Crafty & Pretty Pastel Budget Wedding

It’s definitely one for you romantics out there today. Think soft blush tones with a modern vintage feel, a beautifully soft flowing bridal gown and stunning seaside couple images. Jonathan and Yasmin wed at King’s Church in Eastbourne on the 8th July 2017. They worked absolute wonders with the budget that they had and didn’t compromise on their sustainable values.

Clever Yasmin sourced her gorgeous dress through a second-hand seller and finished off the look beautifully with a David’s Bridal veil. Jonathan put together his outfit with help from Zara and Ted Baker, I just love the wool jacket and pink bow tie combination! The groomsmen and page boys look just great in their braces too.

There are so many stunning details to take in from this wedding, don’t you just love the Mr & Mrs bunting and its multi-shade voile hangings? So much of the décor was produced by talented family and friends, Yasmin and her maids even put together all the wonderful blousy floral arrangements.

Images today are courtesy of the brilliant Lily Sawyer. Thanks Lily!

THE PROPOSAL | Saint Emilion, Bordeaux France. Saint Emilion is a small medieval wine growing town and its totally beautiful and oh so quaint. we were staying with friends in bordeaux and planned a day trip to Saint Emilion. Our friend kindly offered to drop us off and take some touristy couple photos. We agreed but little did i know she was secretly staying around for our picnic lunch. Jonathan was oddly quiet the whole time (a bit like when he asked Yasmin out for the first time 18months beforehand). We ate and then Jonathan showed Yasmin a really sweet video he’s made of our relationship so far. Not long after he popped the question and Yasmin said yes!

THE VISION | Country style with lots of fresh flowers and greenery is what we originally envisioned but as reality has it we had a tight budget to work with and our afforded venue was a very large blank canvas and a converted warehouse. We had to get creative and do so on a very tight budget. Lily described on a social media post what we ended up with very well and we think those two words sum us up very well as a couple – Modern Vintage.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We created a budget starting from the essentials to the less significant details we dreamt of, going through a “To do list” starting from the things you have to book, register, and making sure to stick into a routine of wedding planning through the year we had for this.

Ethical and sustainable living is important to me and I wish it was a lifestyle choice that is more accessible to those who have tight budgets. We have a tight budget but we wanted to try and reflect our hearts for justice in the way that we planned our wedding, although we were unable afford to send invite made with recycled paper we opted to send them digitally. Which we know doesn’t make a big statement in siding with fair trade but it is a better option and something achievable for us. The only printed invites were for our photographer to photograph so they could be remembered forever.

BUDGET | Approx £5,000

THE VENUE | Kings Church Eastbourne

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES |

Dress – Ex showroom sourced at dreamsecondhandweddingdress.co.uk based in Northolt UK
Veil & accessories – Davids Bridal
Shoes – New Look
Headpiece – Charity shop

FINDING THE DRESS | I knew it was going to be impossible to find such a dress again within our budget so I went for a ‘better’ choice. Instead of going to a bridal boutique finding my dream dress and have it remade just for me or going super cheap and ordering one from china. I choose to go secondhand. I scoured the internet for options and found a lady that runs a secondhand wedding dress store out of her attic and I found just what I was looking for. Simple but elegant and most importantly not heavy, I didn’t want to spend the happiest day of my life uncomfortably hot in a big heavy dress! The first part of my dress that caught my attention was the back. I loved the way the train flowed out and how elegant the buttons were down the back. Just a few changes had to be made to make it perfect. Firstly the underskirt had to go, I wanted my dress to skim past my hips and fan out into a train rather than cover them. I’m 25 and have nothing to hide! Secondly it was a little plain at the front and consequently the belt was an addition to the dress, bought on Ebay! Lastly, I’d initially planned to borrow the veil from a friend, a simple one layer finger tip veil. Perfect as I was going for simple yet elegant but when I tried it on it just didn’t go. It blended in too much and I found I did want to stand out just a little bit. Not long after I found the most amazing cathedral veil at Davids bridal complete with gold embroidery. It added the perfect amount of drama whilst still keeping the overall look elegant.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Jacket – Ted Baker, Bow Tie – tieroom.com, everything else – Zara

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | All long time friends and my sister who has been my friend forever

THE FLOWERS | Sourced by the Triangle Nursery and arranged my the bride and her bridesmaids

THE CAKE | Baked and crafted by Dawn Woodgate Yasmin’s Aunty who has been making cakes since she was a child. She’s well known in her local town Seaford and is often asked to do cakes for locals for all sorts of occasions.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Lily Sawyer. She’s a friend of ours and we picked her simply because we love her photos. We’ve always loved her style, creativity and attention to detail. We have friends who don’t know Lily asking if she is going to be the photographer for our wedding and wishing they knew about her when they got married!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Sourced in charity shops and borrowed from friends.

THE HONEYMOON | After flying off to Colombia for a second wedding ceremony we headed to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a good dose of sun, sea, sand, culture and luxury!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | We’ll never forget the energy and enthusiasm our friends put into helping us on our big day. We were blown away by their love and kindness towards us! We loved our location shoot by the beach, the perfect chance to take everything in and realise that we had just gotten married! We had no idea one of the ushers knew all of the moves to Soldier Boy, he fished it off with a hilarious slide across the floor! The whole day was more than we’d ever imagined, it’ll be in our mind for the rest of our lives.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | We have two when it comes to wedding planning. 1. Don’t give up on your dream/ overall vision but do be willing to adapt it to your circumstances and what’s realistic for you. 2. Don’t worry about things not going to plan, if by the end of the day you’re married that’s what’s most important.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Lily Sawyer

Venue | King’s Church Eastbourne

Dress | Dream Second Hand Wedding Dress

Groom | Jacket Ted Baker, other attire Zara, bow tie Tieroom

Florist | Triangle Nursery

Thanks ever so much for sharing your simply beautiful day with us Yasmin and Jonathan. Rachel x