Morning peeps :) I'm packing as many beautiful weddings as I can in to the blog this week – so many of them I have to share with you. This morning, it's all about Beth and Chris, who tied the knot on 9 July in Bockleton – a tiny village where Beth's parents live.
This wedding is so cute on so many levels, not least those hounds! Have you ever heard of a dog-show at a wedding? Well you have now! And check Beth's pretty Belle and Bunty wedding dress {see more from them here on Love My Dress}. I also love that at the heart of this wedding, was the love between this couple – not the details they felt they had to have on show on their wedding day…
"I had been looking for yonks for a second hand dress. I really wanted to find something that had a story to it, and was a bargain, probably because no one else would really want to wear it, but that would make it even more special to me. I also enjoyed nothing less than marching round wedding dress shops, putting on dresses that felt a million miles away from anything I’d ever want to wear, yet feeling under pressure as I didn’t want to offend the people in the shop, or the other brides there.
However, after basically stock piling a range of second hand dresses, from eBay and etsy, and little finds across charity shops and markets, I realised I only had a couple of weeks left and no dress. Every time they arrived there was something not quite right – from being tiny, an insane fire hazard or even to me obviously just losing my mind when I bought it…."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, The Barbers
"Then, when trawling Love My Dress I found some shots of Belle and Bunty dresses. I loved that they were an independent shop, with clothes made by people who really cared (their workshop is actually part of their shop) and a small selection of dresses that sit alongside other lovely bits and bobs. They were also round the corner from me in North London, and I just felt everything fell into place…"
"Four of the bridesmaids wore a vintage taffeta 50s esque floral dress from Pied A Terre. My sister, Becca, my Matron of Honour, found her dress about 2 weeks before the wedding.
The lady who lives next door to Bockleton church. I’m a bit rubbish with flowers. All I knew was that I didn’t want formal arrangements, and Chris and I wanted relaxed and country-ish, with more bleached out, vintagey colours…"
"I am a wedding novice. I’ve only been to two, and when people told me planning one was an insane amount of work, I just assumed that it’s because they were inefficient. How wrong I was. However, the flipside of it meant we didn’t feel like we had to have a traditional wedding, and were just dead set on it just being a happy, relaxed day.
Chris and I were much more focused on the being married than the wedding. However, the one thing we knew is that we wanted it to feel ‘us’. Something I discovered early on was that you can think you’ve had an original idea, but open any magazine and someone will have done it before, and better with a bigger budget. It can be a little deflating So I stopped looking at big glossy magazines, sticking to blogs if I needed a fix, and just got on with our own ideas. It’s not about compare and comparison, it’s about doing what’s right for you."
"I had found putting dresses on a relentlessly miserable experience, as more and more shop assistants tried to persuade me that I’d love a shiny, diamante, strapless number if I tried them on (I never, ever did). However, with Belle and Bunty there was just the really friendly assistant Kate, and maybe one of the designers, and they let me get on with trying the dress on in an informal way.
When I put it on it felt casual yet pretty, and ticked my criteria of not looking out of place alongside a bale of hay. It also had straps and was comfy enough to allow lots of dancing, and probably even more importantly, lots of wedding day eating. I didn’t want to feel like I was in fancy dress on my wedding day, and this was actually a dress that I would consider for my normal life, which is just what I wanted. I just took a bit of a punt on the white, and the silk crepe, but when I picked it up and saw the finished dress, I think I made the right choice…"
"I found Beth my makeup artist very last minute, but she was worth it. I didn’t want to worry about doing that going out thing of doing my own make-up and then blodging eyeliner across my face as the final thing, meaning you have to wipe it all off and start again. Beth was lovely, and did a great job with my mum and sister too…"
"One of the main reasons we had the wedding at my parents’ house was so that we could make it personal, rather than a copy and paste wedding. Everybody wants different things, and every option is totally valid, but for us, we wanted to keep it as relaxed and personal as possible. We soon discovered that some things were sort of unavoidable – like a full church service, sit down meal – so we tried to make the main elements as personal as possible, and add lots of things around it.
We didn’t really have a theme as such, but if it was anything, it would have been old English fete. We were originally sceptical about having a marquee but found one that was canvas with wooden poles. We hired in ribbons and bunting and got collecting, along with family and friends, lots of bit and bobs. We especially tried to get things that were handmade or from charity shops, for example, old tennis racquets, wicket baskets, picnic rugs…"
"We also wanted it to feel mingly, rather than mechanical, so dotted lots of things around the garden, hidden in trees and around hedges. Something we were mega keen to avoid was awkward chitchat, so one of the first things we booked was as dog show. We had bales of hay to sit on and old school seating, and decorated it with bunting.
We were in my sister’s car, being driven by my bro-in-law drinking champagne from teacups (that they’d put in as a surprise) when everyone got back to the church (it’s about a two minute walk from the house down a country lane) and I think people thought there was a just a bizarre amount of dogs hanging around.
But as soon as we’d whizzed through the photos we announced that there was a dog show and it all fell in to place. It couldn’t have been better really. It was a great way to set the tone and for people to have something to watch and join in with. Plus, we love dogs, and who wouldn’t want a Jack Russell on a 9ft zipwire? (We checked with the handlers that the dogs were happy and nothing happened that they didn’t want to do)…"
Genius!!! I love this! 😉
"The dog show was by Paws For Thought Dog Display Team, who were so good, and who I couldn't recommend more…"
"The marquee was a traditional unlined canvas marquee from Burgoynes in Herefordshire…"
"Now, I’m not a fan of fruitcake at all. And Chris and I also weren’t really into doing traditional, elaborate wedding tradition things, just for the sake of it. That’s not why were getting married. However, I am a big fan of cake – the delicious looking oozy ones. So, I came up with a plan to have a WI style cake table. The cakes were pretty much all made by friends and family (and some from the caterer too). We laid them all out on a table with cute tags saying what they were and who made them. I think a selection of cakes – coffee and walnut, chocolate, Vitoria sponge, beetroot, carrot etc – looks incredibly colourful and delicious. Yum.
We then made everyone a fabric flag with their name on – hand stamped on to canvas which we pinned on. The colour of the flag corresponded to the big flags we made for each table, so ten flags in each material. Anyway, people just stuck their flag in the cake they wanted – there were lots to choose from. Then, after the main meal the caterers put the ten slices of cake, with the name flags in, for each table on to a cake stand (homemade by my mum)m and brought them to the table. Everyone also had tea and coffee in vintage teacups we collected (along with friends and family). So, it looked like a lovely English teatime. We’d gauged what cakes people like with it being one of the blanks to fill in on the original RSVP postcard…"
"On the tables we had vintage jugs of sweet peas, as done by my mum, along with homemade flags with printed table names – we’d named them in an English Country Show style, with names like ‘Most Improved Cauliflower’, ‘Most Elusive Cakes’ etc. The napkins all had polka dot ribbons and the hope was to have the vintage collection of cups and saucers out too, but there just wasn’t enough space. However, they looked lovely coming out with the homemade cake plates after…"
"We also borrowed a vintage coconut shy from the local Church Parish (found after contacting a local school), had a pick and mix table – where we had rubber stamped every pink and white bag with ‘Today Life is Sweet’ and ‘Shake Your Bon-Bon’.
We also made Pin The Veil on the Doggie, a slightly more bridal/dog related version of the pin the tail on the donkey, and a Splat the Rat. We also had a tombola which people could help themselves to, full of incredible things that we’d collected from charity shops and online, that in someway related to Chris and I (like an old Beano from Chris’ Birthday), or just were suitably mental (soap in a basket)…"
"Weddings are sort of self-indulgent, but Chris and I also wanted to show how much our friends and family meant to us, and that sharing the day with them was a bit part of why we were doing it. So, we got a print of a lyric from a beautiful Maccabees song – Wall of Arms, ‘I thank those who keep me company, they are a wall of arms around me’ and dangled it in a tree.
We then got one of those old school Dynamo ticker printers and printed out everyone’s name, put it on a clothes peg and pinned up a picture of them, trying to mainly use photos from really happy memories we had of them. I think it’s more fun to try and spot a photo of yourself that to have a look at the one millionth one of the bride and groom. You know what they look like anyway as you’ve had to stare at them for almost an hour in church…"
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"Hmm, maybe I would say that despite what everyone says, it’s totally fine if you haven’t been dreaming about your wedding day picturing every detail since you were little. So, don’t feel overwhelmed if you’re suddenly caught in a snowball where everyone has opinions and ideas and expectations, except you. Understand that it’s an event that matters greatly to a lot of people, so consider people’s opinions where you can, but ultimately hang on to one or two things that you realise matter to you. Things may seem like a massive deal at the time, but afterwards you’ll just remember the overwhelming happiness of seeing all your friends and family together on the day, all there, and all happy because they support your marriage to the person who makes your world go round. The hiccups to get there will seem like amusing bumps along the way. The only thing I slightly regret is not looking forward to it more, as I really had no idea what an incredibly moving day it would be, packed with the happiest of memories. Chris and I were in a wubble (wedding bubble) for at least one month solid after it.
Oh, and don’t take on too much in too little time. Crafting til 3am on the morning of your wedding does not a non-puffy face make…"
"The Barbers were really great on the day – a pleasure to be around – and we were so happy with the beautiful shots they’ve got, that we really hoped they would.
Chris and I are both a bit annoying and opinionated with things like photos and film, so it was really important to us that we got photographers and videographers that had a definite style, and would mean that when it was all over, we would have something tangible, and beautiful, that we could cherish for the rest of our lives. We knew the day would fly by (and I have a terrible memory), so investing in the photos and film was something that we decided to go over budget for, and have something for ourselves to really keep…"
Eeeek! How much fun 😉 Who else is planning on incorporating pets into their family day?
You can see more from Belle & Bunty on Love My Dress here.
Annabel xXx
♥
Photographer – The Barbers
Venue – The Bride's parents house
Brides dress – Belle and Bunty
Groom – Cad and Dandy
Bridesmaids – Pied A Terre
Flowers – A friend
Cake – Friends & Family
Hair & Makeup – Beth Lottie
Marquee – Burgoynes in Herefordshire.
Dog show – Paws For Thought Dog Display Team
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
