Kate & Charles had a vintage, punky and pink (caravan!) wedding on the Isle of Wight. As soon as I saw Kate in her incredible 1950’s cotton lace Fur Coat No Knickers vintage gown I knew I wanted to feature them “They made the bow birdcage veil out of a back panel of the dress and sourced the most beautiful velvet ribbon sash to finish off the dress” the bride told me.
The ceremony took place at Newchurch All Saints Church, Newchurch, Isle of Wight with a reception following at a friend Nick James’ house – Redway Manor Farm. They hired an Indian tent complete with low bench seating, floor cushions and gorgeous lamps from their friend’s Ed & Ana at Ed’s Tents and borrowed the pink ‘Honeymoon Caravan’ from their friend Mel, which the couple slept in that night.
They chose not to ignore a lot of the traditional wedding formalities and just went with the things that mattered to them. They didn’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen and made sure that all the important people in their lives were a big part of their day.
Charles’ Mum made the cupcakes. “She went cupcake crazy and baked up a dizzying array of cupcakes for the afternoon tea party from cherry cheesecake and spiced apple through to jam doughnut cupcakes, along with a couple of bouquet of cupcakes made by his sister Roz. However, the star of the show was a 3 tier pork pie cake complete with a Lego bride and groom which looked just like us!”
Their flowers were also put together by friends to keep costs down and to keep it personal. “My wedding bouquet was kindly made by my wonderfully creative friend Donna. The only flowers we bought from a florist were Scabious of which there were 7, one for each year that we have been together, and Raspberry Thistle (the Gretna connection). The rest was made up of Mint, Lavender and Clematis gathered from friends gardens. The button holes were also Scabious and made by Charles’ mum.”
Charles set up their own photo booth and bought whole heap of props and stick on moustaches which people could wear and take a photo of themselves for the wedding ‘guest book.’
“We tried to do everything with the details of our time together and the love of our friend’s and family in mind. The invitations were made by us. We created the design of which the swallow detail became a theme throughout touches of the wedding. They appeared on the favours, which were attached to each teacup, these had a little packet of wildflower seeds complete with lyrics from songs that played out our relationship. We also created ‘wishes’ tags which people could hang from an olive tree.”
“We went diy crazy and made lace tablecloths out of net curtains from charity shops, and cushion covers from donated fabrics. For the drinks signs I found this great wedding blog post by the girls at Hello! Lucky who posted the templates on their site.”
“We both live in Brighton now, so to come back to the bosom of our family and friends all together with us on the Island, where we grew up felt like the best present we could possibly have. We wanted to create a day that people would remember for years to come for all the little magical touches, the surroundings, the people and most of all the fact that each and every one of them has contributed to our lives and our wedding to make it the memorable day it could be. It was a day created by us, but contributed to by each and every person there, which made it pretty rock and roll to us!”
Huge thanks to Kate & Charles for sharing their amazing day with us
Credit: Julian Winslow Photography
Ceremony Venue: Newchurch All Saints Church, Newchurch, Isle of Wight
Reception Venue: friend Nick James’ house Redway Manor Farm, Merstone, Isle of Wight
Tent: Ed’s Tents
Pink Honeymoon Caravan: Borrowed by a friend
Bride’s Dress: Fur Coat No Knickers
Birdcage Veil: Fur Coat No Knickers
Bride’s Shoes: Vivienne Westwood
Bride’s engagement/wedding rings: Jeremy Hoye
Groom’s Suit: Moss
Groom’s Shoes: George Cox
Cake: Diy – made by a friend
Flowers: Diy – made by a friend
Hair/Make Up: Diy (Charles is a hair stylist)
Car: 1964 Ford Cortina Mark I from The Isle of Wight Classic Ford Club
Singing Caterers: Friends
Band: Friends
Tin Can Lanterns: Diy – made by a friend
Signs: Diy – made by a friend
Tissue Paper Flowers: Diy – made by a friend
