Pretty Sage Green & Dusky Pink Shabby Chic Church Wedding - The Reception

With a dusky pink and sage green wedding colours, I was always going to love Daniella and Paul's wedding - after all, they're the same shades I picked for my own big day. Add in the stunning DIY wedding details and the shabby chic theme, and this wedding is something of a humdinger! I love all the pretty touches, from the handmade burlap menu folds, the pashmina favours, the table plan tree, the vintage tea-cups filled with sweeties for snacking, and the fingerprint guest-book. With two years to plan, Daniella thought of every single wedding extra, and it really shows in this lovely personal wedding. Don't miss her answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire - if you're thinking about hiring a wedding coordinator for the day, Daniella's answers will swing you towards asking your florist! Huge thanks to Dean Govier for his beautiful wedding photographs - he captured every perfect detail.



Paul and I got married on 1st June 2013. We had our ceremony at St. George's Church in Crowhurst, and hosted our reception at Coltsford Mill, a Watermill barn near Oxted in Surrey. The barn is a blank canvas and the grounds are simply stunning, with an abundance of lakes and lawns.

Our wedding photographer was Dean Govier. Originally we had someone else booked, but as time went on I felt I wasn't connecting with him, and had my doubts. Luckily we met Dean at our marriage prep classes {he got married 3 weeks before us} and we instantly felt drawn to his style and personality. We knew he would be a fab photographer, and someone we wanted there on our day, so we lost the deposit on our original booking and booked Dean, and we were so pleased with our decision!

Picking a venue for us was easy, we only saw one. We'd attended eleven weddings the year before our own - most of which were local - we we'd seen all the venues in our area. We knew we wanted a barn with outdoor areas and water, and something different to our friends, so when we saw Coltsford we knew immediately it was a winner. 

Given the barn venue we wanted to keep the countryside-feel in our décor. I also wanted everything to be unique, so DIY projects played a huge part in our wedding. Everything was handmade rather than shop bought - that way I knew no-one else would have it!

I picked pale green and dusky pink as our wedding colours, and we incorporated birds and roses as our main theme, plus a monogram of our initials on our wedding stationery. Our cats also made an appearance in deco-patch form at the bottom of our table-plan tree, we couldn't not involve them in the day somehow! I worked with my florist to get the colours just right, and her inspiration was invaluable. I recommend her 100% - she was more than just a florist.

I met a few florists and Liz of Flowers By Liz was the one who got my vision and enhanced it. Her enthusiasm was infectious and every time I met her I came away excited, so I knew she would do a great job, and she did. Liz helped me choose our wedding flowers. At our wedding reception, we had cream jugs and glass bottles filled with peonies, Old Dutch roses and eucalyptus. I had a pink rose in the back of each chair sash, and birdcages hanging from the beams filled with trailing ivy and pink roses. 

I was let down last minute by someone who said they would decorate the venue, and Liz stepped in and added all my finishing touches on the day - which was well above and beyond the call of duty. When I saw our venue for the first time I was thrilled. It was like she jumped into my mind, took my vision and portrayed it perfectly. In a way being let down was a godsend, as no one could have done it as well as Liz.

We had tonnes of DIY projects - I made everything! I became obsessed with wedding blogs {like Before the Big Day} and Pinterest, and every idea I saw, I knew I could make as oppose to buy. I made the hessian cone pew ends, tissues in pouches for happy tears, all the on-the-day stationery, the wine glass charms, the table plan wish tree, decopatch cats and much more! I loved every minute of my crafting and would have not done it another way. But at times covered in glue, pink mulberry roses and pearls I might have said differently! 

Our Save the Dates were packs of seeds in brown paper envelopes stamped with 'Love is Blooming', and our wedding date. I made these myself, but I wanted our wedding invitations to be stunning, so I found Jen from Jen's Handcrafted Stationery who made gorgeous wallet invites with our monogram, a pink rose and green ribbon. She also made cards for my mum and bridesmaids in the same theme. Jen was great and I advise any bride to drop her an email.

I loved planning our wedding, but towards the end found it quite stressful as I took on a lot and wanted it perfect. Paul left me to it {a polite way of saying he nodded when approval was needed!}. Organising was easy as I work in events, but my decision to hand-make everything took its toll. My mum and I had crafting Saturdays which was great fun, and a lovely bonding time. About 3 weeks before the wedding I knew there was little I could do to prevent anything going wrong so eased up and enjoyed the lead up to the wedding. Luckily nothing went wrong on the day – or not that I noticed - so the stressing and hard work paid off.

When we first got engaged everyone asked why we were waiting two years for our wedding. At the time we both had new jobs so we didn't want to launch into planning, but even now I’d do the same. Planning a wedding is fun, and a time you don't get back, so take your time, gather your ideas and let them develop. 

Pinterest is amazing, I used it a lot, but blogs like Before the Big Day were invaluable. Spreadsheets are a must for budgeting, and lists, and more lists are helpful. But most of all enjoy it. Also, never listen to anyone who says 'people won't notice the small details' - they do, and it makes it so much more personal - so it's worth that extra effort.

I went a bit overboard with favours and takeaway goodies, but it was noted and everyone loved them. For the ladies we had pashminas - each one hand-tied with thank you labels. The boys had lottery tickets in handmade pouches {sadly no one won, or told us they did!}. Everyone had a handmade wineglass charms, and the menu pouches / placename holders were designed to take-away. Lots of our female guests tell me they use them for their makeup brushes on their dressing tables. We also had toiletry baskets in the loos, and baskets of handmade soaps for the ladies to take-away, and also flip-flops so the girls could carry on dancing when their feet started to hurt.

Paul and I don't really eat cake! He likes fruit cake, but I hate it - and we wanted something that our guests would eat. So instead of a traditional wedding cake, we opted for a cheese cake from The Cheese Shed. Ian at the shop was so helpful and put me at completely at ease. Our florist decorated it, and I think it looked stunning - plus it was extremely delicious!

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