Hannah’s Benjamin Roberts gown looks absolutely divine on her – and like her lovely new husband Dom, I would also encourage her to wear figure hugging outfits more often! In fact, if I was her, I’d just wear my lacy fishtail bridal gown EVERY DAY.
I’d also wear my AMAZING J Crew statement necklace, oh and definitely my Jimmy Choo’s too.
And, as if you needed any more encouragement to overdose on Etsy – the stationery, décor, buttonholes and favours all come from Hannah’s Etsy store – The Lanes Lifestyle.
Keeping It Local
Hannah The Bride: Being a home bird a local wedding was always part of our plan, I’d forever dreamt of getting married at the church in the village I grew up in so this decision was easy! Dom met up with our guests before the ceremony for a beer at our local pub, a stones throw from the church. The reception was at Prestwold Hall, a stunning stately home in the Leicestershire countryside and a perfect backdrop for our big day.
Figure Hugging Surprise
As is the case for most brides, I braced myself for a long, painstaking search for the perfect dress. Surprisingly I fell in love with the second dress I tried on, an ivory lace fishtail dress from designer Benjamin Roberts at Bradgate Brides wedding boutique.
Dom always moans that I never wear anything to show off my curves so I thought I’d surprise him in this figure hugging frock!
Messy Up Do
With a statement dress and jewellery I needed to keep hair and make up simple – the less is more approach. I went for a simple messy up do with fresh ivory peonies. I scoured Pinterest for hours looking for inspiration and then let my hair dresser – Helen @ Salon 57 work her magic on creating the look.
A talented family friend did our make up which again I kept simple with blush tones from Chanel and Mac.
Accessory Perfection
On the day I got as many compliments about my necklace as I did my dress! I stumbled across my J Crew necklace whilst in New York as soon as I saw it I knew it was the one. It’s true what they say… you fall in love when you least expect it!
My little brother gave me a Tiffany locket the night before the wedding which I wore as a bracelet on the day… What a sweetheart!
Teamed with a pair of killer Jimmy Choo heels my look was complete.
Boy In Blue
Dom wore a navy suit which was tailor made by Moss Bros Bespoke with tan brogues from Bertie at John Lewis and a navy spotted tie from Next – he even had the date of our wedding embroidered inside his suit jacket.
I made the rustic looking feather and pussy willow button holes which are available to buy from Etsy shop The Lanes Lifestyle.
Navy, Tan And Gold
My two bridesmaids wore navy maxi dresses from French Connection and rose gold sandals from Kurt Geiger.
I bought them both beautiful rose gold bracelets from Orelia. They do gorgeous jewellery at really great prices – perfect if you have lots of bridesmaids!
Our flower girl Naimh wore a vintage inspired dress from Monsoon and the page boy and groomsmen all wore navy three piece suits with tan brogues, all from Next.
Our Own Wedding Showcase
We created a simple, English country look with a vintage glam twist. We spent months hunting at antique fairs for vintage suitcases, antique typewriters, old books and kilner jars to perfect to the look.
I run an online wedding decoration and stationery boutique The Lanes Lifestyle so I was extremely excited to showcase our products at our own wedding!! The table runners, complimenting chair sashes and bunting were all made from hessian and vintage lace.
Our scented candles in jam jars as favours for the ladies and lottery tickets in vintage envelopes for the men went down treat.
Simple But Vintage Inspired
Dom’s cousin is a talented florist so we were delighted when she offered to do our flowers. I went for a vintage inspired but simple look with Gypsophila hand ties with blush coloured trailing ribbon for the bridesmaids and also for the pew ends in the church, it was so effective.
My bouquet had huge ivory hydrangeas with cream and blush peonies and again the trailing blush ribbon softened the look.
The tables had a mixture of twisted willow and ivory hydrangeas in tall vases and kilner jars with hydrangeas, gypsophila and peonies, the room smelt amazing!
A Traditional Ceremony
We had a traditional ceremony in the church I could see from my bedroom window, it was perfect. My little brother gave me away and did a great job of pulling me together before walking down the aisle, as soon as I saw Dom at the front my nerves just melted away. We had a family friend read a poem called Wedded Bliss by Clouson Macleod.
We added our own personal touches… We arrived in a vintage camper van from VW days – I could hardly ignore Dom’s one request for the day!
We also hired Manor House Music’s string duo they played a mixture of classical and popular music throughout the service – they really were fantastic and I’m so glad we booked them.
Exclusively Ours
The house and grounds at Prestwold were exclusively ours for the day. The sun shone, the cocktails flowed and our faces ached from smiling and laughing – what more could you ask for. Our wedding co ordinator Sarah Hitchcock was brilliant, nothing was too much trouble.
We hired Shine, a Leicestershire band at night. They were fantastic and had everyone up dancing to their mix of indie and mowtown. We chose a more upbeat first dance – temper trap ‘sweet disposition’ as we don’t really do soppy!
Incredible Food
The food was just incredible. Head chef Marcus Lockwood put together an amazing menu that had us drooling to moment the canapés were served. On arrival we sipped on gin and elderflower cocktails with lavender and hip hip hurray striped straws (available from The Lanes Lifestyle and we went for bottles of corona to tempt the boys.
Neither of us are fans of fruit cake and have a slight obsession with Krispy Kreme donuts. So it made perfect sense to have two huge donut towers for our guests to fill their face on. We saved so much money by doing this and had guests fighting to to the front to get their favourite flavour! We had a small top tier that we decorated with hessian and lace and a ‘just married’ bunting cake topper.
The Lanes Lifestyle
I chose my favourite design from The Lanes Lifestyle collection for the invites. I also created RSVP postcards which we loved receiving back through the post in the run up to the wedding!
The feather luggage tag name cards again from the lanes looked stunning on the tables. Our menus and table numbers were written in chalk on old books covered in blackboard paint.
I’m forever forgetting confetti at other people’s wedding so our usher gave out confetti made from vintage books in brown paper bags.
Maintain The Buzz
Make time for each other – we had thirty minutes after dinner when Matt took us of for some photos of just us two, it gave us a little time with each other which was perfect. We looked back at the house with all of our closest friends and family enjoying themselves, it’s a moment I will never forget.
Have fun!!! We made a deal with each other that at 9pm we would stop mingling, hit the dance floor and dance the night away.
Maintain the buzz – there was a thirty minute drive between the church and the venue and we wanted our guests to stay on a high…so we did a CD for each car with songs that reminded us of fun times with family and friends that were at the wedding. We introduced each song and they loved it.
We had a bit of fun with out guest book by providing guests with a book and Polaroid camera – they took their own picture, stuck it in the book and wrote their message. It worked brilliantly and it created a second album of funny photos.
Treasure For A Lifetime
Matt Parry our photographer was the first thing we booked after we got engaged and it was the best money we spent throughout the whole day! We hate posing for pictures and his relaxed, reportage style combined with the fact that Matt is such a genuinely nice guy out us at ease and provided us with pictures that we will treasure for a lifetime!
Click here & view all images from this wedding
Hair – Helen @ Salon 57
Brides Necklace – J Crew
Brides Dress – Benjamin Roberts at Bradgate Brides
Shoes – Jimmy Choo
Bridesmaid Dresses – French Connection
Flower girl dress – Monsoon
Grooms Outfit – Moss Bros Bespoke
Page boy outfit – Next
Groomsmens outfits – Next
Venue – Prestwold Hall
VW Campervan – VW Days
String Duo – Manor House Music
Evening Band – Shine
Stationery, favours, decorations and button holes – The Lanes Lifestyle
Photographer – Matt Parry
Wasn’t that dress literally made for Hannah??
I love her messy up-do too.
The idea of making CD’s for the journey from the church to the reception venue is genius!
And how gorgeous is the subtle navy, tan and gold colour scheme?
Lots of love,
Fern x