Brides with one eye on their wedding budget {most of us!}, are going to find huge inspiration from this fabulous barn wedding. Gemma and Pete sought out all the best wedding deals, and DIY'd many of their fabulous wedding details, saving themselves some serious pennies. I'm loving their vintage Victoriana wedding style, and their original wedding details, including a
Krispy Kreme donut wedding cake, vintage handbag table displays, and cute Mr & Mrs photo props. Gemma sourced her bridesmaids' dresses and accessories on the high street, and DIY'd her perfect wedding shoes with a pair of stunning shoe clips from eBay - and don't they look fabulous! Stunning photographs published with thanks to
HBA Photography, don't miss Gemma's answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire - she has tonnes of fabulous advice for upcoming brides and grooms!
My wedding dress came from Gracie Bleu in Matlock, who were just brilliant. I had a very specific style in mind - I wanted embroidery and tulle - quite vintage looking, but more importantly I wanted a coffee or deep cream colour, and Gracie Bleu just happened to have a dress that matched my description!
I struggled to find the exact shoes I wanted as I wanted a taupe colour, not too high, and with some sort of embellishment, not traditional wedding shoes. So I bought some plain taupe coloured shoes from M&S for £30, and embellished them with pearl cluster shoe clips, which I bought off eBay for £10. My bracelet was from coast, earrings and underwear from Debenhams.
We got married at Packington Moor on July 29th 2012. We wanted to get married in a barn, and we only had a window of two weeks in which Pete’s brother could get time off work. A friend suggested Packington and we fell in love with it, and it happened to be free on the dates we wanted - it was just meant to be. We fell in love with it immediately, we could visualise our wedding there straight away, and knew it was where we wanted to hold our special day.
For Pete's wedding outfit, we both wanted normal suits - not tailcoats. Pete chose the colour, and when we went to try the suits, we decided to make him stand out with a cream waistcoat, while his two best men wore grey. The suits had a striped detail which was very subtle, and we chose sage green cravats to match the bridesmaids' dresses. The suits were hired from Formal Affair in Chesterfield.
I really wanted sage green short dresses for my bridesmaids, but the bridal shops only stocked long gowns, so in the end I looked on the high street and fell in love with the dresses in Coast.
My niece’s shoes were from Next, and my friends' were from Debenhams. I accessorized with cream flowers for their hair from H&M, and pearl bracelets {tied with the same lace as the bouquets for a vintage feel}, and earrings from Primark. My friend also had a cream lace bolero jacket which I found on Amazon.
We chose HBA Photography for our wedding photographers. They were absolutely amazing and really paid attention to everything we wanted. On the day they were so relaxed and friendly - they really helped to make the day special. They then got the photos to us super fast and we are so impressed with the beautiful, creative shots. I had asked for not too many posed shots - I liked the reportage style and wanted memories captured - which they did brilliantly. HBA Photography are the best!
Pete and I got engaged on a cruise round the Med. The highlight was a stop in Venice, and on that morning, Pete prepared a champagne breakfast up on the balcony while I was in the shower. When I eventually came out, I saw the champagne, and initially thought the ring box was a box of chocolates, so I went for the champagne! At that point Pete suggested I may want to open the box! He then got down on one knee. We then went on a gondola ride for two and spent the day in Venice before having a romantic open air meal as we sailed out of Venice.
We decided against a wedding cake as they are so expensive, and always seem to go to waste, so we opted for Krispy Kreme donuts! They looked beautiful stacked on the cake stands and were a real talking point.
I love Victoriana, and anything with scrolls and elaborate detail, so I wanted the feel of the wedding to be along these lines. We tried to make our reception wedding theme different and elegant, and slightly vintage. The tables were decorated with vintage-style handbags filled with fresh flowers by our local florist, Polka Dot Florist in Ripley, plus a collection of tea-light holders and candlesticks, as well as pearls and sparkly glass decorations.
My wedding theme was inspired by a 'Congratulations on Your Wedding' card I had bought my friend last year. On the front it had ‘things that go together’ like ‘Fish and chips’. So we used this idea for our invitations and table names - each one was named after things we like that go together, e.g. Coffee & Cake, and Take That & Party!
I DIY'd my own wedding invitations and table names with the help of a friend. Another friend helped me make the table plan - I bought the tags from a shop on eBay, and we bought a cheap frame from a charity shop and sprayed it. We then bought mount board and mounted the tags. It cost £20 in total - a bargain!
As wedding favours, we filled vintage class desert dishes {sourced from local charity shops} with lemon bonbons, and a friend DIY'd mini chocolate cupcakes for each guest.
We had tonnes of DIY wedding projects! I created photo-books for the Pete's brothers {the best men} using old family photos, I made quiz cards as icebreakers for the wedding reception, and I bought main wedding flowers wholesale. A family friend made the wedding flower arrangements as a gift. I also bought personalised confetti cones from eBay, and a fun 'Fill me in Party Poster' from the brilliant website Not On The High Street, which we now have hanging up in our home as a momento of our big day.
I loved every minute of it planning my big day!!! Just remember, stay organised and don't put any jobs off. Stick to a budget - I used a big scrapbook. In one side find pictures of what you like and where you can stick fliers you get from potential suppliers. In the other keep a track of your finances and check them regularly to make sure you don’t go over budget. Also, shop around – charity shops and eBay doesn't mean you are compromising on quality. Don't be afraid to ask suppliers for discounts - they can only say no!
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