Magical & Colourful Woodland Fairy Inspired Wedding

Does it get any more whimsical than a fairy wedding? I think not. Jessica and Luke’s stunning wedding was inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies and it worked so beautifully, not just due to the sentiment behind why they chose the theme but also all of the wonderful wildflowers and styling.

I mean just you wait until you see the vibrant blooms, the terrarium centrepieces and the illustrated stationery – just gorgeous! I love it all; the stylish outfits, the outdoor ceremony and that cake. Swoon. It’s also great to see WWW Fave Bands For Hire providing their live band.

Holly Driver Photography, thank you so much for sharing these joy-filled images with us.

Fairy Wedding

The Proposal

I proposed in December 2019 at Mottisfont House Hampshire – a large manor house and gardens. They had an exhibition on at the time displaying all the ‘Flower Fairy’ works of Cicely Mary Barker and Jessica’s grandmother (with whom she was extremely close and who has unfortunately passed away that year) had a fondness for the artwork and poems.

We also are passionate about travelling to historic buildings and sites in the UK, so Mottisfont seemed like the best place to celebrate the next step in our adventures together.

The Vision

We knew we wanted our wedding to be inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s FlowerFairies due to the connection with my grandmother. Therefore, we knew that we wanted our wedding to be close to nature.

Wildflowers would be a big focus to incorporate a variety of flowers and colour, as well as the hope that the wedding could be held outside or at least close to the Victorian aesthetic.

The Venue

We chose Rownham’s House near Romsey, Hampshire as it allowed us to both have the wedding outside but still a beautiful wedding breakfast in their dark wooded library dining room. It also felt like a hidden gem as we hadn’t seen many other weddings held there.

Your Outfits

Both our favourite colours are green and maroon so we knew we wanted this to fit into our outfits. It was incredibly hard to find a green suit for Luke (they should be more popular) but we found a beautiful light sage green suit from Moss Bros which he adored.

I knew I wanted a dress that I would easily be able to move in (and apparently play badminton in as I did on the day) so researched boho dresses online. I had my first fitting with Wed2b with my mother in law and fell in love with their ‘Henny’ dress. It gave me very ‘English rose’ vibes.

Initially my mum was going to make my dress as she loves sewing and made her own when she got married but once I realised I could wear a cape on my wedding day, it was settled that she would make that! Linking to the wildflower theme, I bought some dried wildflowers from Etsy seller ‘FlorenceAndFlowers’ and wore my grandmothers’ pearl necklace as something old.

The Ceremony & Music

We managed to have our ceremony outside despite the threatening rain! And despite the cliche, the sun came out just as we were saying I do (or in our case ‘Yep! and Certainly do’).

The song I walked down the aisle to was ‘I want to hold your hand’ Beetles cover from the Across the Universe film, and we walked back down together to ‘When I’m 64’. Our first dance was an acoustic version of ‘I’m still into you’ by Paramore sang by the beautiful two piece band ‘Akerglow’.

One of my favourite memories of the day was all our friends and family joining us on the lawn halfway through the song.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our photographer was the lovely Holly Driver who made us both feel exceptionally comfortable in her presence. Honestly felt like an old friend was taking our photos as we laughed away.

The Styling & Decor

We made the ‘fairy terrarium’ centrepieces as we wanted to capture what a ‘natural’ fairy habitat might look like.

Each table included the poem that we had referenced when creating that tables terrarium e.g the Rosehip table focused on red flowers.

Instead of a guestbook we had guests fill out ‘Flower Fairy’ postcards over dinner. This meant we got some really personal detailed messages from each person who attended as well as a fun mid-meal activity.

The flowers were show-stopping! The florists absolutely outdid themselves creating wonderful wildflower pieces that covered the entire venue.

The cake was a cheese stack from ‘West Country Cheese’ and was incredibly tasty. Decorated by Chilli Pepper Event Catering who also made the amazing pies for our wedding breakfast. We both chose our favourite flavours Hunters chicken and creamy pork.

The Honeymoon

We booked our honeymoon at the time Portugal was about to be moved to the red list (along with every other destination at the time!) so we opted for a cruise of the British Isles with the intention of travelling further afield in future years for more honeymoons!

Advice For Other Couples

Just have exactly what you want. I know a lot of people say this but it really is your wedding, you’re the main ones who will remember that so should have it your way.