DIY Country Vintage : Pastel & Sapphire | Real Wedding

Morning morning! how are you today? I’m in a whole world of fuzz today… cannot. get. my. brain. to. wake. up. no matter how much coffee I keep knocking back. I am having a fab week though… working from home. I’ve finally had the time to sort myself out (so to speak) as things were getting a little on top of me and I was struggling with motivation and creativity. I finally cleared out my inbox and set up a brand new system for dealing with the swaths of mail I get every day. I sorted out my PC making proper folders and templates for like, EVERYTHING and I even got my accounts system bang up to date (well I’ll be damned ;).

So what does all this have to do with you and your wedding? I thought it might be interesting to share that miraculously, since clearing the decks, my motivation has come back, meaning less stress which equals more creativity and a renewed vigor. Yay! So if the wedding planning’s getting on top of you and you feel like you’re loosing your spark (or the will to live). Clear the decks! Get organised! Create a system for dealing with everything! You’ll be amazed at how good it feels. P.S If you’re one of those naturally organised peeps (so jealous) why not share your tips in the comments section below for us less fortunate brides to be ;) XxX

Ok, todays real wedding? It’s sooo lovely… DIY Country Vintage with pretty pops of Pastel & Sapphire! Loving the simple country vintage styling and the brides jade and sparkle shoes… oh my. Let’s hear from our lovely bride Miriam who wed her long time love Matthew…

We met in 1997 at a rave on Clacton Pier in Essex (!) Matthew managed to forget his mother’s 50^th Birthday party the next day, so she has never forgotten our anniversary!! At least he ended up marrying me!

© 2012 Brigthon Photo

Blanka makes each brides dress bespoke, so with the help of my chief bridesmaid Katharine (who is also a fashion designer), we created a look just for me, choosing style, fabric and detail.

I went for jade peep toes shoes with a glittery heel as I wanted something a bit different to the traditional satin wedding slipper!

We wanted a venue with a sense of occasion about it, whilst remaining a little quirky and Pelham House in Lewes did just that. The beautiful terrace room looks out onto their gardens and the Downs in the distance and we knew the gardens would be a stunning location to have bubbly after our ceremony.

For the reception we wanted to create a DIY wedding and put our own stamp on it. It was actually one of our chefs who recommended Firle Cricket field as he had catered at a wedding there before. We visited on a sunny spring day and it was just perfect. Firle is such a quintessentially pretty English countryside and surrounded by rolling Sussex countryside.

My accessories were simple earrings from M&S, I didn’t want to detract from the lace of my dress or my feather and bead hair piece.

Most of my inspiration for the wedding came from all the people who helped us, and through friends and prosecco of course!

Our wedding colours were soft sweetie pastels and sapphire for the bridesmaids and Mathews tie to reflect my engagement ring.

My bridesmaid dresses were a very good copy of the ‘Two Birds’ twist and wrap dress at 1/2 the price. This was the perfect solution for different body shapes and everyone felt wonderful as three of my bridesmaids were new Mums, they also wore their own shoes in an array of metallic shades.

Matthew loves the ‘mod’ look and has a lambretta so he went for this cut of suit, he also wore cufflinks with two M’s to reflect our initials.

I walked down the aisle to Moon River by the Honey Trees and back down the Aisle to the Black Beauty theme tune (I am horse mad!)

Both of my parents walked me down the aisle, they both brought me up so I wanted them both to give me away.

Matthew works at Porsche Mid Sussex so they provided us with a Porsche and driver, a beautiful 1967 vintage double-decker bus from South Coast Motors and a minibus for all the bridesmaids!

Everything about the day reflected our love of where we live, who we are , our friends and family and of course each other.

My two beloved horses featured on our wedding stationery, my husband helps care for them and loves them too! The toilets were Ronnie’s and Daisy’s (our two little dogs names) instead of Gents and Ladies.

We had a bar, ‘the watering trough’ which we stocked ourselves  with 27(!) of our favorite drinks including Dark Star Ale, Middle Farm Cider, Lashing of prosecco and Raspberry and Elderflower soda.

Our Florist provided table decorations, but my friend Rachel decorated the aisle with Pom Poms and greenery to look like flowers all the way down the aisle and ribbon and Pom Poms behind the registrar.

At the Marquee I had 100’s of jam jars tied with ribbon and lace with tealights for the evening , shepherd crooks with suspended jam jars full of flowers, bunting and over 80 pom poms suspended from the ceiling. All created and arranged by my wonderful  friends.

A stick of traditional Brighton rock was our wedding favour, with luggage label ties either in grey ribbon for gents or lace for ladies, with ‘love from Brighton’.

We had a large jar of M&M’s (to reflect our initials) and a ‘love rocket’ which we asked guests to attach a (heart shaped) post it note too and let it off during the evening (it was a big bang).

And whist there were absent family members who couldn’t be there, we had my grandmas ring and Matthews Granddads vintage suitcase, complete with ‘Boote’ name label for our gifts.

We chose a beautiful flowered tiered cake from M&S – it looked fantastic, fitted our theme and was much more affordable than bespoke options. The guest loved it too – hardly any was left!

My most memorable moments? Standing waiting to go into the ceremony room, flanked by my parents and feeling the weight of my 8 best friends (including my sister) behind me and my little nephew looking adorable in his waistcoat.  And most Brides probably say this, but the speeches. It gives everyone the opportunity to stand up and speak about the people they love, and hearing Matthew.

Our first dance was David Grays ‘This year’s love’ (with amended lyrics to ‘is going to last!) We had a long distance relationship for 3 years whilst I was at University and it meant a lot to us at that point  in our relationship.

Another gorgeous, lovely wedding on the WTW blog! Congrats Miriam and Matthew, your day looked like so much fun with lots of lovely personal details.

 

WEDDING AWESOMENESS CREDITS >>>>>>>

Photographer: Brighton Photo

Venue: Pelham House in Lewes, Reception: Firle Cricket Field

Brides…

Dress: White leaf Bridal

Shoes: Topshop

Accessories:

Grooms…

Suit: Adams of London

Accessories: Shirt from Bruno Morris, Brighton

Bridemaids…

Dresses: Copy of the ‘Two Birds’

Shoes: Their own

Accessories: Their own

Hair & Make-up: Bridal Beauty

Florist: Miss Moles Flower Emporium

Cake: M & S

Music: Gypsy Folk Band Menage a trois during Afternoon Tea, Band Judith Chalmers for evening, DJ Tim Aldous

Transport: South Coast Motors, Porsche Mid Sussex

Catering: Afternoon tea by Delish, Crockery Hire by Vintage Tea Leaves

Rings: Midas Touch Brighton

 

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