Real Weddings, Rustic

23.11.2011

Oh how i love this whimsy, artistic and oh so romantic wedding day i have to share with you today. The bride Poppy is an artist, and she really used her creative flair to create an amazing day for her and Boz.

From the centrepieces to the hot air balloon, to the floral words and the stipey straws, these two thought of everything… be sure to read Poppy’s amazing wedding report at the end too.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Herfordshire based wedding photographer, Steve Shipman Photography for sharing his images today, here is what he had to say about the day;

“I was on my stand at the National Wedding Fair in London on the first day of the fair, and this amazing lady Poppy came up to me, with her mum, Cherry, and looked through my albums. “Oh my god, we’ve found him!’ she said. They booked on the spot. They were so excited, and talking to them I knew this was going to be an amazing wedding.

I met Boz when I went down to Kent for their pre-wedding shoot, something I love to do with all my couples. I also then met Poppy’s Dad, also her God father and brother. I felt like I had passed an unspoken test!

And so the wedding day arrived, and I was with Poppy for the morning, my associate photographer Dana was with the boys. I love the getting ready part of the day, as it gets everyone settled together, even as the excitement and anticipation increases. My photographic style is mostly documentary, but I love to watch the light and create beautiful portraits too. Then it was off to the Lost Village of Dode chapel, remote, romantic, lit only by flames. Poppy looked amazing, and her mother nearly dissolved when Poppy and her dad got out of the car. Boz looked very handsome in his uniform, and was quite emotional too.

Indeed, it was a moving ceremony, and Poppy’s bridesmaid Jill sang a song she wrote specially for Poppy and Boz. Back at the house there was a hot air balloon (tethered) for rides, and Poppy’s brother Ed flew his plane overhead in a spectacular aerial display.

Poppy’s theme for their wedding was “artistically magical” and along with the oyster bar, Mojitos, the magician, the fabulous table decorations, together with Poppy and Boz’ joie de vivre, it certainly was a magical day.”

Poppy and Boz  23rd July 2011

Engagement… We met on platform 12 at Clapham Junction, a totally out of the blue meeting. I literally bumped into him. We knew very quickly that this was it. In fact so quickly that Boz bought my beautiful engagement ring (vintage 1930’s) just 2 months after we met. A year later, on that very same platform Boz proposed. It was incredibly romantic. As he was down on one knee we heard over the loud speaker, “Clapham Junction is happy to announce the engagement that has just taken place on platform 12”. I was truly amazed.  Boz is a master of organization and he was able to catch me completely off guard. Needless to say the other passengers on the platform were very entertained, and proceeded to give us a big round of applause. It was the same night as the Battersea fireworks display — Boz knows how much I love them – and after enjoying the show he whisked me off for a champagne dinner. We knew we wanted to be married in the summer and by December (about a month after he popped the question) we had decided to go for a July wedding. This gave us just 7 months. My mother and I were pretty dedicated to the planning, and knew that we had a lot to do in just a few months. My studio was turned into ‘Wedding HQ’ as we liked to call it, complete with wall chart planner! We both shared the philosophy that this was something we were going to do just once and it would therefore be done to the very best of our combined abilities and we intended to enjoy every minute of those months of preparation.

The dress.… We had a blast! I tried on hundreds. It was actually my sister-in-law and bridesmaid, Layla, who pointed out the one I fell in love with. I thought I wanted a simple understated dress bearing in mind my fiancé would be in full military, but as soon as I tried mine on – an ivory, tulle, Lusan Mandongus dress I didn’t want to take it off. It felt simply perfect. I loved the intricate sculpting of the tulle around the bodice, and although strapless wouldn’t have been my first choice, this one just worked. It had this wonderful tumbling train which felt incredibly glamorous and feminine. It was so important to me to have a dress in which I could completely relax.  I’d tried so many by that point and had found that many dresses need perfect posture to look elegant. It’s easy to look perfectly poised when standing in front of a mirror, but to be moving around all day whilst being continuously photographed is quite another. One of the best things about the dress I bought was that the more I moved around in it the more comfortable I felt. Originally it had a fishtail underskirt which made me feel a little restricted so I had that altered. Then it became a dress in which I could sit down, run around, dance and even be picked up and put in a hot air balloon. Perfect. I had really wanted to wear my mother’s veil, a beautiful cathedral– length number, but with my dress (particularly the train) this just wasn’t an option.  So, I went the other way and looked at really modern head-pieces. What I was looking for was something different and a bit quirky. In the end it was my mother who produced my totally unique head-piece. She had made hats in her youth and just happens to be wonderfully creative. She even fastened the tulle head-dress to a vintage hair pin she had as a girl (my something old and borrowed in one!) God bless mothers.

My advice to any bride-to-be is just keep trying all sorts of dresses on until you find the one that will simply feel, look and be, perfect. The finishing touch was the earrings. As an artist my painting is extremely colourful, a few friends were sure I’d walk down the aisle in a rainbow dress! So when it came to my something blue I wanted the colour to show, but to do so subtly. I found a gorgeous pair of Swarovski earrings with very pale blue crystals. I loved them and they helped keep the overall look very young and fresh.
Shoes I didn’t worry about. Knowing they would be totally ruined by gravel and grass and hardly seen under my dress I went for cheap ones from a department store. I actually got a second dress for part two of our celebrations. We had a big party out in Croatia with lots of family and friends from Boz’s side.  This time I went for a slinky Jenny Packham number, one I would never dare be married in  - way too low cut! But it did make one hell of a party dress.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… My 3 gorgeous girls wore Phase Eight dresses. As soon as I saw the dresses were named ‘the goddess’ I knew they’d be perfect! Not a fan of the satin shiny bridesmaid dress look, the girls and I loved the pale grey/silver net fabric of the dresses. They looked fab with silver fabric shoes and their bouquets with shades of pink. As for their gifts… I have a very talented friend who makes jewellery – Brodie Sim.  So with her fabulous designs and our words we came up with the perfect necklaces. They had white and grey pearls with a silver pendant stamped with the message ‘Maid’ on one side and ‘Our Day’ on the other.  I gave the girls their necklaces the morning of the wedding over a delicious champagne breakfast. This way they could wear them for the day. We also had another necklace made for Bella – a great friend, who read for us in the church and made us a truly unique audio recording with snippets from loads of well known songs telling the story of Boz and me. We played the recording at the beginning of the wedding breakfast to give everyone a giggle. Her necklace read – ‘Bella Rocks, and that she does!

The Boys.… The groom was in his full military attire. He looked incredible. His best man and the groomsmen were all dressed in grey suits. We steered away from morning suits as the overall feel of our day was a bit more relaxed. The boys wore white shirts and silver ties to compliment the girls’ dresses.

Vision for the day.… I’m not a fan of themes as I think they can quickly turn twee, but the closest we came to setting one was our goal that the wedding would be ‘Artistically Magical’ We held that idea in our minds during all the preparations. So, out went the running colour themes, the chair covers and big bows. And we started to think what we could make and do ourselves. Knowing it would be a marquee reception we had a blank canvas – which I loved!

Wedding Ceremony… Boz and I knew we didn’t want a religious ceremony but still wanted the service to be held in a spiritual and special place.  With my parents living in Scotland, Boz’s in Sydney, and us being near London, my godfather, Ivor, offered to host the reception at his beautiful home in Kent.….the perfect setting and reception venue.  And it was Ivor who mentioned a little church nearby that he’d once been too. This church turned out to be the most beautiful little building we’d ever seen.  The Lost Village of Dode.  Hosting only civil ceremonies – it is not consecrated for religious ceremonies – it was perfect for us.  We would have a small, candle-lit civil ceremony.  Even my vivid imagination could not prepare me for the utterly unique ceremony at Dode.  From the straw-covered ground, the hanging tapestries on the walls, the ancient artefacts and wrought ironwork to the hundreds of burning candles and dramatic flaming torches, everyone felt the presence of the past blessing our future and it was both artistic, and magical. Amongst many wonderful moments on our wedding day, the most incredible was when I walked down the aisle towards Boz. The best piece of advice I had read was to focus solely on my groom. It’s so easy to be distracted by all the people around you whom you’re dying to say hello to.  When Boz turned around it was such a wonderful feeling. And strangely I wasn’t anywhere near as nervous as I thought I’d be. We were so lucky to have such a brilliant celebrant, she really made the service special for us. There was a tense moment when the musicians we had hired had forgotten to bring the music to our one and only song. At that moment my mother bravely stood up and said ‘ come on, we can sing unaccompanied!’ and started us off. Everyone quickly joined in heartily. It was great fun and gave everyone a little giggle afterwards.  The readings we had were – ‘On Marriage’ from The Prophet by Kahil Gibran  A beautiful well-known piece,and,  ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, a reading we’ve both always loved. Unusual for a wedding perhaps but  meaningful for our lives together and dear Bella made it come alive and caused many guests to take note and ask about it later. One of the highlights of the ceremony for me was when my beautiful bridesmaid Jill Leighton sang for us. In fact I’d held it together until she started singing. The best man came to my rescue with the tissues. She wrote and sang a song titled ‘The pilots daughter’ about me, about Boz and how we met and fell in love. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. We walked out to ‘The Arrival of The Queen of Sheba’ the same music my parents had 36 years earlier, a lovely touch for them.  After the ceremony we had drinks and photographs in the garden outside the church. This is where Boz took me off for a few minutes –  to be alone and reflect on what had just happened. A lovely moment for us both. We had hired a white London taxi to take me to the church. My father’s idea and it was perfect. There was plenty of room for my dress and a great deal of head height so my head-piece didn’t get squashed! Boz and I loved the drive back to the reception cracking open the bubbles.

Reception… When we arrived at the afternoon reception we were greeted by a shower of rose petals which we’d spent the last few months drying in my grandmother’s attic. Granny being 96 and very frail couldn’t be there with us on the day but her roses were. (We also saved a fortune by making the confetti ourselves). Our afternoon reception had a garden party feel to it. We had musicians playing, an oyster tent, afternoon tea tent, a magician who was worth his weight in gold entertaining our guests and a boat for an ice bucket! But there were two particular highlights of the afternoon.

Firstly my big brother Ed, who’s an aerobatic pilot gave us a show to remember. As he roared overhead to get our attention we stood and watched a truly wonderful display, complete with the climax of a white smoke heart in the sky… something we’d joked about not knowing that he’d actually be able to pull it off. We named the table he was on ‘ Those Magnificent Men’
And then there was the Hot Air Balloon.

Boz had managed to arrange for his Royal Engineers Corps Balloon to make an appearance. It was fantastic fun, and made for fabulous photographs. Getting in and out with dignity intact was a challenge but all the guests loved taking turns and it was a great aspect to the day.

We had fun throwing in totally random objects, such as the ‘Love Bote’ A creation that my husband-to-be and his aussie boys came up with. Basically a huge ice bucket, which you could climb aboard and help yourself to a drink. It added another quirky and fun element to the afternoon party. Having only 46 guests meant we were able to spend time with everyone, and we loved that. This was the main reason a really big wedding did not appeal.

It is always difficult to cut down the guest list. The church we opted for kind of did that for us, as it only held 40 people. We both agreed that we wouldn’t have additional evening guests. The idea never felt right to us. So, as hard as it was, we made it down to 46 (including a few children – a wedding wouldn’t feel right to me without some children running about).

Caterers… We used Lardercraft for our catering. A small and brilliant company run by husband and wife team Kevin and Nina. The staff were outstanding and went above and beyond, helping in any way they could. Due to our centrepieces needing to be set up the day before, the Lardercraft team worked around the florist, who was climbing over the newly laid tablecloths placing roses in the trees above whilst trying to minimise the amount of moss falling onto to pristine table settings below. They were very good spirited! Nina was brilliant in coördinating timings during the afternoon — having a few people like her around negated the need for a wedding planner. She kept things flowing seamlessly. And most importantly the food was totally delicious.

The Flowers…
Florist Laura Broad from the very beginning was enthusiastically supportive about doing something a bit different and helped no end with her experience and own ideas. The starting point for me was the ‘Millie Rose’ named after my best friend who passed away in 2004 when we were 21. The Royal Horticultural Society named this beautiful rose after Millie and in support of the Anthony Nolan trust.
My godfather has many of the rose bushes growing in his gardens so we really did have to wait for the morning of the wedding to see what we had to work with. The Millie Roses were mixed with various other pink roses, baby blue eucalyptus, rosemary and Spanish moss.  If I had any regrets it’s that I totally forgot to throw my bouquet, and with the amount of gorgeous single ladies there it was nothing short of a crime.

The centre pieces.… I wanted people to walk into the evening reception and feel like they were somewhere special, not just another marquee with flowers in the middle of the tables.  I wanted it to feel magical and rustic all at once. And I wanted it to be slightly oversized and a bit dramatic.  I had a vision of people sitting under a canopy of twinkle lights, but trying to achieve this without turning it into a Walt Disney scene was the tricky bit. We never wanted it to look too much or overdone.

We must have changed our minds about a hundred times, first it was going to be twisted willow, then we wanted living plants like small cherry trees, the list goes on, but in my mind I had specific shapes and sizes that mother nature couldn’t quite provide us with.
So with my fiancé in tow we took ourselves off to the woods to gather twigs, sticks and logs. Boz got going on the chainsaw and other such man tools whilst I concentrated on the aesthetics. The end result of several hours of intense labour:  beautiful twiggy tree-like sculptures set in tree stumps, a great starting point for my end vision. Then the pretty stuff happened. Laura and I decorated with florist lights, lots of them, small bundles of roses with Spanish moss, which looked like little birds’ nests and the occasional hanging crystal.

Our summer evening wonderland was taking shape. We had white table linen under slate place mats, which doubled up brilliantly as place names when we wrote each guest’s name in chalk. The napkin rings were made by my mother and me during a few long train journeys from Edinburgh to London. The girls had colourful fabric and bead flowers and the boys ‘Perfect Match’ match boxes.
My Father keeps honey bees, so as little favours we gave out pots of his honey with the label reading ‘meant to bee!’ Sweet and simple. Along with Croatian lavender.

My father’s contributions didn’t stop there. He also made buckets full of bees wax candles. A very moving part of the evening was when the best man, Adrian, got up at the beginning of the wedding breakfast and invited all of the men at each table to light the candles in honour of all those who couldn’t be with us. It was a beautiful and emotional moment for everyone.

The Cake… I had no idea where to start on this one. All the cakes I’d seen seemed so ‘samey’. It was at the National Wedding Fair where I met Neil Thornton from Le Papillon. We got talking and before I knew it we were working together on a truly unique cake. I loved the idea of personalising things so I set about making small paintings in collage style, with words and sayings appropriate to the day and the people who would be with us – for exapmle, one of them read  - ‘He came from a Land Down Under’ (My husband is from Australia) ‘Lets hear it for the girls’ was another, a personalised thank you to my gorgeous bridesmaids.  Neil laser printed these images in edible inks onto individually wrapped cakes. It looked totally crazy and I loved it! We had 7 different flavours and designs. The cake was served as dessert. A truly indulgent treat that our guests just loved.
Having some leanings to the traditional we made the top tier a fruit cake, and planned to stash it away for another special day. It was great fun cutting the cake with my husband’s sword.

My gift to him… A running tradition in my family now. I followed in my mother’s footsteps by surprising my husband with a gift in front of all our guests just before our first dance. He looked rather sheepish to begin with as he feared that he too was supposed to present one.  When he opened it to reveal a cast-iron ball and chain he burst into laughter as did the guests – a wonderful memory. The blacksmith we commissioned to make it had a good laugh too!  And yes, my father helped me actually bolt it on to my husband’s ankle.  Just for a little while…

Photographer… When it came to the photographer there was no messing around. It was up there with the dress for me.

A good photographer does cost, but to us it was well, well worth it. We found a treasure called Steve Shipman at the National Wedding Show. Whilst looking through his portfolio and chatting with him it was clear we’d struck gold. We were incredibly lucky to get him on our chosen date. I remember him checking his bookings list.  Ours was the only Saturday he wasn’t already booked and it seemed like fate. One of the downsides of planning a wedding in 7 months is that lots of people are booked up way ahead.

We had a pre-wedding shoot with Steve which was so useful. Boz and I had an opportunity to get comfortable in front of the camera. Steve managed to bring the best out in us, something that not all photographers can do. He and his colleague Dana work as a team and captured every aspect of the day, and those tiny details that might otherwise be forgotten.   From the excitement in the morning, getting ready – even when my father walked in on my hair and makeup session in only his shirt and Y-fronts, Steve was there to snap the moment!

Looking back at all the decisions we made, booking Steve was one of the best. The record we have of our big day, to us is priceless. My advice to anyone who is thinking of saving on certain things is do it elsewhere – not on the photography.

Hair and Makeup… I booked Mathew Alexander (mathewalexander.com) for my bridal make-up and hair. We went for a natural and fresh feel as it was fitting with the summer garden party atmosphere. The trial was great fun, I tried a dramatic glamorous look which I loved but it just wasn’t right for the day.  For timeless photos I felt less would be more and with great skill Mathew gave me a look which was perfectly natural yet photo ready.

Honeymoon.… Well, we took 30 people along! Some of Boz’s friends and family living in Croatia missed out on the wedding in England, so with some of my family and friends in tow we headed to Split, where we held the ‘Balkan Bash’. After that great party we travelled across the border into Bosnia, and ended up in the beautiful city of Mostar where the 445th annual bridge diving competition was being held. We all watched on in amazement as Boz dived head first from the famous Old Bridge into the cold waters of the Neretva river, some 25 meters below. Something he’d long wanted to do for the charity ‘Combat Stress’ (www.justgiving.com/team-zamboni). Happily it went brilliantly and then we snuck off on our own and headed to Dubrovnik for the real honeymoon – it was bliss! The initial plan was to spend a few nights near the breathtaking Old Quarter of Dubrovnik, then indulge in some island hopping… however due to administrative problems at the Hilton Hotel we were left without accommodation during the busiest period of the year!

Complete disaster… However, following a refreshing beverage at a nearby Rixos Hotel, and some ‘gentle persuasion’ (a.k.a. begging for mercy), the staff not only provided a room but also a free upgrade to their best suite…  We loved it so much that we ended up staying the entire week.

Best Bits… The Wedding Fairs.   We loved them, during my relatively short engagement the girls and I went to 3 fairs in total. All great fun and you’d be hard pushed to find a more girly day out, the champagne bar and fashion shows, the goodie bags, and the endless ideas were fantastic! It’s great to have a look at what everyone is doing. There was a lot which wasn’t to our taste but going to them proved invaluable as we met our photographer, Steve Shipman, there and the man who made our cake, Neil Thornton.

The other thing we had such fun with was — making things ourselves! My mum and I were in our element. We get creative and crafty at the drop of a hat, and there were so many little details we enjoyed making. The drink stirrers, napkin holders, favour bags which we printed individual names on, the large flower letters spelling out ‘Poppy and Boz’, the heart wreath for the church door… I think it’s all those little things that you remember and make the day feel very personal to you as a couple.

We had great fun making the ‘save the dates’. My mum’s embossing kit was put to good use. You can buy all sorts of stamps,(the English stamp company is good) but it’s even more fun if you cut your own, a bit time consuming but that way you get exactly what you want.
When it came to the proper invitations we went all traditional with crisp white card and scroll lettering. We had a slight panic about printing them as we’d left it a bit late but ‘John Lewis’ ended up doing a fab job with a pretty tight turn around. We were very glad we’d already sent the ‘save the dates’ so people knew to keep the weekend clear.

One thing that made our life SO much easier was having a wedding website – I know it sounds a bit much but it was great. We had a really basic one from Mrsite.com. This meant we could put all our info in one place and update it quickly and easily. We uploaded maps and contact numbers, the plan for the casual BBQ the following day and even had a page for the Balkan Bash, with travel details and the background story for the charity dive from Mostar Bridge.

Fireworks… Since we had fireworks on the night of our engagement it only felt right to have them on the big day too. And boy did we have some! F1 Fireworks lit up the Kent skies for us. It was truly amazing, we loved every minute of it and it was a dramatic end to a magical day that we shall relive in our minds and conversations all our lives I feel sure.

Credit where credit’s due…

Photographer – www.steveshipmanphotography.com
Caterer      - www.lardercraft.com
Cake           - www.lepapillonpatisserie.com
Magician       – www.magicians.co.uk
Fireworks    - www.f1fireworks.com

Thanks so much to Poppy and Boz for sharing their incredible wedding with us today :-) xoxo

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Tags: Multicolour, Real Weddings

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