You lucky lucky things – there’s so much more to come of this particularly pretty peach affair that it’s a three parter. First up we have the perfect ceremony with it’s details and a little bit about the photographer extraordinaire (and I should add a thoroughly nice chap) Guy Collier. Thanks goes to him for all the images today…
Wedding Day Chaos…
On the day itself the ceremony was delayed by over an hour and a half due to 2 x massive accidents on the main roads leading to the venue, as well as a Hindu festival resulting in a flood of cars in the area. As a result almost all our guests were seriously late and our celebrant and string duo were massively delayed.
The bridesmaids and I were getting ready in one of the rooms facing out over the garden where our guests and family were slowly arriving. I felt like Rapunzel trapped – but the delay only made me all the more eager to walk down the aisle and declare my love for Steve in front of all our friends and family.
Finding The Perfect Venue
Steve and I did a lot of research into the venue – we knew what kind of wedding we wanted and felt strongly that the venue should reflect the feel of the day. We are both true romantics so were eager to find something picturesque and magical. I have always envisaged getting married outdoors in an English country garden and Bury Court Barn really did tick all the boxes.
The garden is truly stunning and the building is a beautiful old converted barn surrounded by fields, so perfect for the informal wedding we were hoping for. Even the oasts looked like turrets from the outside and it really did feel enchanting.
The flowers were one of our absolute favourite elements of the day. Our florist was one of our best friends Charlotte Cox, married to Kavarn the Best Man. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing she was – the flowers were incredible, exactly what we had asked for and she was a massive help on the big day itself. She is truly talented and I cannot recommend her enough. We were desperate for something delicate, pretty and wild to tie into the venue and surroundings. We knew exactly what we wanted and Charlotte worked with us to bring everything to life, advising on what was possible and which flowers were in season. To tie into the colour scheme of the day we used a selection of cream and peach Roses and Freesias – classic and simple. Peach Carnations were also added to the list – although they have had bad press with being cheap, they really are beautiful and look totally vintage and delicate; as a result they have been making a big comeback in the last year or so. But I also wanted something to lift and enhance the neutral colours – I love the way peach and blue complement each other and so we used Delphinium to inject electric blue into the scheme as well. For a contrast in texture and to encompass the wild English garden look we were striving for, we threw Hypericum berries into the mix. Charlotte also recommended incorporating Rosemary – it’s a beautiful shade of grey and the sharp shape was a striking contrast to the delicate flowers we had chosen. The bouquets were stunning – I chose to have the same flowers as the bridesmaids so all were consistent. The groomsmen had matching button holes but Steve had an Avalanche Rose which was a slightly different colour to the others. For the ceremony we used bird cages filled with white Hydrangeas and stunning pew ends which we hung on the back of the chairs. The thing that meant the most to me was that Steve and I were lucky enough to get married outside in a beautiful English garden – it’s the only way I have ever envisaged getting married and it really was stunning. Due to the ridiculous UK laws, the only place you can legally get married outdoors is Scotland – we therefore had a Humanist ceremony which was truly fantastic. We wrote our own vows and the celebrant’s script focused on our love for each other – it was entirely personal and very intimate. We decided that we were not going to have a professional video done, but that photo’s were more important to us, as we felt these would be looked at more often and be a constant reminder of our special day. This meant we had more flexibility with our budget and it was therefore vital that our photographer would not only capture the emotion of the day, but also provide beautiful shots in the style of photos that we like best. After checking out loads of online photo’s of other weddings, we soon realised that we were quite fussy on what style of photography we were after and that it would be hard to find someone suitable. We were given a recommendation from someone who had used Guy Collier for a family wedding and after going through these photo’s, realised that he was just what we were looking for. After meeting Guy, discussing his style of photography and looking at other examples of his work, it soon became obvious that he was the perfect choice for us. Guy was great through the whole process. He was very efficient and always came back to us promptly on any queries prior to our big day. On the day, Guy was amazing. He was so enthusiastic and adjusted brilliantly to the change in timings that occurred. He even worked with the caterers to ensure everything ran smoothly. We never felt directed or staged and this really showed in the photo’s we received. Everyone commented on how discrete Guy was and after seeing the photo’s they did not even realise they had been taken. This was so apparent in the pictures, as you could see the true emotion in everyone, which just could not have been otherwise achieved. We can’t thank Guy enough for the beautiful shots and amazing memories – we would recommend him to anyone. We wanted to make the day as unique and personal as possible – trawling through wedding blogs such as; Rock My Wedding, Martha Stuart, DIY Brides, you can find endless ideas and suggestions to borrow and recreate. We pulled together an enormous scrap book full of all our favourite ideas and spent time before the wedding designing, printing, cutting and gluing. The ceremony took place in the beautiful gardens at Bury Court – we chose to get married in front of a tree overlooking the vast fields and landscape behind. We filled bird cages with Hydrangeas and hung them from the tree with peach ribbon. The venue had some old cricket chairs that we used for the ceremony; we hung pew ends on each of the aisle seats along with a bottle of bubbles. The venue also had a massive green bench which they kept out of sight from guests, I absolutely loved it and asked them if we could move it outside for the ceremony. We also created an Order Of The Day for each guest – we wanted something quirky so decided to give them a double purpose and create them as fans. We downloaded a template online, designed both sides in Photoshop, printed on to card and glued together with a lolly stick in between. It turned out to be really hot on the day so the guests got their use out of them. I asked my mum to make us a ring pillow for the ceremony too – we found some vintage fabric and a doily in an old antique shop and then bought the ribbon from a haberdashery; another unique element of the day that I will treasure forever. What’s that I hear you say? It’s just too beautiful… there can’t possibly be more? Well there is. And it’s even better. Yours Truly, Rebecca Guy Collier is a Rock My Wedding Sponsor, however all real wedding submissions are chosen on individual merit and no part of this wedding has been sponsored.
The Ceremony
Guy Collier Photography
The final portfolio of pictures were exactly what we were hoping for. They are absolutely stunning and we almost couldn’t believe it was our wedding we were looking at.
Guy really managed to capture moments in time that had bagfuls of emotion and the pictures convey all of the feelings throughout the day. 
A Blog-roll of creativity…
xoxo
love. it.
Wow- what a beautiful wedding! I’ve been to a wedding at Bury Court and it was such an amazing venue! Where can I download a template like that for the order of the day?! They looked great!
I agree, carnations are seriously underrated and are a really great filler flower.
Also, love the picture of the three older people laughing!
x
Gorgeous wedding, and I am loving loving LOVING the fan.
I may have to steal this… xx
Love the puffball bridesmaid dresses.
It was such a joy to put this wedding together for the blog. every image is gorgeous and Guy has done a brilliant job of telling the story of the day. Thats before you even get me started on the details!
I think my favourite parts are the puffball BM dresses and all the stationary with it’s carnival style fonts. Wait until you see part 3 – the reception is a treat!
xoxo
PS Another Inspiration Board coming up before Part 3 – a lunch time treat for you all
I love the stationary! So gorgeous – I do love an outdoor wedding and there are so many great details.
Rachie xo
Rebecca – you spoil us!
Hi,
Congratulations, what a beautiful wedding! We’re in the process of figuring out the timings for the day – your schedule (love the fan by the way!) looks almost identical to ours, can I ask if it all went to plan or if you needed longer for certain things etc?
xxx
I just spotted the first sentence, what a terrible shame. I’m guessing not everything went according to the schedule. Still, it looks like everyone had a great day nonetheless
x