Helen & Richard

Bride & Groom Helen and Richard are blessed with two adorable children who made the cutest flower girl and best man and together this family unit had a gorgeous laid back wedding in the countryside. The Althorp Coaching Inn with its intimate setting and quirky details instantly tugged on their heart strings and they just knew it would be the perfect location for their boho reception. Enhanced with rustic DIY decor made by themselves, a gorgeous array of homemade cakes brought along by family and the loveliest of wild florals in jars. All the special moments are captured by Ferri Photography who's dreamy natural light photography suits the country vibes perfectly. Be sure to check out Helen's red flower Folky Dokey flower crown too it's divine.

Our Story

Helen the Bride: Richard and I met through working for Northamptonshire Police Forensics were I used to photograph dead people. Yep, you read that correctly…dead people! During a family holiday in Devon in May 2015. My parents put the children to bed for us so we could go out for dinner by the sea. We took an evening stroll across the beach in beautiful Lynmouth. Then under the stars, on the most perfect night Rich dropped down to one knee and completely surprised me by proposing. Obviously I said yes!

The Dress

I am quite boho by nature and wanted something quite understated but timeless and knew I’d choose a lace dress. I fell in love with my dress as soon as I put it on. It was perfectly me! My accessories included a beautiful flower crown made by Folky Dokey and a simple gold leaf design bracelet.

Grooms Attire

Rich wore a Ted Baker Endurance suit. Copper/gold design tie to match with our gold flower girl dress worn by Indigo. I bought Rich a fox tie pin and Helson watch given to him on the morning of the wedding.

The Venue

We got married at our local church in Duston, called St Lukes. We loved the little arch on the outside and the pretty, wooden gate that guests had to entre. We wanted a very family feel to our marriage ceremony and the Vicar, Mandy Marriott was absolutely brilliant and included a blessing for us as part of the service, to bless us all as a family. Cooper and Indigo came up to join us and lit a candle to signify this blessing. We struggled to find a reception venue that I felt suited us; we didn’t want anything too grand. Then one evening we had dinner at the The Althorp Coaching Inn in Great Brington. We saw the barn in all its shabby darkness and instantly fell and love with it. We knew instantly that it would be the perfect fit for our wedding.

Colour Scheme/Decor

I wanted a rustic woodland, whimsical type theme and didn’t really like the idea of the usual wedding colour scheme. We had elements of blue and gold in our clothing but flowers were a wild colour pallete. The décor of the venue consisted of log slices, hessian and lace wrapped jam jars with wild flowers, fairy lights, bunting, colour glass vintage bottles with dried flowers. We had an olive tree and birds to sign for our message tree.

Flowers/Florist

As a family we love going out on long walks in the countryside and I wanted to incorporate part of this into our floral choices. My mother-in-law created the flower arrangements for the church which were a combination of dried flowers and wheat, some tied to chairs and other in lace/hessian wrapped jam jars. She also made our kraft paper confetti cones which contained dried flower confetti. My bouquet, Indigo’s mini version and buttonholes were all done by The Stables Florist, St Crispins Shopping Village, Duston. All included blue/purples wild flower look and thistle for the men. I didn’t want anything neatly tied together in a small bunch, but instead wanted to evoke a feeling of a sunny, summer’s day; walking in the woods and picking wild flowers… I had my Nans brooch pinned to my bouquet handle which was very special for me and made it feel like she was there sharing the day with us.

The Wedding Party Fashion

Our little girl Indigo had a dress from Monsoon that was ivory and gold and a Grecian look with a small gold/cream flower crown. Our best man and little boy Cooper wore trousers, shirt and waistcoat combo from Monsoon. They really looked the part and their outfits complemented Richards and mines beautifully. The dads had lovely blue suits from Next and wore matching ties with Richard the Groom.

Ceremony

We chose the readings and hymns for church based on them being about family and hymns we chose the upbeat ones that are popular with people to get everyone joining in.  The reading, Song of Solomon 2:10-13 and 8:6-7, we loved the words, it was about the beauty of the world, nature, love and life. Our children far surpassed our expectation of what we asked of them.  Our daughter Indigo was our beautiful flower girl (who I wasn't sure at one point if she'd even wear a pretty dress) and then totally took on her role with style bearing in mind she was only just 3.  Our son Cooper was our best man - he couldn't wait to get ready, get on his clothes and mini buttonhole, he virtually ran up the path to church holding the wooden trunk containing our wedding rings as he was so excited. The two of them walked hand in hand following the vicar down the aisle.  We had a family blessing which included them both being called forward to stand with us and light a candle to bless us as a family, which again went brilliantly.  We were so proud of them both.  During the hymns Indigo and her cousin Georgia were dancing in the aisle and they both had huge smiley faces the entire day.  I hope they both remember this day forever as I know we will.

Entertainment

Following the wedding breakfast we had a magician called Ash Turner (The Trixta) who I actually work with who was very highly recommended to me and proved very popular with our guests, children and adults alike. The children were in absolute awe of his tricks. I think there favourite one of all was when he turned one bright, red foam ball into to ten; they loved it even more when the balls escaped from their hands and went bouncing around the courtyard for them to chase! We also had a band called The Resident Heroes who played an acoustic set in the afternoon and ramped it up in the barn for the evening entertainment. They played our first song which was Marry Song, Band of Horses. It meant the world to us to be able to share our first dance with our two beautiful children. It was a very special moment for us as a family and one I we will always treasure.

Food

We wanted something very relaxed in keeping with the style of our day and the type of food we love eating as a family.  Our wedding breakfast was a picnic style, buffet meal (we love picnics!) and included home baked ham, cold poached salmon, lemon mayonnaise, artisan cheese, warm breads, salad bowls, pork pie, olives, pickles. Our dessert was Strawberries and cream and chocolate brownies; perfect for a sunny summers day.  We asked some family and friends to bake us a cake for our dessert table and we were totally blown away by how many and how awesome they were! In particular, my Aunty Jennifer made a three-tier fruit cake that was totally brilliant and exceeded any expectations we had. Everything looked so delicious and unique. There was literally nothing left by the end of the evening. The sweet table with jar full of sugary delight was also a hit with both the children and the grownups.

Photographer

I had stumbled across Ferri Photography by looking at other couples weddings. Having studied photography myself at University College Northampton I knew I was going to find it very difficult to find the perfect photographer. After seeing Ferri Photographys images I felt drawn to them and that the dreamy style was really different to the traditional wedding images. I wanted our day to be quite personal and rustic and felt that Daniela could capture this for us.

Final Thoughts

We feel incredibly lucky for how the day turned out and seemed to go to plan. Especially having two young children you never know how things will go and they were brilliant. The weather turned out to be great too. We now treasure experiencing a day like that with all our family and friends, but best of all, we are now husband and wife.
 If I could give a bride and groom ‘to be’ any advice on their wedding it would be to do what suits you and feels most like you. Lots of weddings and venues can be so similar and impersonal. We felt ours suited ‘us’ and everyone commented on this being the case.