A Mad Hatters Tea Party Inspired Wedding

Morning lovelies! Are you looking for quirky styling ideas for your wedding day?

Well this lovely couple had an Alice in Wonderland themed Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Inspired wedding! Rachel & Mark chose a very unconventional place to marry too, the Dudley Limestone caverns followed by a reception at the kitchen garden cafe in Birmingham!

Their theme was full of bright reds and blues and looked like an incredibly fun day! Let’s hear a bit more from our lovely bride Rachel…

We were really lucky in finding Cassandra. After searching all over the internet for a photographer at relatively short notice we found her website. As part of the package we had an “engagement shoot” which was a really good opportunity to get to know her better and feel really comfortable with her.

As you can see her pictures were fantastic! Lots of our guests commented on how great both Cass and Emma were on the day as they just blended in and mingled with the guests, making their work look so easy, and yet managed to produce such great images.

The dress was a last minute purchase (well as far as wedding dresses go) There wasn’t time to order one so the shop sold me their sample dress. I asked for the biggest dress they had in tulle and they presented me with my dress. It wasn’t as easy as I’ve made it sound, but I did in the end love wearing my dress.

The necklace was a surprise gift from my parents. They found it in an antique shop and spent many hours (or so they keep telling me) cleaning and polishing it up. It was both old and blue. My earrings were borrowed from my Sister in Law Emma. She wore them on her wedding day and her childrens‘ Christenings so I was very happy when she offered to lend them to me.

Mark’s shoes came from Kurt Geiger (see last photo), it took many months to find just the right shade of turquoise! Mark’s mum decorated all the hats with ribbon and feathers

We chose the Dudley Limestone caverns because we loved the combination of the caves, the canals and the brightly coloured boats. We both wanted the ceremony to be as memorable and important as the reception.

The limestone caverns were perfect for this, the journey through the tunnels the atmosphere of the cavern itself with its lightening and acoustics, all made the ceremony feel like a great adventure.

We found lots of great things in TK Max. The garden snails and the white rabbits, the giant key prize for the maddest hat competition were all from there. We made the cake stands from old plates and found the cup trios from charity shops as far north as the lake district and as far south as Bexhill on sea.

Mark’s dad bought the flowers from Asda and all the family were instructed to be on the look out for the chocolate roses that Sainsburys had for the jubilee. My dad and Mark arranged the flowers in the teapots with the turquoise feathers the night before the wedding.  We had to make a last minute dash to Morrisons as we ran out of roses for the centre pieces half way through. We thought we would never get everything finished in time.

My Brother made an amazing teapot from plaster of paris, which everyone signed. Marks brother made the Alice in wonderland sign post, which is now pride of place in our garden.

My mum and dad made the playing card bunting. Our friend Julian helped us with the playlist for the tea party. He has the most obscure music collection of all!

Amethyst cakes did our amazing wedding cake. We searched high and low for someone to accept the challenge of making a vegan topsy turvy cake, most of the people we approached said what we wanted couldn’t be done and said it would have to be made from polystyrene with a small amount of real cake.  Only Amethyst cakes were prepared to try it.

The finished cake was so much bigger and more impressive than we imagined it would be and we were so happy with all the little Alice details. We even got to sprinkle the glitter on the cake ourselves the day before the wedding.

Kitchen garden cafe did all our food they regularly serve vegan food in the cafe so could meet our requirements. We supplied all the tea cups, saucers, side plates and the cake stands, which they set out and arranged.

If I could impart any words of wisdom for future brides to be… delegate, delegate, delegate!

What a brilliant, mad as a hatter wedding! Cassandra Lane (Manchester wedding photographer) excelled herself in capturing the light hearted fun and romance of Rachel and Mark’s big day! Congratulation guys!

Do you love tea party weddings? Click the link to see more :)

Awsomeness Credits >>>>>>

Venue: Dudley Limestone Caverns / Reception: Kitchen Garden Cafe in Birmingham / Photographer: Cassandra Lane / 2nd Photographer: Emma Leivers / Dress: Franchesca Bridal / Shoes: Vivienne Westwood / Headpiece: Etsy / Grooms Attire: Formal Affair / Buttonholes: Etsy / Cake: Amethist Cakes

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