Becky & Sam

If you're having a marquee wedding and are worried about how to make it look beautiful inside - then please take your lead from Becky and Sam. This clever pair opted for a marquee with clear sides, a gorgeous draped ceiling and added lots of hanging lanterns, making the space feel like an extension of the house, rather than a tent. The festoon lights providing a 'ceiling' to their outdoor seating area, again creating a space that felt purposeful, rather than accidental. A wonderful marquee wasn't Becky and Sam's only excellent decision, this is clearly a couple with great taste, as every detail of their wedding day is elegant and cohesive. Celebrating their coastal location in Jersey and it's affinity to France, everything is light and breezy. You can almost smell the lavender ;) Images come from the wonderful team at Wedding_M, whose work it's always a real pleasure to share. Look out for the incredible shots of Becky and Sam whizzing off into the sunset...and the gorgeous couple shots on the beach too!

The Photography

Becky The Bride: Matt is an amazing photographer and really wanted to get creative with our wedding pics, not only capturing brilliant caught and natural moments during the wedding and reception but also taking Sam and I away in our old cars to take some crazy motion pictures on our drive from the ceremony back to the reception. The results were absolutely amazing, and some of our favourite pictures of the day.

The Bride

My Jesus Peiro dress was very simple, no embellishment or lace - just a really gorgeous fabric. It was important that I felt myself on the day and that I felt comfortable too. The dress was high waisted and had pockets (so useful!) and I had the bow on the front made onto a popper so I could remove it later on in the day and replace with a sparkly Jenny Packham belt. Something a bit dressier for the evening part of the ceremony. The cape top of my dress could also be removed, which I did to reveal the dress’ strapless top underneath. It was really unique and almost as though I had two dresses in one! The shoes - my absolute favorite! Pink Manolo Blahnik embellished shoes to add some sparkle to my outfit. I love them even more today than I did on the day I bought them. Such a classic style but in a fun colour. The pink looked great with the boys pastel waistcoats.

The Groom & Groomsmen

Sam and the ushers wore amazing pastel double breasted linen waistcoats from Sir Plus. The brand is owned and the waistcoats designed by a university friend of mine which was really lovely.

The Flowers

Gorgeous rustic flowers from Jackie Le Cornu. Our home in Jersey is very provincial France feeling, with a thatched barn and bleached granite stone buildings. We wanted to flowers to reflect this French style so we opted for lavender (which grows wild in and around our home) as well as olive leaves (to add the green), rosemary and thyme herbs and for the bridal bouquet white peony and olive leaves.

The Venue

The clear sided marquee was in my parents garden at our home, Sea View in Jersey. The property is an old farm which has taken my parents 9 years to renovate. The marquee was located in our apple orchard – the transparent sides allowing the guests to look down into our garden where the pond in our valley was lit with floating lanterns or our into the orchid which was spotlit. It was such a warm day we had the sides lifted for most of the reception. We had festoon lighting act as an outdoor ceiling along one side of the marquee, with palette seating offering guests somewhere to sit. The Marquee was liberally decorated with potted herb plants, lavender and two big olive trees framed the top table.

The Food

A gorgeous (and huge) triple tiered summer berry and chocolate cake decorated with white rustic icing and garnished with fresh berries and olive leaves. We offered fresh Jersey oysters and gambas in a DIY seafood bar for canapes – Jersey crab for starter, Jersey lamb and Jersey roast potatoes for main course and a selection of Jersey and French cheeses on platters for pudding. It was important we used as much local produce as possible for our wedding menu.

Big Thanks

People I would like to mention in particular would be Polly Butler Hawkes from Marquee Solutions who along with Jackie Le Cornu created my wedding marquee of dreams. My amazing family for helping with absolutely everything both in the lead up to and on the day of our wedding. My hero dad worked tirelessly making the garden look spectacular for our big day as well as building our beautiful drinks bar, potting over 50 plant pots with lavender and herbs for our centre pieces, sourcing olive trees and rosemary plants for the marquee entrance and making signs for the guests directions. My mum and sisters decorated over 170 pebbles for peoples name places and spent months collecting and cleaning jam jars and candle holders for the marquee tables. Friends loaned pieces of furniture for the marquee we borrowed lanterns, and tables and seating and even lights for our pond! It was a real family and friends effort - and my husband and I couldn’t have done it without all of their support.