What’s not to love about a country garden party wedding? Think afternoon tea, marquee, pastels and vintage crockery…
Laura and Andrew tied the knot on the 4th September 2015 at Hexton Manor in Hertfordshire, followed by a pub reception. Their day was hand crafted by themselves and their loved ones which gave a really homely meaningful feel. The pom poms, blooms in jars and signage looked really rather marvellous.
Laura donned an elegant lace long sleeved gown while the gents wore blue suits. The little ones looked so adorable in their smart attire. Cute.
Thanks so much this morning to Purple Pear Tree Photography for sharing these lovely shots with us.
THE PROPOSAL | Andrew proposed on holiday in Fuerteventura on 12th or 13th September 2012 on the beach whilst we were walking along. Andrew picked the ring himself, it was stunning. Afterwards I found out that he had planned to propose in the beach bar we were in but cats were everywhere and I’m not a fan of cats so he decided that was not the place. We had planned to get married the year after but our gorgeous son Charlie was born so set the date for a couple of years later.
THE VISION | Our vision was we wanted a great party with our sort of music and our close friends and family there.
THE PLANNING PROCESS | It took about 18 months to plan looking at various styles of venue and decided on a vintage theme with afternoon tea and our sit down meal.
BUDGET | Our budget was £7,000.
THE VENUE | Our ceremony was held at Hexton Manor we loved the house and the gardens as soon as we saw it. Our reception was at the White Hart country pub in Flitton in the marquee. We had the flexibility to completely decide how we wanted to decorate the venue it was a blank canvas.
THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was a Annasul Y, a talented young designer known for their ultra glamorous 1920’s feel with seductive styling and classic details. My head piece was hand made with my nannies pearls attached to rose hair slides.
FINDING THE DRESS | Me, my sister, my mum and my mother in law had a day out wedding dress shopping which was very exciting. I had looked online at a few dress shops and decided on 3 that I would visit. It was the first shop (Satin Bow Bridal) in St. Albans that I fell in love with my dress but carried on with other shops just in case but nothing beat it.
GROOM’S ATTIRE | Andrew and Robs (best man) suits were Ted Baker and our dads and ushers (our brothers) were Ventura suits. My two page boys, my son Charlie and my nephew George had waistcoats and shorts (that were trousers but my mum made them into shorts) from John Lewis and white shirts from Next. I hand made rose button holes with lace and material that matched our colours and with the left over material from our table cloths my mum made the hankies.
THE READINGS & MUSIC | Our music to walk down the aisle to was the classic Pachelbel Canon I loved that ever since I watched Father of the Bride. And once we were married we walked back up the aisle to You’ve Got The Love by Candi Station.
BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had my sister as my maid of honour with a classic scoop neck Ivory dress from Ghost and sandals from River Island. My 3 flower girls (our nieces Eleanor, Abigail and Scarlet) dresses were from Gillies Stool in the indoor market in Stevenage with their flower head bands from Primark and their sparkly shoes from Tescos.
THE FLOWERS | We decided on carnations as they come in all sorts of colours and sizes, with gypsophila and lots of foliage and I wanted some peach roses thrown in the mix as well. In the end my bouquet was all peach roses, gyp and foliage with my sisters bouquet a smaller version of mine and the flower girls had gyp balls attached to ivory ribbon. A family members sister kindly agreed to help with the flowers.
THE CAKE | My very talented and creative mum designed and made my cake. It was a lemon drizzle cake iced and beautifully decorated with my nan’s pearls and cameos. Peach roses were placed on top. Cameos remind me of my nan so they had to be part of my day.
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | My photographer was Lesley Anne – Purple Pear Tree Photography. I was recommended to her and loved her style of photography as soon as I looked at her website. We had a few meetings and a pre wedding shoot that helped put us at ease on the day. Our son Charlie really warmed to her on the pre wedding shoot and she got some gorgeous pictures of him. Such a lovely lady and a stunning photographer.
THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | As my theme was pastel colours and vintage tea party, I collected cups and saucers, plates, tea pots and cake stands over the 18 months from junk shops, car boot sales and charity shops and hired the rest from Rainbow Weddings. I also collected glass jars and decorated them with lace and pearls, string and hearts. I had help from my friend Linzi and in the end had made around 100. We hung pom poms from the celling and around the marquee and outside in the trees. Our centre pieces were cake stands with jars and flowers and our table numbers were pictures of us at that age designed by Andrew. Andrew made a sign out of old wood and we had bunches of flowers in the trees and around the floor. Our table plan was an old step ladder that Andrew buffed up and we hung our table plan from with flowers tied to it. We wanted a car that we could drive off in after the ceremony so we hired a little pastel green Nissan Figaro.
THE HONEYMOON | We had booked a family holiday to Turkey but changed this to Tenerife after everything that was going in the country. We had the most amazing time and spent some quality family time together that we will never forget. Me and Andrew are going to Amsterdam in December for a long weekend, so very excited about that.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The night before my wedding all my best friends came round for drinks which was brilliant. The morning of my wedding I had some time with my mum and sister and she gave me a present that tied to my bouquet it was a picture of both my nan and grandads on their wedding day. That was very emotional. Andrews best man dropped the rings and they went rolling on floor, most of the day our son Charlie was just running away out io the pictures and playing in the mud, he was filthy. The evening reception was one to remember, it was a proper party with lasers, smoke machines and the sax player topped it off.
ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Take a step back and look around , we were lucky enough to go for a little drive and walk to our picture location so we could have a minute together in the car.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Ceremony | Hexton Manor
DJ | Platinum Disco
Décor Hire | Rainbow Weddings
Venue | White Hart Flitton
Marquee | UK Events and Tents
Photography | Purple Pear Tree Photography
Ah just gorgeous.
Laura and Andrew, thanks so much for sharing your delightful wedding story today xo Lou
