The English countryside is a very beautiful thing. After yesterday’s super summer destination wedding I thought it would be fitting to remind you all of this!

However, it does rain – but as long as you have a brolly (which incidentally is the most English word in the entire English language) you’ll be fine.

Now, at RMW we are always saying to have your day, your way… but today you just might just want to have your wedding planning notebooks to hand as this wedding is going to show how to decorate a reception space… and I mean PROPERLY decorate it. There are idea’s here that are dying to be stolen.

It’s a good job then that the very lovely Katie and Sven are both the sharing type! Their big day in the Cotswolds was documented perfectly by David Jenkins. Enjoy peeps…

Love At First Sight.

Our wedding was 9th July 2011 in the Cotswolds, we married in St peters church, Stanway and the reception was held at Temple Guiting Manor in Temple Guiting. It was the perfect for us as there are 2 beautiful houses which we stayed in over the weekend, the Manor House and the Barn, Sven’s family who travelled from Belgium stayed in one and my family in the other. The whole setting is simply stunning, we fell in Love with it at 1st sight!

A Little Sparkle.

I have always loved Jenny Packham Wedding designs, so when I started looking for my dress that was the 1st appointment I made, I also visited lots of other bridal stores and designers but when I tried on the JP dresses I knew that I would find my dress there … I tried on a lot of different styles but the Petra was the one! It was exactly what I was looking for! Flowing, Simple but with a little sparkle!

Pearls Of Wisdom.

I wore some pearl and crystal drop earrings and the Acacia hair slide, both from Jenny Packham. I also wore a x3 band pearl bracelet and a pearl and crystal bracelet that my Auntie had made for me

Simple And Comfortable.

For my shoes I chose the Shilo design from LK Bennett, I wanted a simple shoe and was originally looking for a peep toe but struggled to find something I liked, I eventually chose the Shilo and was happy not to have peep toe when it started raining!! They were also very comfortable!

A Friend On Hand.

I decided to wear my hair up as the dress was halter neck style which is why I chose the lovely hair clip, my make up was done by a good friend of mine Sadaf Ahmad, she worked a long time for MAC and is now a freelance make up artist.

Blooming Fabulous.

Our fabulous florist was Fiona Perry, we wanted a very neutral English country Garden look, lots of white’s, creams greens with a touch of soft pink. We hired most of our props [Bird cages, candelabra, bike cake stands, wooden candle plinths] from Zita Elze, she has some really beautiful things which Fiona then worked her magic with! The gardens at Temple Guiting Manor are so beautiful with so many colours we wanted to keep our flowers simple.
My bouquet was white and cream with a touch of green, I am not 100% sure of all the flowers used but I know it had Hydrangea florets, white lisianthus, jasmine etc In the girls bouquets and in some of the table centres we use a Soft pink Keira Rose from David Austin, simply stunning! We chose white lisianthus buds for the button holes, we also slipped stems of these on top of the napkin under the name places + ribbon.

The English Tradition.

The Groomsmen hired their suits from Buckleigh of London except for those who had their own morning suits. The bridesmaids dresses all came from Monsoon, we wanted to stay with a very neutral tone so the boys wore grey waistcoats, the older bridesmaids were in grey/silver dresses and the little ones in Ivory. One of Sven’s best men was his son, Risto .. he wore grey converse with his morning suit which he loved!
My handsome Groom is from Belgium and it is not traditional for them to wear morning suits although after attending a few weddings of our friends Sven decided that he wanted to follow the English tradition … I am so pleased he did, he looked so handsome.

Reliving The Moments.

Our photographer was David Jenkins he was recommended through another photographer, we looked through a few galleries of recent weddings that he had done and loved his style and his ability to capture the really special and intimate moments naturally. We were thrilled with all our images of our special day, I am still looking to them at least once a week reliving every moment!

I like To Ride My Bicycle…

Foreplay.

We had a band called Foreplay, they played in bars throughout my ski seasons [10 years ago] and my sister and her husband had them at their wedding and they were brilliant, so it was easily decided! During the band breaks and after they had finished a friend of ours, DJ Mr Max, played some awesome tracks … between the both of them it was a great night and a brilliant party

Someone Like You.

For our first dance we played ‘Someone Like You’, Blank and Jones featuring Mike Francis. It’s on Cafe Del Mar Vol. 12 … the words to this song mean a lot to both of us, we listened to it a lot when we were first together.

We had small wooden hearts as name places for all the guests, these then doubled as favours. It was so special to have all the people we love most in one place all together, both the church and the venue were beautiful, the day was just perfect in every way, I would not have changed a tiny bit of it! Everyone always says it will be one of the happiest days of your life but it actually really is, I can’t ever remember feeling so happy and so full of love … I would do it carbon copy all over again if I could! Magical!

I found all the magazine articles and blog pages like this one very helpful. The only thing I would say is that the day flies by so fast, enjoy and take in every second, and if you can take a quiet 5 mins with your new husband If there was one thing I would add to our day then it was that I wish I had arranged for a video of the speeches as they were so wonderful and heart felt, it would have been nice to have been able to watch them back!

Venue – Temple Guiting Manor

Dress – Jenny Packham

Shoe – LK Bennett

Make-up – Sadaf Ahmad

Blooms – Fiona Perry

Photographer – David Jenkins

Ok, so I’m definitely getting a big flower-ball-chandelier-thing for my flat. Guess I just need to ask for a crash helmet for Christmas now.

Adam.

• Previous Entry: The Never Ending Story….Part 2
• Next Entry: Drowning In The Sea….. Of Dresses.