Emily & Pete

We love sharing at home weddings with you all. They are always absolutely full of sentimental touches and DIY details. Emily & Pete's marquee wedding is no exception with it's vintage motorbike and side car to satisfy the petrol head in the groom. Then there's the surf simulator because you know he surfs too. Emily's influences can be found in the decor with cream & copper spray painted tin cans and delicate white blooms. Plus her and her maids gowns add a touch of glamour to the country vibe with sparkles and sequins. The garden wedding culminated in everyone having a wonderful time dancing the night away to The Deloreans with Camilla Arnhold Photography capturing all those special moments.

The Dress

Emily the Bride: My dress was the first one I tried on and fell in love with. I wanted to feel as glamorous as possible and loved all the detail and embellishment on my dress. My favorite part of the design was the beaded capped sleeves and the plunging back. As the dress was so detailed I kept accessories to a minimum with some simple drop earrings and a bracelet given to me by my mum. Because of the low back I wanted to have a veil for the church ceremony. I also felt, as my dress was very figure hugging I wanted to make it feel more bridal for the church so chose a cathedral length veil with scalloped embroidery on the edge. Shoes, I kept simple too, with a simple peep toe and kitten heal for comfort and Pete isn't too tall so I didn't want to tower over him!

Grooms Attire

Pete wears a suit to work every day so wanted to feel more dressed up so chose tails and he also chose a double breasted waist coat so he would stand a little apart from the ushers.

The Venue

It was really important to me to have a very personal wedding and we always knew that we wanted to get married at my Dad and Step Mums home. Pete was the first to suggest this after we got engaged which was great as I'd always imagined it be be where we would have the reception. The local vicar is a friend of my Dad and Step Mum and so it also was lovely to be married by someone we knew and at the church down the road.


Colour Scheme/Decor & Flowers

As I've always been creative and studied interior architecture at university, this part was always 'my bag!' I knew that I wanted to make as many of the decorations myself and the good old internet was great at providing plenty of inspiration! As the wedding was in the garden I wanted the marquee to feel like we were apart of the garden so it was important to have as much foliage as possible. I chose to have mainly greenery as the decorations, putting up trails of eucalyptus and ivy around the marquee. I then had help from family to collect as main tins as possible for the table centers which we spray painted copper, gold and cream to add some colour and warmth. These were then sent to the florist who did an amazing job filling them with mint, and other flowers, with a touch of soft pink to tie in with the bridesmaid dresses. It was great as the mint smelt incredible whilst we were sat eating and the whole marquee felt full of greenery and a part of the garden.

The Wedding Party Fashion

I really wanted to have beaded bridesmaid dresses as my dress was also heavily embellished with beading so felt they tied in nicely. As the decor of the wedding was fairly rustic and neutral I felt the bridal party could add a bit of sparkle and glitz to the occasion! With the boys we wanted something classic but with a modern twist. We opted for the classic tails but in navy rather than the traditional black and we also thought the navy would compliment the Copper, Gold, soft pinks and cream colours better. 


Ceremony

My Dad and youngest Brother James are both excellent pianists and so it was really important for me to have them play at the service. After the wedding Pete surprised me by organising a vintage motorbike and sidecar to ride off in! Pete recently passed his motorbike test and is a complete petrol head so this was his bit of the wedding! 


Entertainment

Iit was Pete's idea to have a surf simulator for the drinks reception-being a kite surfer and into most water sports, with our group of friends all kite surfers too we had to get an element of the sea and surfing in there somewhere! For the evening we always knew we wanted The Delorians, we have heard them many times before and they played at both Pete’s older Brothers weddings and his parents ruby wedding anniversary so it was a no brainer for us! 

Food

When Pete was at school he worked for the BBQ and banqueting chef and knows Paul and Sandra really well, so it was another no brainer to have them do our catering. We wanted a rustic relaxed vibe at our wedding, rather than formal food and sticking with the garden theme-a BBQ was the fitting idea. We had a bit of a twist on this, as the canapés were mini burgers and sausages but the actual mains were far from your average BBQ! Pete’s mum made our wedding cake which was served as the desert with fresh fruit.  We'd been to wedding before where the cake gets forgotten about or not eaten and we didn't want Pete’s mums excellent baking to go to waste!

Photographer

I chose Camilla Arnhold because I knew her from school and bumped into her photographing a friends wedding a few years ago. At the wedding she took a photo of us which we absolutely loved- it was so natural. We loved the style of all the other photos from that wedding too which seemed to be different from many traditional wedding photos at the time, so I think since that point I always knew I wanted her to photograph our big day! It was also great to know the person behind the lens and made it feel more personal and relaxing for us-especially as neither of us are naturally good at posing for photos!



Videographer

We really wanted a videographer but our budget just wouldn't stretch to this so our friends very kindly teamed up and made our wedding video for us as well as buying us the camera that filmed it!   We were so lucky, and Greg-Pete’s best man has now finished editing this which is fantastic! It is super professional and the drone footage he took was incredible. 

Advice

If you have the time and don't have the budget then try to make things yourself, it's really fun and knowing you can make something for half the price you would pay for it is also very satisfying!  The great thing about using the tins for table centers meant that not only were they free but after the wedding they could all be recycled-it was nice to know that we'd been able to upcycle things and then recycle them after.  Finally we loved being able to use the talent of our friends and family to help make the day personal to us and was a great way to include people in the preparations as well as helping the wedding budget too!