Rebecca & Will
Photography by Red On Blonde
The Bride
Rebecca the Bride: I really had no idea what I wanted when I first started looking for a wedding dress, but as our wedding was in late autumn and in a rural setting, I wanted it to have a romantic look and long lace sleeves – which it turns out is hard to find! After a few appointments at various boutiques in London and a visit to the London Wedding Show at Olympia with mum, I started to get a good idea of what I liked. I would recommend this show to anyone who is unsure where to start. I found one dress at the show which I wasn’t totally sure about but fell in love with the lace on it -it was an old French lace with flowers and leaves appliqued on top – I had never seen lace like it and just knew I wanted it on my dress. The lady at the stand happened to be the designer herself and said that she could make a bespoke dress using the lace and so that’s how I ended up going to the Sussex seaside for all my fittings all the way from London. In a way, the car journeys to the fittings were a great way for my mum and I to catch up on all the crazy wedding planning! I adored my dress and especially the deep V back with scalloped edging on the lace!The Grooms Fashion
Will wanted a woollen flannel suit in speckled navy to fit the rustic, country vibe of our wedding. He decided to have a bespoke suit made – if you can’t do it for your wedding, when can you do it eh! The tailors were Thom Sweeney in London and they were amazing! Even the shop is really cool with dark wood panelling and a whiskey trolley to get you through the fittings! His shoes were from Crockett and Jones and his tie was rusty red/brown to fit with the autumnal colours of the trees at Dewsall.The Venue
Will proposed in December 2016 halfway up a snowy munro in Scotland – which sums up us as a couple really. We both love the outdoors, dramatic rural settings and nature so wanted to get married somewhere deep in the countryside, which didn’t feel like a purpose built wedding venue and that allowed us to stay for the weekend. As I am from London and he is from Hampshire, we struggled to find a rustic venue that fitted that bill. So when my friend from Herefordshire suggested we look at Dewsall Court, we thought it a bit mad as it was so far from our home towns! But we went up to have a look, we fell in love with it immediately. It is a beautiful, old farmhouse, with the Welsh black mountains as the backdrop. Plus it has a gorgeous little church in the grounds and an incredible wainhouse (barn) to have the wedding breakfast and dancing in. It was totally perfect for us! I should also mention that the venue is family run and the team who work there are outstanding and made our wedding dream come true!The Decor
We got married at the end of October but I didn’t want to have traditional autumn colours for the colour scheme like reds and oranges. So we decided to go more for maroons and faded blues and greys. The décor was very natural, lots of wild foliage, dried flowers and cereals in baskets, hundreds of tealights wrapped with grey ribbon or twine. Large copper lanterns stood at the entrance to the wainhouse, there were fairy lights in the trees and a basket of pine cones and lots of hurricane lamps with acorns at the bottom. All the wooden tables had foliage runners along them and loads of tealights. We also had festoon lights strung between the beams which made you feel like you were at a party in the woods! The bride and groom chairs had bunches of dried lavender tied to the back and the church was decorated with lots of candles and ivy, which created a very romantic and natural feel. I came up with the design for all our stationery and my mum (who used to work in advertising) used her good friend from her business days to print everything for us. Will and I have an obsession with Africa (we’ve travelled a lot there and worked there!) and as I am a conservationist and have done lots of research on elephants, we decided to create a logo with two elephants that would be used throughout, as well as a motif of acacia leaves.The Flowers
I absolutely love gardening and flowers so this was very important to me and I spent a long time talking through which flowers would be in bloom in Autumn with the florist, which can be tricky. Great British Florists were fantastic and I liked the fact that they focus on which flowers are in bloom in Britain at that time of year. The flower theme was very wild and natural, with an ethereal, romantic feel. There was lots of foliage (olive leaves, ivy etc), seedheads, cereals, and then white, blue and maroon flowers. Spontaneity and abundance were the theme words! We had lots of foliage garlands hanging along the beams in the wainhouse which gave it an almost woodland feel.The Wedding Party
The most important thing for me was that my bridesmaids loved the dresses they would wear. Being end of October, we thought it would be best to go for something long and decided to look for dresses in blues and greys to go with the theme. We ended up finding a beautiful ice blue floor length dress from Maids to Measure and they both looked stunning! Will wanted a relaxed vibe to the wedding so we decided against morning dress and opted for navy suits for the ushers. Will gave them a tie with elephants on (to match our logo!) from Beaufort and Blake.
The Ceremony
Our ceremony was held in a tiny church at Dewsall Court and it meant it was a real squeeze to get all 120 guests in. But it created such a cosy, intimate feel and we loved it. Our vicar was a complete legend and made our ceremony really special. We had an amazing harpist play for the bride’s entrance, and then Will’s father and my best friend did readings which made it very personal.
The Entertainment
We had a harpist called Jemima Phillips play during the drinks reception which was amazing. She played lots of popular music too which was great – she is an extremely talented musician and also the nicest lady! Just before the wedding breakfast, two of my cousins, James and Daniel sang and played ‘What a difference a day made’ by Jamie Cullen and it was such a special moment for Will and I. For dancing, we had a live band from Wales called The Brotherhood who were fantastic and everyone was on the dance floor until the very end – very important for a wedding we think! We also had sparklers and big American marshmallows for everyone to light on the fire pit outside, which was so much fun!
The Food
Will and I are big foodies so this was a very important part of our wedding. Luckily, Dewsall Court share our ethos and the chef there is incredible. As we were in Herefordshire and it was Autumn, we thought it only right to have hearty Herefordshire lamb for our main, which followed a refreshing prawn and avocado starter in beautiful silver goblets! A local chocolatier and cake maker called Jacqueline Keenan made an amazing apple and cinnamon 3-tiered wedding cake, and loads of divine brownies, which went in minutes. We also had big jars full of sweeties which kept everyone going through the night, plus the late-night sourdough cheese toasties and hotdogs from Dewsall!
The Photography
Our photographers, Red On Blonde, really should get a proper shout out here. We had originally booked another photographer from Herefordshire and very sadly, she was unable to photograph our wedding at the last minute. Hannah and Toby from Red On Blonde, who knew our photographer, stepped in two days before – which was amazing of them and we are forever grateful! They came all the way down from Derbyshire and having never even seen Dewsall Court, were just the most incredible photographers and exactly the style we loved – very natural, reportage. They are such a great couple themselves and so much fun to be around and they captured the autumnal sunlight of our wedding to perfection. They are very laidback too and helped to make the morning of the wedding as relaxed as possible – every bride’s dream! All our family and friends are still talking about the photos from our wedding and we can’t thank them enough.
The Videography
We weren’t going to have a videographer originally to try and save on costs, but after seeing a friend’s wedding video and all the special moments it captured, we gave in and found Mrs Mashup who have worked at Dewsall Court a number of times. One of the main things I was worried about was feeling like I was being filmed and them getting in the way. But Aymie from Mrs Mashup was amazing and we hardly noticed the cameras at all. And the result was beautiful – she captured the most incredibly intimate and special moments and we are so glad we went for it.
Advice
During the wedding, remember to take 5 minutes with your new husband to just take it all in and realise how amazing it all is. Will and I did this just after the meal and went outside the barn to watch everyone laughing and enjoying themselves inside, with the candles flickering and the whole scene was just magical. We felt extremely lucky!
