This is one of those simply perfect weddings, where you just want to dive in and devour all the details. Lovely Amy read Before the Big Day in the run up to her wedding, and along with her husband Alex, they created the most amazing array of pretty DIY'd decorations. Amy works in interior design, so she was very keen on the visual side of the wedding planning, and started with a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics. In fact the wedding colour palette was entirely themed on a tiny scrap of fabric - a pretty blue and green floral print on a cream background. The crafty projects are never-ending! Along with her mum, Amy made 250 meters of double sided bunting {now available to hire!}, dried all the confetti in their airing cupboard, and picked and arranged all the marquee flowers. Meanwhile Alex's mum made the fudge favours, and not to be outdone, Alex made the chalkboard table-plan. There's so many stealworthy ideas to choose, but my favourites have to be Amy's stunning self-designed wedding gown, her adorable traditional pageboys' outfits {in knickerbockers made by her mum!}, and Amy's family jewellery - some serious rocks!! Huge thanks to Kate Murrell Weddings for her stunning pictures of the day....more to come in Part 2.
We got married on the 27th July at St Michael and All Angels in Withyham, in Sussex, and we hosted our reception in my parent’s garden ten minutes away from the church.
As I work in interior design I was very into the visual side of the wedding planning, and I had a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics! I wanted to go for a very traditional English country wedding look, with bunting, a pole marquee, trestle tables and country garden flowers.
It was actually a small scrap of fabric which inspired my theme, a pretty blue and green floral print on a cream background, and I thought these would be the perfect colours for an English country wedding!
I had a very clear idea of what style of dress I wanted, and although I spent a day in London with my Mum and bridesmaids trying on some dresses for fun, I always knew I wanted to have it handmade, so that I could design every detail myself.
The first place I went was Emma Tindley Couture, in my local town of East Grinstead. Emma was so lovely and seemed to completely get what I wanted, so after seeing a few London dressmakers, I decided to go for her. It was so lovely to have it made locally, as my Mum was able to come to all my fittings.
I went for a corseted top, with a sweetheart neckline, and an A-line skirt with pleats, a bow at the back, and quite a long train. I wanted to be covered up for the church so I had a removable boat-neck lace top, which I took off for the evening, and added beaded lace straps and a sparkly belt. I was quite involved with the process of choosing the fabrics and after a lot of searching I found the perfect lace, but it was too white! So, much to Emma’s horror I dyed it in a bath of tea to make it creamier!
In the end Emma was glad that I took the plunge, as it worked really well. and matched the Duchess satin perfectly! Emma did the most fantastic job and my dress was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. She also made the whole process so much fun, and she even came and got me into my dress on the day!
My shoes were dark ivory satin to match my dress, with a peep toe and diamante buckle. I had my hair and make-up done by a lovely lady called Natalie. She and Harriet, who she brought a long to help, were fantastic and such a calming influence on the day! She somehow managed to achieve the radiant bridal look despite the fact that I had not slept a wink....quite literally!
For our flower girl and page boy, I wanted to go for a very classic look with pale blue knickerbockers and a cream shirt for the page, and a cream silk dress with a pale blue sash for the flower girl. Ever mindful of the budget, my Mum actually made the dress and trousers herself, I was so impressed with how professional they looked!
For my two grown-up bridesmaids, I also wanted something quite classic in pale blue, and though originally I thought I would get them made, I ended up finding some beautiful cowl neck dresses from Dessy. I thought that both girls looked so elegant, with blue hydrangeas and gypsophila in their hair.
I wore our family tiara, which my Mum also wore for her wedding, with my hair in a low chignon, and a veil. I was also lucky enough to be able to wear my grandmother's sapphire and diamond bracelet, and my Mum's diamond necklace for the evening.
The bouquets and buttonholes were done by Emma Tindley, my dressmaker. She really is a multi-talented lady!
I wanted to have a very rustic, country feel to all the flower arrangements and obviously wanted to use all blue, green and cream flowers, particularly hydrangeas. We used bunches of gypsophilia tied with blue ribbon for the pew ends, which is very inexpensive but looks so pretty!
We used the church flower ladies to do all the arrangements and the archway of flowers and they really did the most fantastic job, we had so many comments on our flowers!
Alex wore traditional morning suit, with a powder blue waistcoat, and a blue and green patterned tie. We bought ties for all our ushers, all in different blue and green animal patterns!
As Alex is in the army we were privileged enough to have a Guard of Honour made up of friends he had served with in Afghanistan - two Welsh Guardsmen and six Light Dragoons.
We had lots of DIY projects, including our confetti! Our airing cupboard became something of a confetti factory, as we dried lots of blue, green and cream petals. This doubled as decoration for the reception, as we sprinkled it over the hessian table runners.
Our wedding photographer was Kate Murrell Weddings, and she works in the photographic department of the hospital where my Dad works, and she does weddings at weekends. We felt at ease with her straight away, she did a fantastic job on the day and we love our photos!
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We got married on the 27th July at St Michael and All Angels in Withyham, in Sussex, and we hosted our reception in my parent’s garden ten minutes away from the church.
As I work in interior design I was very into the visual side of the wedding planning, and I had a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics! I wanted to go for a very traditional English country wedding look, with bunting, a pole marquee, trestle tables and country garden flowers.
It was actually a small scrap of fabric which inspired my theme, a pretty blue and green floral print on a cream background, and I thought these would be the perfect colours for an English country wedding!
I had a very clear idea of what style of dress I wanted, and although I spent a day in London with my Mum and bridesmaids trying on some dresses for fun, I always knew I wanted to have it handmade, so that I could design every detail myself.
The first place I went was Emma Tindley Couture, in my local town of East Grinstead. Emma was so lovely and seemed to completely get what I wanted, so after seeing a few London dressmakers, I decided to go for her. It was so lovely to have it made locally, as my Mum was able to come to all my fittings.
I went for a corseted top, with a sweetheart neckline, and an A-line skirt with pleats, a bow at the back, and quite a long train. I wanted to be covered up for the church so I had a removable boat-neck lace top, which I took off for the evening, and added beaded lace straps and a sparkly belt. I was quite involved with the process of choosing the fabrics and after a lot of searching I found the perfect lace, but it was too white! So, much to Emma’s horror I dyed it in a bath of tea to make it creamier!
In the end Emma was glad that I took the plunge, as it worked really well. and matched the Duchess satin perfectly! Emma did the most fantastic job and my dress was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. She also made the whole process so much fun, and she even came and got me into my dress on the day!
My shoes were dark ivory satin to match my dress, with a peep toe and diamante buckle. I had my hair and make-up done by a lovely lady called Natalie. She and Harriet, who she brought a long to help, were fantastic and such a calming influence on the day! She somehow managed to achieve the radiant bridal look despite the fact that I had not slept a wink....quite literally!
For our flower girl and page boy, I wanted to go for a very classic look with pale blue knickerbockers and a cream shirt for the page, and a cream silk dress with a pale blue sash for the flower girl. Ever mindful of the budget, my Mum actually made the dress and trousers herself, I was so impressed with how professional they looked!
For my two grown-up bridesmaids, I also wanted something quite classic in pale blue, and though originally I thought I would get them made, I ended up finding some beautiful cowl neck dresses from Dessy. I thought that both girls looked so elegant, with blue hydrangeas and gypsophila in their hair.
I wore our family tiara, which my Mum also wore for her wedding, with my hair in a low chignon, and a veil. I was also lucky enough to be able to wear my grandmother's sapphire and diamond bracelet, and my Mum's diamond necklace for the evening.
The bouquets and buttonholes were done by Emma Tindley, my dressmaker. She really is a multi-talented lady!
I wanted to have a very rustic, country feel to all the flower arrangements and obviously wanted to use all blue, green and cream flowers, particularly hydrangeas. We used bunches of gypsophilia tied with blue ribbon for the pew ends, which is very inexpensive but looks so pretty!
We used the church flower ladies to do all the arrangements and the archway of flowers and they really did the most fantastic job, we had so many comments on our flowers!
Alex wore traditional morning suit, with a powder blue waistcoat, and a blue and green patterned tie. We bought ties for all our ushers, all in different blue and green animal patterns!
As Alex is in the army we were privileged enough to have a Guard of Honour made up of friends he had served with in Afghanistan - two Welsh Guardsmen and six Light Dragoons.
We had lots of DIY projects, including our confetti! Our airing cupboard became something of a confetti factory, as we dried lots of blue, green and cream petals. This doubled as decoration for the reception, as we sprinkled it over the hessian table runners.
Our wedding photographer was Kate Murrell Weddings, and she works in the photographic department of the hospital where my Dad works, and she does weddings at weekends. We felt at ease with her straight away, she did a fantastic job on the day and we love our photos!
Love Before the Big Day? Why not sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin?! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.
