Isobel & Dave’s incredible vintage-inspired budget wedding gives me butterflies! I am so excited about sharing all the beautiful personal touches that they put into their day. The whole wedding is a testament to the fact that you don’t need to spend a fortune to have your perfect wedding.
“The two things we had in our heads from the start were; that we didn’t have a very big budget and that we wanted our wedding to reflect us,” Isobel told me. “We started by approaching it as a really big party where we’d just happen to get married. The important things for us were that our favourite people were there, our favourite music was playing, and everyone would have fun! We aren’t particularly conventional and there was never any question of following rules or doing things because we ‘should’. I didn’t buy a single bridal magazine or visit any bridal shops during the whole process!”
“Rock n Roll Bride and DIY Bride were my only ‘go to’ blogs for inspiration and ideas! We just did things because we wanted to (if we could afford it)! With the little touches – the badges, the teapots as vases, teacups full of sweets, the birdcage for cards and messages, the photo booth (definitely a Rock n Roll Bride idea-steal!), and the bunting – I think we created a wedding that was fun, unique, and best of all, exactly what we’d imagined.”
The bride wore a dress that she had made from a vintage Vogue pattern. She was keen to wear something that was ‘her’ and something that she felt comfortable and beautiful in. “My dress was ade by a friend of a friend from an old Vogue pattern I found on the Internet,” she continued. “I wanted long-sleeves as I assumed (wrongly) it would be cold in April and I wanted to cover my arms! I also wanted a dress that was ballerina length to show off my gorgeous shoes! The cream lace and nude lining it was made from were from Victoria Market in Nottingham. I chose lace because I wanted it to look like a wedding dress (you only get to do this once, right?!) but mostly because I love it. The woman who made the dress added the bow and the buttons on the sleeves, which I think were really good calls and one of the many reasons why I’m glad I didn’t attempt to make the dress myself.”
The DIY theme continued through out the wedding. The bride’s Mum made her birdcage veil and her bouquet from faux flowers (from Hobbycraft.) They also bought the majority of their decor ‘things’ that they weren’t able to make themselves from Etsy and eBay, including the invitations, the birdcages, the lanterns, the napkins and the Lego cake topper.
My favourite detail has got to be the bunting. When they sent out the invitations they included a template for a piece of bunting and asked their guests to send them one made from any material they wanted. “Lots of people did and we got some lovely and very creative pieces (metres of it in some cases!) which we put together and used to decorate the reception venue. I think this really added to cosy, handmade feel of the reception and reflected what we wanted the wedding to be – a celebration with our friends and family.”
SO much love for this! Huge congratulations to Isobel & Dave and big love to photographer Anna Hardy for sending over her images.
