Jenny Packham for a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Woodland Wedding…

A wedding in the woodland? A pretty, floaty Jenny Packham wedding dress? Lots of romantic reds and roses and photographs filled with joy? Oh go on then, you twisted my arm!

Tim and Laura's wedding took place on 19 May at St Stephens Church
in Kingston Lacy, followed by a marquee reception that was held in
Laura’s parents’ home, both in Wimborne, Dorset. 

"My dress was from Jenny Packham, and I bought it from her gorgeous
boutique in Belgravia.  I knew that I loved Jenny Packham dresses – all
the ones I liked seemed to be designed by her when I checked the labels.
When I looked on their website, I really loved the look of this dress,
but never expected that it’d be the one I’d end up with.

I tried a few
on and pretty much loved them all but this one just felt right –it had a
bit of a vintage look, was light and floaty, had a deep back and was
really comfortable – it almost felt like I wasn’t wearing anything!"

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

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"All the flowers were by family friend Polly Wright. She did such an
amazing job. With a few pairs of extra hands to help her, the bouquets,
tables and marquee garland were gorgeously full of lush blooms."

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"All my bridesmaids wore the most beautiful, red, convertible dresses made by the lovely Biby of Orchidea Boutique on Etsy.   The girls also wore fresh freesia clips made by Polly, our florist and family friend. They smelled heavenly!" 

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"My dress was from Jenny Packham, and I bought it from her gorgeous
boutique in Belgravia.  I knew that I loved Jenny Packham dresses – all
the ones I liked seemed to be designed by her when I checked the labels.
When I looked on their website, I really loved the look of this dress,
but never expected that it’d be the one I’d end up with.

I tried a few
on and pretty much loved them all but this one just felt right –it had a
bit of a vintage look, was light and floaty, had a deep back and was
really comfortable – it almost felt like I wasn’t wearing anything!"

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"People seemed to mention “A Midsummer
Night’s Dream” a lot when we described things, so I suppose that was in our
minds when we were planning and styling our wedding day!  We
had always dreamed of getting married on a stretch of woodland behind
my parents’ home, where I grew up. It was formerly the old railway line
that ran into Wimborne, but as the line was closed down long, long ago,
we have always known it as a peaceful nature haven full of deer, foxes,
rabbits, buzzards, owls and all sorts of other wonderful creatures.

The
old railway line is actually a private route from my mum and dad’s house
to Tim’s family home, so we used to meet in the middle for secret
picnics and sneaky bottles of cider! It’s our favourite place, and so
full of history for us, and we just couldn’t imagine celebrating
anywhere else.

There wasn’t really a theme, but I
suppose the woodland itself influenced our style the most – we wanted it
to be as if the wood had been taken over by sparkly lights, a band, and
a whole lot of people we love having a great time!  We also knew that
we would be making most things ourselves. Flowers played a huge part in
our decoration and style of the day – my mum’s friend Polly did the most
fantastic job. They looked beautiful, and really worked in the setting
whilst providing flashes of meadow colour."

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"A car designed by Laura’s granddad (the very rare Peel Viking) was
used to transport the bride to the church and we drove it to the
reception afterwards. The bridesmaids were driven by Laura’s mum in our
much loved 1977 VW campervan, in which we’ve had many a great holiday!"

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"All designed by me – I learned how
to use Adobe Illustrator in the process, thanks to an afternoon crash
course from the very kind Raj, who helped me to figure out how to pull my hand drawings and ideas together digitally.
"

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"Our main decoration was all the beautiful flowers created by
Pauline, with a gorgeous long garland of lilies which framed the
marquee. I wanted to put all the leftover flowers out in their buckets
as it seemed such a waste not to see them, but we gave them away instead
as a thank you to guests, along with the table flowers and
bouquets. 
To hold the flowers on each table, we sprayed tin cans copper,
gold or white, and had been collecting nicely shaped jam jars to hold
flowers too. We used the leftover jars and tins to hold candles and
tealights.
  Tim’s mum, Sandra sweetly made us some bunting, as did my sister, Nay.

I
bought cheap frames for our table names (our favourite movies) and my
mum printed off the original movie posters to go in them. She also made
us a huge table plan using an old empty picture frame, ribbon and name
cards. 
My Dad made beautiful blackboards for our signage,
framed with fallen timber from the Railway Line. He also made plenty of
‘this way’ arrow signs which I painted, along with the boards, to help
our guests find their way, and put up a LOT of fairy lights! Hay bales
and a bonfire competed the ‘chill out area’ and
further down the line we had a games area with swingball, boules, giant connect four, coits and other fun things."

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"We absolutely cannot recommend our photographer, Sarah Lauren enough. Both she and
Chloe were such fun and took amazing pictures for us to treasure always.
They were really part of our day and it was sad when they had to go
home after the first dance!
"

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"The hair and makeup styling was all done ourselves. I’m not great
at that sort of thing, but I knew that between my sister, mum, best
friends, and myself that we could all help each other out – I think we
all learnt a few new tricks!

Accessory wise, I wore the Acacia comb by Jenny Packham. I also wore a Filigree bangle by Alef Joys (at Spitalfield Market) and my emerald engagement ring by Holts Lapidary."

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"Tim’s Suit was made by King and Allen.  His cufflinks were a wedding present from me from Ellie Ellie at Not on The High Street.
One shows a map of Marrakech, where he asked me to marry him, and the
other is a map of Wimborne, which covers the church we married in and
the site of our reception."    

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

Tim told me…

"We met when we were sat next to each
other on our first day of middle school aged 9. Laura was a bit of a
bookworm and she thought she’d been sat next to the school bully! We
became friends and did ‘go out’ very briefly (for a day!) aged 12. She
broke my heart.  We remained close and finally got
together aged 20 at University. Laura switched courses and Universities
after her first year, and Plymouth (where I was already studying)
offered the course she wanted…the rest is history!  We got engaged in
Marrakech on 23rd November 2010 (Laura’s birthday). I got down on one
knee on the roof top terrace of our riad in the city’s Medina at sunset
and proposed with a ring borrowed from Laura’s Dad, that had formally
belonged to her Grandmother. She said yes, following which I was bitten
by an over friendly stray cat who had come to see what all the commotion
was about!

It turned out that Laura’s dad (who didn’t
want to tell her mum I was going to propose) had picked a costume
jewellery ring, which wasn’t going to last, so when we got home we went
to Hatton Gardens together and, together with a wonderful designer at
Holt’s, came up with a design for an emerald engagement ring that we
both loved.

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"Our caterers were the The Tickled Pig, Wimborne
We were the first wedding that Matt and Jez catered as “The Tickled
Pig” team (
The Tickled Pig is now a successful restaurant in Wimborne)…"

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"We chose them having met them at The Feast of Dorset food show and been
impressed with the delicious food they were doing, but also their
philosophy on food. For us they did a pork hangi (local pig cooked over
hot stones in an earth oven – our friend James had to dig an enormous
hole in the ground for this, only to discover it would later be filled
in!). 

The slow cooked pork was served with gorgeous salads and home
made bread. The food was a massive success with the guests, who are
still talking about the delicious canapes. In the evening we had
delicious pasties brought up from Devon by Pengenna Pasties.  (We had happy memories of tasting
these pasties whilst on holiday in Cornwall and declaring them to be the
best).

We had local ale from Ringwood Brewery and cider from Bridge Farm Bridge Farm Cider.

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

"Wendy (my very clever Mum). Mum has made cakes for years as a
hobby, and has done some really beautiful wedding cakes for so many
people we know. I knew she’d do a fab job, and we enjoyed testing out
her recipes! The top layer was coconut with raspberry jam (my
favourite), the middle was lemon sponge with lemon curd, and the bottom
layer was mum’s famous fruit cake (which we all look forward to every
Christmas, except Tim – he hates fruit cake, hence the other layers!).

The fruit cake was scrummy with the delicious local cheeses that our
caterers supplied, so we had a platter of cake and a platter of cheeses,
figs and home made crackers for each table as dessert.

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Everyone is different –
don’t feel that you have to do what others expect, or have done
themselves. It’s easy to feel a bit intimidated when looking at wedding
magazines and then looking at your budget!

Try and enjoy
the planning. I love making and designing things, but it’s easy to feel
a bit overwhelmed. I kept telling myself to relax and enjoy the
planning and making process, as I was only going to do it once! We just
felt so lucky to be doing what we were doing, and the wedding is only
one day – it’s important to try and feel present in the lead up too.
It’s such a whirlwind, it’s easy to get lost in it all and not focus on
what’s happening in the moment. That’s how you make new memories.

It
doesn’t have to be perfect – this was the hardest one for me! I had so
many ideas – I could’ve gone on planning and making forever but our
budget wouldn’t stretch to all of it anyway! Sometimes you have to know
when to stop…it’s more important to be relaxed and happy than worrying
about things looking exactly as they did in your head.

And, er, maybe we'd have benefited from taking more than 6 months to plan it! We wish we’d taken
more time to plan our honeymoon – it was great, but felt like a bit of
an afterthought, when it was a real treat of a holiday for us – we’d
never normally do that kind of trip. "

A Jenny Packham Bride and a Midsummer Nights Dream Inspired Wedding

Oh isn't this charming? 

Told you we had a bit of a bumper day for you – 4 posts in one day!  Hope you've enjoyed them all loves.

Anyone else loving the vibrancy of bright red at weddings right now? Makes me want to do it all over again and smother my smackers in a racy red by Chanel.  Christmas kiss, anyone?

Take a peek at more gorgeous woodland weddings, outdoor weddings, red and Jenny Packham brides on Love My Dress.

Much love,

Annabel

Heart

 

Photographer – Sarah Lauren
Venue – Laura’s parents’ home, both in Wimborne, Dorset
Wedding Dress – Jenny Packham
Wedding Veil – Prettymades, Wimborne
Bride's shoes – Jenny Packham range at Debenhams
Bride's accessories – Acacia Comb by Jenny Packham + Filigree bangle by Alef Joys (at Spitalfield Market); emerald engagement ring by Holts Lapidary
Grooms Suit – King and Allen
Bridesmaids – Biby of Orchidea Boutique on Etsy
Flowergirl Dresses  – Monsoon dresses with hand knitted ballet wrap cardies by Tim’s Auntie Yvonne. Shoes from M&S.
Florist – Friend
Cake Designer – Family
Favours – Heart Parts
Entertainment – Jam Tastic
Transport – An original Peel Viking
Catering Company – The Tickled Pig, Wimborne, Ringwood Brewery, Bridge Farm Cider + Pengenna Pastie

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.

Close
Top