I really like back garden weddings – not only are they a good budget friendly option, but they are also a blank canvas. There are endless possibilities and if, like Tom and Esme, you like to get stuck in with a bit of D.I.Y then world is your oyster. Well, ok – your friends back garden is you oyster, but you get the idea!

Tom and Esme married in August 2011 in Brigstock, Northamptonshire and decided to employee the services of Martmari Photography to document the occasion. Good choice guys, looks like they did you proud.

Stress Free.

I know how lucky I am when I say that choosing my w-day dress was a pretty stress free experience. I enjoyed a lovely day with my Mum and sisters trying on stunning dresses in two bridal boutiques and I couldn’t fault the service in Quello, Kenilworth. Then I had a not-so-nice afternoon trying on dresses at various high street places. I lined up an appointment in a shop just outside Birmingham (which has now closed down) that was having a sample sale. I did the usual sift through the dresses on offer, picking out a couple to try on when I saw my dress: Mori Lee, style number 2510. I knew that it was the dress that I would be getting married in the second I noticed it. Please don’t hate me fellow brides!

My amazing Mum haggled down the price and after a celebratory large glass of wine in a cafe next door, I was on my way home with my dress! I loved the shape and how it accentuated all of my best bits and the fact that it was simple but with a bit of sparkle, but the main reason I fell for it was because I knew my now husband would love it. And he did.

My Usual Style.

My something borrowed were earrings from my Mum, who also gave me a grey beaded bracelet that she had made. My very talented sister made me and my bridesmaids butterflies for our hair, which was the perfect surprise because despite collecting various clips and slides, I couldn’t find the ideal hair accessory anywhere. I decided early on that I wouldn’t wear a veil because it didn’t fit into the ‘look’ I had in mind and I’m glad I stuck with my decision. I was really pleased that everything went together, and how I would wear/use everything again because they’re very much in fitting with my usual style.

Grey-Loving Bride.

I found my shoes in the Phase Eight sale just after buying my dress and they were the perfect choice for this grey-loving bride. I had always known that I would wear coloured shoes (in fact, it was seeing brides wearing non-ivory shoes that got me addicted to RMW), despite hearing many protestations from friends and family members.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Hair and make-up – What to do… Who to have doing it… What to have – were really difficult decisions for me. After finding pictures of the hair style I wanted, I knew that it would be best done by a professional, however finding someone to do it was a very different question! We were on a strict budget and although my dress was a bargain, I didn’t want to spend loads on ‘just one day’.

Make-up was a similarly difficult to arrange. I umm-ed and ahh-ed for weeks over whether to buy new make-up and do it myself, or to find a make-up artist. In the end my husband decided for me – he hates it when we’re getting ready for a night out and I get all flustered because my eyeliner goes wrong/the shoes just aren’t right/my hair’s just not wavy enough, so he declared that I would be getting a professional in, no matter what the cost. Bless him! He was completely right and although it was expensive, choosing Sheelagh was one of the best decisions I (he) made – I was able to pamper my bridesmaids, our make-up stayed perfect ALL day, she was a true professional and ultimately gave me a peace of mind that was priceless. I couldn’t recommend her enough.

A Dab Hand With Blooms.

I have a confession to make: flowers were low on our list of wedding priorities. Don’t get me wrong, we wanted pretty flowers and I had my favourites, but I knew that we wouldn’t be spending hundreds and that other things had priority budget-wise. Luckily for us, my Mother-in-Law, a family friend and my sister are all a dab hand with blooms and so took over the task for us. I sent them pictures of a bouquet I liked, a bridesmaid bouquet and several images of table flowers with these instructions: hydrangeas, pink roses, pinks, whites, pale green, light yellow, soft colours. Jars and bottles with individual or a couple of stems of all different heights.

My Mum snuck out of the hotel on the morning of the wedding to decorate our ceremony area with wild flowers, sage and lavender. It was a lovely surprise for me and it was just enough to compliment the already beautiful setting. My ‘flower team’ also made a large hydrangea display for the ceremony and later for the dinner marquee. We also had a hanging basket with gypsophila at the entrance to the garden.

Highstreet Maids.

I knew that I didn’t want the bridesmaids or the groomsmen to all look exactly the same, mainly because I knew that I wouldn’t get my two sisters, best friend and 12-year old family friend in the same dress. My Maid of Honour and I went shopping a while before the wedding and fell in love with a purple one-shoulder dress from Coast and were able to find two in the exact same colour but different styles in Monsoon, with the fourth made by my Mother-in-Law. I loved how the four of them looked!

We bought ties for the groomsmen and our Dads, and asked them to wear white shirts and grey suits. Coincidently quite a few other guests turned up with lilac ties or wearing purple dresses, so it all tied in quite nicely!

Geek Chic.

Another bargain was Tom’s suit, bought from Charles Tyrwhitt just after we got engaged in the summer sale. He needs extra long sleeves and this is one of the only places that sells well-cut shirts in different lengths, so he got himself a white shirt from there too. Easy. Unlike his tie, which took around 8 months to find! In the end we found the perfect Ted Baker one on Ebay, the only one we both agreed on! His shoes were more expensive than mine from Loake.

As a present, I had some cufflinks made for him through the excellent website Sonia Spencer. Tom is a Research Chemist and a bit of a geek, so I designed (with help!) periodic table cufflinks – ES for Esme (Einsteinium) and TM for Tom (Thulium). I don’t know if anyone else got the joke, but he liked them!

An Easy Decision.

After Googling ‘Photography Northamptonshire’ we came across Martmari and wow, were we glad we did! It was a really easy decision because Martin and Marina lived near to where the wedding was going to be, we loved their style (I would describe it as detailed reportage, but with a classic edge) and they were offering a really good deal.

A pre-wedding shoot made us confident that we had chosen well and on the day they were absolutely amazing. They were so professional and interested in getting the best shots of all the details, not in-our-faces, but always close by when we wanted a photo taken. Plus, we couldn’t be more in love with the results – the photos are just beautiful. All of our family and friends have been raving about them and their work since the wedding and I really hope that they become more widely known and as successful as they deserve to be. Please book them!

Man Cake.

My wonderful husband made our wedding cake! After a few practices and some complicated sketches (what can I say? He’s a scientist!), he designed a three-tier square cake: bottom layer his signature fruit cake, second layer my favourite date and walnut and the top layer of my Mum’s chocolate cake, all covered in pale blue/green buttercream and handmade icing roses and petals. It was perfect – well done Tom!

Art School Hero.

We had a jazz band all lined up to play at various points during the day, who cancelled on us six weeks before the wedding. What a nightmare. With no more money in the budget we called on Tom’s old Art teacher, who we knew used to be in a band. Thankfully he agreed to reunite his Rhythm and Blues band and they did an amazing set that got everyone on the dance floor, so much so that our carefully put-together playlist didn’t get a look in.

Throughout the day we had music playing from an iPod and various leads and speakers that I won’t even try to describe because I had no part in setting it up.

Please Forgive Me.

We chose our first dance song after a romantic meal on New Year’s Eve. In fact, Tom suggested it as he said that he used to listen to it a lot when we first got together (we were 16) because it summed up the way he felt about me. Can I have a collective ‘awww’? It was David Gray’s Please Forgive Me. We followed it with Barry White My First, My Last, My Everything, because that song always gets me dancing!

Crafty Favours.

My Mum is a stained glass artist and she, along with her husband, very generously made us some Rennie Mackintosh inspired glass roses for our guests to take away and hang in their homes. We weren’t too bothered about favours, but these looked lovely hanging in the tree and we were happy to take any leftover home with us. We also made ceramic name plates for everyone, all of which were taken by our guests, so I guess they were the favours really.

Reduce, Re-use Recycle.

We wanted to spend as little as possible on decorations, partly because we were cheap-skates who didn’t want boxes of wedding only paraphernalia in the house afterwards and partly because we didn’t think the beautiful garden needed much decorating. So everything that you can see we already owned, borrowed from friends, made ourselves or bought after hours searching on the internet for the cheapest option.

Tom made a map of the venue on Photoshop which we displayed on an easel. Signs to direct our guests were stencilled and painted on old bits of wood, and we made some letters from plywood that we decorated ourselves to spell either ‘TEA’ (for during the afternoon tea part of the day) and ‘T&E’ later. (Those are now on our kitchen wall, spelling ‘EAT’.) Random bits of ribbon were tied around trees, lights and anything else that stayed still long enough and we had candles wherever we could – simple and cheap, but effective.

The biggest DIY project we did was to collect boxes and boxes of glass jars and etch them with designs of butterflies, bows, teapots, martini glasses etc. It took a whole weekend for me and my Maid of Honour to do these, but it wasn’t difficult to do or expensive (you can buy a whole bottle of etching fluid online for around £8 and we didn’t even use half) and it was so worth it because they looked lovely.

When I look at all that written out, it looks like we did loads! I suppose we did, but because we spread everything out over the whole of our engagement – buying candles whenever we saw cheap ones, printing the photos whenever there was an offer and doing the DIY projects over several months – it didn’t feel like too much. Tom is very creative so this was a really good excuse to do something together and for me to learn to enjoy making something. Making things for our wedding gave me confidence in my creative and design skills and I’ve now got loads of ideas for ways to use some of our leftover wedding bits in our home.

Make The Most Of It.

Our wedding ceremony was incredibly personal because we had a Humanist ceremony outside with our own vows. We got legally married a couple of days before in a registry office nearer to home, but this was our REAL wedding. We knew that there were quite were concerns about what the ceremony would be like, but in the end a lot of people found it very moving and we absolutely loved it. We were also lucky enough to be offered the use of a family friends’ garden for our wedding so we could personalise it exactly how we wanted to.

Our wedding was incredible, not because it was perfect, but because it was OUR day and I got to marry the man I love. But I never want to do it again!

Venue Backgarden!

Dress Mori Lee, style number 2510

Hair M&Arc Hair & Beauty

Make-up Sheelagh Powell

Shoes Phase Eight

Tailor Charles Tyrwhitt

Cufflinks Sonia Spencer

Photography Martmari

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the groom making the cake before – another Rock My Wedding first for you today folks!

Lots of details that I really love here – from the so-geeky-they’re-cool cufflinks though to the hanging stained glass, in fact all the little D.I.Y projects… Even the first dance song really strikes a chord with me – brilliant choices all round.

Tom and Esme did so much by themselves and with the help of friends and family. We have here a wedding without the cost of reception venue hire, no florist, no cost for evening entertainment and with the help of old ‘Heston Blumenthal’ with his bunsen burner and testube – no expensive cake costs… and does it show? No. It. Does. Not. And all this saving allowed Tom and Esme to really splash out on the food and drink and give their loved ones the party of their lives!

Tom, Esme (and of course all of your talented friends and family), we salute you.

Adam.

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