Laurie & Ian

This gorgeous humanist wedding took place in a massive open field in the South Wales Valleys, with picturesque views of Cardiff and the Bristol Chanel in the distance. Filling their marquee reception with the prettiest rustic details and foliage to resemble the chic Italian Riviera. And my does it look pretty. Wait until you see the aisle arch and sharing platters. You would never know from the pictures captured by Rachel Lambert Photography that it rained moments before the ceremony started, especially after viewing all the gorgeous portrait shots of the Bride & Groom in the woods with blue skies, fluffy white clouds and lush greenery as their backdrop. I love, love, love Laurie's bridal look. From her beaded lace Enzoani gown with illusion neckline to her bespoke cuff and headpiece. She just looks absolutely stunning. As do her bridesmaids in fabulous twobirds platinum gowns. Plus her Choo's. Not jealous, not jealous at all. This gorgeous wedding culminates in a live band, fireworks and lots of sparklers, and a couple full of love sealing their family bond by having the time of their lives.

The Wedding

Laurie the Bride: We wanted an outdoor wedding - the overall vision was to use rustic Italian styling with a more luxury and chic twist - the most important thing was that our guests had an enjoyable and memorable experience. We wanted the colour scheme to feature lots of white, neutrals, sage green, fig and blush mixed with herbs and foliage.

Wedding Planner

Not long after having a baby I was finding it hard to get all my ideas for the wedding together and so I contacted Jessie Thompson luxury wedding designer and planner for some help...she was amazing and helped pull all the ideas we had together and her experience helped us make our dream a reality, she was just a phone call away for advice throughout the whole planning process.

Dress & Accessories

My dress was an Enzoani blue collection dress from Laura May Cardiff, my veil was also from Laura May Bridal. The Headpiece and cuff that I wore was bespoke and handmade by Alison Tod Couture Milliner. My shoes were Jimmy Choo.

Bridesmaids

the bridesmaid dresses were platinum Twobirds dresses - the girls loved that the dresses could be worn to suit their figures and individual styles and said how comfortable they were on the day. They looked beautiful.

Groomsmen

The Groomsmen suits wore hired from Moss Bros, Ted Baker hire range. Ian's suit was from Reiss Cardiff and tailored to fit by Reiss also.

Flowers

Flowers were the main decor and were absolutely stunning, the floral chandeliers that lined the centre of the marquee were my favourite design aspect and were such a focal point. The flowers were organic and natural in style and created by Westwood Design.

Venue

We got married on land owned by my parents overlooking the most amazing views of the valley surrounding Lower Machen with Cardiff bay, the millennium stadium and the river Severn in the distance. We literally felt like we were on top of the world. The marquee had amazing 360 views and we tried to bring as much of the outdoors in as possible, leaving the grass floor in the ceremony marquee and using trees and foliage to create a rustic, natural feel in the reception Marquee. The marquees, rustic wooden tables and vintage furniture were all hire from County Marquees. The olive trees and bay trees were hired and beautifully put together by Sarah Jones Gardens. She couldn't have done enough for us!

Lighting

Creating the right atmosphere was so important to me, I wanted the day to be as romantic and atmospheric as possible and I think lighting played a big part in this...we had as much candle light as possible - hurricane lanterns hanging over the dance floor and decorating the outside terrace area, the forest lit with up lighters and cafe lighting outside the marquee adding to the Italian chic feel. We had a ridiculous number of candles decorating the tables all in amazing vintage bronze candelabras or glass votives. The candelabras were hired from Helen Millot along with the bronze eclectic mix cutlery and crystal glasswear that created the rustic, shabby chic look.

Cake

Our cake was lovingly made by the best cake maker I know - a family friend Christine Edwards who made all of the cakes for our sweet table and provided all of the vintage cake stands...I wanted the cake to look rustic and simple and Christine just got it straight away, our wedding cake was perfect, I loved it. The naked cake that she also made (as I couldn't make my mind up which to have!) was to die for and absolutely stunning! The lady is a genius!

Stationery

Our Stationery was bespoke and created by Something Kinda Cute - they were natural and organic and we tied fresh rosemary to them - which our guests loved.

Videographer

Aurora, we're just amazing, the video edit they made and played for the whole wedding party during the evening reception captured every moment of our day and was just stunning, it brought every thing together and our evening guests felt like they had been part of the whole day.

Photographer

Rachel Lambert was amazing, we can't thank her enough, she went over and above to help us on the day sorting hats and arranging button holes, last minute wardrobe issues and calming my nerves when we were running late! We didn't want formal pictures and wanted Rachel to capture natural moments through out the day - that's exactly what she did, we didn't know she was there and the way she worked was so relaxed...the pictures speak for themselves!

Entertainment

I loved the idea of walking down the isle to live music and when we heard Tim Cronin in Cardiff Bay one Sunday afternoon we knew he would be perfect...walking down the aisle to Thinking Out Loud is still my favourite moment...Thank you Tim. We really wanted live music and wanted to find a band that could get everyone up on their feet dancing that also had a vintage look and feel and Victorianna certainly did that. The dance floor was packed and the emergency flip flops needed to ease those tired dancing feet.

Food

We wanted to the food to be just as relaxed as the rest of the day and having the shared antipasti to start really added to this, our guests were able to meet and chat over sharing food and it really did add to the atmosphere...everything was delicious and our guests were raving about the food...from the canapés to the pizza and fish and chips we had in the evening. Gary and his team at Strawberry Fields Catering were so helpful and professional from start to finish.

Transport

I arrived at the venue in a gorgeous vintage silver Beetle called 'Seren Haf' by Love Dub - our driver was so friendly and helped keep me calm on the long drive to the venue.