wanted her to pick her own dress, she ended up choosing an oyster coloured dress from Debenhams with shoes to match.

Floral Favours

Myself, the Groom, the MOB and FOB went to Covent Garden at 4am two days before the wedding…we all picked out a different rose we liked and ended up with peach, two tone pink and white and a coral one, very cheap for so many, I made the bouquets myself quite simply with a tutorial off Youtube and my Gran and Aunt made the button holes and decorated the tables with antique vases (sourced over months from charity shops) and single buds.

The favours were the table decorations, the antique vases with rose buds in, one per guest and there was a poem on the table written by my Mum to explain that they could take them.

An Informal Style

Our photographer was Jordan Banks – an amazing photographer who happened to be a family friend. Him and his lovely fiancé photographed us…I liked their style informal and reportage, no line ups! Some of the shots were really arty too which we liked.

Divine Cake

Another gorgeous gift, my make up artist best friend, also happens to be a divine cup cake maker so we had her make our cakes with a little help the day before in my kitchen, there was a serious icing production line, we had cream icing and pink and red hearts decorating them. Pretty cup cake cases and cath kidston napkins.

This Guy’s In Love With You

We had a DJ provided by the venue, we chose our songs and supplied him with a long playlist of our favourites, an unstressful affordable option our first dance was to Paul Carrack – ‘This Guy’s in love with you’ – it’s our song, well we have a few but this is our favourite and the words were very apt, we also wanted something different that people might not have heard.

Budget Beautiful

We did everything on a budget, putting in time and effort more than money and we let our family and friends get involved and help us and it made the day so much more special, having all their touches made it so unique…we weren’t very specific on things and gave people freedom to contribute how they wanted to, obviously with overall sign off so to speak but all their suggestions were so great that we never changed anything. I think wedding’s can definitely be done on a budget and still be beautiful, that was our goal and I think we did achieve this.

A perfect example of how to rock glasses come W-day not to mention the fact we absolutely adore EVERYTHING about the reception decor – so simple yet so darn CHIC.

Anyone else going the “home made and home grown” route? We would love to hear your ideas.

With thanks to Jenna and Andy for sharing their gorgeous Big Day and all of their budget secrets and Jordan and Ines Banks for submitting the images.

Big D.I.Y Delicious Love

Charlotte xxx

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