In no specific order of brilliance… Jenny Packham, Lampshades, Clark Kent Specs, Chris Barber Photography. Individually these are all fairly cool things but when these things combine the effect is a bit like when Eric eats a banana…
Allow Nat to explain:
Hit The Jackpot
Nat The Bride: Location was a major thing for myself and Martin. When we found Lyde Court we knew we’d hit the jackpot, the 17th century stone barn had a lovely church feel to it. After the wedding the venue was quickly transformed for the wedding breakfast. The thing I loved most about the venue were the antique goods such as higgledy piggledy chairs that didn’t match and old working gramophone, this fitted perfectly with our rustic theme and gave us a good starting point for decoration ideas.
Hollywood Vintage Glamour
After spending what felt like an eternity on pinterest I finally settled for a bit of Hollywood vintage glamour, I’d tried a couple of hairstyles previously and they just looked too contrived, I didn’t want to be unrecognisable on the wedding day and just wanted to look like myself but a much better version I decided to do my make-up myself as it’s quite a personal thing, it’s something us girls do every day so I knew I could do it if I just took my time. I went to MAC and got some great advice from the girls there, I brought prep + prime skin smoother, skin finish natural powder, false lash waterproof mascara, Bobby Brown SKIN foundation and ILLAMAQUA matt lipstick – colour Sangers. My make-up stayed put for most of the day till the dancing begun towards the end of the evening and by that point I was having too much fun to care if my lippy was still on. My hair was done by Hilarys Wedlocks
A Vintage Feel
My dress was from The Wedding Club and the designer was Jenny Packham, I hadn’t intended to spend so much money on a dress but as soon as I tried one of her dresses on it made me go a bit funny… in a good way. It had a vintage feel and was fitted then flared below the hips. Having a bit of junk in the trunk put me off trying on fitted dresses but as soon as I tried on a Jenny Packham I knew it was ‘the one’. The way the dress was cut and the plunging neckline made me feel ultra feminine on the wedding day. I brought vintage 1920′s silver clip on earrings from the Jewellery Quarter and shoes from untold which had a metallic fleck in the fabric which tied in with the beading on the waist band.
Grey & Navy
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The bridesmaids dresses were a marl grey in chiffon and lace from Warehouse, we took the colour theme from our invites as a starting point and worked from there, the ladies looked beautiful. For the boys we thought it would be nice to have a contrasting colour so we went for dark grey suits and baby blue ties. Martin always wanted to have a bespoke suit so decided to have classic/country themed design made by Austin Reed.
Shades & Poms
Soft pink and marl grey were the colours which were taken from our wedding stationery. We had a vintage theme which was the common thread which ran through the decor, we hung a mixture of decorated lampshades and floral paper pom poms from 45ft wooden beams, it was like mission impossible the day before to get these over the beams, but with fishing line, a couple of stones and 5 long hours of perseverance we managed to get them up. It looked amazing and was well worth the effort.
Mum Power
The table flowers were grown and arranged by my mum, we wanted bunches of gypsophila in old wine decanters. After months of my mum tending to the flowers they decided to bloom early then flopped We didn’t have as much as we thought we would so ended up doing a mad dash a couple of days before to various places to buy flowers… they looked beautiful in the end. My advice if you want to do things on the cheap then the flower markets or garden centres are a great place. My bouquet and the bridesmaids were silk flowers from Country Baskets again mum stepped in and got handy with the arrangements and ribbon.
Hot Diggety
Music was really important, we didn’t want the norm so we had a mixture to get across the sentiment of what we would be feeling at each point. Entrance music was Johnny Cash Rose of my Heart… I thought I might need ear protectors to stop me from crying all the way down the aisle but I managed to hold it together, our exit music was Hot Diggety by Perry Como which has got a more of a celebratory feel. I think my favourite part of the ceremony was first seeing Martins face with his mouth wide open, Martin saying “I give you this thing” instead of ring and of course when they pronounced us man and wife. My lovely friend Christine did a reading by Dr Seuss oh the places you’ll go, she did an amazing job.
Bring Me Sunshine
The first dance was Bring me sunshine by Morecambe and Wise this sums our relationship up perfectly as we really are partners in crime. For our evening entertainment we hired a SKA band and then we had a DJ later in the evening. The band Rudie And The Revolvers were fantastic and had everyone up and dancing I can’t rate them enough. Later in the evening my Dad was up and bopping to Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx… I never thought I would see that!
Local Nosh
Canopes and the wedding breakfast were created by Taste Menu locally sourced bangers and mash was definitely a crowd pleaser. For dessert we had Lou Almonds amazing jam jar cup cakes with layered sponge, chocolate ganache and butter cream… yum yum! Lou also created our wedding cake Our wedding favours were homemade raspberry gin made by Martin, these also doubled up as place settings on tables. They went down a storm, with a lot of wedding favours they get left on tables but the proof was in the drinking, there wasn’t a drop left and people were asking if we had any more
Tone & Colour
As a Graphic Designer the wedding stationery was particularly important as this set the tone and colour for the wedding. It was a incredibly personal project and I absolutely loved having creative control. I had so many compliments about the stationery it gave me the incentive to start my own business – Chipper & Dandy My website will be up and running very soon with an expanding range of boutique style invitations, stationery and decoration. For the decoration we scoured ebay, charity shops and car boot sales for vintage lampshades, wine decanters and picture frames, the beauty of the venue with nothing matching meant we didn’t have every table the same which made it more personal. Table centrepieces were old wine bottles with vintage lampshades on top and labels created by Chipper & Dandy along with the rose paper bunting.
Creative Control
We had such an amazing day everything was perfect, it was informal, quirky and relaxed. In hindsight I think I gave myself too much to do with all the handmade items as I wanted to have creative control. I would say delegate, people like to be involved and will be happy that they’ve helped you. Get comfortable shoes, my heels were far to tall, my feet were still hurting 2 days after from all the dancing. I hope that we’ve given you a bit of inspiration for your wedding day. Good luck beautiful brides!
Click here & view all images from this wedding
Va Va Voom Venue Lyde Court
Bootiful Boutique The Wedding Club
Dapper Dress Jenny Packham
Superstar Shoes untold
Prancy Dancy Photographer Chris Barber Photography
Marvellous Maids Warehouse
Gorgy Groom Austin Reed
Fluffy Flowers Country Baskets
Boom Boom Band Rudie And The Revolvers
Fantastic Food Taste Menu
Cakey Cake Lou Almonds
Sexy Sexy Stationery Chipper & Dandy
Not to bang on about stationery yet again but I blomin’ love it and it is so important, as Nat points out, in setting up the day. Let’s face it – it’s the first and probabaly only clue your guests will receive about the theme, dress code, style and mood of your shindig before they turn up on the big day it’s self. Check out Nat’s work at Chipper & Dandy.
Of course different people have different priorities and that’s what makes the world such a beautiful and interesting place to live… But for me it’s all about the Stationery. STATIONERY!!!! it’s great. Of course you do need a kick-ass dress too. Check.
And an amazing band… Check. And great person incharge of the magic picture box… Check.
And lampshades.
Adam.