Kayleigh & Ian

I'm not sure what I would have done if my own husband had broken his leg two weeks before our wedding but Kayleigh and Ian took everything in their stride and actually made Ian's injury work for them, crutches and all! Kayleigh wore the very beautiful Rose frock by Jenny Packham as they said 'I Do' at The House Meadow in Kent surrounded by friends and family against the beautiful lake backdrop. I particularly love Kayleigh's choice of blooms - white roses, blue hydrangeas, gypsophila and lavender - and the candid images that Marshall Gray Photography captured of the littles at this wedding. Come and take a look...

The Bride's Fashion

Kayleigh The Bride: Having spent quite some (OK a lot of) time pouring over wedding blogs prior to hitting the shops, I certainly had an idea of what I did (and didn’t want). With a relatively relaxed day to day style I knew I didn’t want something that was going to venture too far from this – but that would have the added glitz befitting our big day. Jenny Packham’s designs had been a big hit on my pinterest board and they certainly didn’t disappoint! We started (and pretty much ended) the search at the Pantiles Bride in Tunbridge Wells. After very nearly missing our appointment, what could have been a complete disaster actually ended up with us leaving with an immediate shortlist (thank you Pam!!) I looked at one other shop and realised that nothing else was even coming close to those we’d seen earlier. The team at the Pantiles had mentioned they were having a Jenny Packham day in a couple of weeks – so back we headed to try on the shortlist. Obviously my indecisive eye caught a glance of all the new styles they had in and very quickly I fell in love with Rose. Relaxed, yet elegant, and more than suitable for a party in a field it was an immediate winner! Being such a gorgeous dress, it needed very little to accessorise, so other than adding ‘my something borrowed’ veil from my Mum and the ultimate ‘something blue’ Christian Dior shoes I kept it pretty plain!

The Groom's Fashion

Ian The Groom: I’d planned to wear a made to measure suit from Reiss with Maganni brogues but two weeks before our wedding I managed to throw a spanner in the works. Two minutes into a football competition at Stamford Bridge, I broke my left leg. Aside from having to have surgery, I was put into a cast, meaning the suit would no longer fit! The team at Reiss, up against the clock, managed to tailor a new grey suit with trousers that were 4 inches bigger than my normal size to fit over my cast and remove all the excess material so that I still had the made to measure look! I accessorized with NHS crutches from the Chelsea & Westminster hospital.

The Venue

The brief was – in our minds, pretty simple. An outdoors space in Kent (where I grew up) whereby we could bring in a selection of different suppliers and create our perfect day. The reality was actually quite a bit more of a challenge! Strangely, there don’t tend to be too many venues that allow you complete freedom, and many of those that do have pretty strict numbers limits. After a lot of blog reading, and Internet searches, we stumbled across the House Meadow. A complete blank canvas located on a working farm in Biddenden sounded like everything we were after. Despite seeing it at possibly it’s worst moment (we arrived just as the weather had turned and it was as wet and windy as it comes) we fell in love immediately! Not only was it perfect for everything we were looking to do, Clare the co-ordinator was an absolute star! From the start, we knew we could put our upmost trust into her to ensure a perfect day and she truly did deliver over and above what we could ever have imagined!

Colour Scheme

Right from the outset, our ultimate aim was to have a day whereby both our guests and us had a whole lot of fun. It was a chance for us to get all of our closest friends and family together, throw a huge party and say thank you to everyone who had been a part of our lives over the years. To that end there was a never a specific theme, it just sort of evolved from the outdoor freedom the House Meadow allowed! One amazing surprise though was our Love sign on the lake that we arrived to on the day itself. Completely unexpected and such an amazing treat from the House Meadow team!!! Thank you!!

Flowers

Whilst I love a bunch of flowers, both Ian and I were a little adverse to spending a significant portion of our wedding budget on something that would ultimately die in a few days! Coupled with that, my Mum had done some flower arranging in the past so we asked if she would mind doing them! With her very kindly (and possibly madly) agreeing to add to the stress of her daughter getting married, we booked into a bouquet course in Covent Garden, learnt how to make hand ties, and then practiced on and off for the next year. I’d got a pretty good idea from various pinterest boards as to what would work with the space we had and settled on a simple selection of white roses, blue hydrangeas, gypsophila and lavender (to tie in with our table settings and invites). We coupled this with white wicker hearts that featured on both the pews in the church and on the beams within the teepees.

The Wedding Party Fashion

The groomsman wore grey suits from Reiss and the page boys wore grey suits from Monsoon and with Converse trainers. My bridesmaids were absolute stars throughout and I wanted to make sure we got them something they’d be comfortable in and suited their individual styles. I heard about Maids to Measure through another online blog and decided that would be a good starting point. I’d suggested they all pick their own dress and colour, and it just so happened they all looked amazing in the duck egg. With a different style for each, they all looked absolutely stunning! Our Flower Girl was a little too young to have a matching dress, however I’d seen a gorgeous hand made tutu on Etsy. In the same colour as the dresses, we teamed it with a white leotard and ballet shoes.

Ceremony

Whilst we’d always planned the reception to be more of a party, for us the ceremony was the ‘serious’ part. We both wanted to have a church wedding, and having been christened at St Margaret’s, it was the perfect choice. We asked both my Mum and Ian’s Dad to do readings for us, and chose the more traditional Corinthians 13 1-13 for Rich, and Edward Monkton’s a Lovely Love Story for my Mum. Unfortunately a few months prior to the wedding our Vicar announced his retirement, however we did have a wonderful new Vicar who certainly kept the congregation listening with his ‘Love Languages’ sermon.

Entertainment

With the relaxed vibe we were hoping for, coupled with the vast space the House Meadow offered, we wanted to include a few added extras that everyone could enjoy. After realising it wasn’t viable to do everything I had seen on Pinterest / the Blogs, we settled on a funfair with a selection of games (including the striker which proved a huge hit) and a VW photobooth! Everyone commented on how much they enjoyed both – and we now have a fantastic guest book with all the photos to look back on!

Food

As one of the most important parts of the day, we knew this was one bit we really had to get right! As a bit of a foodie, it was really important to me that we chose someone who would work with us to create something that was both bespoke, whilst also catered for all of the various guests needs. Clare at the House Meadow actually recommended Nicci at Home Gurr’Own to us, and I’m so happy she did! I’ve truly never met such a dedicated and amazing person! We had a vision for the day that she not only delivered, but that far exceeded our expectations. Rather than canapés, we wanted to let everyone have a chance to enjoy the surroundings and had a picnic down by the lake. With shared baskets between friends we had a selection of easy to eat finger food, accompanied by blood peach belinis and peroni. We then moved into the teepees to enjoy a hog roast (which the team had been onsite at 4am to setup) with a selection of fresh salads, homemade breads and asparagus tart. We then served our wedding cake (a beautiful naked sponge) with ice cream and fresh fruit for desert. Later in the evening, we had paella cooked at the front of the teepee.

Photographer

We’d seen Gary (Marshal Gray) on a blog and instantly loved his work. Everything he did seemed to capture the day perfectly and was a world away from the traditional ‘wedding photos’ we were so keen to avoid. Once we met Gary we knew instantly that he would be the perfect man to be join us on the day and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Everyone at the wedding loved him – and the photos speak for themselves!