Real Vintage Sunflower Wedding: Chanelle & Terry

This is one of those amazing weddings, where the bride and groom's exuberance and sheer joy just leaps out of the pictures. Chanelle and Terry celebrated their big day in vintage sunshiny style, with a gaggle of girlfriends and a fabulous 1960s theme. Chanelle owns and runs the fantastic vintage shop in Balham called Annie in the Attic, and I'm slightly obsessed with her retro style. Just take a look at her bridesmaids mini-shift dresses, white tights and cute lace gloves for starters! Anyone planning to scrimp on the number of maids of honour should think again - getting ready looks like a riot, and the matching outfits make for amazing pictures. With a church wedding and a marquee reception in Terry's parents' cottage garden, this is the DIY-wedding of your dreams. Don't miss Part 2, published tomorrow - it's packed to the brim with original wedding details, including a photo family-tree, a table-plan of vinyl LPs, and a potting shed turned vintage photo-booth! Huge thanks to Michael at My Beautiful Bride for his truly fantastic photographs. He didn't miss a single shot!

We married on the 30th June 2012. The ceremony was held in St Mary's Church in Buckland in Surrey, and the reception was held in the garden and marquee at Terry's parents' house in Buckland.

My dress was from Ronald Joyce and I bought it from The Wedding Service in Wallington, in Surrey. My shoes were Benjamin Adams, and my jewellery was vintage. 

I handmade my oversized bow hair accessory in the hotel the night before the wedding {which gave me something to focus on!}.

Until a week before the wedding I had an original 1960s wedding dress hanging up in a dress bag ready to go for my wedding day. I'd fallen in love with it, and bought it from a supplier I know in LA. But then my mum took me shoe shopping the week before at a bridal shop and my eye caught on the Ronald Joyce gown... I tried it on and couldn't take it off!

I had ten bridesmaids! When I first told people this, they thought I was crazy... but it was fantastic! It meant I didn't have to choose between my best friends, and I had support the whole time. They were all great and helped me out in different ways.



They wore special edition dresses from River Island {including Rhiannon, my Maid of Honour}, and I sourced them white tights, vintage court shoes and communion dresses from eBay. 
 



Terry went for a sharp, mod inspired style with a two tone blue Ben Sherman suit, Ben Sherman shirt and accessories, a vintage tie-clip and Lambretta shoes.

When we started planning our wedding, we started looking at venues, and then remembered St Mary's Church near Terry’s parents' house. We looked around and it was perfect. 

A quaint village church, with medieval characteristics, beautiful and within walking distance of Terry's parents where we decided to have a garden and marquee reception. 

Holding the reception at Terry's parents meant we had full control of all aspects of planning, styling and dressing which is exactly what we wanted.

We DIY'd our wedding flowers. Ahead of our big day, we went to flower shows and wholesalers to select the flowers we liked. We then found a wholesalers close to the wedding venue, and ordered the flowers and picked them up the day before the wedding. 

We all made the bouquets and table decorations together, and left them in water in a dark shed overnight so they didn't wilt. Florists can be very expensive so we saved a lot of money by doing them ourselves.

Our photographs were taken by the fantastic Michael from My Beautiful Bride, who we can’t praise enough. Michael captured our day perfectly, and he was great in the build up to the wedding, and on the day itself.

Ahead of your wedding, Michael really gets to know you as a couple, and spends time brainstorming ideas for creative shots, to ensure he knows exactly what you want from your pictures. All our guests commented on how helpful he was, and we were flooded with messages and comments on the finished photos.

The thing we realised about photos is that the day goes so quickly, that actually your photos are one of the most important elements of your big day. They're your wedding day story book.

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

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Real Glamorous Barn Wedding Video: Hilary & Trevor

How many weddings are you going to this year? I've got two this summer and I'm exceedingly excited about both. One is going to be at Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire, and after watching this emotional wedding video trailer for Hilary and Trevor's wedding, I couldn't be more thrilled. It looks like a truly fabulous wedding venue - a lovely mixture of modern and rustic, with stunning views across the countryside. Hilary and Trevor chose rich purple and soft cream for their wedding colour palette, and I love how it ties together all their wedding details. Hilary's rocking a Great Gatsby 1920's look for her wedding, with Art Deco-style earrings, and a glamorous taffeta wedding gown teamed with a stunning glittery sash - a great way to personalise any wedding dress. Other wedding-details-to-love include the rustic luggage tag place-markers, the pretty mini-bunting cake topper, and the beautiful spring wedding flower arrangements. Huge thans to White Dress Films for their fantastic wedding video trailer. It might be the new baby hormones, but I sobbed all the way through this one!

More posts like this one:

✽ Real Purple Themed Picnic Wedding

✽ Purple Romantic Wedding Inspiration

♥ Want to see wedding videos? ♥ Or how about more barn wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Country Rustic Wedding: Ruth & Pete

Wahey for the sunshine! We're not getting enough of it this spring. So in celebration, I'm featuring  a stunning English garden wedding, fresh from the portfolio of talented duo Renira & Jane Photography. Ruth and Pete celebrated their big day in Mayfield in East Sussez with a cute shabby chic floral theme. I'm totally besotted with Ruth's non-white wedding dress. It's super-classy to do your wedding in your way, and I'm loving her patterned dress and the simple daisies in her hair. There's so many other details that I've fallen for, that I'm finding it hard to choose which ones to mention first! The mismatched fabric bunting, the lanterns, the Cath Kidston-style chair-cushions, the gorgeous open-sided marquee, the hand-potted herbs on the tables and Ruth's hand-tied rustic bouquet - everything is unique and personalised. Don't miss the cute little illustrations on the place cards.

More posts like this one:

✽ Real Summer Countryside Wedding

✽ Real Tipi Church Wedding

♥ Want to see stately home weddings? ♥ Or how about more dark blue themed weddings? ♥

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Real Vintage Medical Themed Wedding: Rebecca & Ben

I've made you wait, but it's finally time for the incredible wedding reception pictures from this unique medical themed wedding. Rebecca and Ben chose The Morritt in Greta Bridge in County Durham for their wedding reception, and after many months of successful bidding on eBay, Rebecca personalised her and Ben's big day with a fabulous array of wedding details, including old medicine bottles as vases, an ancient doctor's bag for wedding gifts, and vintage first aid boxes filled with sweets. Table flowers looked just-picked, with snowberries and autumn foliage to reflect the season. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Rebecca and Ben chose their own cheeses for a tiered cheese cake, and Rebecca's parents handmade chutney as wedding favours for eating on the day. So many wonderful details, all in one wedding - it's definitely an all-time favourite for me! Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden and Vanessa Adams, her second shooter, for these gorgeous wedding pictures.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden. I found her on the internet by searching for vintage-style photographers. She is actually based in the South, but came all of the way up to photograph our big day. 

Sharron was wonderful, stayed all day and evening and felt part of the wedding! She also brought an assistant photographer, Vanessa Adams, to help who was lovely. As we set off for our honeymoon 24 hours later, she had already sent me a montage of her favourite photos which I was delighted to receive.

Ben and I got married on 8th September 2012 at St Edmunds Church, Sedgefield in County Durham, followed by a reception at The Morritt, Greta Bridge.

We wanted to have a lot of people, and provide a lot of food and drink. On our budget it made sense to pick a smaller, more personal hotel that we could fill to the brim.



I had tonnes of DIY wedding projects. I wanted a table plan, but I didn't want to spend time or money on it. I found a website called Here Comes the Bride, and they suggested using a mirror. They took the measurements, and printed out {and decorated} individual cards with adhesive on the back. My mirror had a gold rim, so my Dad and I sprayed it silver! When we put it all together, it worked really well. 



When I was planning our wedding theme, my sister suggested starting with the florist and working back from there....and she was right! I met with three florists and knew instantly when I had found the right one - Adam Prest......he was AMAZING!!! He is based in a farm outside of Sedgefield where he grows some of the flowers he uses. It was great to use someone local!



I could not describe really what I wanted....but he just knew. It was his idea for grey bridesmaids dresses!!!! I said I wanted the flowers to look like I had been out in the garden and picked the flowers. I also said I did not want them to be symmetrical or all the same length or size......the rest was down to him.

He selected a rose called Amnesia, white snowberries and a silvery foliage which I loved! He also suggested candelabras of varying heights for the tables. We were both keen that every table looked different!

Our wedding favours for the men were small jars of chutney {handmade by my Mum and Dad}. They make a lot of chutney, and because we were serving cheese at the end of the meal, it was the obvious decision! We made bibs and bow ties for each of the jars, and I made small top hats for all of the men to wear at dinner, which sat on top of the jars. 



The girls' wedding favours were different. My Mum is very arty and decorated small grey boxes (from Paperchase) with tiny flowers dried from the garden. Again each one was different, and we baked individual Rolo brownies to go in them! We also printed minute recipe cards for the brownies and put them in the box.

I really wanted a vintage feel but having been to several weddings prior to ours in 2012 it was difficult to come up with something original. So I was thrilled when I discovered vintage medicine bottles on eBay. I bid on them regularly in the run up to the wedding until I had enough for four/five per table. They were only a couple of quid each and make lovely mementos!

I was keen to have something original for our wedding cards from guests, so to continue with the medical theme, I found a vintage doctor's bag (also on eBay) for only £30.



The medical dictionary was my own, and I HAD to buy the vintage medical book 'The movement of the heart and blood', as it seemed very romantic!! 



I loved organising my wedding! It was great to put a personal stamp on the day. I tried to see it as a party, rather than a wedding, and I think we managed to create that kind of atmosphere. It did however dominate the nine months between engagement and the big day, and I am glad you only have to do it once!! 


My advice to brides planning their wedding is to start early. Book in all of the big things then have a bit of a break! Use the internet. There are so many ideas and craft websites out there. If you can’t find what you want....have a go at making it!! 

Invest in your dress.......it is definitely worth it!! Don’t make everything match. It was more fun having several subtle themes intermingled with each other, and it personalised the wedding more. Have a wedding folder.....it's geeky, but having everything in one place makes life so much easier!

When it came to our wedding cake, we both love cheese, so we had a cheese wedding cake! You can get them in set combinations on the internet, but we were keen to pick the cheeses ourselves, so we went to a small cheese shop called Cheese on the Green in Rugby {where Ben’s parents live} and tried all of them! It was very good fun!

I got a really naff cake topper online with a bride rugby tackling the groom.....my Mum hated it, but it looked really good after my florist had dressed the cake. To serve with the cheese, my Mum and Dad made chutney and fruit cake, while crackers and fruit were provided by the hotel along with our evening hog roast.

More posts like this one:

✽ Pretty Baby Blue Marquee Wedding

✽ Stunning Pink & Grey Marquee Wedding

♥ Want to see countryside wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more purple themed weddings? ♥

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