Elegant Lace and Glitter Shoes – A Relaxed, Country Wedding full of Handmade and DIY Detail…

In the second wedding that I'm so pleased to be featuring today, newlywed's Jenny and Jason tie the knot during a beautiful church ceremony, and then celebrate their day in style at a marquee reception held at Jenny's parents house.

Jenny and Jason's wedding took place on 11th August at Minety Church (St Leonard’s), chosen because it is a beautiful church building in the village that that Jenny grew up in, and Jenny looked resplendent in a beautiful dress crafted from delicate lace, by designer Sally Lacock, who also loaned Jenny the most delightful vintage wedding veil to wear…

"I chose the Cate dress by Sally Lacock.
Sally is my Aunty and godmother so I was lucky enough to have the pick
of her beautiful vintage inspired collection. I love everything about my
dress and knew that I wanted it the moment I saw it! I love the
delicate lace and the way that three different styles of lace are sewn
together. The vintage glass buttons made it truly unique.

The skill and
handiwork that goes into making this dress in incredible and I felt so
relaxed in it.I also wore a vintage wedding veil, that Sally loaned to me."

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

"Jenny wore an utterly fabulous all-over glitter pair of sparkly heels by Harriet Wilde – I have the same pair in silver – they are gorgeous!"

"I always knew that I wanted a relaxed wedding with a country
feel but drew some inspiration from a recipe book called Tea and
Crumpets which had pictures of beautiful vintage crockery piled high
with gorgeous looking sandwiches, pastries and cakes.

I knew that I
wanted the wedding to be as personal as I could make it and so decided
to hand make as much as I could." 

"In terms of decor, we used bunting that I made myself using
mainly Cath Kidston fabric. We hung all around the edges and across the
centre of the marquee and also hung in the oak tree outside the
marquee."

"We used origami flowers that I also made myself, with
the help of the groom and some friends! My cousin Tom taught me how to
make them and we ended up making hundreds. We used them to decorate the
poles in the marquee and the inside of the toilets."

"My dress designer Sally
doesn’t normally make dresses but as she had so much influence on all
the other dresses she offered to design them too, so we spent last
Easter together in her studio making these gorgeous dresses for the
little ones."

"My head piece was bought from Cherished Vintage.
It is an exquisite piece of hair jewellery expertly made from a vintage
marcasite brooch with aurora borealis. I love that it is totally unique
and there won’t be another the same anywhere. It feels very precious."

"We sourced vintage crockery including teacups, teapots, plates,
sugar bowls, milk jugs, cake stands etc we collected in charity shops
and at car boot sales. We used a selection of flowers bought from
supermarket (including stocks, alstermera, gypsophila, white roses,
asters and chrysanthemums, lisianthus) displayed in jam jars with
natural coloured raffia ties around the top.

We had the top table decorated with ivy from the garden and a
selection of flowers, and vintage embroidered table cloths that I had
collected myself were used on every table." 

We also used real confetti petals from Shropshire Petals in homemade cones and had lanterns and decorations hanging from trees in the garden."

"Each place setting had a miniature bottle of homemade damson gin
(damson’s grown in parents’ garden the year before and frozen).
Miniature bottles and labels from Miniature Glass Bottles."

"Our photographers were Anna Durrant – a very
professional husband and wife team. They blended into the background
and discretely took lots of natural shots capturing some wonderful
moments throughout the day as well as selected posed ones (family groups
etc) which they did really efficiently whilst guests enjoyed pimms on
the lawn."

"Our Florists were Oops a Daisy. I chose my flowers for the relaxed style of the bouquet. I knew I
wanted Sea Holly (Eryngium) and chose the other flowers around that
opting initially for whites and greens, including a variety of foliage,
to create a country feel and then at the last minute decided to include
some pink to brighten the arrangements up a bit."

"My brother helped me to choose the readings. He read the first one:
 
'Sonnet 116 (Shakespeare)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.'"

The
second reading read by my cousin, was Esther: Love Each Other with
Mutual Affection, Romans 12:1-2, 9-18.  Our third reading was read by my
good friend Faye and mother of one of the bridesmaids. This reading
makes me think of how we met:

Somewhere by Sir Edwin Arnold
Somewhere there waiteth in this world of ours
for one lone soul, another lonely soul –
Each chasing each through all the weary hours,
And meeting strangely at one sudden goal;
Then blend they – like green leaves with golden flowers,
Into one beautiful and perfect whole –
And life's long night is ended, and the way
Lies open onward to eternal day."

"My chief bridesmaid was my sister Holly. She wore Sally Lacock's Madeleine dress which we added some appliqué and beading to."

"We met eight years ago on a
bus which we both travelled on regularly. We became friends first and
after 6 months began a relationship. Jason proposed in Skagen, Denmark
almost exactly a year before we got married. We had hired bikes to cycle
to the northernmost tip of Denmark and on the way stopped to climb a
lighthouse. At the top of the lighthouse, Jason proposed."

"The cake was made by Cirencester Cupcakes  and was
three-tiered with fruit at the top and bottom and a chocolate layer in
the middle for the groom! On the bottom there was a countryside theme
with ducks on a pond and chickens, chosen because we keep chickens and
ducks. There was a bike leaning against a tree (a surprise for the groom
because he loves cycling). On the middle layer there were lots of
daisies and on the top bunting in the style that I had made to decorate
the marquee.

Also on the top was a figure of the bride and groom (and
pets!) sitting in a vintage motorbike and sidecar (to replicate the one
we travelled from the church to the venue in)."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"The same advice that
was given to me by so many people – make sure you take time to enjoy the
day. You’ve spent so much time and effort planning it meticulously-
don’t let it pass you by in a blur – enjoy every second of it.  Also, try to make everything personal to you. Don’t choose things just because it’s what is expected or ‘what other people do’.

As
we live in the country a lot of the guests camped in the field. The
honeymoon suite was a yurt borrowed my brother’s friend. Jason decorated
the inside of the yurt as a surprise so I wasn’t allowed to go in it
before the wedding night. He had bought Cath Kidston bedding for me and
put lots of little lights inside and made a pathway of lanterns leading
up to it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day, especially chatting to people
in the garden and drinking Pimms before the tea party. The highlight
though, was walking into the church and seeing everyone smiling and
Jason waiting for me at the altar (trying not to look at me so that he
didn’t cry!!). It was very overwhelming but a feeling I’ll remember
forever.  I don’t think I would have done anything differently at all."

How charming is this beautiful, English country wedding, absolutely bursting at the seams with DIY And craft inspiration, you clever lady Jenny.

And I completely adore the work of designer Sally Lacock – infact, you can see more brides wearing Sally Lacock designs right here.

Thank you to Anna Durrant for allowing these images to be shared, and congratulations Jenny and Jason!

Annabel

Photographer – Anna Durrant
Venue – The bride's parents house
Marquee Hire – Marquee from County Marquees in Chepstow
Dress Designer – Sally Lacock
Brides veil – vintage veil on loan from Sally Lacock
Brides headpiece – Cherished Vintage
Brides Shoes – Harriet Wilde
Brides Accessories – Marcasite earrings – Silver Moon in Cheltenham (no website) + pearl string borrowed from sister.
Grooms Suit – Jack Wills + Bicycle cufflinks (in blue) from Paul Smith
Flower girls – Sally Lacock
Bridesmaids – Sally Lacock
Florist – Oops a Daisy (Cirencester)
Cake – Cirencester Cupcakes
Young bridesmaids shoes and shrug – Monsoon
Hair and make-up Artist – Sarah Barry (Cheltenham/Gloucester) (using Aveda products) 07971480422
Hair Stylist – Mick Green, via Knock Em Dead Hairdressing (Swindon)