Anna & Luke

Jaws are going too hit the floor, and pinning fingers are going to go crazy as soon as you see bride Anna's Claire Pettibone Whitney bridal gown complete with cape! Next you'll be swooning over all the DIY decor and fabulous florals that make up this country wedding. As well as all the beautiful couple and wedding party portraits captured by the oh so talented Camilla Arnhold Photography. There's certainly nothing blue about this Monday morning.

Our Story

Anna the Bride: Luke proposed to me in May 2016, in a vin yard in Tuscany Italy whilst we were enjoying a few days exploring the gorgeous countryside. It was just perfect. I had never been one of those girls who has planned their wedding from a young age so I found it all very overwhelming to start with, but I knew that we wanted a wedding day that was completely unique to use with a traditional yet relaxed vibe.

Warborne Farm Wedding Venue

Our Wedding Day was completely DIY, originally we were going to get married in a field with our reception in the Sperry Tent, however I then found the beautiful Warborne Farm. We wanted our venue to be close to home (Langley, Southampton), a relatively low cost event for our guests to attend and a day that was completely unique to us. I loved the fact that we also had 8 barns at Warborne, the Farm is exclusive hire so we had the whole place. At the start of our Wedding Journey, I noticed how venues like to tell you what kind of day you can and can’t have… for example what wine and food you have, what timings you have to stick too etc. We wanted a Wedding Day that was completely on our terms so with this in mind DIY suited up perfectly. The uniqueness was really important to me, so I tried to encapsulate that in every aspect of the day. Luke is golf obsessed and I have two horses so we are country people through and through, therefore Warborne Farm was perfect. We said ‘I Do’ at All Saints Church, Fawley, where both sets of parents also married. Funny fact for you, I have always been Anna Jones…. So I was marrying a Jones… and both of our mum’s have the same name ‘Alison Jane Jones’ so there was a whole load of Joneses at our Wedding!

Along Came Anna Wedding Planning

I LOVED planning our Wedding so much that I have now set myself up as Wedding Planner – Along Came Anna. I want to help other couples to create truly unique Weddings within their allocated budget. I am a Full Time Project Manager, so I treated my Wedding as my own personal project. I loved sourcing suppliers, from tables and chairs, to crockery to lighting, to hay bales and Warborne was a completely blank canvas that we could make our own. Our wedding day was everything that we wanted and more, so I want to help other couples to create the same.

Bridal Preparations

My girls and I, got ready at my parents’ house which was only a short drive from the church. I am so lucky to have two of my great friends who do Bridal Makeup and Hair to share the morning with. We had a little dance, with some champers and my dog Millie, had the best time getting excited with us too! My parents let all the neighbours know that we were leaving at 12:00 and I actually felt like a celebrity leaving the house and the street was lined with everybody waving us off! So lovely! Luke and his two best men stayed in a barn at Warborne Farm the night before, to ensure that the last minute preparations were in place (I think they had a party really!)

Wedding Ceremony

Our Vicar, Peter Murphy, was brilliant and allowed us to tailor our ceremony to exactly how we wanted it. My bridesmaids walked down before me and we had lots of lovely personalised readings. During the rehearsal, I was completely overwhelmed with emotion as I said my vows. It suddenly dawned on me how important they are. Most of my planning focus was really on the Reception and everything else goes with it, but when it came to the day… saying those was the BEST feeling. On the day, the ceremony flew by. The church looked amazing as did the guests. Luke’s brother Jordan Jones Music, played some of our favourite songs acoustically whilst we signed the register. He’s fab and it was such a nice touch.

Wedding Reception

Firstly, we were SO lucky with the weather. We spent the Friday before setting the venue up, all of the supplier deliveries were made and we had 10 of us creating Wedding Heaven! I didn’t really have a theme as such, from day one, I knew that I wanted gold cutlery and matching plates. I absolutely LOVED them. Our florist Laura, is one of my good friends and we are practically the same person, so she got my tastes down to a tee. The whole place was transformed into something better than I could have imagined! It was just beautiful. The LOVE letters and light up sign were a great addition to the décor as were the festoon lighting. My mum created a back drop to the barn and the table plan was created using an old step ladder from my grandparents. Next to the pen with the baby lambs in, we created a ‘snug’ area with hay bales and festoon lighting. I have hay bales coming out of my ears so I bought these from my own field, just a short drive away. I went to IKEA and bought throws and pillows to create a warm area. On the day itself, it was about 25 degrees so instead it acted as a shelter!

Ginger Catering Company

Our catering company, Ginger Catering, were brilliant. Luke and I are real foodies, with Luke being a chef in a past life. A lot of our budget went towards great food and everyone knows that we like it! Sally and Matt, at Ginger created a magical menu for us. The food was delicious, all of guests raved about it and in fact, I don’t think that there was a clean plate left! We created a charcuterie station instead of canapés, with the ingredients being bought from Lidl and Costco the day before. We saved a huge amount of money doing this and it went down a storm with our guests. Ginger Catering served it and presented it – it looked very professional indeed!

Wedding Photography

We knew Camilla previously as she photographed my friend’s wedding. I love Camilla style and she made us all feel so at ease. We had an engagement shoot which really warmed us up for the big day and she got some fantastic photos of our Wedding Day – exactly what we wanted!