Fun on the Farm Meets Sex And The City ~ A Celebration of Rustic Glamour…

 

"Throw out the rule book! Don't worry about what makes others happy, do whatever is right for you and the groom. There are too many traditions that have been kept because people feel they have to or because we loose our bottle after seeing the shock on people's faces, for example, 'WHAT?? You can't have your friend walk you down the aisle! That's madness! It absolutely HAS to be your dad!!'. 

Make yourself happy and do what you want, it's your day after all…"

 

Oops! Sorry guys, this gorgeous wedding feature should have gone live earlier today!

Marc and Nikki tied the knot on 1 July 2012 at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield.  I just love these images as they tell the story of a bride enjoying her wedding day to the max, I love that Nikki told me that despite not being fond of having her photograph taken, she felt beautiful on her wedding day and thoroughly enjoyed striking a vogue pose with photographer Sassy of Assassynation. I also love how Nikki had her own 'bridesman' hehehe 🙂

"Marc and me met outside Somerfield supermarket in Cambridgeshire when we still lived at home with family. We thought it would be a little flirt before we got bored and moved on! He thought I was ditzy and naive and I thought he was far too grown up and cool for me. Somehow, even though we're so different, we've managed to grow together and finally marry!"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Assassynation

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"My dress was a bit of a risk purchase – I had seen the Amazing Bridals stall at the NEC Wedding Show and just loved the aplique on the skirt so knew I wanted it, but I couldn't try it on because they only had size 8's in the samples.

All orders were taken back to China along with measurements and posted back over here so I took a risk and bought a wedding gown that I'd never tried on! Eeeek!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"I've always loved a dress that Carrie wears when she has her leaving dinner before moving to Paris, in Sex and The City Series 6. It's all applique with what looks like rose corsages all over. I'd had my heart set on that sort of style ever since so when I saw 'the dress', I made the decision immediately. It was all a bit of a whirlwind!

I finished the dress off with a nude colored sash from BHLDN and a brooch from the online store, Glitzy Secrets. The BHLDN website is absolutely amazing, a girlies paradise! I also bought some beautiful lace fingerless gloves but unfortunately these were a yellowy cream and the dress was white so it didn't quite go. I didn't like the dress until I added the sash and the colour matched the bridesmaids dresses perfectly so was chuffed!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"By the time it was evening, I wanted to venue to be full of candlelight so asked friends to collect jam jars and set to work attached lace, burlap and ribbon to them for the outside areas. It looked so effective in the end and ended up being an extra favour for guests to blow out and take home at the end of the night. Again,  Etsy proved to be amazing for printed french script on burlap trim for the jars…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"I collected bits and bobs from random places and charity shops for the year running up to the wedding and loved every minute of it.  Was so much fun sourcing all of the trinkets and lanterns etc and equally exciting knowing that the can all go in the house afterwards! The first decorations that were bought were from Wedding Of My Dreams and Not On The Highstreet.

I could have easily blown the budget here! As this point we hadn't yet decided on a theme but once i'd ordered the birdcages, everything else came. We got some beautiful little vintage/retro style feminine bottles for the tables. I also ordered teacups and saucers, one for each table from W.edding Of My DreamsI bought loads of cream lanterns for the tables from B&M Bargains for £3 each. They looked fab teamed with the candles, bottles and bits…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"I was determined to get some Jimmy Choos and a wedding is the perfect excuse! The ones i went for are gold and glitzy so added a bit more glamour. I wanted to go for shoes that were a different colour to the dress, something that added a bit of colour/shimmer when the dress was hitched up…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"Our transport 'had' to be a VW Campervan!  We've both loved them for as long as we can remember and it matched the style/feel of the day so well.  The couple that hired out the van used it for their holidays but rented it for a few weddings per year as extra income.

They were absolutely lovely and were keen to add personal touches like hydrangeas that matched the brides bouquet etc. We're also very grateful to our driver (their son) who saved the day but escorting my 'bridesman' back to the hotel to collect the ring that he'd forgotten!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"I wore a birdcage veil underneath my headpiece, again it really finished off the dress and gave it a bit of glamour. I felt like I was in some Hollywood 50's film whilst sitting in the 40's style bar at Netherstowe House with Sassy taking piccies! I bought the birdcage veil from I Love Vintage – another amazing online shop with gorgeous hats, I'll be going back long after the wedding!

Sheena Holland made my headpiece for me, I'd seen a photo of a headpiece that she'd made for Alan Carr so took a look on her website and fell in love. She's amazing and so creative with ideas for headpieces, it took me days and many hours to choose from everything she had. She'd made this incredible Alice In Wonderland headpiece with a genuine vintage watch face on it and lilac ostrich feathers etc! In the end I went with a georgian cut steel headpiece that was made up of loads of genuine vintage georgian brooches and earrings that she'd taken apart and arranged in a bit of a medley. I was so pleased with it and it doubled up as my 'something old'…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"We had a bit of medley of cake going on! We had Krispy Kremes because they're a fave of Marc and mine. My parents bought us some really pretty cupcakes from Asda! Then my boss (very lovely boss) and good friend Suzanne made our birdcage wedding cake. It was a complete surprise on the day as we'd told her that we wanted a birdcage but left the details up to her.

She did an amazing job and i love the fact that she put chocolate in the fruit cake, just for me!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"I'd been in discussion about bridesmaid outfits with Georgie (bridesmaid) and we'd agreed that we like it when there's a little something in the bridesmaids outfit that is different. Georgie's and Katie's shoes complimented each other without totally matching. They were from Lipsy and Dorothy Perkins.  Their dresses were from  Warehouse. I didn't want the traditional bridesmaid dress and wanted to keep within the natural, feminine feel of everything so the nude colored lace dresses were perfect…"

"Marc and me knew right from the beginning that we wanted the flowergirls to wear white linen dresses. We searched everywhere for them, before eventually finding them from H&M. Again, the looked so angelic and feminine. I also got them a dusty pink headpiece from Topshop which finished off the outfit…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"We'd been going around charity shops for months collecting an assortment of bottles for the natural style wedding flowers. I loved the way that this looked, nothing was too samey or identical. We put some huge hydrangeas on the bottles, the same as the ones in my wedding bouquet. I'd collected little nick nacks from various places – Laura Ashley, Wisteria Lane shop in Birmingham, Hobby Craft, homeware boutiques in London and markets etc. I'd shoved the assortment of bits and bobs in a box and our friends/bridesmaids who decorated the venue did a fab job of placing a fabric rose here and a butterfly garland there!

I stuck peacock feathers in the tops of the bags and added little bits that were personal to who I was giving the gift to. Katie had hair care products, Georgie had a plaque that said 'Please remove your Choos' and Sam had Jack Daniels! I put a little Yankee candle and a Lush bathbomb in there to make it smell nice."

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"As we were planning our wedding, we discovered Etsy and couldn't get enough of that! I ordered genuine vintage glass Chanel perfume bottles for decoration. Had to get a little Sex and The City in there! We also found table confetti in the shape of birds to go with the birdcages. It was all coffee stained paper and cut out from a Shakespeare play which we loved because we both enjoy our reading and Shakespeare. 

We teamed this with pearly heart shaped buttons from Half Past Four vintage shop in Lichfield and dried rosebuds and lavendar grain from a company called Shropshire Petals. I loved how romantic the tables looked with the mix of confetti against the bottles and lanterns. I also ordered the table names from Etsy and the children's favours.

We named the tables after different teas and each guest had a Twinings envelope teabag with their name so we had a custom order of dusty pink french style place name postcards. We also had a custom order for a little handmade paper brown box of crayons with blue/pink polka dot ribbon around and a disc with the child's names on. This was their favour and place name all rolled into one. We teamed the crayons with little brown notebooks from Paperchase

NikkiMarcAssassynation-125

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"Our photographer was Sassy from Assassynation.  I wouldn't have had it any other way, she's an absolute legend and has had me, Marc and the bridal party in constant tears with how she has captured our day! She truly is one creative lady and left us floating as we walked away from each shoot.

Mine and Marc's biggest fear about the photography is that we would look rigid because we're used to hating our pictures. Sassy made me feel beautiful and the constant squeals of excitement after looking at shots was such a lovely boost. By the end of the day, we were all loving it and striking 'Vogue' poses!!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"There were quite a few guests that studied drama at the wedding so it was such good fun to get the theatrical element into some shots with the gang! Sassy was so in tune with everyone in terms of relationships to one another and personalities. She instinctively knew what was important to Marc and me to capture and how we wanted the photos to come across in terms of us as people etc.

I can't sing Sassy's praises enough, we all loved her! She worked every minute of that day, taking pictures of absolutely everyone. We really wanted our friends to be included as much as possible in the day and there's literally images of every friend that was there. It's lovely to see the excitement from our guests looking back at piccies, as well as the delighted squealing from us!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"I bought some pearl earrings from Magpie Vintage {readers, Magpie Vintage designer Lisa Harris has now set up her own company – leave your email here to be notified of it's iminent launch!}. The day before the wedding I bought some little pearl bracelets and a dusty pink rope bracelet from the Dorothy Perkins for £1! I

also wore a bracelet that was dear to my maid of honour's heart, that her dad had given her for her 21st. It was my 'something borrowed'. I bought my bridal lingerie from Figleaves and Agent Provocateur, loads of gorgeous feminine basques and knickers. I bought a fab light chocolate colored aplique clutch from Reiss for my lippy, matched the dress perfectly!"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"When I was at uni, we used to collect assorted postcards (war, vintage, art prints etc) to use as stimulus for drama. I love them and get so much inspiration from them so things like the wooden fruit crates, teas, french script printed burlap, birdcages and perfume bottles etc is all inspiration and a feel I get from the little postcard collection. It's like a living medley!

I said i'd be happy if the venue looked a bit like a charity shop in the sense that there were lots of nick nacks that didn't necessarily match but all looked pretty and characteristic when put together."

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"I was really keen to get married outside originally but it proved more difficult than we thought so we knew that wherever we did end up choosing, it had to have an outdoor area that really appealed to us.

As soon as we walked under the little arch at Packington, into the courtyard that's just off the barns (ceremony/evening reception rooms), we knew it was 'the one'. At the time, the french style doors surrounding the Malt Barn were all pushed back or open so it made the ceremony room feel like it was outdoors. Everything seemed to slot together in my head, I wanted the feel of being outside and pictured loads of jars with candles in the evening. Sold!"
 

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"Marc's suit was from TK Maxx – a total bargain find! Marc loves the Ben Sherman suits and waistcoats etc but just didn't have the budget, in the end, he loved his budget find…"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog... 

"My best friend Sam gave me away, I wouldn't have had it any other way. We've been friends since going to drama classes together as teens and really do think of him as my family. His family and home is my favourite place to be, so warm and fun. Sam and me always joked that if we weren't married by the time we were 30, we would marry each other so I love the fact that he was able to give me away. It was so personal and emotional.

Obviously the tradition is for your Father to give you away and I respect that but I think if it works for you, break tradition and go with whatever will mean the most for you. For me, having Sam there to give me away was something I'll treasure forever…."

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

"Sam, Katie and Georgie are the three most important people in my life, aside from my husband!! It was important to me to include them all in the whole process and during the way and I'm so pleased with their excitement, love and support on the day. Katie was my Maid of Honour and did a heartfelt emotional speech, Sam gave me away and Georgie made me bawl during the ceremony with a reading of I Carry Your Heart by E E Cummings.

Marc's best man Kartik had the biggest and proudest smile on his face the whole day, everyone was fantastic. The whole day just really made Marc and me appreciate all the special people in our lives, we feel like Sassy has captured that on camera :-)"

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

A wedding at Packington Moor Farm in Lichfield, Love My Dress Wedding Blog...

What a delightful wedding, huge congratulations Marc and Nikki and thank you so very much for sharing your big day.

I'd love to hear from readers who may share Nikki's style, or be planning a similar wedding in a beautiful rustic setting.

 With much love all,

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Assassynation
Venue – Packington Moor Farm
Brides dress – Amazing Bridals + BHLDN sash & Glitzy Secrets broach
Brides veil & Headpiece – Sheena Holland {headpiece} + I Love Vintage
Brides shoes – Jimmy Choo
Brides accessories – earrings via Magpie Vintage, who's designer can now be found at Lisa Harris Designs
Groom's Suit: TK Maxx + Salvatore Ferragamo tie via Selfridges
Bridesmaids – Warehouse + shoes from Lipsy and Dorothy Perkins
Flowergirls – H&M
Florist – Ivisons Florist in Lichfield
Cakes – Friends + Family
Hair and Make Up Artist – Natalie and Kirsten from Obsession Salon and Spa in Lichfield
Transport – VW Campervan
Decor – Wedding Of My Dreams + Not On The Highstreet + B&M + Etsy + Half Past Four + Paperchase + Shropshire Petals
  

Annabel

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.

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