A Rustic Garden Wedding with a Festival Feel & Tonnes of DIY Details

Everything about this wedding is enchanting - it's like something from a traditional Welsh faery story! Loveday and Nathan celebrated their big day with a church service, followed by their wedding reception in Loveday's parent's garden. From the handmade yurts {created by the bride's brother!}, to the traditional wedding cake, pretty floral favours and jam jar vases, everything was DIY'd by Loveday and Nathan's friends and family. It just goes to show what an amazing effect you can create yourself! The wedding had a festival vibe, with a warming fire-pit, boho decorations {by Verdigris Venue Dressing}, deckchairs, and floral arches. I'm also super-impressed that Loveday bought her wedding dress from a charity shop, and had it re-modelled with the help of a local dressmaker. No detail was too small - she even changed the buttons to pastel pretties, to fit in with their colour scheme. Enjoy these lovely pictures by Adam Cove, and Loveday's inspirational answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire!

We celebrated our wedding on Saturday 31st August 2013 in the chapel of St David at the University of Wales in Lampeter, where Nathan and I first met as students.Our reception was lovingly created at my parent's home, on a hill above the town. My brother, Morgan, made us two beautiful yurts, and all our friends and family worked hard helping to get the place ready, from mowing the lawns and tending the flower garden. We even spent our wedding night in another little yurt, tucked away amongst some willows near the stream. 

I wanted a simple quite classic wedding dress, but with a personal touch. After a lot of looking I finally bought my dress second hand from a charity shop in Cardiff. It was then re-modelled by a local dress maker called Rhiannon J Limited. We worked together on the design and I was able to add unique buttons and decorations. It was a simple silk gown with a modest puddle train, individual colourful buttons down the back, ruching across the waste and a small flower decoration on the left hip. Rhiannon also made my veil for me.

A Welsh Countryside Wedding with a Pretty Pink Theme - The Reception

Brides planning a marquee wedding are going to L-O-V-E the inspiration they get from this big day. Instead of a shabby chic or rustic look, Pippa and Martyn chose to go for glamour, and created the most fabulous look for their marquee. They didn't spend money on favours or an expensive wedding cake, saving their pennies instead for the most incredible flower displays, designed by The Bay Tree. I love the luxurious elegance of the pink and white table arrangements, and the gorgeous glass roofed reception-area of the marquee. Other stealworthy ideas include the chalk-board labels on the wine coolers, which doubled as table names, and the pink fizz cocktails, in keeping with the colour theme. A big thank you to Lucy Wallace Photography for her stunning pictures!

We got married in Ewenny in South Wales. The church was right next to my parents' house, so it had a special place in my heart {it was also where my husband proposed to me}. Our reception was in a marquee in a field behind my parents house.

We wanted our wedding to have a strong sense of family, so a marquee close to the church and my parents house was a natural choice. The idea of having a blank canvas was really exciting, I could let my imagination run wild!

A Welsh Countryside Wedding with a Pretty Pink Theme

Is there anything more romantic than a horse-drawn carriage? The wedding transport is just one of the things that makes this big day stand out, along with the pretty-as-a-picture flowers, stunning Pronovias wedding gown, and dramatic marquee reception. Pippa and Martyn chose to make their wedding flowers their biggest wedding detail, and called in the talents of Bryan Bird, the florist at The Bay Tree in Cowbridge in Wales. The end result is a stunning array of blooms, including lily-of-the-valley, sweat peas, and roses. The bouquets are beautiful, but wait until you see the reception flowers in Part 2 of this wedding - they'll blow your mind! Other details-to-steal include the bridesmaids black Dessy dresses - as Pippa says - everyone looks good in black, and she let her girls choose their style of dress -making it much more likely they'll wear them again. I also love Martyn's bespoke three-piece suit, and soft pink tie. Huge thanks to Lucy Wallace Photography for sending through her gorgeous pictures from Pippa and Martyn's big day. Stay tuned for Part 2 - the Reception - coming soon!

We got married in Ewenny in South Wales. The church was right next to my parents' house, so it had a special place in my heart {it was also where my husband proposed to me}. Our reception was in a marquee in a field behind my parents house.

To find a wedding gown, we went to Teokath, a fabulous bridal shop in Wimbledon in London, where I tried on lots of wedding dresses. I knew I wanted it to be lace, but when I tried on the Pronovias dress I loved that the grey belt made it a little different.

Real Welsh Spring Wedding: Llior & Will - Part 2

It's time for Part 2 of this lovely vintage 1920s themed wedding, and there's tonnes of stealworthy wedding ideas from the elegant reception at Soughton Hall in North Wales. With favours and food sourced from Llior's parents' farm, and tonnes of DIY wedding details, it's hugely inspirational. Llior designed her own wedding dress, made her own veil on the morning of her wedding, and hand stamped the seating plan and place names. A real labour of love! I'm loving all the wedding ideas, and I'm also slightly obsessed with Victoria Phipps Photography's incredible pictures. Don't miss Part 1, with more of Llior's helpful wedding hints.

We had tonnes of DIY projects. I designed my wedding dress, my veil, and the wedding stationery. I also (slightly painfully) sat up night after night using single stamp type letters to create the seating plan and place names. Plus I made the heart shaped clay favours that accompanied the luggage tag place names. Hours of fun!

My husband and I designed our wedding stationery. We chose a picture from our engagement shoot with Victoria Phipps in London {a picture of the sign Love Lane}. We also used the picture in a frame at the wedding, and it married in well with the London-sign table names.

For wedding favours, we had individual mini strawberry yogurt cheesecakes made with my parents' yogurt from their Welsh Dairy, called Llaeth y Llan or in English, Village Dairy. These bespoke favours were presented in glass jars with black screw tops, with a love note sign off.|

The wedding cake was glorious selection of Welsh cheeses and a beautiful three-tier lattice topped Welsh game pie. Our family is in the food trade, which is fantastic, because we know about all the best produce to buy for special events like weddings!

I really enjoyed planning our wedding. I feel there's a big space that needs filling in my life....I need another one to do!!

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Real Vintage Welsh Spring Wedding: Llior & Will

Vintage-loving brides are going to adore this beautiful Welsh wedding. Llior and Will tied the knot at the beautiful Soughton Hall in Northop, in North Wales. The house and grounds look incredible, particularly the grandeur of the old gates and turrets. I'm loving all of the 1920's wedding details, from the bridesmaids' cute lace gloves and feather fascinators, to the vintage transport {cute car!} and Llior's elegant wedding dress, which she designed herself! Also love the idea to bring in the 'Something Blue' tradition with the bridesmaids' hydrangea bouquets and the ribbon on Llior's garter. Tonnes more wedding inspiration as you scroll through the pictures - Llior has very kindly filled in Before the Big Day's Bride's Questionnaire, so you can be sure to snaffle all her wedding inspiration. Huge thanks to Victoria Phipps Photography for these beautiful pictures - don't miss the reception shots, which I'll publish later this afternoon.

My original plan was to wear a wedding dress that I had made on my career break trip around the world. But when I tried it on when I arrived home, it didn't feel that special anymore. Plus my mother missed out on all that first bridal fuss, and the experience of seeing your daughter in her wedding dress for the first time. So we both decided to start from scratch with my own wedding dress design.

We set off around local fabric stores looking for a seamstress. We found a fab local lady and she interperated my wedding dress design and thoughts so beautifully, it was amazing. From week to week the dress just transformed, there was a lot of 'let's let the fabric speak to us moments'. My mother and I pinned the veil together on the morning of the wedding {something to do at 6am when you cant sleep for nerves}, so it was very much a DIY project for the two of us.

For my bridesmaids we chose the dresses and shoes from a mish-mash of small boutiques in London, plus lovely Coast faux-fur maroon shrugs.

We chose Fresh Floral Design in Chester for our wedding flowers. I had a bouquet of white roses, and we picked blue hydrangeas for my beautiful bridesmaids. The table flowers were a combination of white Peonies, white roses and white hydrangeas.

We wanted our wedding to be simple and elegant, with a 1920's vintage theme. Our main aim was to create fabulous lasting memories.

Will had his wedding suit made at King & Alan Tailors in Wimslow. {It all went a bit wrong though. He was meant to have a round collar and cuff shirt, and a full fabric tailored three-buttoned waistcoat, but these didn't come about because they forgot!}.

Victoria Phipps was our wedding photographer. I saw her pictures advertised in a wedding magazine and I loved her style. A few months prior to the wedding we had a lovely engagement shoot in London with her, which was a great way to get us relaxed before the big day. Victoria's pictures are so timeless and I like her easy and beautiful approach to wedding photography.

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Real White Welsh Wedding: Danielle & Richard

There's something seriously romantic about old ruined buildings, and they're the perfect back-drop to this glamorous white wedding. Danielle and Richard celebrated their big day at Slebech Park in rural Wales, with the fabulous Angharad Gwenter as their photographer. I'm head-over-heels for Danielle's understated elegance - her gorgeous cathedral-length veil and lace strapless gown are topping my wedding dress favourites right now. Lace-overlay is SO in right now thanks to the lovely Kate Middleton. Other stealworthy wedding details include the personalised bottle labels {easy to DIY} and berries in Danielle's wedding bouquet, plus the bridemaids' little black dresses {always a winner}. I'm in wedding heaven!

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