Most of the décor from today’s rustic farm wedding came from car boot sales. Laura and Patch seem to have a bit of an obsession with them as you’ll see…
The inspiration for their colour scheme actually came from a piece of painted, rusting metal and their brilliant DIY photo booth was made by Laura and her Dad from rescued bits and bobs. Their efforts look perfect in the gorgeous barn at Herons Farm.
Laura’s Dad has been slowly restoring a vintage Austin A40 since she was little and so Laura chose one as her wedding car especially for him. Isn’t that lovely?
A Touch Of English Elegance
Laura The Bride: Hello 
our Venue was Herons Farm in Pangbourne. We fell in love with this location as it had everything that we were looking for. A touch of English elegance with its beautiful courtyard and gardens to the Rustic look and feel of the Barn.
Enjoy The Girly Time
I am a bit rubbish at being a girl so luckily my cousin and mum came to my rescue. My mum booked me a pedicure and manicure by a lovely lady round the corner a few nights before the big day. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this as it was good to take some time out for myself, especially as I got to spend that time with someone I love. Thanks to Teresa Clark Beauty. I may even be ever so slightly more aware of how to make the best of myself for it.
My cousin Sam used to do bridal makeup and hair professionally so I obviously took full advantage of this I was so happy with what she did, Especially as my direction was pretty poor, with statements such as tight but loose and up but down! Luckily pinterest was one of my closest pals throughout my planning so I could try to explain with pictures of what I meant.
Patrick’s cousin did a brilliant job with my bridesmaids hair I only wish I could do my own hair like this on a daily basis.
Love At First Sight
Normally I am a bit of a nightmare to go shopping with, so I’m pretty sure my Mum was probably deep down prepping herself! However much to everyone’s amazement the dress was the first one I saw in the first shop we looked at.
Yes there were many beautiful gowns which I would have loved but I fell dangerously close to marrying the dress. I was so comfortable in this dress and loved every second of being in it, extra plus it had pockets!
My dress was Kelly by Stephanie Allin purchased from Windsor Bride.
The Shoe Hunt
I was convinced that I wanted the flapper vintage style dancing shoes and I did come dangerously close to getting some Rachel Simpson shoes, but they were still not quite what I had in mind. I bought vintage shoes from ASOS Boutique which were also cute but not quite right. Then I saw them like a beacon of shinning light through my depths of despair – a pair called Trip to the Light from Seychelles Footwear.
The only problem was that they were from America and did not ship to the UK. I hunted on Ebay but could still not find them. Luckily I finally just used my brain and just asked if they would ship to the UK and low and behold my dream came true. They are the best shoes I have ever owned!
Shades Of Green
I had quite a few bridesmaids. Originally I wanted all of the bridesmaids in completely different dresses but all the similar colour. Seafoam, aqua, tiffany green and mint were all names that frequently were in my search bar.
The infinity dress from Craftingsg on Etsy allowed me to create different dresses for the older bridesmaids but which still suited each of them and that they could then wear how they wanted.
Patrick’s shoes were from Ben Sherman.
Our flower girl’s dress was from Monsoon UK.
Inspiration From The Unexpected
Patrick proposed on my birthday and we were at the time looking for our first home together. We were obsessed with carboots at this time as the things some people just don’t want any more and with a bit of paint and love can be transformed into something magnificently yours and of course everyone loves a good bargain!
I’ve always loved things that others don’t see the beauty in any more…anyway staying on track…he took me to Portabello road where I spent most of my money on a piece of metal that had been painted and then had rusted over the top – it had the most beutiful colours, we used this as our basis for the colour scheme.
Again carboots all the way – tea pots and old wooden telephone boxes and jugs for vases. Some people even gave them away at the car boots as they thought that I was doing them a favour! We used old books to place table numbers on and photographs from our parents wedding, and added a spot of vintage with suitcases and lace and pearls dotted around the venue.
Foxglove Designs
My friend Amy from Foxglove Designs is the most creative person I know. Amy did an amazing job on my flowers. Seeing that the only flower names I know are daisy and rose she managed to translate what I wanted into my beautiful bouquets and table arrangements.
I love wild flowers I think they are so beautiful.
A Personal Ceremony
Our Church was St James the Less. Such lovely people at the church and made us feel so welcome when we started to attend. My niece did us a lovely reading. We were so proud of her public speaking ability and it just made the reading that extra bit special. It was from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
Patrick’s family priest then did a very personal a funny little reading and the address.
If I’m honest what made the service so special was that I had my soul mate waiting for me at the end of the aisle and I couldn’t wait to get by his side.
Old Blue Eyes
Another great moment we will remember forever was when the car took us to the venue and as we pulled into the courtyard our Frank Sinatra singer was performing, it was like the icing on the cake that all of our hard work had paid off and everyone was there to chill and enjoy it with us whilst sipping on some good old pimms. He was a lovely chap.
We had Patrick’s dads friend do the DJ where we sure did bust out some moves. Our first dance was to The Lumineers.
Chocolate Cake For A Chocolate Fiend
My Mum made tasty chutney and marmalade as favors in dinky little farmhouse jars. I was most impressed with the skills she pulled out!
Our cake was from Marks and Spencer as Patch is a bit of a chocolate fiend and our catering was provided by the venue by RS Catering. Everyone loved the food thumbs up from us.
We did want to do a free bar so with the help of Patrick’s cousin who owns a few bars we managed to cater to everyone’s tipples.
Suffering For The Art
My first wedding purchase was from Nooli Bird stamps. This stamp was used on my wedding invitations where I then typed out the address details for church, venue and places to stay on a typewriter. It was a vintage one from the car boot so my fingers were a bit destroyed after finishing.
Table plan inspiration was from pinterest where we wrote on a mirror that we got from the good old car boot. My friend wrote on the cards as she has much prettier writing than me.
The photo booth and sign post was made by me with a bit of hands on help by my Dad.
We’d Relive It Ten Fold
We did find some aspect of planning our day stressful but would go through the stressful times ten fold to relive this day as it was worth it to see our friends and family enjoy it it with us.
It was a day filled with warm emotion because we stuck to what we wanted and ultimately got to marry each other. Stick to your guns with whatever you want to do and ask for help if you need it, as people normally just want to be involved. If things don’t go the way you hoped – roll with it as at the end of the day what matters is you and your partner!
One Piece At A Time
What can I say about Sassy our photographer?! I slightly worried that I was going to get a girl crush on her. She was the best photographer ever, so understanding and always knew what was best, we would trust her implicitly with what she thought and went with what she thought was the best move to get the right shot. As you can see it paid off to do so! She is such a lovely person too and she was such a big part of the day.
I was majorly impressed with how my friends and family pulled together and helped create our magical day which we will remember forever. My friend Vicky even produced the most beautiful video which blew us away I have watched this an unhealthy amount of times.
The car was picked not only because it went quite nicely with our theme and colours but also as my Dad is a sheet metal worker and has had this car as a shell in the garage since I was a little girl, he does a little bit by little bit into restoring it but is a slow process. It was lovely to get a ride in the same model with him.
Click here & view all images from this wedding
Bride’s Gown – Kelly by Stephanie Allin at Windsor Bride
Shoes – Seychelles Footwear
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – craftingsg on Etsy
Flower Girl – Monsoon UK
Florist – Amy at Foxglove Designs
Frank Sinatra Tribute – Book Live
Cake – Marks and Spencer
Catering – RS Catering
Car – Premier Carriage
Venue – Herons Farm
Photography – Assassynation
How gorgeous are the couple shots in the setting sun?
The tongue-in-cheek shots on the hay bales are great too.
I’m so glad Laura managed to bag her dream wedding shoes – they are beauties.
Lots of love,
Fern x