Liberty Print Bridesmaids for a Country Knees Up Wedding

11.10.2011

{www} reader Hannah and her {now} husband James actually found their gorgeous wedding photographer via {www}, this fills me with such excitement and pride…. and they had just the most beautiful wedding.

Hannah looks amazing in her bespoke wedding gown, with her floral bridesmaids at her side :-) I love this multi coloured, fun and rustic countryside wedding. It has so many ideas and such creative flair, do read Hannah’s report for so much inspiration. Pretty much everything was handmade, or a family effort, so full of love and care :-)

Thanks so much to the amazing Cheshire based wedding photographer, Victoria Phipps Photography for sharing her images, here is what she had to say about the day;

“I loved photographing Hannah and James’ wedding… the whole thing was just bloody lovely! A beautiful bride and a handsome groom, Jimmy Choos, mother-of-the-bride-made bespoke floral bridesmaids dresses, tankards of ale before noon, a grade II listed crumbly-charming church, a tractor-taxi with straw-bale seats, Pimms, a fancy dress corner, vintage crockery, old family wedding photographs, a race car wedding cake, colourful balloons, joke specs and a beautiful green MG! Top all this off with the most stunning setting in a quiet corner of South Devon and what more could a photographer want?!

The happy couple were married in the 15th Century Church of St. Sylvester’s Church in the small and breezy hamlet of Chivelstone. After the ceremony Hannah and James sought shelter from the high winds, leaping into their gorgeous getaway car and bombing their way 1/2 a mile down the road to South Allington House…”

Hannah is in the process of setting up a wedding styling/hire business. In the meantime, if you would like to hire any of the lovely decorative bits you see here – table clothes, bunting, vintage china, etc do get in touch! (hannah@thisisyourkingdom.co.uk)

and..

Hannah runs This is Your Kingdom (www.thisisyourkingdom.co.uk) an insider’s guide to lovely things to see and do in the UK. They are always on the look out for savvy in-the-know folk (like you!) to share their favourite places to ‘eat, drink, walk, think, potter, ponder, snuggle, shop or sleep’ with their readers in return for a nice accreditation on the site. Discover lovely things to do near you or share your fave thing (http://www.thisisyourkingdom.co.uk/send-us-your-favourite-things/)

The Proposal…. Tres romantic and unexpected, despite 8 years of (not so) patient waiting..! Sorry for being a bit lazy but I actually wrote an article on our engagement for this brilliant site – do have a look as it has all the deets (and more!)

The Vision for the day…. Our main objective was for our wedding to really represent us a couple.. We wanted it to be nicely done with lots of pretty touches, with a laid back atmosphere and English Garden Party/Country Knees up feel.. However, our prime concern was that we wanted our guests (and us!) to have lots of fun! Lots of effort went into making this happen with each element of the wedding was painstakingly mulled over until we felt we had come up with a unique and personal way of doing something..

The Planning process…. The majority of the planning was done my me (Hannah) and my dear Mum (Janine) – we started in May 2010 with the big things.. the venue, church, date, caterers, marquee… and gradually ticked off our to do list to move on to the more fun, personal bits – favours, marquee decoration, scouring the country for trinkets (my favourite part!!).. Jim’s Mum got busy making metres and metres of gorgeous bunting and did a brilliant job of collecting boxes of pretty vintage china too.

The Venue…It tool a while to find but golly it was worth the wait.. Being a Devon lass I had a vision of having our reception in a marquee overlooking the gorgeous coastline of South Devon.. After gallivanting around the county on numerous fruitless trips we finally came across South Allington House in the South Hams. Mum, Dad and I knew it was perfect the moment we set eyes on it.. a gorgeous old rectory at the base of a lush green valley filled with old oak trees and sheep and the odd waddling duck – all located 2 miles from one of Devon’s best beaches (Lannacombe) – this really was ‘darling buds of may’ perfick Devon for us.. The house has been owned by the same family for years and has a very personal, homely feel – we booked it up straight away along with the 3 onside cottages and giant camp site which meant we could have a proper weekend knees up with all our friends onsite/nearby

The Dress + Accessories….. One of my key objectives when sourcing bits and bobs for the wedding was to, where possible, work with local people. I found Sarah Treble’s website through google and immediately made an appointment to meet with her at her Topsham (now Exeter) studio. I knew from the off that she was the one as she seemed to ‘get’ exactly what I was after – I had utter faith that she would produce something very in-keeping with the wedding and very.. me. After an initial consultation she sent me through 8 beautiful hand drawn illustrations showing different design ideas. She then made up a toile based on our favourite aspects of each design which was fitted and tweaked, re-fitted, re-made and, once we were certain on each aspect of the dress – the finished piece was made up. It’s not often you get a chance to (help!) design your own dress and Sarah made the whole experience just amazing – we chose the fabric together, discussed colours and Mum and I even got to go scouring Honiton for vintage lace and buttons. I felt so so special on the day yet very comfortable and still very much like me.. I know Jim approved too. I absolutely LOVE my wedding dress it is something I will treasure forever.

The Readings + Music…. Readings: one of my dear friends Tor was kind enough to do our bible reading and Jim’s Dad read a lovely Irish Blessing which produced a bit of a teary eyed moment for us both!

Music: I absolutely love Pachebel’s Canon in D and knew that was the one for walking down the isle – I found a brilliant local quartet called … who played both before and during the service. They even managed to get the music to … from Master and Commander at extremely short notice – I did not even know they had managed to get hold of it until I heard it playing during our signing of the register.. lovely stuff.

My husband has an obsession with Herp Albert – it therefore seemed only fitting that we encorporated this type of music into the big day.. I managed to track down a brass band called The Bavarian Strollers – who turned up on the day kitted out in full leiderhosen – they were absolutely BRILLIANT and even learnt a few Herp Albert songs much to Jim’s delight.

For the evening we wanted a band that appealed to both old and young – we were recommended Honest John Band by a friend and booked them immediately as they sounded just perfect. They played a mix of old classic rock with some modern stuff and a bit of Irish jig music too..! I have to say they really made the evening – the dance floor was packed and they didn’t even object when the stage was pretty much taken over by guests keen to make use of their blow up microphones and guitars..!

Beautiful bridesmaids….. Ah.. my lovely girls.. I had 7 (!!) bridesmaids on the big day – Nell and Luce who are Jim’s sisters, Esther, VIx, Hillery, Naomi and Sarah – all dear friends from my school days. Despite their (initial) apprehension they each wore the same liberty print summer dress, which were expertly made up by a friend of Mum’s from a vintage vogue pattern. I wanted something bright, summery and fun that flattered each of them – I have to say I think they all looked absolutely gorgeous!

The Flowers… Wow. Emma Vowles created the most incredible flowers for our wedding.. Though I love the muted pinks/vintage look I really felt it had been done to death and wanted something different – bright, fun, colourful, country garden flowers that really made a statement but looked as though you had just whipped them up from the meadow that morning.. Emma was just amazing at bringing our thoughts to life – she was brilliant to work with and added so much value along the way, giving expert tips on styling and colours that really were invaluable. I have to say, when the flowers arrived we did share a little teary eyed moment … eek!

Mum took responsibility for doing the flowers in the church which were kindly provided by the organist, Jane.. Gorgeous bunches of scented lavender and dried.. tied up with ribbons were laid in the windows and jugs spilling over with country garden blooms were dispersed around the various tabletops. The icing on the cake however were the 2 gorgeous …. trees set either side of the altar (very Willy and Kate!) – Mum and Dad are going to plant one in the garden and have given the othe to Jim’s parents to have as a memory of a v spesh day.

The Cake… Jim is a total racing freak – he races Caterham 7’s (rather well..) and for the past 2 years I have dutifully followed him round the UK as he embarks on the racing seasons – happily listening to all his racing banter and desperately trying to look like I know what he’s talking about.. It seemed rather apt therefore for our cake to be modelled on his car! We knew we did not want a drab sensible white wedding cake but something fun and ‘us’ – left to my own devises Mum and I found an amazing husband and wife team who painstakingly re-created the Caterham 7 in cake form – even the exhaust and roll cage were included!! The cake was a HUGE hit and Jim was chuffed to bits.

The Details + Decor…. Ooh the fun bit! Mum and I spent hours getting every tiny detail just so..

Marquee interior: Jims mum kindly made reams and reams of gorgeous bunting which we hung in giant swags to break up the (huuuge!) marquee. Mum made up some beautiful wreaths with dried and paper flowers which were hung at intervals along each side. We wanted to create a garland of hops down the open side of the marquee (which sadly could not be opened as it was too windy!) but changed our mind the day before (due to the amount of pollen they drop!) and decked out the bar instead, each garland dispersed with white poppies to pretty it up! This was rather fitting in the end as it sat well with the cases and cases of Devon/Cornish ale we all drank!

Tables: we went for rounds as we felt these were much more social.. Mum found some fabulous vintage white cotton embroidered cloths that acted as toppers for each table and really set off the English country garden theme. We popped a few t-lights on to create ambience later on and each setting had a joke (goggle specs, telescopic forks, rubber noses..) and a couple of squealing balloons. Napkins were rolled and tied simply with a ribbon and name setting (we used old style cake labels with the lovely scolloped edges). After many lengthly discussions we decided to name the tables afgter Jim’s (rather unfortunate) childhood nickname – Pizza.. in homage to our new name ‘The Pizza’s.

Cake Table: this took pride of place on the black and white dance floor at the entrance of the marquee. Decked out in vintage table clothes and bunting we also included a selection of vintage family wedding phots (for those who sadly could not be with us in person) as well as a bespoke plate kindly made by .. for guests to sign and a message book too.

Vintage China: we all spent oodles of time scouring charity shops and car boots sourcing lovely china trios, cake stands and cake platters for guests to enjoy coffee, tea, cake, cheese and porkpies from – this was all laid out beautifully on long tables at the end of the marquee.

Fun stuff: the fancy dress box took pride of place next to the dance floor – packed full with random granny dresses, giant shoes, blow up guitars, wigs, specs and the odd 80’s swimming costume there was PLENTY to go around and golly were we impresses with the way people enmbraced it! By the end of the night it looked more like an ilicit festival than a wedding, and we even discovered a wedding outfit in there the next day where someone had obviously got a bit too attached to their costume!

The Honeymoon…. An incredible 4 weeks in Singapore, Lombok, Bali and then a week in Ibiza with friends. Just amazing – Indonesia was just so much better than we ever imagined – we did a bit of beach, jungle, city – went deep sea fishing, surfing, cycling in the rice fields, ate a great deal of their delicious food and lived like kings at some of the most incredible hotels.. The service was fantastic and the people just so welcoming it really was the holiday of a lifetime.

Memorable moments… Having a sherry with mum and the girls in the morning – I found the morning of the wedding really quite emotional and found myself really having to control my thought to stop myself getting too teary (not good for ones make-up).. Once we were all pretty much ready we cracked open the Bristol Cream – this really felt like a defining moment – after months of hand work we had finally got here, it was all as perfect as we had hope and about to happen!

Driving to the church with Dad – we had decided Dad would drive me to the church himself in one of his trucks (he owns a quarry in South Devon) – I think both of us were pretty emotional by this point and it was so nice to have a few moments with Dad doing something normal and un-weddingy..! This really calmed my nerves and by the time we arrived I was just really excited, happy and ready to embrace the crowds..!

Saying our vows in church – I have to say I REALLY enjoyed this part of the day. I thought I would get embarrassed and feel nervous but I just felt so happy there was just no room for any more emotions! It was a really really lovely, intimate ceremony (despite the church being packed with 200 people!) – the Vicar was brilliant and Jim and I had a very amusing time – especially when he tried to put his ring on my finger. The ’kiss’ moment was just amazing

Leaving the church to Queen’s ‘You’re my Best Fried’ in Lloyd our vintage racing green MGB.. Entering the Marquee to Huey Lewis’ Power of Love – laps of high fives followed.. brilliant.

Seeing everyone embrace their ‘favours’ and hearing all the squealing balloons go off as they pinged their way round the marquee we sat down for dinner

Esther, one of my bridesmaids sitting on the edge of the stage playing the bands sax a la lisa simpson styleee.. he he
Anneke and I belting our Aerosmith’s ‘What it Takes’ over the microphones at the end of the night to the adoring (!!!!) crowd.. What we hadn’t realised is that the band had turned the mic off as our singing was so appalling!

Hearing the gossip the next day.. disgraceful behaviour for a bunch of thirty-somethings – teee he.

Advice for other couples… Make sure you have someone there on the day who essentially runs the day.. You need someone to make sure all the important people are there for photos, first dance, cutting the cake etc.. as well as to manage timings – tell you when/what you should be doing then! I thought I could do it but I was just so away with the fairies and having such a good time it really wasn’t something I wanted to be responsible for. I even forgot to throw my bouquet.. Enjoy it!!!! Don’t stress the small stuff – try and keep it as simple as you can so there is less for you to fret over.

Credit where credit’s due…

Dress http://sarahtreble.co.uk/
Venue – http://www.southallingtonhouse.co.uk/
Marquee – http://www.marldonmarquees.co.uk/
Flowers – http://www.emmavowles.co.uk/
Food – http://www.claires-kitchen.co.uk/
Music – http://honestjohnband.com/ (evening)
http://www.bavarianstrollers.co.uk/ (reception)
http://www.fourseasonsstringquartet.co.uk/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx (church)
Cake: The Cake Stop – http://www.spongeinthemiddle.com/ – husband and wife team
Photographer – http://www.victoriaphippsphotography.co.uk/
Videographer – http://www.weddingvideosdevon.co.uk/
Booze – http://www.tolchards.com/ & www.thewinesociety.com
Styling/decorations – me and the 2 mums!Thanks so much to Hannah and James for sharing their amazing wedding with us today :-) What do you think of floral bridesmaids? Would you? xoxo

10 Comments
Tags: Multicolour Wedding Ideas, Real Weddings

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Comments

11.10.2011 at 10:50 am
Perdita says:

Liberty prints always look so pretty with a rural celebration! What a nice, warm wedding!
11.10.2011 at 11:49 am
Bethan Jones (Haywood Jones Photography) says:

Gorgeous!! Love it! xxx
11.10.2011 at 1:41 pm
Philosophy Flowers says:

Love the bright and natural flowers. A nice change to see such use of vivid colour and the milk jugs are always a winner! Fantastic pictures. x
11.10.2011 at 8:17 pm
film-by-you.co.uk says:

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11.10.2011 at 9:43 pm
Charlotte@rockmywedding says:

Love a print :) I'm just going to send this link to RMW's Vix as we were just discussing how cool this kind of thing would be for her W-day! xxx
11.10.2011 at 11:53 pm
Mark - Plymouth Wedding Photographer says:

Liberty print.... at a wedding...... win win win. Fantastic to see more and more people moving away from the traditional to make something far more special and memorable and this is further proof that it is well worth doing. A great read and some cool photographs of a fun/different/genius wedding. :)
13.10.2011 at 3:20 pm
Lou says:

thanks so much everyone :-) I am thrilled you all like it as much as me :-) xxx
17.10.2011 at 8:30 am
Emily Heizer, Photography with Flair says:

The best part HAS to be the bridesmaids dresses. You never see awesome patterns like that and it's just... awesome. Next, the neckline on her dress is lovely- Austenish (aka Regency era) Love the images on the log with the ferns. I want a backyard like that! (On a smaller scale :)
18.10.2011 at 2:18 pm
Sara Reeve says:

Gorgeous wedding - love the photographs, so full of colour. x

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