It’s Friday. It’s Summer. And we are going to give you one hell of a beautiful garden wedding.
Outdoor ceremony?
check.
An abundance of beautiful blooms?
check.
A whole bunch of colour and love?
double check.
Helen and Leigh were married at the Mill at Gordleton, all of the delicious images are courtesy of Love Lust List Members Emma and Ian at Big Bouquet photography.
Couture
I always knew I wanted to wear something with a vintage feel to it, so initially I bought a beautiful original 1930s dress online. I persuaded myself that the fact that it didn’t actually fit properly wasn’t a problem – I could lose weight in time for the wedding couldn’t I? It would be fine. The nearer it got to the wedding day though, the more I began to realise that, gorgeous as the dress was, it just wasn’t right.
So with a month to go, I started looking for another one! Leigh had already mentioned that he’d walked past Cocoa Couture, a wedding dress boutique in Cheltenham, and thought I might like it. So I gave them a ring. Cara, who owns the business and designs and makes all the gowns, was wonderful. Seemingly undeterred by my scarily short timescales she invited me to her shop, where I chose the fabric for the dress (including the most amazing cream antique lace) and talked through styles.
Just 2 fittings and 3 weeks later I picked up my dress.
Silk And Vintage
As there was lots of detail on the dress I didn’t really need many accessories. My friend lent me a gold bracelet and my mum bought me a gorgeous vintage pearl necklace. I found Charlie, who runs The House of Istria, on Etsy and she made the silk flower I wore in my hair.
I really only needed simple shoes, and I actually found the perfect ones in Next. It was probably just as well that I didn’t spend a lot on them, because by the end of the day they were absolutely filthy!
100% British
We wanted flowers that reflected the setting of the wedding and were as sustainable as possible so we contacted Jo at The Walled Garden at Mells, who uses seasonal British flowers to create her bouquets and displays, and talked through our ideas. She created the bouquets, buttonholes and corsages for us and delivered them along with buckets of flowers, which we arranged in vases and jars for the aisle and the tables. We were so impressed with how she interpreted my rambling ideas – the flowers looked amazing and were just what we wanted.
Quick Decisions
We bought Leigh’s chocolate brown suit from House of Fraser. It was one of those serendipitous moments – he walked into the shop, saw the suit and liked it, realised there were only a few left and one was in his size, and that it was even in the sale. He looked dead cute in it too!
Natural Romance
Photography was actually one of the first things we sorted out – we found Emma and Ian from Big Bouquet online and loved the style and quality of their wedding photography. When we met up and described what we had in mind (natural, informal photos with a romantic feel) we realised that they were on our wavelength completely and we felt really confident about working with them. They were consummate professionals on the day, unobtrusive and generally great to have around. Plus, the resulting photos were absolutely beautiful and captured the day perfectly.
The Perfect Cake
Leigh isn’t overly keen on fruit cake, and as the wedding was going to be quite a small informal affair, we didn’t feel that a big ornate iced number was really in keeping. We looked online for inspiration and found the perfect cake on Maisie Fantasie’s website – a vanilla sponge with a buttercream and raspberry filling and fresh fruit. Yum.
Blues Soul And Rock N Roll
We both love music, so we were really keen to have a live band in the evening. The Supershakers can appear as either a two, three or four piece, with the option of an added horn section if you fancy it. We asked them to play as an acoustic three piece, which worked out really well for our small wedding as their sound wasn’t too overwhelming but they still managed to get everyone dancing. They performed a varied set of Blues, Soul and Rock’n’Roll and we loved them!
D.I.Y Favours
Initially I really wanted to make French macarons for favours. But as it got closer to the wedding I realised that I was probably giving myself too hard a job, so we decided to go for fudge instead. I made four different flavours (vanilla, white chocolate, caramel and chocolate, and peanut butter), and it worked really well. We used recycled boxes for the containers, and used bird and alphabet stamps to decorate them (papernation.co.uk is great for stationery).
Delicious decor
We were very lucky as the venue was already beautiful, so we didn’t need to add too much in the way of extra decoration. There was a gorgeous willow tree in the garden, which we added ribbon and paper lanterns to. Apart from that we just put up a bit of bunting and dotted some candles and lanterns around the patio.
Do It Your Way
The one thing we’d say to anyone planning their wedding is don’t worry about going away from tradition or doing things differently. If you want things to be a certain way do it, your family and friends will love it as it reflects who you are!
Venue – The Mill at Gordleton
Dress Boutique – Cocoa Couture
Accessories – House of Istria
Florist – The Walled Garden at Mells
Cake – Maisie Fantasie
Photography – Big Bouquet
Seriously, how gorgeous was that?
I want to find an excuse for bright lanterns, streamers and huge buttercream cakes in my garden.
Actually…
Who needs an excuse?
Big Friday Love
Charlotte xxx
J’adore.
Merci Boucoup.
WHAT a dress. Three weeks? I think the dress designer deserves a whoop whoop (we’ve not done one in a while).
Happy Friday everyone
x
A definite whoop whoop for the dress designer – what a Saint – I don’t know if it’s just me but since I’ve started planning my wedding I’ve decided against several suppliers that I’ve spoken to due to a slightly snooty “can’t do” attitude.
I would like to say a massive thanks for the images of an often overlooked detail – the buttonholes. I have sent florists these rambling ideas of what I want the buttonholes to look like “no – I don’t want alternating white and pink spray roses!” – and these are EXACTLY what I had in my head. So thanks a million! xx
oh the streamers, oh the lanterns… I was tempted with having lanterns at our wedding but it didn’t quite happen – this wedding would have made my decison very easy. And it would have been yes.
A delcious wedding for a sunny Friday.
I LOVE the coloured ribbons and the pretty pumps. It’s like a Midsummer Night’s Dream!
Px
Sigh, Lovely!
That is all.
Love this wedding.
Those colourful ribons and lanterns are so beautiful and bring such a happy feeling to it…
And Im sorry I cant stop but stare at the bride, she is gorgeous!! Love her make up/dress/hair do/hair flower, well you get it!
Now, lets hope 5 o’clock will come around quickly. It’s Friday! Hooray!!! Xxxx
Wow, those ribbons are just too cute!
And the cake? A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
I LOVE all of these images and I am totally going to steal some of the ideas for our outdoor engagement party. The dress is absolutely stunning and has made me realise that I can marry (excuse the pun!) vintage things with something new that really fits me. Hurrah for these newlyweds! Beckie K x
you literally cannot be sad when there are multicoloured streamers in front of you, a totally steal-able idea for any kind of outdoor soiree!
and that cake looks so delicious, its not even 9am and I could so eat a piece of that right now – buttercream and raspberry filling? yes please!
love. this. wedding
mrs r.now x x x
This wedding is so beautiful, I love the colours and the lanterns are so simple but look stunning. The postcards are a lovely idea, I wanted to do that myself but couldn’t find any that were affordable in the numbers we needed Helen & Leigh if your reading I’d love to know where you got them from!
Hi Laura
Glad you like the photos! We got the postcards from papernation.co.uk – they’re not that cheap but the designs are ace.
Helen
xx
So gorgeously English – I love it! (and that cake is amazing as well!) The flowers are just perfect and it makes me ache for hazy summer days….
Hello Lovelies
I am seriously considering decorating my garden this weekend!!!
Anyone else having lanterns/streamers for W-day?
Charlotte xxx
This is so beautiful, Im loving the vibrant colours and the way they have been added so creatively with ribbon and paper lanterns. Such an inspiration for the DIY bride. As always RMW you feature some fab weddings x
Our lanterns arrived yesterday! Love a lantern, but am undecided about lighting them up or not?
We have just been to Maisie Fantasie for a tasting…out of this world!!
Yum yum
x
Oooo I lurve this wedding! The tree with the lanterns and ribbon is gorgeous and so what I want to create (in 3 weeks time, eeekk!)
I want to mush my face in that cake and I can’t believe that dress was made from scratch in 1 month! It’s amazing! That shows all the dress shop attendants who insist you have to choose your dress at the least 6 months in advance!
Oh the flowers are so pretty too!
Love this wedding!
xXx
What a stunning wedding, i’m in love with paper lanterns so the decor is right up my street! Yummy!!
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My purse is now 50 quid lighter…..Thanks for introducing me to papernation! My H2b probably won’t feel the same! But i’ve been struggling with the guest book and we only have 2 weeks to go!
Georgeous wedding! Soooooooooooo pretty. x
Really inspirational….a lovely wedding.