Gretl and Ian were married in April at the beautiful Woodborough Hall, Nottinghamshire. They wanted their wedding to be fun and relaxed which was beautiful and elegant too. I love the fact their wedding was so child friendly, with their three children and their friends looking totally adorable.

Gretl working really hard to hunt down bargain finds for their day and they DIY’d their way to the perfect wedding. Gretl arranged all the flowers herself amongst many other aspects of their day. I am coveting the Ikea greenhouse centrepieces, how unusual yet simple to create.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Kathryn Edwards Photography for sharing her gorgeous imagery with us today.

Names…. Gretl and Ian

Wedding Date…. 14^th April 2012

The Proposal…. There wasn’t a proposal, I noticed Ian was being particularly secretive about his work bag, he seemed to carry it everywhere (which was unusual) so I went snooping through it and found THE ring, and I put the ring on my finger and declared myself engaged.

The Vision for the day…. elegant, relaxed, fun and visually beautiful.

The Planning process… I had 12 weeks so I started with the big things; Venue, Photographer, dress and guests. Everything else would get done if there was time, Turns out 12 weeks was plenty of time…

Budget…. Total £9,000.00

The Venue… Woodborough Hall, Nottinghamshire. We went on the hunt for some venues in and around Nottinghamshire. Some awful, some amazing, some expensive and some that would just be suitable. Then we visited Woodborough Hall, It was charming, intimate, elegant and visually beautiful (perfect). The venue had a Last minute cancellation which was twelve weeks away on a Saturday and so after negotiating an excellent price, which covered venue, food, decoration, drinks, evening DJ and overnight accommodation, I was left with only a few key things to organise.

The Dress + Accessories…. Benjamin Roberts from Busy Bees in Grantham. I wore just a dress, shoes and veil. No accessories just simple and elegant and actually it was very easy to find it was only the fifth dress I tried on and not something I  would ever have tried on but the very sweet lady in the bridal shop said she had a dress that would really suit my petite figure so I thought perhaps she knows best and she was right, it was stunning and I felt fabulous in it, it fitted like a glove and needed barely any alterations and therefore could easily be done within my short space of time. I found the shoes on eBay, they were gorgeous and as they had been worn previously they became my something old. (The previous owner had only worn them down the aisle and then put flats straight on so they were in perfect condition)

Groom’s attire… House of Fraser – Nottingham. My husband has more clothes than I do and is 100 times fussier than me about fabric, style and fashion so Choosing his suit took longer than any other task, but finally with only a few days to go he came home with his chosen 3 piece.

The Music…. Vanessa Hastings, Pianist. We listened to countless demos on line of men, women, harpists, bands, choirs and then I came across Vanessa, her demos were simple and her voice beautiful and she was available on that date so I emailed her our three favourite songs; Better Together (Jack Johnson); Iris (Goo Goo Dolls) and Leaving on a Jet Plane (Chantal Kreviazuk, Armageddon version) she emailed straight back and said she would happily learn these songs and play them during the ceremony.

Beautiful bridesmaids …. Dresses from John Lewis. Our  daughter Poppy (3 years old) and her best friends Wallace (3 years old) and Morgan (4 years old) all three were so excited and did an amazing job of scattering petals down the aisle before me. They were more excited about dress shopping than I was and having my children a part of the wedding made it extra special and memorable. Neither Ian nor I normally show much emotion but watching our little girl walk down the aisle brought a wobbly moment for both of us.

Page boys…. suits from Debenhams. Our Sons Mickey (8 years old) and Harry (20 months) and Mickey’s best friend Cameron (7 years old). I have never known two little boys try on so many suits, look at themselves so much in a mirror and take so much pride in their appearance. Their main job was to hand the confetti out to our guests on arrival. Harry however was a bit of a handful. I hired a nanny for him for the day called Anne, She was amazing. Harry loves her (she is Harry’s and Poppys nursery nurse) and without her I’m not sure how we would have coped with such a small child without having to ask family members to pacify him all day (I wanted my guests to relax and not babysit) she ensured we could relax knowing he was well looked after.

The Flowers… Asda. …I did all the flowers myself; I bought the flowers the day before the wedding from Asda. I bought 76 cream and pink roses. The shop assistant gave up trying to restock the flower section and just opened all the stock boxes and said ‘here take what you want and then I can carry on’. With only 12 weeks to sort everything, it made decision making easy as I did not have time to spend deciding which shade of pink I wanted for the flowers, it was a case of; I’m in Asda, I need 76 roses, I will have whatever shades of pink are available. That night, I just simply wrapped some gold ribbon around the stems and secured with pretty pins.  We bought 14 pots of plants from the garden centre and put them in our Ikea greenhouses for table centrepieces. I made the best of what I had, kept everything simple and neutral and I think it paid off!!! It’s amazing how it just comes together at the last moment.

The Cake… The Cheese Cake Shop, Nottingham. The only thing I care about at a wedding is the dress and the Cake. I love cake and I love The Cheese cake shops Boston Mud Cake more than any other. Normally I buy a quarter slice after a hard days shopping, but the day before the wedding I bought 2 full large cakes and 2 full small cakes, popped to M&S for their Tier stands, Job done. It looked so yummy; we decided not to bother with any decor and again it just looked really elegant. The 2 large cakes were £12 each and the small ones £9 so the whole cake including the £12 tiers from M&S came to £54.00.

Your Photographer…. Kathryn Edwards, Nottingham. I came across Kathryn online, her photos were so natural and relaxed, which is just how I wanted my own photos. She made me feel so comfortable, and as someone who hates having my photo taken she actually made me enjoy smiling for the pictures. We did an engagement shoot which was really awkward at first, but by the end of the shoot, we were much more relaxed and understood how best to be in front of the camera. This was really important as it meant on our wedding day we were more relaxed and natural, I didn’t feel uncomfortable having Kathryn around in fact she even slipped me in to my wedding dress, seeing more of me than she probably wanted, but it didn’t matter and is just a testament to how comfortable she made me feel. The best thing is how unobtrusive she was. I almost forgot she was there, meaning she captured so many natural and sweet moments, especially with the kids.

The Details + Decor…. EBay and click the cookie. My personalised wedding favours were a big hit, they were served with the coffee during the speeches, The message inside read “Thank you for joining us, Gretl and Ian 14^th April 2012” on one side and Fortune on the other

EBay is my best friend, everything came from eBay, my birdcage, for guest posting cards and money, my table crystals,  favour bags, name tags, girls flower baskets, hair clips, florist tape etc… If I needed it, someone on EBay would be selling it!!!

The Honeymoon…. With three children, school and work commitments, the honeymoon won’t be until later on this year, it will be a family holiday, mostly paid for by our fabulous guests who gave us cash as a wedding gift

Memorable moments… looking out of the bedroom window at woodborough Hall , watching our family and friends arrive (they couldn’t see me, but I could see them) and realising, that all the rushing around and watching endless YouTube videos about making bouquets and stressing over guest list was all about to come together and The big moment was about to start !!!

Advice for other couples… Don’t stress about the little things, As long as the basics are in place, no-one will notice if your ties don’t match the sashes or your bouquet rose is bigger than the table roses etc… I wish someone had told me this, instead I had numerous meltdowns, thank goodness I have great friends and a supportive (now) husband, as they never minded my rants or sharp tongue!!! But when all was done, the small things REALLY did not matter!!!

Credit where credit is due…

http://www.woodboroughhall.co.uk/

http://www.busybsbridals.co.uk/

http://www.thecheesecakeshop.co.uk/

http://www.kathrynedwardsphotography.com/

http://www.vanessahastings.co.uk/

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/

http://www.clickthecookie.co.uk/

Thanks so much to Gretl and Ian for sharing your day with us today. What a beautiful wedding on a budget, you don’t need mega bucks to have the perfect day lovelies :-) XOXO Lou

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