Zoë & Jack

Lovely Zoë of The Blonde Blog clearly knows a thing or two about style, and so her pretty, peony filled wedding is every bit as gorgeous as you'd expect it to be. Elegant, classic but with contemporary, and completely unique details, such as the wooden floral hoops carried by the bridesmaids in lieu of the traditional bouquet, it's a veritable feast for the eyes from start to finish! (If you're a wooden hoop lover, then here's another way you can incorporate them in your big day, they are an absolute bargain and make such an effective piece of decor). Hyde House is a gorgeous venue anyway, but covered in blousy blooms and draped with silken fabric, it looks even more pretty, especially in the hazy early summer sunshine as captured by the wonderful White Stag Weddings and Dan Dolan Films.

The Bride

Zoe the Bride: Having seen a beautiful Ronald Joyce 'Mikado' gown featured on a Rock My Wedding bride I visited local stockist Just For You. I fell in love with ‘Jodie’ which featured a bateau neckline, beaded waistband and full skirt with, wait for it...pockets! As soon as I put it on I knew it was ‘the one’. It was elegant, flattering, not too fussy and had just a touch of sparkle - although the complete opposite to what I had intended to go for (lace and sleeves!) Accessories were a cathedral length veil with lace edging paired with simple vintage style pear drop earrings and matching bracelet from Ivory & Co at John Lewis. I spotted Lauren Conrad’s gorgeous hair piece on Pinterest and managed to track down an almost identical design at JJ’s House.

The Groom

In keeping with the rustic theme Jack chose a navy wool suit from Alexandre of England at House of Fraser and a green waistcoat from White Stuff whilst the groomsmen wore blue spotted braces from Burton. The grooms party all wore ties to match the bridesmaids’ dresses and brown brogues with Jack choosing a pair with navy detailing to add a little extra design. He also wore silver stag cufflinks and added his Grandmother’s handkerchief as a pocket-square which was a lovely sentimental touch.

The Venue

We ideally wanted an outdoor ceremony with an informal, rustic feel and instantly fell in love Hyde House located in Stow on the Wold - it’s high ceilings, exposed beams and the arbour ceremony arch were just stunning. We both adore The Cotswolds and with Jack’s parents travelling over from Canada we thought it was the perfect setting for a quintessentially British celebration.

The Decor

Hyde House is already such a beautiful venue with the mixture of the old stone house with the modern barn and rolling countryside that we wanted to highlight the rustic style with our decorations. Styletopia did an amazing job transforming the barn using draping, a floral chandelier and arranging the table settings and flower centrepieces. The wisteria garland on the arbour was simply magical and the perfect backdrop for the ceremony. In the months leading up to the wedding we had taken on the challenge of creating a few DIY decorations and collected wooden pallets to create order of the day and ceremony signs which we hand painted together. We also sourced the white wooden ladders and added gold initials and hessian decorated jars to incorporate them into the theme. We created our own photo booth using voile and fairy lights along with a basket of props which was a great hit with the guests!

The Wedding Party

For the bridesmaids I decided that I wanted a blush pink that would complement the peonies that would be the focus of the wedding flowers. After searching online (and many ASOS orders!) we eventually found a gorgeous gown from TFNC London which flattered everyone’s skin tone and figure whilst the satin bow tied in perfectly with my dress. The bridesmaids looked stunning on the day and all said how comfortable the dresses were even in the hot weather!

The Ceremony

We always knew that we wanted to write our own vows and ring promises and it was such a special moment sitting down together and putting pen to paper to personalise our ceremony. The registrar asked me beforehand how I was going to be able to carry the card on which my vows were printed when walking down the aisle - her face was a picture when I showed her the pockets in the skirt of my dress! She said that in the thousands of weddings she had officiated she had never seen a bride with pockets! We also added two readings, the first by our Maid of Honour Kirsty was ‘I Choose You’ by Tyler Kent White which we both loved and had the perfect romantic tone without being overly gushing. We also wanted to add a little humour and couldn’t resist ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton which our Best Man Gareth performed with gusto!

The Food

Keeping with the quintessentially British theme we choose afternoon tea style canapes of mini sandwiches and scones with cream and jam, these were of course served with Pimm’s! The wedding breakfast consisted of pâté, beef wellington and vanilla cheesecake with passionfruit pearls. I always knew that I wanted a victoria sponge style naked cake and a fabulous family friend kindly made ours for us as a wedding gift. We topped the lemon flavour sponge with layers of fresh fruit including giant blueberries and finished with a dusting of icing sugar and our fabulous wooden bunting cake topper - it tasted divine!

The Photography

I spotted White Stag Wedding Photography on Instagram and instantly fell in love with their dreamy, fine art style. We both loved that their approach was journalistic and captured the natural, candid wedding day moments rather than involving lots of posed photographs. Catherine and Andy were absolutely amazing and helped us to organise the timings of the day to incorporate a visit to nearby Lower Slaughter, a sparkler send off and some magical giant balloon photographs! We were absolutely in love with the photographs when they arrived - our day looked like a beautiful countryside fairytale!

The Flowers

A few months before the wedding I ambitiously decided that I would do all of the wedding flowers myself. Jack helped me to create a spreadsheet filled with large, blousy varieties such as peonies, ranunculus, roses and hydrangeas along with bunches of eucalyptus and gypsophila. My Maid of Honour Kirsty and I spent the day before the wedding creating bundles of flowers for the arrangements at the venue before I made my own bouquet and thank-you flowers for the mothers. The morning of the wedding I made the button-holes and bridesmaids’ hoops - I loved the idea of creating something unusual and memorable for them and they were certainly a talking point amongst the guests!