GBBO's Martha's Rustic Wedding

Photography by The Chamberlins Wedding Photography

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What Made Our Day Unique

We both knew, right from the moment we got engaged, that we wanted our day to encapsulate the joy of marriage! We didn't want any super formal, just a joyful celebration and proper feast with as many people as we could fit in. Michael proposed in the church hall we had the ceremony in, which was so special (and very emotional!) to come full circle. Food, faith and friendships are hugely important to us, so having so many food moments, from cheese toasties to personalised chocolates as favours, was epic, as was dancing the night away with our favourite friends.

Martha & Michael

Wedding Suppliers

Mainly word of mouth! Our priority was people, and having as many friends and family there as possible, which made it hard to find suppliers in our price range. We also care a great deal about sustainability and supporting local, so this was a big factor in our choices too. Our caterer did my cousins wedding a year before and used all local produce, our photographers are talented family friends, my brother-in-law headed up our evening band, friends from church made all the refreshments for after the ceremony and my fabulous GBBO baker pals did us proud with a whole cake table!

Martha & Michael

Inspiration & Styling

Lots of DIY and personal touches, with colour, sparkle and flowers! I’m not a pastels girl, but neither do I love neon, so knew we wanted something in the middle: vintage and bejewelled with rich colour, to create warmth on an April evening. It was a relaxed day, with a colourful lebanese sharing feast and lots of retro tunes and dancing, plus lots of little activities for those for whom the dance floor was too loud!

Martha & Michael

Favourite Moment

My favourite moment has to be our first dance. We are real romantics who wanted a meaningful song, but are also lovers of fun suprises and twists! We chose 'I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)' and the first half of the song was slow and acoustic, but once it got to the second chorus, the band cranked up the volume, changed up the tempo, the bridesmaids set off confetti cannons and the whole room came alive. All our friends ambushed us on the stage and i'll never forget it.

Martha & Michael

Advice

Do your research and decide how involved you want to be! We decided to save money by doing everything ourselves, from dressing the venue to choosing the teaspoons and hand writing addresses onto invitations, but it meant it took a lot more time. We didn't use a wedding planner which meant we had to be super organised to see everything come together on the day (spreadsheets galore!) - our venue was super flexible and we could set up two days before, which was helpful.

Martha & Michael

Anniversaries

Cheese toasties were the dream of an evening snack - just what everyone needed! We plan on making them every anniversary and getting the cheese pull shot as we grow older. Our favourite thing that will bring us joy for years to come was sticking 50 envelopes on the wall and leaving notecards for friends to write us letters for each anniversary. We opened our first one on our first anniversary and it was quite overwhelming to have such a time capsule of the day, and I know it will feel even more special as time passes.

Martha & Michael

Written by Lorna Shaw