DIY Mexican Themed Wedding with Vintage Touches: Mat & Anna

Haywood Jones Photography

January 10, 2013

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Mat & Anna didn’t have a huge budget for their November wedding, but that didn’t mean they did things by half! Oh no, this thrifty couple made as much as they possibly could themselves and managed to pull their gorgeous wedding off for just £5000. Oh and they also planned the entire thing in under four months! Wonder-couple or what!?!?

The ceremony was held at Shrewsbury Castle – yes you read that right, an actual castle – and their reception was at the picture perfect Mytton and Mermaid Hotel. “The Mytton was a great venue as it was close to Shrewsbury but with a real country house feel and the layout works really well for a group of people”, began Anna. “There was an enclosed courtyard where we could sit and have drinks, a disco/reception room off one side and the room we ate our meal in off to the other side. The bar was close by with a big open fire and more seating. We particularly appreciated how relaxed they were about our big day and that they let us do things that were a bit more quirky.”

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“Once we knew our date was in November we wanted to look for an alternative to an autumnal or Halloween type colour scheme”, she continued. “I really like the imagery and bright colours of Mexican sugar skulls. The Mexican Day of the Dead holiday also falls at the start of November, so we decided to use some of this imagery on our stationary and to introduce some other small Mexican influences like the Piñata’s, chillies and cacti. I also wanted some vintage influences in the wedding with my dress having quite a vintage look. We covered this with the bus, the table decor and some other small touches. In terms of colours the deep purple of the silk anemones was the main reference point. The bridesmaids wore black and purple and the boys wore black lounge suits with purple knitted skinny ties and matching flowers.”

This wedding was full of DIY details a-plenty including the cakes, the flowers and the stationery. “I made 96 cupcakes and our traditional wedding cake was made by a family friend”, Anna explained. “Early on in the planning I had decided I wanted to make cupcakes to save some money and just to see what we could whip up! After a few test runs we ended up with chocolate, vanilla, carrot, lemon and poppy seed and gluten free pear and almond cupcakes. We made almost all of them the day before the wedding and iced them at midnight when I should have been getting some beauty sleep! I don’t know if I would recommend this to others but I was so proud of the results when I saw them at the reception. I actually don’t think it saved us much money in the long run once I purchased the extra equipment and all the ingredients and decorations such as sugar flowers and edible sequins!”

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“My bouquet and the boys’ buttonholes were silk purple anemones. Early on I had decided that I wanted anemones as our main wedding flower but they were not quite in season but I was really happy with the artificial ones. I created the centrepieces too. The flowers were bought from various local florists totalling about £25, and I put them in vintage glass bottles that we had collected from car boot sales. For 50+ bottles it was also only about £25! I really liked the idea of jam jar and teacup floral settings but I’d seen so many people doing it already and I wanted something a bit different. We went for vibrant and cheerful colours to compliment the piñatas’ bright tones. The piñatas were from Amazon and we used these as the basis for the table names, filling them with sweets and a prize token.The idea was that each table had a piñata to bash with one main prize (wine or chocolates) instead of individual favours. Finally, we had some cacti on the tables wrapped in pink wrapping paper to add another bit of colour and interest.”

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Anna wore a bespoke silver dress made for her by Erica Stacey Bridalwear. “I had strong ideas about what I didn’t want for my wedding dress but maybe not so much about what I did”, Anna explained. “So after some research, sketching and discussion, Erica and her team created a dress which was exactly as I imagined and more. She had great suggestions on fabrics and shape. I wanted something that was quite ‘me’. I prefer a 60s or 70s silhouette and quite minimal detailing so we ended up with a mini dress with a deep cut-out back in silver silk with silk chiffon bell sleeves and a silk chiffon removable over-skirt. This was finished with a black grosgrain belt to match my black glittery shoes and necklace. Later on in the evening I took the over-skirt off and got my favourite thick black tights and studded Topshop boots on to have a whole new look for the last few hours of the evening!”

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“It was hard work in the week before the wedding to get everything ready”, Anna concluded. “My advice to other brides and grooms would be that if you are planning on DIYing a lot of the elements yourselves, then get everything done as early as possible, leaving you to concentrate the things that can only be done at the last minute (like flowers and cakes) in the last few days. Also if people offer help then take it! We couldn’t have got everything done without friends wrapping cacti and washing up cake equipment the night before. And what everyone says is true – the day really does go by in a flash so make sure you make time for yourselves during the day. Saying all that I don’t think we did badly for organising it in less than 4 months!”

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Not bad at all Anna. In fact I’m mighty impressed! Thank you to you both for sharing your fab wedding with us and to Bethan of Haywood Jones Photography for sharing her photographs.

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