Shabby-Chic Jane Austen Themed Wedding Shoot - Part 2

Time for Part 2 of this incredible Jane Austen-themed wedding shoot. You've got to love English literature as the perfect wedding inspiration, particularly if you're planning a marquee or country-house wedding. With endless wedding ideas, you're going to want to copy every one of these pictures to your wedding Pinterest board. My favourite spots? I'm loving the blackberries in the bridal bouquet, the indoor as outdoor chandelier in the garden, the decadent picnic set-up, and all the vintage details, including the cake stand, apple crates and quilt. Dress your bridesmaids and pageboys in antique clothing, and add a traditional feel to your wedding day. Huge thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography for these beautiful pictures. Don't miss the list of all the other talented vendors who made this Wedding Shoot possible - after the pics. If you didn't catch Part 1, don't miss it - click here.

Shabby-Chic Jane Austen Themed Wedding Shoot

Romantic brides who love their literature are going to adore this beautiful Jane Austin wedding shoot organised by Melissa Love Design and Orchestrated, and photographed by Dominic Whiten Photography. Theming your wedding around your favourite book is such a brilliant idea, although you've got to hope your husband isn't a fan of Lord of the Rings, or you could find your ushers dressed as orcs! My wedding was loosely styled around The Secret Garden, which meant lots of vintage keys and a wedding reception in a walled garden. This Jane Austin theme sees tonnes of pretty nods to literature and books, with a traditional English tea and picnic, plus croquet on the lawn. Stealworthy wedding ideas include the adorable striped wedding stationery, the antique silver napkin rings {start collecting now at car boot sales and off eBay}, using fruit as table decorations, and traditional English blooms like roses and lavender. I also love the flower crown worn by the 'bride'. Buckets more wedding inspiration on its way in Part 2, published first thing tomorrow!

Real Marquee Tea-Party Wedding: Holly & Jason - Reception Details

You're going to love the quirky, vintage wedding details from the reception pictures of this homespun wedding. With tonnes of DIY projects, and a colour theme based around vintage china, it's super-inspirational. With the help of Rosebud Vintage, who catered and styled Holly and Jason's wedding day, they created a detail-filled day, with tonnes of original touches. I love how they used vintage music-scores in their table stationery, and heart doilies for writing messages to their guests. Jason's mum hand-knitted a bride and groom for every female guest - a true labour of love, and their table plan was a grand, gold-rimmed mirror. Other stealworthy ideas include the luggage tag place-markers, the vintage china and old-embroidered table cloths, and the fun fancy-dress wedding favours. Huge thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography for his brilliant wedding photographs!

We chose Dominic Whiten as our wedding photographer. He’s amazing and we've had so many comments from guests about a) his presence being unnoticed, not bossy or demanding and generally being a great guy, and b) his amazing photos! 

When we were choosing our wedding photographer, we had an instant rapport with Dominic and his easy-going attitude, so we didn't bother meeting any others! We found him by looking at some of his work online. We knew we wanted something creative and arty, that would capture the day, and this is exactly what we got.

For our wedding theme, we wanted something really different and relaxed, so we set out with a mixture of ideas based on a vintage, quirky, fairytale, Alice in Wonderland type of wedding and came up with ours, which I suppose we’d now describe as a quirky, whimsical, country garden, afternoon tea wedding! 



We wanted it to be really visual, so we didn’t stick to one colour scheme. Instead we ensured we had a mixture of all colours, and brought in Rosebud Vintage to do our catering and wedding styling, which worked out better than we had ever dreamed.

For our wedding cake, we had 75 cup cakes on tiers, with a round cake on the top tier. My amazing cake-maker friends, Lindsay and Jenni made it for us. We wanted it to fit in with our vintage fairytale theme, so we chose yellow buttercream with more than 1200 cut-out flowers and buttons covering the cakes. 

The colour theme was blues, pinks, whites and yellows - our colour inspiration came from a 1920's vintage china plate!

We had lots of DIY wedding projects. I handmade our wedding invitations, even though it took months! I used a heart-shaped stamp and a butterfly-shaped stamp, and designed the invitations using colourful card and vintage music sheets. Each one was individual, and we hope to make a collage/canvas out of them all, as a special reminder of what was the beginning of our dream day and hopefully a colourful addition of art to our house!

We loved planning our wedding, and it was only stressful on a couple of occasions throughout the whole 10 months, and that was generally when Jason and I could not decide on the smallest of details! We loved visiting suppliers, getting inspiration from blogs, magazines, web sites and wedding fairs and also shopping weekly for all our vintage accessories from boot fairs and charity shops!

Our wedding favours were our pièce de résistance! The girls all had knitted bride and groom dolls that stood about 8 inches high, and were so detailed the hair alone on each groom doll took 2 hours to thread through!! We chose these as wedding favours because Jason's mum is a fantastic knitter and literally knits for England! She spent 5 months making these for us and everyone was delighted!



My advice to brides is enjoy every minute of the planning and don’t get too stressed! Easier said than done, but always remember that your guests have been chosen by you to share this special day and to celebrate your love. 

So if a table doesn’t have an accessory or the flowers aren’t quite as nice as you can afford, or any other detail is not quite right or going well, it is not be the end of the world and the chances are no one will even notice as they’ll be swept up in the ambience of the day!

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Real Marquee Tea-Party Wedding: Holly & Jason

One of my favourite wedding themes ever, is a vintage tea-party. It's the theme we chose for our London wedding, and it's quintessentially English! Holly and Jason wanted a unique wedding day that reflected their personalities, so they added an Alice in Wonderland twist to their vintage tea-party. With tonnes of DIY details, they truly personalised their big day, starting with handmade, individually designed wedding invitations for each guest! I love how Holly wore fresh flowers in her hair, and dressed her bridesmaids in vintage-style floral dresses. Jason looked seriously dapper in his high-street suit - would you believe it came from Zara? Along with Reiss, it's the go-to shop for well-dressed grooms. And as we struggle with yet another cold day, take a look at that sunshine! It was even warm enough to host the ceremony outdoors. It's almost enough to persuade me that it can be sunny in England! Huge thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography for his brilliant wedding photographs. Don't miss the reception pictures, in my blog posting later this afternoon.

We celebrated our wedding at Swarling Manor, near Canterbury in Kent on 12th May. We wanted a really beautiful venue that would firstly compliment the theme we had in mind and secondly that had a lovely garden to have the ceremony in but also a nice indoor alternative should the great British weather be mean to us!

My wedding dress was by La Sposa. My veil was by Pronovias, although it was actually a lovely soft, tulle long jacket that originally came with another dress, but my fab bridal shop, Bows in Ashford, got it made into a floor length veil for me. 

My bridesmaids' outfits were from Coast, but we customised them. I saw them and instantly knew they were perfect. They had a vintage look, with a large pale pink, cream and lilac rose print, but a great contemporary shape, so I knew the girls would like them.

We had the dresses taken up a little so they were a bit shorter than knee length, then my truly talented friend Jo {from the blog Mrs Day Makes} created a 50's style sticky-out net layered underskirt. The girls looked amazing!



Our florist was Wild for Flowers in Folkestone, and we chose peonies, roses and gypsophila. We met with Carol, showed her our ideal photos of flowers and bouquets, and explained we wanted vintage style flowers in certain colours. She then suggested all the flowers we could choose, and the looks we could adopt. So her advice, combined with being able to do everything we wanted {decorating gazebo, flower mangers, etc}, and the fact they were great on price, made our decision easy and Wild for Flowers the perfect choice.

Having spent numerous hours {14 to be precise} shopping around Bicester Village for a snazzy designer suit, Jason ended up getting his suit {blue, skinny fit with black lapel detail} from Zara! He also bought a gorgeous grey tweed waistcoat, and striped tie to go underneath it, so the Bicester trip was not such a waste of 14 hours after all!

Swarling Manor had the most amazing gardens, and a lovely barn which we could decorate if we needed an indoor alternative for the ceremony. Luckily we didn't need the indoor option!

My shoes were from Irregular Choice and my hair accessories were individual fresh flower {gypsophila and wild orchids} stems on wires.

We chose Dominic Whiten as our wedding photographer. He’s amazing and we've had so many comments from guests about a) his presence being unnoticed, not bossy or demanding and generally being a great guy, and b) his amazing photos! 

When we were choosing our wedding photographer, we had an instant rapport with Dominic and his easy-going attitude, so we didn't bother meeting any others! We found him by looking at some of his work online. We knew we wanted something creative and arty, that would capture the day, and this is exactly what we got.

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Real Vintage Music-Themed Wedding: Katherine & Yianni - Part 2

With a fabulous rock music wedding theme, a gorgeous burgundy colour theme, and a self-confessed perfectionist bride, Katherine and Yianni's wedding was always going to be a pretty impressive affair. It's packed full of stealworthy ideas, and if you're looking to be a DIY bride, you'll find tonnes of wedding inspiration. My favourite wedding details include the album themed table plan and decorations, the beautifully packaged CD wedding favours, and the stunning burgundy colour palette. Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography - don't miss Katherine's helpful answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and Part 1 of this fabulous wedding.

We got married on Saturday October 13th 2012 in a small village in Kent where my parents live. We had a church ceremony at St Johns Church followed by a reception at Mountains Country House in Hildenborough.

Our wedding photography was Dominic from Dominic Whiten Photography. I found him via our wedding venue - we met up at my parents house I really liked his easygoing manner. I researched quite a few other photographers and I was tempted by some of the more artistic styles. However after looking through Dominic's online portfolio again, we really loved his portraits and the way he captured real moments from the day in an artistic but honest way.

Yianni’s Dad is Greek Cypriot, and as everyone knows the Greeks don’t do small weddings so finding the perfect venue that would also accommodate 200 guests proved quite difficult. We thought a lot about how to combine both of our family traditions, and whether to have the wedding in Kent or London. 

In the end we decided that because I wanted to stay true to English tradition and get married at my parents' church, so it made sense to choose a venue that was close by. However we still wanted to have a proper Greek party for the reception, and Mountains Country House turned out to be the perfect choice. With its beautiful stately home and huge marquee we knew we'd have room to make it a party to remember!

The wedding theme was obvious – the reason we got together – our love of rock music. Our starting point was when one of our favourite bands Deftones released a limited edition CD with a beautiful image of roses on the cover. We used this imagery as inspiration for the invitations – which, in keeping with the music theme, we had printed as a CD album case.

I chose a burgundy rose from the centre of the design as the colour for my bridesmaids' dresses and as our a wedding colour theme, for Yianni's ushers' ties, the cake ribbon, and all the other wedding details.

My florist was Suzanne at the Flowersmiths. I visited a few other florists to get ideas but Suzanne gave us the best price for what I wanted for my wedding flowers. I knew I wanted roses in the colours from our wedding invitations, and I knew I wanted neat rounded bouquets and elegant candelabras in the venue. I really trusted Suzanne would do a good job and her dedication and planning to achieve my vision could not have been bettered.

We chose to name each table at our wedding reception after some of our favourite albums. We bought some old records and then printed labels with the album art to stick in the centre, which at 50p a record was much cheaper than buying the actual vinyl.

We designed our own invitations, table names and table plan. I am a print textile designer and Yianni works on websites, so we are both quite used to using Photoshop on a daily basis, and didn’t think it was necessary to outsource the design. We did loads of research online, and pulled all our ideas together, and then spent a lot of time perfecting the final results.

As we had nearly 150 people to the sit down meal, it was difficult to come up with something thoughtful but relatively inexpensive for our wedding favours. Originally I thought I would go with traditional sugared almonds - cheap but unoriginal. But after sending out what was essentially an empty CD case as the invitation, a lot of guests asked me for a music CD! So we decided to make our own compilation as a favour for each guest - with his or her name tacked on the cover using old school dymo labeller.

My mum helped me find our wedding cake on Classic Cakes. I had just chosen my dress, and knew the pearl decorations would work well with it. I knew I wanted a proper traditional tiered cake that you cut, instead of the current trendy cupcake towers, and I didn’t want anything too fussy visually and this cake ticked all the boxes. Plus they sent us some delicious samples including a gluten and dairy free option for pernickety eaters like me.

Yianni and I set aside 1 evening a week to do wedding stuff. When it got nearer to the day quite a few weekends got booked up with meetings too, but my advice is not to let your wedding take over your life. Also don’t stress about the little details – I asked for my mum and sister to help with decorating jam jars lanterns. I had planned a fun craft morning, but almost had a meltdown because they weren't all perfect - then on the day I didn't even see them lit up, as I was too busy enjoying myself in the marquee! So in hindsight - take the time to savour your months of labours as it is a cliché but so true - the day really does fly by!

I did enjoy planning my wedding, but at times it was really stressful and so time consuming. There is a reason why you're meant to get married before the kids arrive! I think it doesn't help that I am a perfectionist and frequently got bogged down in details. I have to say there is such an immense choice out there for everything, that it really does help if you have a good sense of your own style and a theme to stick to.

{Wedding Credits}
Venue: Mountains Country House  

Wedding dress: Pronovias 

Veil: Angelica Bridal

Bride's Shoes: First For Brides 

Bride's Earrings: Chez Bec 

Bridal Bag: Jane's Vintage

Bridesmaids' Dresses & Groom's & Ushers' ties: Dessy 

Groom & Ushers' Suits, Shirts & Shoes: Reiss

Flowergirl's Dress: Monsoon 

Wedding Car: Gold Drive 

Flowers: The Flowersmiths 

Make-up: Makeup By Ashley 

Cake: Classic Cakes 

Laser-cut Bunting: Come Uppance 

Photographer: Dominic Whiten Photography

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Real Vintage Music-Themed Wedding: Katherine & Yianni

There's nothing a wedding blogger likes more than a wedding with a theme, and there's no question, it's the easiest way to create a truly personalised wedding. Plus if you choose a theme at the start of your planning, you can be sure every wedding detail will hang together perfectly. Gorgeous couple Katherine and Yianni found it super easy to come up with their wedding theme - they'd met in a chat room for people who like heavy metal and rock music, so a music theme was the obvious choice! I love how they carried the motif through all their wedding details, inspired by an album's artworks, they created their own table plan, wedding favours, and wedding colour palette. Katherine put a huge amount of work into her wedding, researching every aspect, and you can really tell - every detail is pitch-perfect. Don't miss Part 2's reception shots published later today. Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography.

I found my dress in the first bridal shop I visited. I took one of my oldest friends and bridesmaids, Jen, who I knew would give me honest advice. She also made me enjoy the whole experience of trying on gorgeous gowns so I didn't get stressed about finding the perfect dress. I didn’t know it was 'the one' when I first tried it on, but several weeks & many shops later: boutiques, designer, vintage, second hand {I went to them all!} it was the only one I couldn't stop thinking about. 

It's a Pronovias wedding gown, but a sample dress, so much more affordable than many of the others I tried. It hugs my curves, which I love, because my husband definitely married me for my bum! To be honest, there's so many beautiful dresses available, I’m sure several could have been 'the one' but I just couldn't justify the £3000+ price tag. 

I bought my shoes, veil, earrings & hair comb from several different bridal shops {see the details below}– the beauty of shopping around a lot for my dress meant I worked out what was on offer. My hair comb was definitely my favourite buy, a statement piece that really photographed well.

We got married on Saturday 13th October 2012, in a small village in Kent where my parents live. We had a church ceremony at St Johns Church followed by a reception at Mountains Country House in Hildenborough.

Yianni's best man Steven took him shopping for his wedding day outfit. They found a suit they liked in Reiss & went with it! Boys are quick shoppers! He was adamant he didn't want traditional top and tails, and in hindsight they made the right choice, as they look modern and slick in the pictures, and they've all got a nice suit they'll wear again.

I chose a burgundy rose from the centre of a Deftones album design as the colour for my bridesmaids' gowns, and this was then used as a general colour theme, for the ushers' ties, cake ribbon and other wedding details.

I originally thought I'd be able to buy my bridesmaids' dresses on the high street, but we struggled to find something to fit with the colour scheme. I did loads of research online and in magazines, but there doesn't seem to be a huge number of options for bridesmaids’ dresses that are classic and flattering but not frumpy.

Eventually I found a local shop that was selling Dessy so I took the girls to try some on, and we all agreed the one-shoulder full-length chiffon bridesmaids gowns looked elegant and Greek goddess-like. Also I was able to choose the exact shade of burgundy I wanted to fit in with our wedding theme. I was so pleased - they all looked stunning on the day.

My florist was Suzanne at Flowersmiths. I visited a few other florists to get ideas but Suzanne gave us the best price for what I wanted on my wedding day. I knew I wanted roses and neat rounded bouquets, and I really trusted Suzanne would do a good job. Her dedication and planning to achieve my vision could not have been bettered.

My flower-girl's little white dress came from Monsoon and I added a matching burgundy sash, to fit in with the bridesmaids dresses. She carried a basket of flower petals for confetti.

Yianni and I met in 2001 in an online chat room for people who like heavy metal and rock music. We had both just started university but I was in Manchester, Yianni was in London. I felt an instant connection with him as we both listed our almost identical CD collections – a somewhat eclectic mixture! We chatted online until December when I came home to Kent for the Christmas holidays. 

We met face-to-face for the first time in Charing Cross station, with only a grainy webcam photo for recognition, and unbeknown to me, my parents hiding behind a pillar to check out the strange boy! We went out on a few nights out as mates, and then I decided to make the first move on New Years Eve in a dingy rock club in Tufnell Park, and kissed him during what came to be 'our song' Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja by Lost Prophets. 

We made it through 3 years of endless train journeys, a further 4 years alternating weekends between Kent and London before we moved in together in 2009. I got pregnant 18 months later and although it put our plans to travel to the Far East on hold, it was to become a defining moment in our lives when our son Alexander was born in 2011. Yianni took the three of us to New York, a favourite destination of ours, in October 2011 and proposed. The highlight for me was when we bought my engagement ring in Tiffany & Co on 5th Avenue ☺

Our wedding photography was Dominic from Dominic Whiten Photography. I found him via Mountains Country House - we met up at my parents house I really liked his easygoing manner. 

I researched quite a few other photographers and I was tempted by some of the more artistic styles. However after looking through Dominic's online portfolio again, we really loved his portraits and the way he captured real moments from the day in an artistic but honest way.

{Wedding Credits}
Venue: Mountains Country House  

Wedding dress: Pronovias 

Veil: Angelica Bridal

Bride's Shoes: First For Brides 

Bride's Earrings: Chez Bec 

Bridal Bag: Jane's Vintage

Bridesmaids' Dresses & Groom's & Ushers' ties: Dessy 

Groom & Ushers' Suits, Shirts & Shoes: Reiss

Flowergirl's Dress: Monsoon 

Wedding Car: Gold Drive 

Flowers: The Flowersmiths 

Make-up: Makeup By Ashley 

Cake: Classic Cakes 

Laser-cut Bunting: Come Uppance 

Photographer: Dominic Whiten Photography

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