Kaylie & Robert

Kaylie & Robert had the genius idea of having their speeches prior to dinner, outside their beautiful Big Chief Tipi in the sunshine. And what a fabulous atmosphere it seemed to create, the boys could relax and everyone looks like they are having a lovely time. I'll definitely be stealing that idea for my own wedding one day. I think the fact that they got married at Robert's family farm also created a really relaxed vibe to the day. Actually, I don't think there's one image from Kerry Woods where people aren't laughing with joy...

The Photography

Kaylie The Bride: Our photographer was the fantastic Kerry Woods. Once we had booked the church and even before we had decided on a tipi or a marquee the focus was on our photographer. It was really important for us to have a photographer who was easy to get on, with especially as you spend such a large part of your day with the photographer. Kerry was fantastic, she was great fun in the morning with me and the girls and really captured all of the details on the wedding day including my brother’s impromptu singing during the wedding breakfast, the dancing on the tables and the boys’ football match in-between main course and dessert.

The Church

We both felt extremely lucky to be married at such a beautiful Church. We had only a hand full of local churches to choose from and St Peter’s was at the top of our list. Both of our Mum’s did readings and Kaylie’s maids of honour read bidding prayers which they had written themselves. We also had a full choir to help with the hymns.

The Venue

When we started planning our wedding we both had our hearts set on having it on Robert’s family farm and didn’t even think about potential wedding venues. We had initially planned on having a marquee wedding but having both been to a few marquee weddings including two the year before we wanted to do something a bit different and that’s when we went to see Hayley at Big Chief Tipi’s. The Tipi’s looked incredible and we were sold instantly. They have their own unique character which really fit in well down at the farm. I’d been in a Tipi before and it seemed claustrophobic but these Tipi’s are the complete opposite and it’s really amazing how much space and room there really is.

The Bride

I was going to wait a little bit longer to go dress shopping however a local bridal boutique, Lulu Browns, was having a sample sale and so I had to go and have a look. My best friend got her wedding dress from Lulu Browns and she had such a lovely experience buying her dress that I always knew I would be going to Lulu’s to try to find my dress. I was a little apprehensive about dress shopping, whilst looking at dresses online and in magazines there was probably only one or two dresses that really stood out to me. After 45 minutes in the shop and after trying on 3 (maybe even 4 dresses) I’d found the one and had bought it, the dress was actually one of the few dresses which I had taken a screen shot of whilst looking online. Wedding dress shopping seemed to go a little bit too well for me and it had gone too well. A few months later I was at a friend’s wedding and she had the same dress. We clearly both had great taste. As much as I loved the dress and it did look different on me I wasn’t sure I could wear it and thought about getting a different dress. I spoke to Helen at Lulu’s and she told me to go and see Charlotte at Legend Bridal Design to see what alterations, if any, could be made to the dress. It took quite a few fittings but Charlotte absolutely transformed the dress and for the better, the dress originally had short capped sleeves which were taken off and were moved to make a band across the back of the dress. Charlotte did an amazing job and after seeing someone else wearing the wedding dress I had bought it was lovely to know that I now had a unique dress. Robert bought me Swarovski jewellery as a wedding present. Our makeup was done by a lovely friend of mine, Caroline Forrest. It was important to me to look quite natural on my wedding day, I didn’t want Robert to look at me once I’d walked down the aisle and not recognise me. Caroline did our makeup perfectly. The very lovely Laura Grogan of Nala & Knot was in charge of hair and she really did a fabulous job. Laura and Caroline were such good fun and helped make the morning so enjoyable. We even had to ring the best men and have some emergency prosecco delivered as we had run out. That probably explains why we were 15 minutes late to the Church!

The Groom

Robert had a beautiful suit made by Whitfield & Ward in Wilmslow. The contrast of the navy suit and the grey wool waistcoat worked really well and the bow tie was a great look and much quirkier than a traditional tie. Robert was a little indecisive as to whether to hire a suit or buy one and buying was definitely the right decision. His shoes were Paul Smith.

The Wedding Party

The bridesmaid dresses were Dessy. I had two maid of honours, Natalie and Kay, Natalie is very blonde and Kay is really dark haired so I thought I would struggle with a colour that suited them both. The platinum grey worked really well for both of them and also complemented the grey in Robert’s waistcoat and the groomsmen’s ties. The flower girl dress was from BHS. Charlotte of Legend Bridal Design added a matching sash to Laila’s dress. The groomsmen’s suits were hired from Swarbricks in Manchester. They had three piece suits with grey wool ties which matched Robert’s waistcoat. Robert bought all of the Groomsmen shirts and had them printed on the cuff with “K & R 28.5.16”.

The Flowers

Wow, the flowers! They were probably one of my favourite things about the wedding! The amazing Sam Williams provided our flowers. Sam was recommended to me by a friend and she was incredible. She had a pretty small brief from me, I just told her that I’d like succulents in my bouquets and rustic looking flowers on the tables in milk bottles and she did the rest really. I got a text from Sam a week or so before the wedding saying she was making something which she thought would look great in our tipi. On the day before the wedding she arrived with a fabulous floral hoop which had lace and lanterns hanging from it. We hung this over the tables as a focal point in the tipi.

The Food & Drink

The food was provided by Totally Divine in Southport. This was one part of the wedding were we had a good idea of what we wanted. We both really wanted a long canape and drinks reception – for us we thought if the weather was right (and it was!) then that would be the best part of the day. The bar was provided by the Cellar Bar. It was really important to Robert to have his favourite beers on draft so the beers were Hen Harrier and AONB.

The Cake

Our cake was made by the lovely Bronwen of Fresh From Home. Bronwen makes all our families celebration cakes and she did a brilliant job with our wedding cake.

The Stationery

Wedding invites were made by Brides Little Helper in Clitheroe and with a Tipi design really helped set the tone for the wedding. We had lots of compliments from our guests who said the invites were the best they had ever seen. Brides Little Helper also provided the Mr & Mrs lights which looked fab in the Tipi.

The Entertainment

Entertainment was very important to us, we wanted a wedding that was a real party and for everyone to have a good time so we tried to do a little bit of something for everyone. David Jaggs of the Ragamuffins performed an outside acoustic set during our drinks and canapes reception. Robert and my dad also did their speeches outside during the drinks reception. There was a much more informal atmosphere with everyone stood around which was really lovely. We made the best men sweat it out until after the meal. Brothers of Swing had performed at a wedding we were at last year and they got everyone in such a good mood that we had to book them too. They introduced us the bridal party to our guests and really got everyone in the mood for the day. They had our guests dancing on the tables during and doing the conga before the deserts which was exactly what we wanted. The Ragamuffins sang our first dance, Champagne Supernova and it was amazing to hear everyone singing along. After the Ragamuffins it was time for the DJ, our DJ was Paul Parkinson, a friend of Robert’s. Paul was a guest at our wedding throughout the whole day and despite that he still kept us dancing until past 3.30am. Paul was joined by Richie Sax from Six15 Events who played an incredible sax set from 11-1 am.