Weddings in 2020 have been demonstrating just how wonderful elopements or micro-weddings can be. Many couples who dreamed and planned for large weddings have not been disappointed when adapting to a smaller scale guest list and creating an intimate day. Discover 5 of our favourite small wedding venues across the UK to help you plan on your very own intimate rustic wedding.
Choosing between a rustic or boho wedding
Image source: Stennack Farm Weddings
With so much inspiration for wedding themes and decor choices, a combination of rustic and boho weddings are becoming increasingly common. Couples that tend to opt for the rustic or boho themes are likely to be inspired by natural and organic elements. Within this blog, we will explore the differences between the two styles helping to keep you on track with your theme or pick and choose features of each.
A rustic themed wedding
Outdoor ceremonies and barn reception venues provide the perfect backdrop for a rustic wedding. Nature-inspired textures along with a natural colour palette create a romantic, cosy atmosphere, think Champagne, Lavender, Peach, with lots of greenery from grasses and foliage.
Photographer: Emily Black Photography.
If you’re dreaming of a rustic wedding you’re probably going to need some, if not all the rustic wedding decor and accessories listed here:
- Weathered wood, chipped furniture and worn pieces are essential to set the rustic theme.
- Exposed wood tables dressed with a rough linen table runner and mismatched glassware, flowers and candles for simple table decor.
- Earthy green and white floral arrangements – think large white flowers, such as Peonies or White Scabiosa, coupled with the soft green hue of eucalyptus.
- Wooden tree log slice to sit a naked wedding cake lightly dusted with icing sugar and decorated with flowers and foliage.
- Incorporate vintage metal buckets and wooden crates filled with flowers, drinks, snacks, wedding favours, or blankets.
- Enhance focal points with loosely draped greenery from beams, stepladders, or lights.
A boho wedding theme
Image source: The Secret Garden Kent
Boho or Bohemian weddings theme suits the free-spirited couple who want to incorporate an effortless, elegant style teamed with a creative colour palette, patterns and soft materials for a romantic feel.
Embrace a vibrant colour scheme with saffron, ruby, bright pink, magenta and golden yellow, perfect for a green setting. If you’re planning a boho beach wedding, add colour through gorgeous pops of amethyst, turquoise and jade.
Style your boho wedding that dreams are made of with these hallmark decorative ideas to create a look that both embraces nature and luxury.
- A boho essential is the Flower Crown to replace or work alongside the traditional veil. Create a statement piece or a dainty crown, just don’t miss out on the boho signature look.
- Decorate your tables with soft linen paired with jam jar posies or terrariums bursting with air plants and greenery
- Greenhouses create a light filled, vintage backdrop, ideal to fill with draping greenery for a lush botanical garden vibe.
- Add a pinch of sparkle and a whole lot of spiritual healing with quartz to decorate your table or incorporate as name place cards.
- Create that romantic, dreamy space with macramé accents, drapes and dreamcatchers.
- For the effortless look, choose mismatched décor teamed with vintage cushions and rugs for the ultimate in boho style.
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9 Ideas To Make a Small Wedding Beautifully Intimate & Memorable
2020 has been the year all attention has turned to small and intimate weddings. So many couples have embraced the restrictions put in place this year and altered their special day and the results have been outstanding, so there’s no surprise the demand for small weddings is increasing – restrictions or not!
Featured image by MT Studio Photography
Let’s talk about money
Thousands of couples are embracing a smaller wedding and jumping for joy once realising there’s no more blowing the budget on feeding up to 70+ people on sausages and mash and limiting everyone to one glass of the cheapest prosecco. One clear benefit of hosting a smaller wedding is that it costs less, giving you an opportunity to spend on the things that will make a real difference. If you’re thinking about organising your wedding with a smaller number of guests or rethinking the scale of your current guest list, here are 9 ideas to make your intimate wedding stylish and memorable.
Put more thought into decor and styling
Let your creativity shine through or be inspired by a wedding stylist and planner. The unusual and one of a kind are always memorable additions to a small wedding and you don’t need many. Just a few statements are enough to make a big impact. Here are a few things that have inspired us recently.
Get creative with the catering
If sausages and mash are your thing, then we love you for it, but there are so many caterers with innovative dishes and picture-perfect presentation that giving a bit of extra thought to who you choose to prepare your wedding breakfast will add to the overall deliciousness of the day.
In our opinion, you can never go wrong with sharing platters or a grazing table, it’s got a real WOW factor and instantly forms part of your overall decor; the mix of colours, textures, smells, shapes, and heights, makes for a very attractive display. You’ll find many grazing tables on the side, but why not make it your table centerpiece!
It’s not all sausage rolls, grapes, and cheese. You can incorporate almost anything, just take a look at these.
Top tip: Don’t forget to top with edible flowers and herbs, this cheap and simple trick makes all the difference.
DIY projects are less daunting
Ever thought about doing a DIY wedding project and stopped when you considered the amount of time it would take to create for 100+ guests? There’s no excuse now. Get started with some simple DIY invitations, place settings, wedding favours, centerpieces, or chair dressings. DIY projects are a great way to save money, build excitement, and get your bridal party and guests involved too.
Ask for help from experienced planners
Planning a wedding, large or small requires a lot of research, organisation, and creativity that altogether takes months. This year, thousands of heartbroken couples have been stalling, cancelling, and rearranging their ceremonies and we all remain uncertain of the months ahead. Times like this call for experts, someone who has established connections with hundreds of venues and suppliers, and has the ability to adapt quickly.
Hiring a planner will help you to enjoy the run-up to your wedding day knowing you have a professional to support you throughout. Your wedding planner will expose you to new ideas, recommend the best vendors, and many will be able to negotiate deals on your behalf.
We’re excited to see luxury wedding planner Constance Taylor’s new initiative “Sweet 15” combines all these advantages and more. She has grouped together a team of her best suppliers and venues (many that we already know and love) that will help couples to tie the knot and throw a gorgeous wedding for a total of £15,000 with 15 attendees. Learn more about Sweet 15 here.
Know how to make use of big spaces
Many wedding venues have big open rooms, easily seating 120 people at a time. So how can you make such a vast space feel cosy and intimate?
Sectioning a room not only improves the feeling of the space, but it also gives you the opportunity to incorporate some fun features like a games section, beanbags or sofas around the fire, a photo area for the silliest photos, gallery walls of your adventures together, and the must-have baby photos.
Choosing a smaller venue
There are so many small venues that don’t compromise that all-important WOW factor and often come at the fraction of the price. You’ll also find many restaurants with private rooms that have bags of character or where you can hire the whole place. Then there are the bigger wedding venues who are transforming their smaller barns or buildings into intimate spaces as the demand for smaller venues increases. To help you with your search we’ve put together a selection of our favourite small rustic venues across the UK.
A weekend-long affair
English weddings are typically day-long with a large guest list, making a weekend-long wedding quite the challenge. For a start, where’s everyone meant to stay when there are almost a hundred guests and who really has the budget for accommodation like that? A small wedding is the perfect time to make your special day into two, three, or four!
Here are a few of our favourite weekend-long wedding venues and links to their packages.
It’s all about you and your partner to be
This is so important to remember no matter what the size of your wedding party. It’s your wedding day, make it your own. Forget about traditional weddings with big cakes, sit down meals, a white dress, and bow ties. What do you and your partner enjoy, what do you do in your spare time? Incorporating this into your day will not only make it extra special but so memorable to you, family and friends.
Getting everyone involved on the day
The bridal party and guest might have been involved with some of the wedding planning, DIY projects and hen do/stag celebrations, but you can also get them involved during the wedding for a memorable experience. If you’re lucky enough to have a friend with musical talent, a grandparent who’ll read a poem or share a blessing, or a younger cousin who can present the rings, these moments add a little magic and intimacy to a wedding.
4 Ways to Improve Your Weddings Website & Online Reputation
Now’s the time to turn your attention to online marketing for your wedding business. Over the last few months, we’ve seen the wedding industry (amongst many others) take quite the hit due to COVID-19. You’ve spent weeks, even months creating some brilliant new concepts to help make a little income to keep your family and business afloat but now’s the time to turn your attention back to your passion; the business.
We’re sharing 4 easy and effective ways to improve your website and online reputation to help ensure your website is in the best condition to represent you and attract new enquiries. The best news, whilst money is a bit tight, all these recommendations can be actioned completely free.
1) Working on your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
As couples start to look for venues and suppliers for up and coming wedding celebrations, you need to ensure they can find your business on search engines like Google. Through using SEO practices, you can improve your websites ranking position and generate more organic traffic. The most important thing you need to implement immediately is keyword optimisation. Search engines and users need to understand what you have to offer instantly. Here are two key places you need to describe your business for effective SEO:
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Title Tag & Meta Description
Title tags are displayed on SERPs as the clickable headline and meta descriptions are the short descriptive paragraphs underneath.
Each page on your website can have its own title tag and meta description, the most important one being your home page which sets the theme for your entire site. If your title tag currently includes the word ‘Home’ or is simply the name of your business, this should be updates, quick! Check your title tag using this tool.
Title tags are displayed on SERPs as the clickable headline and meta descriptions are the short descriptive paragraphs underneath.
Take a deep breath and think about how users should be discovering your website when they search online. This will guide your keyword research to give you a better idea of what users are searching most frequently. Are you a ‘wedding venue in West Sussex’, ‘castle wedding venue’, ‘wedding florist in Oxford’, ‘wedding photographer in London’ or do you sell ‘rustic wedding decorations’ or ‘bespoke wedding invitations’? These are all examples of keywords that users may search for to find business like you.
Plan out the title tag and meta description for every page on the website, it’s important to be accurate and concise about what the page, service or product is or offers. Once you’ve planned the best keywords to optimise those pages for you can apply them to the site. Whether you use WordPress, Wix, Squarespace most CMS (content management systems) will easily allow you to apply your optimisation.
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Page Content
It goes without saying your website should show off exactly what you do but you’d be surprised just how many websites do not include the keywords users are searching for in the content of their site. Take this opportunity to review your content:
- Does it mention the keywords you’ve been researching, including the locations you service?
- Does your website provide enough detail to give a true account of just how fabulous your business is?
- When was the content last updated? Search engines love to see a regularly maintained site. Whether your adding some more information, changing images, adding a new blog post – these are all great signs that your website deserves to rank.
If your stuck on what content you should be including on your website, take a look at some competitors from search engines using the terms you’ve found from keyword research. The competitors that rank highest for these keywords will likely have good quality content to inspire you.
WARNING: Never copy content, this is a BIG no, no for SEO.
You’ll come across some great content and think it would sound great on your website but it’s no use copy and pasting if your aim is to improve your SEO. In fact, your website may be penalised if search engines think you’ve copied content. Write your own, unique content or ask for some help, there are some really great content creators out there.
2) Improve site speed
What’s worse than waiting for a website to load? Staring at a blank screen or watching an image appear bit by bit. This is no good. A recent study found
53% of mobile site visits were abandoned if a page took longer than 3 seconds to load.
That’s a huge about of potential customers that just moved on because your website was too slow. The wedding industry is beautiful and you probably have a huge number of images of your website showing off your business; but these images may be the leading cause in slow website speeds. Large file sizes are a common issue but can so easily be resolved. Tool like PageSpeed Insights by Google will tell you exactly how long it takes for your page to properly load and the issues with it, including those culprit images. If you’re a dab hand at photoshop you’ll be able to resize your images and reduce the file size, often without compromising the quality. If you’ve never touched it in your life, don’t fear, there are free online tools which will help to reduce the file size of an image.
Remember to check every page on your website starting with the most popular pages (home, service, about us, gallery etc) and recheck once you’ve changed the images for the new file size. If your page still loads in over 3 seconds, consider asking a professional for help. They’ll be able to run a test and advise you of the main issues which may be your hosting, the amount of resources that need to load, or your website may be outdated with excess code which will be slowing down its performance.
3) Building authority to your site with new links
Backlinks are invaluable to building your website’s authority with search engines. Links pointing from another website to yours is like a signal that others vouch for your content. Over the years this backlink building had become a highly spammed SEO technique and as Google develops its algorithms any link building activity must be done with extreme caution. Learn more about backlinks here.
One of the most effective ways to increase the number of backlinks to your site is to conduct some research into unliked mentions. Using this strategy, you’ll be able to find websites which may have referenced your services or product but have not included a link to your website. The great news is the website owner has already made a reference to your business, so take the opportunity to ask the website owner to link to your website help gain that valuable website authority boost.
4) Improving Your Online Reputation
Google My Business (GMB) Optimisation & Reviews
Google My Business, is absolutely fundamental to your business, especially if you’re in a set location or you offer services in a specific area. GMB is a profile of your business on the biggest search engine. If well optimised, you can be found at the top of search engine results with instant visibility to images, reviews from customers, contact information, descriptions of your offerings and more.
Hopefully, you’ve already claimed your listing, have a few images and started to collect reviews, but there’s so much more you can do. At the minimum, you should be ensuring your GMB listing:
- Includes the correct contact details – name, address, phone number and website.
- Has a range of images/videos that showcase your offerings and ideally include your store front or venue and your team. Add more images regularly to keep everything up to date.
- Includes a description of your offerings, and don’t forget to include those keywords you researched earlier! There are also opportunities to add more in-depth descriptions about the services offered.
- Ask for and collect reviews as frequently as possible. Once you’ve received them, reply to your customers to give thanks. There is no such thing as too many good reviews and these are invaluable to your local ranking position.
- Add featured posts to your listing including promotional activity.
Take a look here for more ways to optimise your Google My Business listing.
We’ve teamed up with some great online marketing agencies who’ve already help us improve our website performance but are also offering free initial consultations and GMB health checks. Please contact sara@naturallyrusticweddings.co.uk for more information.
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5 adorable rustic wedding favours
Our most-adored wedding favour ideas from Pinterest are perfect for a rustic theme and seriously great for lovers of DIY crafts. Grab your fiancé or a couple of members from your bridal party to help you put these gifts together and make sure you take advantage of these super cute quotes. We love that all of these are practical and totally rustic gift ideas.
Love in bloom
Whatever your favourite miniature plant or succulent, bulk buy and pot them with a rustic twist. Tie the pots in with your theme by mixing up the pot material, shape, colour or accessory. Top tip, they also make a great name setting.
Meant to bee
Why not turn this idea into a fun day out with your partner? Arrange a date with your local honey supplier to learn something new, check out the hives and most importantly bag yourself some delicious, sweet honey for guest to enjoy.
Let love grow
We love these simple and low-cost wildflower seed packets. Wildflowers go hand in hand with a rustic theme, especially if you’re planning to include them in your floral designs.
Where friends and marshmallows get toasted
So delicious and great fun for all ages. Leave out a bucket of roasting sticks for guests to make their own s’mores around the fire as they reminisce on the day’s highlights. There’s no doubt, the next time you’re around a firepit you’ll be flooded with memories of your special day.
Keep the fire burning
The classical candle is a popular choice, but there’s something extra special about making them yourself – another great date night idea too! Combine your ‘wedding scent’ whether it be lavender, roses or woodland for a delightful gift.
Find more details to all images on our Pinterest Wedding Decor board.
9 Unique Ways to Display Your Grazing Tables
Ditch the traditional table set up and add some wow factor with these unique rustic themed grazing, dessert and drink ‘tables’.
Canoe
If your venue is next to a water’s edge, incorporate this theme into your grazing table designs. Any outdoor space is ideal for this set up and perfect for adding character in a unique way. Top tip: embrace the rustic look and feel by using hay bales to raise the canoe to a comfortable height for your grazers.
Image source: Aimée Wimbush-Bourque
Ladders
With at least three different ladder ‘table’ set ups to choose from, this is such a great way to add rustic appeal. It’s also incredibly functional and space saving too. For the super organised brides and grooms, use the multiple levels for starters, mains and desserts.
Image source: Studio Impressions
Image source: Rock My Wedding via www.mandjphotos.com
Carts
You’ll often see carts used for sweets and drinks tables, but they aren’t always rustic enough for us. So, we’ve been searching and found this rustic cart from To Have & To Hire Weddings for just £90! A bargain for such a special piece.
Image source: To Have & To Hire Weddings
Log slices
The top rustic wedding trend of 2018? Log slices. You’ll find the majority of catering and decor hire companies stock these beauties but you can also source your own from your local sawmill, or online. For extra wow factor, get yourself a rustic log cupcake stand – or if you’re a DIY enthusiast, give it a go yourself.
Image source: BullLogs
Image source: Pinterest
Shelves
Love this look, simple yet charming. Pair rustic planks from your local timber recycling yard (or a couple of waney edge boards) with rustic draws, crates or tree trumps to add the layers and create a ‘shelf’ set up.
Image source: Yolk and Flour
Hanging table
I’d love to see more ‘hanging’ features in 2019 weddings, who agrees? So unique but surprisingly easy to put up, especially if you’ve got a venue with beams or a large tree. Just grab some rope, a ‘table’ top (or maybe an old timber door) and depending on the style, a holesaw drill bit. It’s certainly a personal favourite, where rustic meets festival chic.
Image source: Michael and Carina Photography
Image source: Pinterest
Crates
We adore this farmers market set up with the fruit and wooden crates. Something different, cost effective, and tasty too. Remember, good quality local produce is always recommended but has every item really got to be so extravagant? A true rustic theme embraces nature’s goods, so fruit would be a massive tick! And who can resist a fresh loaf, especially when it looks this pretty.
Image source: Wedding Bells
Image source: The Tomkat Studio
Pallets
Pallets are a core rustic trend for furnishings. We love how the glass top gives a clean modern edge but allows you to admire the pallet too. Easy to construct and they give vast space to fill with a stunning grazing selection.
Barrels
Who doesn’t love the look of a barrel, even better when topped with some delicious grazing food, but we wouldn’t mind if they were filled with wine too… Why not try individual barrel platters, dotted around? What a great incentive to get your guests socialising.
Image source: Over The Top Events
Image source: I Am Board
We’d love to see your take on these rustic grazing, dessert and drinks tables. Tag us on instagram @naturallyrusticweddings or email us to feature in your very own ‘real wedding’ blog sara@naturallyrusticweddings.co.uk.
The Rustic Wedding Show
We’re looking forward to seeing all the fabulous suppliers in a few weeks time at The Rustic Wedding Show in Lattenbury Hill, Cambridge. There are over 40 suppliers attending, all handpicked to bring you the best – they’ll show you a great selection of their offerings, discuss your ideas and share their incredible knowledge of pulling off an amazing rustic wedding.
The Rustic Wedding Show is one of a kind, creating an inspiring and pleasurable wedding show experience.
Visitors can expect to find a beautifully designed tipi structure, a gorgeous sailcloth tent (ideal for venues in an extraordinary setting), a rustic outdoor ceremony inspiration area and a charming naked tipi. As if that’s not enough, there will also be four more inspiration zones: boho, neon, classical foliage and one delightful surprise! We can’t wait to see it all.
Important show details:
DATE: Sunday 28th April 19
TIME: 11AM – 2PM
LOCATION: Lattenbury Hill, Cambridgeshire. PE28 9PA
STRUCTURES BY: Country Tipis
TICKETS: £3 per head (or £5 on the door) Book your tickets here.
We’d certainly recommend booking ahead to get yourself a goody bag – sponsored this year by The Wedding Shop.
Photographs by: Rose and Spear.
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Eight Tips to a Great Wedding on a budget
Wedding costs these days can easily run into the tens of thousands, but what if you don’t want to saddle yourself with a huge debt at the start of married life?
I decided to keep our wedding budget to a minimum and spend the money on an amazing honeymoon instead. Not only was our honeymoon unforgettable, but our wedding (on a budget) was amazing too.
Maybe I can help you with a few tips…
Tip 1 – Keep it Simple
Your family and guests are there to see you and your partner enjoy a happy day, maybe also catch up with some old friends and relatives, they are really not concerned with the cost of the petit fours.
Tip 2 – Call in the favours
Who in your circle of family and friends has any specific talents that could help you out; can anyone make your cake, help with flowers?
For my wedding, my Mum made me a lovely simple white two-tiered square fruitcake, which we decorated with rose buds and ivy from the front garden of my family home. It looked great, tasted great, cost virtually nothing and felt special with meaningful touches of flowers and ivy from the garden.
Image from Sugar Plum Bakes
Another university friend who was a photographer took all our photographs for the price of a hotel room for him and his girlfriend for the night of the wedding – a lot cheaper than a professional wedding photographer and the photographs are professional quality.
One of the best weddings I can remember attending was one set in a rural community, where everyone mucked in to prepare the food, decorate the venue and the evening do was a barn dance, in a proper cleared out farm barn, a fun and unforgettable day.
Image from Rock My Wedding
Make the most of the ‘natural decoration’ of the venue, a manor house with wood panelling, stags heads and oil paintings doesn’t need the addition of mountains of costly flowers. A rural barn can be beautifully attired with some tasteful bunting, tea lights in jars, posies of flowers or coloured bottles filled with twinkling fairy lights. There are many crafting websites which can give great ideas for simple, non-costly decorations.
Tip 3 – Keep it all in one place
Try to find a venue where you can ‘have it all’ – service, reception and evening event, this will cut transport costs and cut down on the stressful logistics of moving yourselves and your guests around. Not only will this cut costs, but from our experience people had a better time!
Tip 4 – Rent holiday accommodation
Accommodation in wedding venues and hotels can cost a fortune, whereas sites such as AirBnB and Holiday Lettings give you an amazing place to stay at a fraction of the price.
Tip 5 – Print your own
For invitation cards, menu cards and place cards – simply print your own, there are many packages online that you can use to print them yourself, easily and cheaply.
Tip 6 – Buy a cancelled wedding
Buy a cancelled wedding from someone like cancelledweddings.co.uk – yes, that’s right, you can save a fortune by buying a wedding package that’s been cancelled!
Tip 7 – Buy a dress that is not a “wedding dress”
The word wedding immediately adds £££ to the price of a dress, but you do not need to. Some of the large High Street retailers, like Next stock a range of beautiful, elegant, stylish dresses, which start at less than £100.00 and no more than £600.00, considerably less than a bespoke designer dress, remember it’s only going to be worn once.
Tip 8 – Don’t get sucked into the wedding ‘thing’
Don’t get sucked in… There is a myriad of ways to spend a fortune on everything from bespoke acceptance cards to dresses, try to keep in mind what the day is about, and that it is only one day.
The best weddings I’ve been too were where people happy and relaxed, invariably the weddings that cost less!
So make it fun – challenge yourself to get value for money and see how far your budget can go….., and why not have an amazing honeymoon instead – I’ll never forget our three week trip to New Zealand paid for by the savings from our wedding.
This post was contributed by Abigail Monk, a recommended supplier for rustic accommodation. We loved Abi’s budget, rustic wedding tips and are delighted she offered to share with NRW’s readers. We know you’ll also adore Abi’s accommodation, Alber Barn in Ashwell, Hertfordshire – there are beams galore! It’s the perfect place to relax after any local wedding celebrations or just to get away with your family and friends for a week.
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Grand Launch of The Oak Barn, Kent
After three and a half years of extensive restoration, The Oak Barn opened its doors for a grand opening on the 19th January 2019.
Located in the heart of Kent’s High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Grade II listed farm has been transformed by owners, Tim and Deana Maw. The Oak Barn now features two breathtaking function barns with a magnificent high vaulted roof, floor to ceiling glass doors and glass fronted lean-to, providing couples with the opportunity to dress the buildings as they wish.
Set in over 20 acres of farmland the Oak Barn retains many original features with rustic additions made from up-cycled and reused building materials.
“Old stable posts now support our new pontoon on the pond providing a beautiful location for photographs and we have used old horse troughs to make hand basins in The Oak Barn’s cloakrooms. The greatest gift came from nature in the form of a dead Oak tree we felled in 2016; it has been used to restore the buildings with plenty left to make our bar, 20 benches, signing tables for ceremonies, sink tops and cupboards.“
– Deana Maw.
The Weaving House
The Weaving house dates back to the 1607 has been lovingly refurbished to provide stylish accommodation for the bridal party, family and friends with five cottages, filled with historic character and an eclectic mix of furnishings.
To learn more about The Oak Barn, visit their website and make sure to have a look the before and after photos to truly appreciate this transformation.
Photos by Matilda Delves
Amy & James at East Riddlesden Hall, Yorkshire
We first got together at 14 after one of James’ friends introduced us at school. After a few months of being friends James asked me to be his girlfriend and we’ve been together ever since.
James proposed after 9 years together, whilst we were on holiday with his family in Cyprus. Unbeknownst to me he’d bought the ring a week earlier and after asking for my families blessing he smuggled it in his camera bag around Paphos for 5 days. We took a break from his family and went to visit a monastery (St Neophytos) in the hills just above Paphos. I was covered in sunburn and heat rash and wanted to go home to cool down but James insisted on taking ‘one last photo’ of me facing the hills. As I reluctantly turned away from James, (who was kneeling on the floor for a good photo angle) he asked me to marry him, I turned around in shock and he was taking photos! It completely took me by surprise and made me forget all about the mood I was in! I’d have thought after so long together I’d have been able to tell if he was planning something but he and my family did such a good job of keeping it a secret.
One of the most important aspects of the wedding for us both were the photos. Apart from the rings they’re the only tangible thing you get to keep afterwards, so our photographer Hamish was one of the first bookings we made within weeks of getting engaged. The inclusion of family and friends was also very important for us. Our favours were in memories of loved ones and most of our vendors were in fact family. The rings were designed and made by a friend Nikki Barrett and everything else was created by us. James designed and based all the table plans on some of our favourite artists. He took their art style and made the focal point. The flowers and confetti were grown and made by my mum and auntie. All the wooden lanterns were also made by a friend. The whole day was a huge DIY effort from everyone!
I always knew I wanted to get married in Autumn as it’s my favourite season, we got lucky in choosing November the 9th as it was 3 years to the day we graduated from uni and the day before our 11th year anniversary. The inspiration of the day was Autumn itself. All of its rich colours and natural rustic beauty were included in the wedding through the colour theme, floral arrangements and the hand made bunting, which I created using botanical prints and old Ladybird books. East Riddlesden Hall shines in Autumn and it was important to bring those gardens inside, but also give it a richer wedding edge with gold tones and warm lights throughout.
Our caterers were The Hog and Apple based in York, a company I had seen work at ERH many times before. They matched our long tables by supplying long wooden boards down the center of each table for the food. We had a ‘Yorkshire platter’ to start with paté, ham hock tureen, pork pies and cheeses. For the main we had pulled hog roast and pork chops with all the trimmings. None of our guests realised it would be three courses so by the time the starters were finished and the main course came out everyone was blown over by the amount and quality of food. Everyone is still talking about how tasty it all was!
Our dessert was in fact our cake which was created by James’ cousin at Little Breads based in Harrogate. I knew whatever we had for our cake should represent my love of chocolate and our relaxed naturally rustic but indulgent theme. Karl knocked it out of the park with the cake. It looked stunning and tasted even better. Having it for dessert meant none went to waste too.
I first knew of East Riddlesden Hall when I was bridesmaid for my auntie (the one who did the flowers) as a child. I just so happened to be lucky enough to get a job there after university, so when it came to James proposing I knew right away ERH had to be the place. It’s the perfect venue and the medieval hall is such a blank canvas. Every wedding is completely unique to each couple’s style. Working there means I have a really close relationship with the entire team which made the whole process as easy as it could be and the weeks leading up to the wedding very exciting. Returning to work after the honeymoon brought back all those excited nervous memories and everyday is a little bit of the wedding all over again.
The whole day was completely perfect and it's hard to say what our favourite parts were. The vows were very special as that's the part that makes it official, after 11 years together it was exciting and emotional to be joining together for a new adventure.
One of my favourite moments would be during the reception. Hamish knew we loved some of his previous photos of couples outside and had been on rain watch all day. The second it started to pour, he grabbed me and James for some couple shots. It was freezing and very wet, my dress got very muddy and torn but the shots were 100% worth it.
The first dance and entire reception were also brilliant. My cousin was the DJ and he did such an amazing job playing songs that got everyone dancing and having a good time. It made the perfect end to a perfect day.
See Hamish’s photographic blog of their day from start finish at https://hamishirvine.com/