Faith and Love ~ A Vintage Afternoon Tea Party Wedding…

Morning peeps, I've a dash of pretty purple and pink for you this morning with this lovely relaxed wedding photographed by India Hobson.

Sarah & Pete tied the knot on 12th August at Nettle Hill
Christian Conference Centre, chosen because the couple wanted to get
married in a place of worship to reflect their strong Christian faith, and because they wanted a venue which could host the
ceremony as well as an outdoor tea party immediately afterwards.

In keeping with the relaxed day the couple waned, Sarah wore a short and sweet wedding dress by The Couture Company based at The Custard factory in Birmingham…

"This
dress caught my eye on the first day I started looking and was one of
the first ones I tried on. I loved the tea-length style – which was
perfect for an outdoor afternoon tea party. The lace was so beautifully
delicate from France and the dress made me feel so young and chic!"

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

"Pete and I met on a school trip to Zambia, and Pete proposed a year
later in May at Kew Gardens in London. As we both work for secondary
schools, and can only take extended time off in the summer holidays, we decided to get married this summer instead of waiting another year!

Our Christian faith is really important to us so we wanted our
pastor from Renewal Christian Centre to take the ceremony and vows, as
we believe that marriage is a union not just between two individuals
but also includes God as the glue!"

"Kat Wattis of Faith Bridal is a friend of ours who makes
beautiful artificial and live flower arrangements, bouquets and button
holes as well as other bespoke accessories such as fascinators.

Kat
Produced all bouquets and flower decorations with fresh flowers as a
gift to us."

"In terms of decor, we used homemade bunting (30m of it!), paper pompoms ordered from EBay, fairy lights, a vintage suitcase to collect guest cards, green glass jar for honeymoon donations, antique fruit boxes for flowers, haybales from a local farmer that served as tables and chairs, lace curtains from charity shops as tablecloths, old bottles with lace ribbon for flower centrepieces and old Victorian china collected from charity shops, antique markets and Hemswell Antique Centres in Lincoln!"

"Our photographer was India Hobson – she was fantastic! Really sensitive to our needs and produced beautiful vintage style photographs".

"We read Christian vows based on the Church of England.  They included 1 Corinthians 13 in the Message version, which was included in Order of Service:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end."

Love
is more than just a feeling, or romantic state of mind – we both
believe that love is the actual nature of God, “God is Love”. Love is a
choice to be
lived out every day and is the most powerful force in the world. 

The
powerful and emotional part of saying the vows was the best part of the day for us – the extra things are
nice to have – but so often the purpose of the wedding ceremony seems
to get lost in the 'themes, the dress, the food and guest list – but
the actual promises being spoken in front of friends and family is the
most important part of the day!"

"We have a love of all things vintage and wanted a relaxed outdoor
feel too, so we combined a vintage afternoon tea party with old china and lace tablecloths together with rustic haybales and bunting! We
also wanted a relaxed feel, so guests could mingle and sit where they
wanted and the children could run around freely.

We
organised the whole day on a very limited budget in just 3 months using
help from friends and family, church family, and bargains at charity
shops and antiques centres!"

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"The day goes so quickly and the things
that seem important at the beginning you may not even notice on the
day! Spend some time really thinking about the vows and married life
after the ceremony. Take some time away in the run up to the wedding
(try a modern monastery where you can book a room for the day) to
reflect on this new stage of life that you are entering into & gain
perspective on all the wedding stress!) A wedding is one day, but a
marriage is for life.

It might have also helped if we'd given ourselves longer than 3 months to organise the whole thing!"

Simple, fuss free and just so pretty 🙂 Big thank you India Hobson for sharing these lovely photographs today, and even bigger congratulations to you both Sarah and Pete – thanks so much for sharing your lovely day.

Brides based in the Midlands should also look up The Couture Company for their own perfectly pretty wedding dress – designer Jo is absolutely brilliant and we highly recommend her.

Much love all,

Annabel

Photographer – India Hobson
Venue – Nettle Hill
Christian Conference Centre
Wedding Dress – The Couture Company
Brides Hair Accessories – Vintage style pearl hairpiece – The Couture Company
Brides Shoes – John Lewis – Rainbow Club (via John Lewis)
Grooms Suit – Gieves and Hawkes + shoes by Jones Bootmaker
Bridesmaids Dresses – Jenny Packham for Debenhams
Flowergirl Dresses – Monsoon
Florist – Kat Wattis, Faith Bridal
Cake Designer – Marks and Spencer
Entertainment – Musicians Iain & Josie Soden
Hair and make-up Artist – Lesley Sparks (Hairdresser)
Makeup Artist – Fiona Conway at- Looking Godly