Take a teepee, a rustic wedding theme, and a feather motif, and you've got one very happy wedding blogger! I couldn't be more excited about showing you the reception pictures from Zegnia and Matthew's creative big day. Zegnia got really into the planning process, and read lots of wedding blogs like Before the Big Day - coming up with some truly original DIY ideas. From her self-designed feather wedding stationery, the framed table plans and the birch themed table displays and wedding favours, everything fits together beautifully. I'd forgotten how much I love teepee tents - they look stunning festooned with fairy lights, and have you spotted the cute old-fashioned street-lamp at the entrance? Also, don't miss the amazing white chocolate wedding cake by Vanilla Patisserie. It's seriously glamorous! Huge thanks to Lucy Wallace Photography her stunning pictures, and to Zegnia for submitting her wedding - why not do the same?
We got married on Sunday 26th May, at St. James’ Church in Nayland, Suffolk followed by a reception at Bear House, my parent's garden. I had always wanted to have our wedding reception where I'd grown up, and it was lovely to be able to walk to and from the church.
I spotted wedding tipis in a magazine a few years ago, even before we were engaged, and knew straight away that was what I wanted. So when we set the date that was one of the first things we booked {via Beautiful World Tents} - even before we had ever even seen them. We just knew we wanted something different and these were perfect! The tipi pretty much set the tone for the feel we wanted for our big day - a very relaxed, rustic, country garden feel.
My shoes were Carvela. I noticed them in the shop window and loved them. A very easy spur of the moment decision!
We never planned to have a particular ‘theme’ or anything but as we started getting ideas I liked the idea of something natural, and drawing inspiration from the surroundings. When we were younger we had a pet goose, and whenever she lost a feather my Mum always saved it. This gave us the idea of incorporating a feather design into the day.
During the early stages of planning I was keen to not pick a colour theme, as I didn’t want to tie us into something in case we changed our mind, or saw something else that we preferred. Our colours naturally emerged during the process of planning, into mostly raspberry, antique silver and champagne.
We had a few DIY projects - many of them came up because we were hosting our wedding at home, rather than at hotel. I spent a long time pondering over the table plan. I came up with the idea of using old frames, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But after a long time sourcing old frames, my sisters and I spent the day before putting it together, and in the end I was so proud of how it turned out.
Instead of using traditional numbers or names for each table, we used significant numbers, e.g. the number of our first house or the date Matthew proposed. We wrote these onto brown card, which we cut into a large luggage tag, and tied onto a jar. One thing that took a long time was collecting all the jars, and cleaning them for the flowers and candles but was so worth it! All of the name places were written and assembled by my mum, my sisters and myself.
We couldn’t decide on wedding favours - we knew we didn't want them to be something half the guests left behind, and we wanted it to be something that was related to our wedding theme. In the end we chose a mini-disc of birch trunk {my maiden name was Birch}. These matched the central table display, and fitted well with the rustic feel. Also they didn't cost much, so if guests left them it didn't matter, but they could find a use for them if they wanted.
Our florist was Charlotte Slade. I'd collected lots of inspiration pictures from wedding blogs like Before the Big Day, but I was fairly open to what I wanted for our wedding flowers. When we met with Charlotte she completely understood my vision. We chose peonies, roses and sweet peas as our main blooms.
For our table flowers, Charlotte arranged the flowers in a simple glass vase, placed on a rustic slice of wood, along with candles. When we walked into the tipi and saw it with all the flowers I was blown away, they were perfect and more gorgeous than we could have ever imagined.
Our wedding cake was from Vanilla Patisserie in Suffolk. We originally saw her designs at a wedding show, and they had such a wow-factor. When we went for a cake-tasting session with Michelle, we were even more impressed - so it was an easy decision, although deciding the flavours was not so easy! In the end we settled on lemon, chocolate fudge, and vanilla and raspberry, which was all wrapped in the white chocolate.
I completely loved planning the wedding - it was not without its stresses, but overall I loved it. I miss it a lot, going though blogs and magazines, dress shopping and the build up. I wish there was a way to carry on, so if anyone is looking for a wedding planner…!
Our photographer was Lucy Wallace. She was recommended by another photographer we liked, but who wasn't available. We met her in London, and knew immediately she was the right person. We didn't want our guests to have to stand around for ages while we had loads of posed formal photographs. Instead we wanted to be able to spend as much time with our guests and have our wedding photographer capture all the memories of the day. Lucy's reportage style was perfect, she was so discreet, and made us feel so comfortable and not be thinking of the camera.
My advice to brides would be to make the most of the planning. When I went dress shopping we always made a day of it - champagne lunches and celebrating with my mum and bridesmaids. Those were some of the best bits of the whole process. We also made sure that we celebrated before and after the wedding. So on the Friday night the guys had a curry night, and the girls had a movie night, on the Saturday we had a relaxed BBQ, and on the Bank Holiday Monday a lunch where I wore my dress again. That way it gave us more time to spend with family and friends.
On the morning of the wedding I was so relaxed and really enjoyed the whole day. It was lovely to be able to take it all in. I would also say that remember it is your day - so don't make decisions to please other people. If you want to wear something different do, or do something totally untraditional, then do, that way you will enjoy it the most!
Love Before the Big Day? Never want to miss a post? Sign up for our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.
I spotted wedding tipis in a magazine a few years ago, even before we were engaged, and knew straight away that was what I wanted. So when we set the date that was one of the first things we booked {via Beautiful World Tents} - even before we had ever even seen them. We just knew we wanted something different and these were perfect! The tipi pretty much set the tone for the feel we wanted for our big day - a very relaxed, rustic, country garden feel.
My shoes were Carvela. I noticed them in the shop window and loved them. A very easy spur of the moment decision!
During the early stages of planning I was keen to not pick a colour theme, as I didn’t want to tie us into something in case we changed our mind, or saw something else that we preferred. Our colours naturally emerged during the process of planning, into mostly raspberry, antique silver and champagne.
We had a few DIY projects - many of them came up because we were hosting our wedding at home, rather than at hotel. I spent a long time pondering over the table plan. I came up with the idea of using old frames, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But after a long time sourcing old frames, my sisters and I spent the day before putting it together, and in the end I was so proud of how it turned out.
Instead of using traditional numbers or names for each table, we used significant numbers, e.g. the number of our first house or the date Matthew proposed. We wrote these onto brown card, which we cut into a large luggage tag, and tied onto a jar. One thing that took a long time was collecting all the jars, and cleaning them for the flowers and candles but was so worth it! All of the name places were written and assembled by my mum, my sisters and myself.
We couldn’t decide on wedding favours - we knew we didn't want them to be something half the guests left behind, and we wanted it to be something that was related to our wedding theme. In the end we chose a mini-disc of birch trunk {my maiden name was Birch}. These matched the central table display, and fitted well with the rustic feel. Also they didn't cost much, so if guests left them it didn't matter, but they could find a use for them if they wanted.
Our florist was Charlotte Slade. I'd collected lots of inspiration pictures from wedding blogs like Before the Big Day, but I was fairly open to what I wanted for our wedding flowers. When we met with Charlotte she completely understood my vision. We chose peonies, roses and sweet peas as our main blooms.
For our table flowers, Charlotte arranged the flowers in a simple glass vase, placed on a rustic slice of wood, along with candles. When we walked into the tipi and saw it with all the flowers I was blown away, they were perfect and more gorgeous than we could have ever imagined.
Our wedding cake was from Vanilla Patisserie in Suffolk. We originally saw her designs at a wedding show, and they had such a wow-factor. When we went for a cake-tasting session with Michelle, we were even more impressed - so it was an easy decision, although deciding the flavours was not so easy! In the end we settled on lemon, chocolate fudge, and vanilla and raspberry, which was all wrapped in the white chocolate.
I completely loved planning the wedding - it was not without its stresses, but overall I loved it. I miss it a lot, going though blogs and magazines, dress shopping and the build up. I wish there was a way to carry on, so if anyone is looking for a wedding planner…!
Our photographer was Lucy Wallace. She was recommended by another photographer we liked, but who wasn't available. We met her in London, and knew immediately she was the right person. We didn't want our guests to have to stand around for ages while we had loads of posed formal photographs. Instead we wanted to be able to spend as much time with our guests and have our wedding photographer capture all the memories of the day. Lucy's reportage style was perfect, she was so discreet, and made us feel so comfortable and not be thinking of the camera.
My advice to brides would be to make the most of the planning. When I went dress shopping we always made a day of it - champagne lunches and celebrating with my mum and bridesmaids. Those were some of the best bits of the whole process. We also made sure that we celebrated before and after the wedding. So on the Friday night the guys had a curry night, and the girls had a movie night, on the Saturday we had a relaxed BBQ, and on the Bank Holiday Monday a lunch where I wore my dress again. That way it gave us more time to spend with family and friends.
On the morning of the wedding I was so relaxed and really enjoyed the whole day. It was lovely to be able to take it all in. I would also say that remember it is your day - so don't make decisions to please other people. If you want to wear something different do, or do something totally untraditional, then do, that way you will enjoy it the most!
Love Before the Big Day? Never want to miss a post? Sign up for our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.
