This is one of those family-home weddings where you just think WOW, I wish my parents lived in a house where I could get married. I mean, it's just beautiful. Not only are the house and gardens wedding-worthy, but there's a church a stones throw away. The only thing Lucy and Andre needed next was a family friend with an epic vintage motor to bring them back up the drive. And low and behold, their neighbour lent them a vintage Porsche tractor. Quite possibly the most perfect wedding transportation I've ever seen. Lucy looks stunning in Grace Loves Lace, the dress fits her like a glove and she's a GLL bride through and through. I'm loving the bridesmaids in all-white too, they look so summery, just perfect for this classic British countryside wedding.

Calling In Favours

Lucy & Andre: When it came to planning our wedding the only thing we were set on from the start is that we wanted to do it our own way, we didn’t want to conform to every tradition. My bridesmaids wore white, we didn’t have a ‘first dance’ or ‘cutting of the cake’ and although we got married in a church it was a very informal atmosphere. We had an AMAZING gospel choir who encouraged people to clap and sing along, there was so much whooping, laughing and dancing throughout the ceremony and we had so many comments from guests saying it was the funniest ceremony they had ever been to! I think the best advice we got given when we first started planning our wedding was to pull in favours, use your friends and family as much as you can because most likely they will want help and to be involved as much a possible. And wow...we could not have expected how many willing helping hands we had! We are insanely lucky that we have many amazing friends and family who helped us with our DIY wedding as without them none of it would have been possible.

Family Home Wedding In The Cotswolds With Vintage Porsche Tractor

First of all the venue, which was my parent's house in the Cotswolds, it was a no-brainer that we would get married there. The house is so beautiful and from the day my parents moved in they had people telling them it would be the most perfect wedding venue one day. And wasn’t it just!!! My parents put so much hard work into the garden to make it look absolutely stunning for the day. It was also incredibly convenient as the church where we got married is at the bottom of the house’s driveway. My parent's neighbours are car fanatics and they let us borrow their amazing 1950’s Porsche tractor to drive from the church in and a beautiful classic car for my bridesmaids.

Grace Loves Lace Wedding Dress

It’s funny how people say you will get a dress completely different of what you originally had in mind because my experience couldn’t have been the opposite! My dress was the first dress that I ever pinned on Pinterest. It was so comfy I didn’t want to take it off and for me comfort is key..I didn’t want to be one of those brides who couldn’t move in their dress however fabulous it may look. My Grace Loves Lace dress was stretchy but still sophisticated with the high neck, long sleeves and then an incredible low back. Urgh...still swooning at it! My veil was my ‘something borrowed’ from my godmother which was really special and my shoes and anklets were a gift from Grace Loves Lace after some serious teething issues with my dress..it all worked out in the end though. It was important to me that my bridesmaids were in dresses they felt comfortable in. I had an idea that I wanted them in white with flower crowns and looking boho, so that narrowed down my search enormously. As soon as I saw the dresses from Chi Chi London I knew they would be perfect with white heeled Espadrilles which they all loved as they were so comfy they wore them all day and night.

The Groom

André wanted something rustic and country to fit in with the vibe of our wedding. Because he’s so tall he had a bespoke suit made for him from a small local tailor. His groomsmen wore Primark chinos (honestly don’t knock them their chinos are so good for the price) and waistcoats hired from Moss Bros.

Bringing The Outside In

Inside the marquee, we wanted to create a country forest style with lots of foliage and tried to bring the outside in. Flint Marquees provided us with a marquee with see-through sides so that you could see the beautiful garden from the inside. The amazing leaf plates were from Classic Crockery and the rest of the table decorations we got in charity shops and foraged from the garden where we live. Our really close family friends run a printing company so as a wedding present they did all or our printing for us which carries on with the same country forest theme throughout.

The Flowers

My maid of honor is a florist and she offered to do our flowers as a wedding present and oh my god were they incredible. As her name describes (The Allotment Florist) she grows as many of the flowers as she can from her allotment and the results are beautifully wild and rustic. We wanted loads of foliage inside the marquee but the rest I left to her and she did not disappoint, our favorites were the amazing hanging foliage hoops she did for inside the marquee.

The Photography

I found Virginia through Instagram and fell in love with her relaxed unobtrusive style. Her shots are so natural and she has exceeded all our expectations with the photos. We feel so lucky that we found her!

Advice

Make sure you sit down as a couple and decide the things that are really important to you that you would like to spend a bit more on and then the things which you can afford to scrimp on. For us, the biggest one was the band. We had a 12 piece soul band called Motown Gold and it was the best money we ever spent. The things we cut back on was the food, which was done by a family friend and turned out to be so incredible we had guests standing up to toast the truffle mac and cheese halfway through the meal because it was so good!