Ellen & Jolyon

There's no doubt about it this pink and gold wedding is delicious, and what makes it even more special is it was all held at the brides family home, with DIY geometric decor, stunning flowers and a fabulous home baked wedding cake. Both the bride and her best girls looked stunning in separates. Ellen wore a Catherine Deane Havanna Corset and Ankia Skirt which was the perfect choice for this stylish, but relaxed celebration, and her bridesmaids wore pleated TFNC skirts with different tops & shoes to suit their personalities. Capturing this PIN-tastic back-garden wedding was the lovely Jess Soper, whose photography style makes this sentimental day radiate even more.

The Venue

Ellen the Bride: Ceremony The family church where my parents had strong ties with since they moved to the area over 20 years ago. Reception: Marquee in the garden of my family home. Canapes were served in the courtyard using the old barns as a backdrop with a pimp your gin stand. The traditional marquee was bought by my Dad and also used for her sisters wedding a few months later. This was then later sold on and made the money back that was spent on it. The family helped to put up the marquee the week before with only 2 professionals! The only things that were hired for the day were the tables, chairs, electric rigging, toilets, generator, and festoon lighting in the marquee. My Dad was very keen to buy and sell on after as to help with keeping the spending on the wedding to a minimum. Me, Joey and my Dad had spent a year and half preparing the garden, growing the grass for where the marquee was going to be positioned as it was an old vegetable plot before! The wedding car was driven and is owned by the My Dad (Alvis Speed 20). He is a keen classic car enthusiast, and I have lots of memories of days out in the car with my Dad.

Colour Scheme/Decor

We wanted to go for an industrial minimal feel with lots of brass, and muted colour tones, but tried to keep in keeping with the country setting. The general scheme was set from Mine and Joey’s passions for scandi design, and creative outlook. Joey is a creative in advertising, and I am a buyer for a well known accessories retailer. The majority of the decor was designed and handmade by me. In the marquee, I made lots of cut out circle bunting from gold metallic and holographic silver card which was hung around the inside walls of the marquee. The place name holders were made by the me & Joey: cutting to size and painting with a mix of 3 colours tying in with the wedding stationery. The table names were names of Italian towns that we had visited on a holiday to Italy the year before. We decided not to have a top table, as felt we wanted the wedding to have a casual feel and be surrounded by our loved ones. The big circle fans that hung behind the cake table are from Meri Meri, however, in keeping with the DIY budget wedding, the bride acquired them from a local shop in Dulwich that were being used for a Xmas window display. The bride asked if she could buy them off the shop when they were done with them as they couldn’t sell them on to their customers. The geometric shapes hung from the ceiling of the marquee were made by me out of paper straws spray painted gold, using pipe cleaners, and lots of glue! Jam Jar vases filled with flowers were also spray painted by me to look like they were dipped in gold. The table plan was displayed on some old wooden windows that the my Dad had in a barn. I then hand wrote on the glass panels with chalk pens. All the props were either bought for the wedding me and my Dad already had, i.e the gold mirror is something that had hung in the family home where the I grew up. Wedding stationery was designed by the me and joey using the hexagonal shape to tie the table names, place names, order of service, wedding invites, and menus all together.

Flowers

Bouquets and buttons holes were made by a florist who did one of the bridesmaids wedding the year before. She is sorting her website out as she is new to doing floristry and is currently doing a course to learn how to do floristry. Bouquet ribbon was hand dyed silk ribbon from Bertie and Fred found on Etsy. The church flowers were designed by the me, and put together by my close family and friends in the week before the wedding with foliage taken from my own garden. I handmade four large tubes filled with moss using chicken wire to hold foliage. Then hung either side of the old screen inside the church and at the entrance. I made hand made jam jar lanterns twisting brass wire for the handle with tea lights, and handmade the reserved signs for the end of the pews. All the confetti was made by drying roses the year before the wedding from the my family home. We wanted to have a minimal finish, by mainly having just greenery. The only money spent on the church decor was for the bags and stickers for the confetti bought from eBay, and the gold wire for the jam jars that were collected by the me and my family. The centrepieces on the tables in the marquee were a mix of brass terrarium lanterns bought from Sainsburys, and some spray painted lampshades turned upside down bought for only £1 each, then filled with flowers. The flowers used were ordered through the florist, but the flower arranging was done by my family the day before the wedding. The succulents were bought at a car boot by the groom’s Mum, and then repotted into ceramic pots by me. The bell jars came from Ikea.

The Wedding Party Fashion

Bridesmaids: skirts from TFNC, and each top selected by the bridesmaids from various high street brands to suit the skirts in different styles but same colour. Shoes were bridesmaids own. Necklaces: initial necklaces were a gift from me (from the Z by Accessorize gold plated jewellery range from Accessorize- I work as a buyer for them). I wanted them to be able to have their own style but still tie in (all the hair was different too). Hair and Make up: Lesley Vye. Groomsmen: suits and socks from Topman, tie from River Island. Shoes were groomsmen own.

Ceremony

I cried the whole way down the aisle from all the emotion of the day. My mum passed away three years ago from stage four ovarian cancer so at the beginning of the service, my Dad lit a candle in her memory. Butterflies in the church: Since my Mum passed away there has been a number of occasions where butterflies have appeared so it was a very special moment. Readings: My Grannie read the same reading she read for my mum and dad’s wedding. Joey’s eldest brother read Winnie the Pooh ‘Us Two’, and my cousins read ‘Yes I'll Marry you my dear’ by Pam Eyres with props. One of my bridesmaids played the clarinet during the signing of the registers. Rev Phillip Tarris is new to the parish, but was around during my Mum’s illness time in the hospice, and was a great support to the family, so it was very special that he could marry me and Joey too. There was lots of laughing and the whole ceremony was very relaxed. Everyone said how refreshing and fun the church service was. Mine and Joey’s friend from Uni who moved to New Zealand surprised me by flying over the week before and turned up in a pub in London.

Entertainment

Record player: Groom is a keen record collector so had a select range of records that guests could pic and chose from during the canapés Band - The Nameless Three: An amazing band covering songs with an unique folk feel. First Dance: Cover of Toploader Dancing in the Moonlight.

Food

Food was supplier by Linda Hamilton Catering (a local caterer to the area). We wanted to continue the Italian theme through the food as we both have a love for Italian food. Canapes were a selection of: Starters: were antipasti boards that were on the tables during the speeches to encourage the relaxed atmosphere. Mains: the food was served family-style on each table with large dishes of Beef Canelloni, Spaghetti Vongole, and Spring veg risotto, served with salads and breads which guests could help themselves to on each table. Pudding: was a converted Morris minor ice cream van with a selection of Norfolk ice cream from the caterer. Wedding cake was made by my Auntie Fizz: one layer was red velvet, one chocolate, and one vanilla. Lego figures were placed on top of the cake due to the Groom’s obsession with the toys growing up. Instead of doing the traditional wedding favours, the Groom made a bottle of limoncello for each table to toast after the meal. It definitely helped with getting people on the dance floor! Stronger than we thought!

Photographer

As you can see our photographer Jess Soper is amazing. On top of that she is lovely and friendly. Very lucky to have had her as our photographer.

Videographer

Groom rigged up iPhones on gorilla pods in the church to record the ceremony, and due to the couple being creative, they will (eventually) edit their own wedding video together.

Advice

Although it was hard work and lots of wedmin, it was all totally worth doing mostly everything ourselves, and, of course, seeing everyone on the day having a great time.