Paula Gillespie
December 3, 2014
Chris and Kimberley wanted an unconventional and small wedding in the city where they met: Belfast. "We knew we didn't want a religious service or a big wedding", began the bride. "We didn't want to spend our wedding day talking to people we didn't know or didn't want to! We had 38 guests, which was perfect."Read more...
Tux & Tales
November 21, 2014
Rachel and Steve didn't want to spend a huge amount on their day. They had a £10,000 budget but actually managed to come in way under that! Their biggest savings were the bride's shoes (Primark!), the 'cake' (Krispy Creme doughnuts!) and by doing all the décor themselves.Read more...
Shutter Go.. Click
September 26, 2014
Lorna and Liam were hitched at Camp Katur in Bedale, North Yorkshire. They hired the place for a whole weekend in August so they could have a nice, long celebration. "We both love nature and fell in love with the venue straight away. This had a massive influence over the whole wedding", began the bride. "We wanted it to be informal, fun and a great reflection of our relationship and life."Read more...
Anne Paar
July 9, 2014
Courtney and Nick wanted a day that didn't break the bank. They managed to keep the costs down by shopping in charity shops, accepting help from family and friends and DIYing a lot! They put the flowers together themselves, had a playlist instead of a band or DJ and made their own stationery. Both of their outfits were "lucky finds on the internet". The designers didn't matter to them, only that they liked what they wore. The bridesmaids had dresses from eBay.Read more...
Dot and Lucy
May 24, 2013
I'm not really supposed to have favourites, but Betty might just be one of the most beautiful and radiant brides I've ever seen... I am totally smitten with her 1940s vintage lace dress (bought on eBay for £40!) and that adorable white faux flower crown and simple bouquet combo. Total perfection. She married Johnny in Cornwall during April and the wedding only cost £5000.Read more...
Jessica Roberts
March 9, 2013
For their late summer wedding Sarah & James wanted something relaxed, quirky and quintessentially English So they opted for a tea party style reception in the Suffolk countryside. The wedding was held at Otley Hall, a 16th Century moated hall surrounded by 10 acres of gardens and which has been voted one of the top 20 Historic Houses in the UK.Read more...
July 9, 2012
Nic & Will hired the gorgeous Cliff Barns in Norfolk for the entire weekend (and then some!) for their wedding. The venue sleeps 20 and with family coming from far and wide they decided having the space from the Thursday to the Tuesday would make for a nice mini break for everybody with a wedding thrown in to boot! "We decided to make a long weekend of it, and invited our family (from NZ, NYC, Canada) over to stay in the house with us for 4 days", Nic told me. "It gave everyone a chance to get to know each other and meant that we didn’t feel like we had to squeeze all our 'hellos' into one day."Read more...
June 14, 2012
Jess & Dan's wedding was quintessentially British with the theme carrying through from the attire to the cake to the DIY reception decor. Why the theme you ask? Well the wedding was held on the weekend of the Queen's birthday! The couple were married at Edes House, Sussex and had two reception venues, both of which were within the grounds of Chichester Cathedral. Their afternoon wedding breakfast was held at Vicars Hall and the evening party was at George Bell House.Read more...
May 18, 2012
After a New Year's Eve proposal ("not at midnight, we're not that cheesy!") Chloe & Emma set to planning their tea party wedding for the end of March. Being two girls, they knew their wedding would stand out and they wanted that as well as to put their own stamp on their day. As Chloe explained "Obviously as two girls getting married our wedding was always going to be a bit different. People kept on asking which one of us was going to wear the suit but we were both determined to be complete princesses on the day. We knew we wanted a vintage tea party wedding and we looked at lots of different ways to achieve it as we had a tight budget. In the end my mum who found Jam and Tea, who provided the tea & cake catering, online (she is an expert Googler) and the rest of the wedding fell into place from there."Read more...
April 18, 2012
Carina & Chris chose The Walled Garden at Cowdray, West Sussex as the venue to host their March wedding. "It was a fantastic venue where we were really able to personalise for our day," the bride told me. "They were very relaxed and the venue's informal spaces were perfect for us and our guests." "We spent the last year since getting engaged planning all of the details of the day", she continued. "We spent our weekends rummaging in charity shops collecting china and glassware. We spent a long time making all of the bunting, menus, paper flags and lots of other items ourselves and needed someone to make it all look pretty on the day so that I could relax and enjoy getting ready! For this we worked with Lucy at Love Lane Vintage. We met her at the venue and she worked closely with our plans and our items, as well as my many sketches to style the venue! We also hired her vintage china teacups and cake stands to style the table and serve our mini afternoon tea – in place of canapés – for the drinks reception! The macaroons and mini scones looked stunning, as did the piles of teacups and teapots for guests to use!"Read more...
March 22, 2012
When Mark & Manilla's colourful wedding landed in my inbox I just about burst with excitement. There's nothing quite like a rainbow wedding in my opinion! The South African wedding was held at The View Boutique Hotel, a glamorous hotel in the heart of Johannesburg. "I felt that the ceremony should be the serious part of the day but I wanted the rest to be a very relaxed and festive carnival style celebration!" the bride told me.Read more...
January 16, 2012
For Becca & Dan, a formal wedding was never on the cards. "We wanted the day to be about our guests not all the attention on us," the bride wrote. "There were no formalities, just tea & cakes followed by pie & mash then a good all knees up in an east London pub with Billie Holiday playing & a free bar all night!" Becca got ready at Zetter Townhouse, a really stylish house with quirky vintage decor & stuffed animals. It proved to be the perfect place for some pre-ceremony snaps with her bridesmaids and really set the tone for the rest of the wedding day.Read more...
December 28, 2011
Stevie & Nick's eclectic city wedding took place in Mile End, East London. The bride described the day to me as "eclectic retro community chic," with so many of their friends and family pitching in to help. "So many people said ‘that’s how weddings used to be’ and ‘this is how it should be, family and friends mucking in’. It meant a lot to us that this was how we did it – it wouldn’t have happened without all of the support we received." The wedding day started with the ceremony at Bromley Public Hall and concluded with a rockin' party reception at The Victoria Pub, "Old man pub heaven" as the bride described it! "They’d never hosted a wedding before, but we were there for a jumble sale and afternoon pint and fell in love with the place," she explained. "We started chatting to Jo and Martin, the amazing couple who own the pub with their son Alfie and couldn’t believe how genuinely excited they were by it. It made me realise that experience of weddings only gets you so far – real passion and enthusiasm was a lot more important in the end. When we wanted to bring in our own flowers, cakes and decorations – including nailing things to the wall – they were all for it!"Read more...
December 12, 2011
Roisin & Paul's Somerset wedding makes me ache for those long Summer days again. The Apple Orchard at Brook Farm played host to their August nuptials - a celebration of love, life and all things good. The couple opted for a humanist ceremony led by Alison Orchard, "She was so crucial to the success of the ceremony, which was such an emotional and wonderful experience," the bride told me. "I think lots of people thought it might have a been a hippy-dippy, tree-hugging, fingers down-your-throat service, but instead found it was a lovely and romantic experience. We wrote our vows and kept them quite similar to the traditional ones. We sang, 'A little Help from My Freinds' by the Beatles and I cried all the way through it."Read more...
December 1, 2011
Cecilia & Robert's pretty London wedding took place at Union Chapel and Union Hall, Islington. "At first we had to decide where to have our wedding as I'm from Italy and Robert London," Cecilia wrote to me. "We soon realised that London was the perfect place, as it’s where we've chosen to live and where we definitely wanted to start our life as a family. We started looking at a few venues, but they all looked a bit impersonal and soulless to us, we definitely wanted somewhere that would have a meaning for us and our relationship. And so that’s how we “stumbled” upon the Union Chapel. Rob had been there several times to see gigs, and we had been together to see a very special acoustic performance by Editors. Many people think it’s not an actual church, but it actually is – and it made perfect sense to us to get married there!" "We were also delighted to find out that – apart from the main auditorium - they have several spaces for hire that can be used for all sorts of events. The Upper Hall fitted the bill perfectly, as it’s a completely blank canvas that we would be able to personalize according to our own taste."Read more...
November 30, 2011
Tara & Oleg were married at Wentworth Falls School of Arts, NSW, Australia. The bride wore a beautiful 1950's debutante gown made of white taffeta with black flocked trim which she found on eBay! "They met at Acting College in Sydney and have been together for the last 6 years," their wedding photographer Jemima Richards told me. "The easiest way to describe these two as madly in love. Their wedding was a really beautiful reflection of that. The entire wedding had a distinct DIY theme, but with all of their personality in every single element. Oleg is from Croatia, so his family members made the special journey over, with his two sisters travelling from opposite ends of the planet just to be there. As a wedding gift, Tara also flew in Oleg's very best friend from London as a surprise!"Read more...
November 16, 2011
Sophie & Julien's family-central wedding was held in the Cote d’Or region of Burgandy, France, in a house build by Sophie's Grandfather. The ceremony took place at the local town hall and the reception at the family homeRead more...
November 14, 2011
Jess & David were married in All Saints Church in Kirby and they had their reception in the bride's parent's back garden. Jess wore a Candy Anthony Dress, Upper Street shoes (which she designed herself) and Vivienne Westwood jewellery. The lucky couple had Shell De Mar there to capture their day. "We met at school and had been together 12 years when David proposed at sunrise on the beach in Mexico," Jess told me. "Initially I’d been reluctant to get out of bed so early but something told me it might be worth it...and it was!"Read more...
October 20, 2011
Julia & James had a handmade and patriotic Great British theme for their September wedding - red, white & blue. "I knew from the moment we started to plan the wedding that I wanted it to be DIY," the bride told me, "and to be able to keep all the aspects to decorate our home. We had so many great comments on the day from the registrar and venue that they had never seen a wedding like ours before. I am a avid follower of Rock n Roll Bride, Ruffled blog & Green Wedding Shoes so I scrapbooked a lot of ideas from them all over the past 2 years!"Read more...
October 5, 2011
After a church ceremony at St Peter's & St Paul's Church in Hampshire, Lisa & Ric had a very British wartime themed wedding at Broad Half Penny Down Cricket Club, Hampshire - the world's oldest cricket club. "Life never goes the way you plan it," the bride wrote. "I always dreamt of finishing uni, finding love, getting married and starting a family. The conventional family - we are not! I am 12 years younger than Ric, and also about 12 inches taller! Ric is frequently away with work and moved me to the south of the country, away from all my friends and family. Oh and how could I forget our 2 year old son - Bear. This was definitely not what I had planned. When Ric finally proposed, I was on cloud 9 and I knew that our wedding day wasn't going to be a 'normal' one. For example - I couldn't decide what engagement ring I liked, so I have three! We also had a best woman instead of a best man, we 'high fived' at the altar instead of the kiss, and our son screamed through most of the ceremony then was racing his toy cars down the aisle with chocolate down his nice white shirt."Read more...