“We didn’t want a run of the mill wedding”, explained newlywed Fiona. “Ben’s a bit of a control freak and likes things done his own way. We both love anything vintage so enjoyed lots of weekends trawling through flea markets and car boots collecting bits and bobs to decorate the barn. We really wanted a party atmosphere with all of our family and friends. We collected/ borrowed lots of hats, sunglasses and various other items of fancy dress for the evening and encouraged people to be a silly a possible – our guests fully embraced the dressing up and pretty much everyone was wearing some kind of fancy dress at the end of the night.”
“It was very much a DIY wedding,” she continued. “The barn was an empty shell when we arrived on the Friday to set up. I made all of the bunting, tea cup candles, and collected vintage bottles, table cloths and made hessian runners for tables. Ben is a graphic designer and made all the signs, artwork for the walls and all the paper goods (order of service, table plan etc). With the help of our wonderful family and friends we managed to turn the empty barn into a wedding venue.”
The DIY and unique ideas continued into the food and drink. “We didn’t hire a traditional catering company”, Fiona explained. “The canapés were made on site by Wild in the Pantry, and my mother and brother made the antipasto platters. We had a hog roast from West Sussex Hog Roast for the main meal and an ice cream cart for desert. In the evening we had a hot dog stand. We hired waiting and bar staff for the day. We did a booze cruise to France and provided all of the booze ourselves. We bought so much we probably have enough left for another wedding!”
The bride put together her own wedding dress, the pieces of which she bought from Ozone Bridal in Brighton. It was two Chanticleer dresses (Aurora & Natalia) custom designed together. Her lace Jacket was Benjamin Roberts. Her bridesmaids all wore high street dresses bought from various stores (H&M, Coast, Zara, Lipsy, Miss Selfridge). “They looked amazing but it took ages to get them all right”, Fiona said, “plus hours and hours of trawling the internet, buying dresses and then sending them back because they were the wrong colour!” The girls also wore red hair flowers from BHS, red shoes from Debenhams and red heart sunglasses from a stall on Brighton beach (which were a surprise for the bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding!)
How gorgeous?! Thank you to Fiona & Ben and wedding photographer Lisa Devlin for sharing with us today!
