When Lisa at Ribbons & Tulle first sent me a sneaky peek picture of the bouquets she’d made for this wedding, I fell in love with the gorgeous details. Helen, the bride, agreed to fill us in on all the other elements of the day.
Have a look at this totally beautiful wedding, with very unique touches personal to the bride and groom.
We were married in Dorset House School barn, Bury, West Sussex on 16 November 2013. Autumn has fantastic colours and flavours and we weren’t fussed about a summer wedding (you can never guarantee the weather, even in July!) We got engaged in November 2012 so we gave ourselves a year to plan.
The venue had spectacular views over the Sussex countryside where we grew up. That venue is still used by the school rather than solely being a wedding venue – it had spirit and stories to tell!
We went with Autumnal colours as we wanted everything about the day to be true to the season, location and ourselves. The main thing we wanted was for guests to feel the wedding represented us as a couple. We are self-confessed foodies and we care about the provenience of what we eat and drink. We wanted the wedding to be ‘as nature intended’. Family were also a vital part of the day. The venue was decorated with seasonal squashes, berries, foliage and nuts and dressed with orange berries from the mother of the groom’s garden and gourds from the father of the groom’s veg plot, along with conkers collected by everyone! The barn was lit with vintage candle lanterns lovingly collected by the mother of the bride from local markets and car boot fairs.
The bridal dress was bespoke from Curve Couture. Chrissie was able to bring together all my ideas and make a unique dress that was beyond anything I could imagine. I wanted to be able wear my shoes and jewellery again so I can remind myself again and again of the day. My shoes are gold t-bar heels by Bertie and the double string of pearls came from a vintage market in Norfolk when on holiday a few years ago.
As with the bridal accessories, it was important to the groom that he could wear his outfit over again to remember. The groom wore dark green and his men wore burnt orange. Dave’s favourite shop is Reiss and found a beautiful prince of Wales check three piece suit from them. His shoes were from Barkers (we were keen to support local and British products wherever we could).
All the stationery was made by the bride, groom and the brides family (including a cousin on holiday from Australia). Flowers really were made of memories – paper flowers made from Dave’s childhood beano comics, the wedding party’s favourite books and local maps. We hope family can look back at their flowers and buttonholes in years to come and see something new as well as remembering our special day.
As far as possible the food (meat pies) and drink was all organic, seasonal and sourced from within 20 miles of our venue, the majority from within 5 miles. The sparkling wine, white wine and ale were from neighbouring villages.
Cakes were made by our mums and we chose the cakes we enjoyed them baking most over the years – coffee and walnut, carrot and Guinness and chocolate – very tasty!
Entry, exit and first dance music was music that we have enjoyed as a couple and growing up – Take That, Elbow and Ray Lemontagne. The band also played classics from across the decades so guests of all ages could enjoy the dancing.
We tried to make everything as personal to us as a couple as possible. The fact that guests have told us it was totally ‘Helen and Dave’ means we succeeded!
Images © Jack Terry – www.jackterryweddings.co.uk
Flowers – Ribbons and Tulle
Food – Quinn’s Catering
Sparkling wine – Upperton, provided by Henning’s, Chichester
White wine – Nutbourne
Ale – Hammerpot and Arundel breweries
Cider – Perryhill
Dress – Curve Couture
Slow Motion video – Ed and Kate Johnson, [email protected]
Music – A Singer and Some Dudes
