Friday 22 February 2013

Real Shabby Chic Wedding: Annabel & Richard

With a stunning rose studded marquee, and tonnes of pretty shabby chic details, you're going to love the Easter-inspired real wedding. Fantastic couple Annabel and Richard chose Sheldon Manor for their wedding venue, and I've fallen for its historic prettiness, and gorgeous gardens. Annabel was a bride on a budget, but there's absolutely no sign of it - just take a look at all her amazing wedding details. I'm seriously impressed by all the DIY work that went into this wedding - take a look at the pretty spring flowers - all arranged by Annabel's mother, while Richard's mother created all the lavender-filled heart wedding favours and the fun squishy 'Just Married' letters. Other stealworthy details include the stunning rose-patterned marquee, lovely pastel table decorations, and traditional bunting. Save money like Annabel with Ikea lanterns, a self-decorated M&S wedding cake, and smooth stones as place-markers. Huge thanks to Ben Edward Photography for his stunning pictures.


We celebrated our wedding day at Sheldon Manor in Chippenham, Wiltshire on the 7th April 2012.
We wanted somewhere totally beautiful, very English and that had the 'wow' factor. Not that we were showing off, but we knew that the part of the country and the time of year would make people fall in love with the venue, just we like we had. 


I wanted my dress to be like the venue and a bit like me - unfussy! I tried on a few very different styles but knew before I tried 'the dress' that this was the one! Our budget was not big - we were paying for our wedding ourselves so everything had to be quite well researched. My dress was an absolutely beautiful Sassi Holford wedding gown, simple, with no bling, teamed with a lovely champagne silk sash. I felt so amazing in it, I never wanted to take it off!


We knew that we wanted an understated, pretty and vintage kind of day, and Sheldon Manor was perfect. 



Richard bought his lovely, navy, three-piece suit from TM Lewin, plus ties for him, my dad, his dad and brother. They were yellow with pale blue spots in honour of Easter!


In my hair I had a single silk flower from Chez Bec. I didn't think my dress would have looked right with a veil. I didn't really do the borrowed thing - I had new - my bracelet, or I considered my shoes new! Blue - my gorgeous aquamarine engagement ring, although the dressmaker had put a pale blue bow under my dress to help hook the train up - only me and the bridesmaids knew about that and I kind of liked it! Old - me, I was 36. When I got married!!!


I wasn't bridezilla about my maids dresses - all I wanted was that they tied in with the theme of the day, that they loved them, and chose a style that they would wear again. 


I thought they would go with pale pinks, blues, greens or yellows to compliment the flowers, but they chose navy blue and went for floor length which surprised me. They looked lovely and considering how different they all are, the style and colour suited them perfectly.


My accessories were minimal, I had a bolero jacket made from the same material as my wedding dress for the ceremony. I wore pearl earrings from Accessorise, and a bracelet from my husband {!} given to me on the morning of our wedding.




Ben Edward Photography was our wedding photographer. We were looking for lovely photos at a price we could afford. Ben's pictures were lovely, and just what we were looking for, so we booked him for our engagement shoot, and were so happy!! We couldn't wait until the wedding to see how everything looked!


My mum is great with flowers and arranging so she got the flowers I wanted, and then did them on the day. She did all the bouquets, buttonholes and table arrangements, as well as some decorations for the room we had the ceremony in. We had pale pink and cream roses for both the bridesmaids and my bouquets, cream buttonholes and tulips and the same for the tables.







We loved planning our wedding! And Richard was great too. We definitely knew what we wanted so it was easy to tell everyone involved what to do, how we wanted things. We couldn't wait to see the fruits of our labour on the day.


Our wedding theme was vintage, pretty and low key. Bunting, cream birdcages, scones and jam, that kind of thing. 


Our wedding favours were lavender filled hearts with ribbon stating our names, and the date of the wedding. My mother-in-law is a whiz with the sewing machine and we were meant to be sharing the job, but we also moved house 2 months before the wedding and I didn't have the time in the end. The poor woman had the job of doing them on her own.


The stationers were a real find - Boris and Doris, who made us beautiful laser cut invitations. They were absolutely perfect for us, and everyone loved them, so much so, when I sent them out, about 80% of my girls sent texts to say how gorgeous they were and didn't want to send the RSVP's back!




Budget factored when we were choosing our wedding cake, so we chose chocolate tiers from good old M&S!


DIY wedding projects included the lavender bag favours, and the 'Just Married' sign made by my mother-in-law out of stuffed letters made with material of my choice. We pegged the letters out on a line inside the marquee, and they looked gorgeous.



My big advice for future brides, is try to chill, take your time and don't go for the most expensive thing you see. We had a perfect wedding for us, we saved on lots of things and splashed out on the important things. Look for inspiration from friends, magazines and try and do some things yourself. It's very satisfying to see things you have grafted for taking shape and looking beautiful on your most special day.


And don't forget to remember what it is all about. You love him, he loves you, even if things go a bit wonky on the day then it's a story to repeat. Fun is the essence.

More Posts Like This One
Pastel Bridesmaid Inspiration
Pretty Pastel Themed Real Wedding

♥ Want to see spring weddings ideas? ♥ Or how about more vintage wedding ideas? ♥
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