Inspiration

The lovely lady behind the styling of today's vintage inspired wedding is Katie, the designer and stylist otherwise known as The Vintage House That Could. If you're after a vintage vibe for your big day, full of quirky details and fabulous florals then she's your gal. Katie also has a dreamy insta feed if you're on the hunt for a new account to swoon over. (Oh and if you want to snoop even more, we featured a home tour of her gorgeous home on our sister site, Rock My Style a while ago)...we're big Katie fans here - as you can tell! And clearly so are today's bride and groom, Kat and Adam, who put their complete faith in Katie to execute a relaxed yet stylish occasion for them. And I think it's safe to say, she pulled it off immaculately...

The Venue

Kat the Bride: We viewed several venues in the Derbyshire area but fell in love with Yeldersley Hall straight away. We love being outdoors and were very excited about being able to make the most of having such a beautiful outdoor space and the blank canvas of the marquee. Andrew, the owner of Yeldersley makes everything so easy and we loved the relaxed DIY vibe and the flexibility of choosing our own suppliers. The accommodation for all of our close family and friends was a brilliant bonus. We had exclusive use of the venue from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon and it was so chilled out.

The Styling

From the very start the wedding had to be relaxed and informal with great food and drink. We wanted it to look stylish too and this is where Katie came in from The Vintage House That Could. Katie made everything so easy and took control of all of the décor inside and out, one of my first bits of advice would be to hire a venue stylist as this is a huge weight off your mind. Our focus throughout was that everyone would be relaxed, comfortable and have fun. We absolutely loved all of our stationery, which was designed bespoke by Robert Rusch, he created our invitation suite and order of service with quotes that we picked on the backs.

The Bride

I wasn’t sure what style of dress I wanted until I tried mine on! I felt so comfortable but also glamorous in it and I loved the vintage feel. The dress was from the Ronald Joyce collection called Ellie in light gold and I found it in Brides & Gowns in Derby, I also got my veil from here and I was so happy that I found it early on. The dress was also the inspiration for much of what Katie designed, after I showed her she was very excited to bring a touch of Art Deco into the scheme. Because the dress was so ornate I decided against any jewellery and my shoes were an absolute bargain from Miss Selfridge!

The Groom

Adam was sure that he wanted a blue suit and finally chose this from French Connection, his brown shoes were a slight bone of contention but he settled on some from Zara! The tie was from ASOS and we chose a champagne colour to tie in with the underlay in my dress and the soft tones of the flowers.

The Wedding Party

Bridesmaid dresses were from Coast and they chose their own shoes and my cute little flower girl who did a great job of handing out the confetti wore a dress from Monsoon.

The Details

We were so lucky with the weather on the day which meant our guests could mingle and chill out in the beautiful gardens and Katie set up a Beer pick ‘n’ mix station with ice buckets and lots of beer! We really wanted live entertainment outside and we were so lucky to hire acoustic duo Mango from Market Harborough who have won lots of awards and were amazing during the drinks reception and wedding breakfast. We asked for a large ‘Best Day Ever’ banner, which Katie hung in the trees and provided lots of photo entertainment.

The Food

Our caterers were The Butlers Pantry from Derby who supplied our guests with lovely canapés in the garden and then served up a gorgeous feast in the marquee and a cheese table in the evening. We chose the most delicious cake, which doubled up as our dessert and Nat from Yummy Little Cakes didn’t disappoint with a double chocolate brownie cake beautifully presented with some extra flowers from our wonderful florist and styled on a vintage chest of drawers by Katie.

The Flowers

The flowers were really important to me and after lots of recommendations I went with Nadia – she was fabulous and offered lots of advice on which flowers to choose. As it was May I knew I wanted peonies and they were absolutely stunning along with roses and eucalyptus. Nadia used Katie’s vintage glass vases to style the flowers for the tables and created all of the bouquets and buttonholes.

The Marquee

The styling in the marquee surpassed our expectations. Katie had used hanging flowers down the centre of the marquee, which really had the wow factor along with rose gold sequined runners to bring in the glamour. She used her vintage decanters for our handmade Limoncello - our favours and vintage glass vases for the flowers. We didn’t have a specific colour scheme but Katie used lots of copper and rose gold in both the marquee and ceremony room. The many candle lanterns and copper frames in the ceremony room looked amazing when I walked in as this was a surprise and I couldn’t have been happier as it all worked so well in the room. Katie had also used vintage 1930’s mirrors on an Art Deco wallpaper screen as the seating plan, which we loved and was another lovely surprise. Because we trusted her so much we were more than happy to let her work her magic. One thing we asked for was an outdoor gentleman’s lounge where the men (and ladies) could smoke cigars and drink whiskey and brandy! Katie used all of her vintage furniture for this including a standard lamp and thankfully the rain held off so we could use it all night. Everyone loved this and lots of pictures were taken in this space.

The Photography

Our photographer Paul Lyon was brilliant. After being recommending by a friend who also hired him for their wedding we looked at his website and loved his style of photography. Paul loved the surroundings as much as we did and captured the feel of the day perfectly, we love our pictures.

Advice

My advice to others getting married is get organised, good suppliers get booked up so quickly and I am so pleased we managed to secure everyone that we wanted by booking early. My other piece of advice is this, make time to be with your new husband during the day, the temptation is to mingle and catch up with old friends and then before you know it the day is over. We danced all night and had the best time. It really was our BEST DAY EVER!
Fern Godfrey

Written by Fern Godfrey

Venue: Yeldersley Hall | Styling: The Vintage House That Could | Bride: Ronald Joyce | Boutique: Brides & Gowns | Shoes: Miss Selfridge | Groom: French Connection | Bridesmaids: Coast | Flower Girl: Monsoon | Entertainment: Mango Acoustic | Catering: The Butlers Pantry | Cake: Yummy Little Cakes | Flowers: Nadia Di Tullio

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