I have a floral delight for you this fine Wednesday. Think hanging flowers, divine bouquets and blooms in bottles, all in peachy hues and looking drop dead gorgeous.
Kenneth and Claire were married on the 20th September at the stunning Abbeywood Estate in Cheshire. The glass house made a super special setting both for the ceremony and the reception, it was the perfect blank canvas for their vision… Vintage shabby chic floral wonderland, sounds pretty amazing right?
Claire chose to wear the exquisite Emery by Maggie Sottero accessorised with a classic veil and flowers in her hair, so pretty! Kenneth wore a blue Next suit with pale pink tie and tan brogues for a dapper look. I adore the buttercream cake, light up cinema sign and DIY stationery too.
Thanks so much to Victoria Phipps Photography for sharing these absolutely beautiful images.
THE PROPOSAL | A gorgeous lantern lit walk down a pagoda in Marrakesh – disguised by suggesting we were searching for tortoises (we have a tortoise, I love tortoises and Morocco is full of them). I was taken completely by surprise and then it all made sense as Ken had been behaving very strangely all day.
THE VISION | Vintage, Shabby Chic floral wonderland.
THE PLANNING PROCESS | Ours was a DIY wedding. I spent months searching blogs, instagram and pinterest for cute ideas and inspiration. Abbeywood was the only venue we viewed – the glass house being everything I had imagined. I did have a very handy wedding planning book bought for me by one of my bridesmaids – it became my wedding bible.
BUDGET | We foolishly never set one.
THE VENUE | Abbeywood Estate – Delamere Forest.
THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was Emery by Maggie Sottero – Gorgeous vintage inspired Ivory ribbon/battenberg lace with simple diamond earrings and flowers in my hair.
FINDING THE DRESS | I found the dress finding experience very stressful – it wasn’t the dreamy exciting experience I expected it to be, but once I had THAT feeling it was well worth the wait!
GROOM’S ATTIRE | Ken wore an off the shelf Next navy blue suit with tan brogues, pink tie and pink floral pocket square from Mrs Bow Tie.
THE READINGS & MUSIC | My Mum and a bridesmaid both did a reading they selected. We asked a friend of ours to play acoustic guitar before and immediately after the ceremony. I walked down the aisle to “How will I love you?” by Ellie Goulding and we left to “Waterfall” by The Stone Roses. We then had a family friend sing and play a selection of songs on guitar during the photographs and drinks after the ceremony.
We then had a DJ to bring the party for the evening.
BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 5 beautiful bridesmaids all in different dresses to individually suit them in varying shades of nudes and pinks, teamed with sparkly Carvela heels and flowers in their hair – I love the individuality and that their personalities could still shine through my vision of the day.
THE FLOWERS | Roses, Peonies and Lavender in pinks, peaches, creams and purples. Flowers were a large part of the day and featured heavily in the decoration.
THE CAKE | The cake was a rustic 3 tier rough iced with fresh flower decoration. With one tier of lemon sponge and two of my very favourite red velvet and a selection of macarons on the side. Made by Sarah at Pretty Tasty Cake.
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Victoria Phipps – she was wonderful and did such a great job of capturing our day in her unique style!
THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Flowers, vases and jars. Ours was a DIY wedding from the stationery to the table decorations and the favours. We made great use of Douwe egbert jars in all sizes – Pimms served in the smallest and flowers in the larger. Had all our family and friends collecting jars for months! A very effective and a nice way of involving the guests. We then labelled up jars of flowers from the table decorations and had them as gifts to take home for the bridesmaids and anyone else who had offered a helping hand. We had flowers everywhere, down the aisle, as part of the seating plan, the table decorations and my favourite part – hanging from the ceiling of Abbeywoods glass house/ conservatory. We had hand made signs around the venue along side large milk churns full of flowers and quirky little painted wooden ladders. I made all the stationery myself from the invites, to the menus, name cards, seating plan and the thank yous. Which I think adds a great personal touch if you have the time – it took me weeks. Our wedding also fell on quite a few of our guests’ birthdays so we made personalised birthday cards to tie in with the rest of the stationery. The favours again were home made – jam and chutney made with help from my mum and then honey from my dad’s own bee hives!
We also added freshen up items and all photos of the hen and stag do’s to the respective toilets – I found little things like mints, hairspray and deodorant in the loo’s went down really well with the guests. A wedding is a long day after all!
THE HONEYMOON | Sri Lankan paradise – we did 12 days touring the island with city, safari, and beach stays. It was a relaxing, cultural, elephant dream the perfect way to unwind after the big day.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The speeches are memorable for all the wrong reasons. Ken was definitely thrown under the bus by his best man, all in great humour. I am not sure he will ever live it down!
ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Make sure you have a moment to take it all in and make the most of your special day with each other it all goes far too quickly. Oh and pack for the Honeymoon before the wedding. We had a panic pack after the wedding and Ken ended up in Sri Lanka with woolly jumpers and 1 pair of shorts!
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Photography | Victoria Phipps Photography
Tie | Mrs Bow Tie
Venue | Abbeywood Estate
Cake | Pretty Tasty Cake
Food and Catering | Olive Tree Catering
Flowers | Wild Floral Design
Dress | Maggie Sottero from The Bridal Path
Wow wee, so very lovely.
Huge thanks to Kenneth and Claire for sharing their dreamy nuptials with us here at WWW xo Lou