When the team behind the wedding is as fabulous as todays is, you just know the result is going to be gorgeous. Darina Stoda worked her magic on the lens, Swaffham & Fakenham Florist created beauty in the marquee and The Little Lending Co's props and signs really pulled together the 'woodland luxe' wedding theme. Bride Megan is a florist herself, so naturally knows a thing or two about weddings. Tony works in the timber industry and created the incredible personalised wooden place mats for guests. Such a gorgeous piece of decor and the perfect wedding favour, all rolled into one.

Wooden Luxe Wedding

Megan the Bride: The theme of our wedding was to keep it all personal to us. This started with choosing the date, as being a florist it had to be in the months when my favourite flowers were available and wanting a garden wedding we decided May was the best choice. I grew up in Shouldham and since walking up the church aisle as Mary in the school nativity I knew I would always want to get married there. The reception was then held in Tony’s Parents garden as Tony had many childhood memories playing there and we really wanted somewhere we could have a marquee so it was a blank canvas. Our theme was Woodland Luxury, keeping it very natural lots of foliage with touches of luxury like sequin table clothes and large statement table pieces.

Drinks & Entertainment

The key to us was we wanted the guest to have a fun and relaxed day, we always find at wedding the bit we dislike the most is the arrival drinks part waiting for the food so we decided this was the bit we wanted to spend money on, and make awesome. We had lots of different drinks on offer including our own megatone gin cocktail, pimms, pints of beer, cloudy lemonade, fruit ciders and ale. We had lots of tasty canapes. We hired garden games including crazy golf as Tony is a keen golfer and a penalty shoot out as he loves football, a caracurist who was a massive hit and people got to keep their drawing as a token from the day. We had a band playing for everyone's arrival (They also remixed two songs to create our first dance which we had on Persian rugs outside in the garden with lots of confetti. This was probably our most favourite part of the day)!

The Styling

The look and style of the day was very important to me, I had a vision of floral trees on the tables and that’s what we created along with a meadow of flowers sitting in front of the table. Antlers were used throughout the décor with a large stag head on the front of the marquee covered in foliage. We did a big statement foliage wall across the width of the marquee as an entrance to the dancefloor. We went for soft pastel blues using hydranceas, delphinums, nigellas and thistles, with peach stocks, david Austin roses, ranunculus, white peonies and lots of foliage. As Tony works at a timber merchant we always wanted this to relate, so for everyone’s name places we made wooden boards with their names on which they could then keep. Penny at The Little Lending Company was amazing and wrote all the boards and signage, and helped style lots of different areas, including a boho corner and our cake station, which I think we had the most compliments about!

The Vintage Routemaster

A very important part of our day and a surprise for our guest was that they were all picked up on vintage route master buses and taken to the church, and then on to the venue. My grandparents who have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary and our mine and Tone's coulple inspiration met each other on the front seat of the number 37 routemaster and they have always wanted to go on one again, so to give them that journey again meant so much to us! Tony and the groomsmen travelled in the local gamekeepers beaters truck and Dad and I went in a classic Humber car.

The Food

We hired Unique Norfolk Venues to run our day and cater for all the food and drinks, as we work with them closely and I knew I had all my trust in Jaymi and she did not disappointment we even had guests comment how great the staff were and the organisation was and even wanting to book them. We had a BBQ for our food as we love cooking on the bbq and it just felt right in the garden. We finished with a passionfruit tart which was delicious and refreshing. Sandringham Red Poll steak burger with red onion marmalade in a Brioche Bun Locally reared pork sausage Butterflied Peri Peri chicken New Potato, dry cured bacon and Norfolk sea vegetable salad Roasted cherry tomato and watermelon salad with baby leaves Grilled halloumi with watermelon, roasted cherry tomato and basil mint oil Red onion coleslaw Vegetarian burger in brioche bun, New Potato and Norfolk sea vegetable salad Passion Fruit Tart, Lime Meringues, Exotic Fruit Salad and Lemon Grass Syrup My sisters then fiancé now husband, was our toastmaster and he did a superb job a highlight was when he announced us it to the marquee saying ”everyone grab your napkins and swing them around your heads and cheer for the new MR AND MRS THAXTON!!”

The Speeches

The speeches all went very well I felt it was important to also do one as I personally wanted to thank people. The speeches finished with a jager bomb as Tony and I met over a jager bomb along with an agreement if he brought me one I had to buy him a golf club...as a surprise I had brought him a personalised one which his best man presented to him.

The Bride

My plan was to have a boho floaty dress but it just didn’t suit me so I went with a luxe statin ball gown style dress with a delicate lace jacket. I had planned a flowing hand tied bouquet too but with the dress design, a trailing one suited best, a tip of mine - think of your dress when choosing your flowers. Being a florist I had to have a large bouquet. I wore Ted Baker pale blue shoes and sapphire earrings Tony has brought as birthday present and a Monica Vinader braclet he gave as a present on the wedding morning.

The Groom

Tony wore a tweed suit jacket and waist coat from Slaters and trousers, shirt tie and shoes from Ted Baker. The tweed was really fitting for garden wedding and woodland theme.

Our Honeymoon

We went to New York and the Bahamas on honeymoon two days after the wedding and had the time of our lives including a dream of swimming with pigs.

Advice

Research all your suppliers - check out their social media to look at their current work, and check it is their work. Take time throughout the day for you and your husband to stand back and watch your wedding to saviour all them memories. Make sure you enjoy the week leading up to it, as it can be stressful, organisation is the key! And there are jobs the Groom can do...even if we are a little controlling. Don’t be scared to not have children at the wedding, our guests even thanked us so they both enjoy their day. I wish I’d known...let people help! You can’t do it all!

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