A Handmade, DIY, 60’s Retro Style Village Hall Wedding

Good afternoon lovely ones – you didn’t think we were going to let this day slip by without sharing more inspirational nuptials with you, did you?!  This is one for all of you rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in to some good old wedding DIY – we’re also sharing this wedding to inspire those of you working on a very low budget.  Ellie married Luke on 21st September last year at Hatton Village Hall in Warwick.

This whole, wonderfully down to earth wedding is a lesson in wedding budget restraint.  Ellie and Luke did not have much to spend in pulling their wedding together, but still managed to create a gorgeous day full of love and laughter and with these fantastic images, by photographer Neil Thomas Douglas, as a reminder of it all. I love that so much of their personality and taste is present in these images – this is a couple with a huge fondness for mid-century retro style.

“We did everything from scratch ourselves. We had next to no budget so we had a very low-cost DIY style wedding, with most things being homemade.  I wouldn’t say that we ‘styled’ it either – we just put our own personal mark and identity on it which I suppose if you had to categorise would be retro, vintage with a 60’s twist. We weren’t going to have colours but without trying our main colours ended up being red, white and blue – very English.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Neil Thomas Douglas

“Luke and I met in an empty 60’s club in Birmingham on a wet and cold January night in 2011. Luke recognised me from a club he went to on New Years Eve in London a few years previous – I took his money on the door.  Luke came over and tried talking to me but I was full of flu so miserable and not really in the mood for talking to strangers so I was a bit short, irritable and maybe a bit rude to him. It was a very brief conversation.”

“I hadn’t given Luke my name, number or email and yet he still managed to track me down via the clubs Facebook page.  A few days later he plucked up the courage and decided to email me.  I was surprised to get the email but was flattered he remembered me so I checked him out (as you do) and thought he seems nice but not my normal type.  We exchanged emails for a while, then the flirty texts started and then we arranged to meet up when he was next in London a month late,r and it all went from there really.”  

“Luke was living in Coventry and I was in London the first year and a bit of our relationship which meant one of us travelling every weekend to be with each other. We longed for Friday nights and meeting at the station but dreaded Sunday nights and saying goodbye. 

It was not easy but it was worth it and thankfully that all came to an end when Luke got a job in London and we moved in together.   For our one year anniversary I took Luke to a nice hotel in Brighton for a surprise night away – Luke kind of outdid my surprise with his surprise.”

“We were in the hotel room and he told me to put my hands over my eyes so he could give me my gift. I had not got a clue what was coming all I thought was my present can’t be anything big because he only had a small bag with him – not a bloody clue!  When I opened my eyes he was holding my hand but not at eye level, I looked down and he was on one knee with a small blue box.  With a croaky timid voice he asked me would I do him the pleasure of becoming his wife, in tears and in shock I sobbed ‘are you f**king kidding me?’. Nervously, and in a panicked voice Luke said ‘Well will you’ and through the tears I snorted out ‘YES!’.

He had even asked my father for his permission to ask me!  We both feel very lucky to have found someone who we can be at one with and who we don’t have to change anything about ourselves to be with, but most of all that makes us both happy.  It sounds so cheesy but we have become best friends, lovers, soul mates and now husband and wife.  We got married just over a year later – we needed the time to save the pennies!”

“We got married at Hatton Village Hall in Warwick. This is a beautiful old hall with a separate ceremony room that comes as a blank canvas that we decorated ourselves. We didn’t want to get married in London where we live so decided on looking in Luke’s neck of the woods and where my family are originally from– The Midlands. We wanted a blank canvas to put our own mark on, then one day drove past Hatton and fell in love with it. We went home to share our find with the family to bizarrely find out that this was where Luke’s sister was getting married later that year, which was a bit freaky. It was meant to be!

I never thought I would get married and wasn’t one of those people who had planned their wedding since they were 6 years of age. I am not a big white wedding kind of girl, but I still wanted a day that we would both treasure and remember forever. We are both 60’s/retro enthusiasts so wanted a wedding that portrayed our personalities and style but wasn’t just ‘vintage/retro’ because it is supposed to be cool. We wanted to make our stamp on our day and I am very proud of the outcome.”

“I designed my dress and had it made by an amazing lady called Sam Webb from House of Webb.  I am what I like to call a ‘curvier’ kind of girl and modern wedding dresses just didn’t do it for me but sadly vintage wedding dresses were not made for busty girls with chubby bottoms like me.

I kind of had a picture in my head of what I wanted and after one depressing dress fitting in a modern shop where all the dresses looked appalling on me and all my identify and style were left in my clothes on the floor of the dressing room I decided to look at getting my dress made, which in fact worked out more cost effective.”

“Sam knew Luke from Coventry and contacted me saying that she makes wedding dresses and would love to be involved in making mine. So I met up with her and we talked over my ideas and designs which she then improved and brought to life. I know all brides think that their dresses are stunning but this really was – she went above and beyond to perfect my dress and capture my style – she did such an incredible job and managed to make someone who never feels confident about themselves feel beautiful on their wedding day. I am just gutted that I may never get to wear it again.

Sam also made a veil for me as a wedding gift, which I was incredibly touched by.”

“Our best man, Ben Kelly, was Luke’s best friend from childhood – when I told my mum our best man had a Mohawk she was a bit shocked but then she met Ben and fell for the Kelly charm! Ben was a brilliant Best Man, he was very supportive to both myself and Luke and always happy to help, even when it came to clearing up with a hangover the morning after the wedding.

Luke had his heart set on a vintage double breasted suit but as you can imagine this was not easy to find. We looked at getting one made from scratch and this would have cost more than our entire wedding so we hit the high street – he won’t like me telling you but his suit was on sale from River Island. I am sure everyone will agree that he made a very handsome groom.”

“In the main hall I wanted white fabric bunting but it was very expensive so I decided to make it myself, I got white fabric and cut out triangles then hand stitched them together. I also made some red white and blue bunting for the main stage and tables – 200 meters of bunting in total! I made red, white and blue wool pom poms for the hedges outside the hall. We had large LOVE balloon letters and red heart balloons on all the tables.

We used vintage tables for the cakes and seating plan and a lovely wooden vintage cupboard which we had the sweets on in large fish bowls. Most things were collected at very early morning trips to car boots sales over the summer or saved from the rubbish – all of our flower centre pieces were in large picked eggs catering jars or tins. My handyman, Brian, from work kindly made us large wooden letters with our initials for the stage as well as a sign post for outside the hall.”

“We went to a flower warehouse in Coventry and then made the displays, button holes and bouquets ourselves. We kept it all white and green.”

“I was going to have friends as my bridesmaids but decided to keep it in the family and have my little sisters as my bridesmaids – it only seemed right. I got their dresses from BHS on sale – I was very chuffed with my bargain find!

Their shoes were red velvet open toe kitten heels from Marks and Spencers and cost just £15.00.

My shoe were from ASOS and cost £10!”

“The cake was a simple two tier Victoria sponge with white icing from Caramella Cakes. We were the last people that the lady was ever going to make a wedding cake for. I found peg people cake toppers on etsy which looked just like us then I put the ribbon on the cake myself. I also made the cake stand from an old wooden wiring drum which I painted white then made mini bunting to attach.

We had a cake bake sale type table which we asked guests to bring along cakes if they wished – I think nearly everyone made and brought cakes including some amazing cupcakes with pictures of myself and Luke on – it was very humbling the effort people went to for us.”

“I made the seat planner from an old suitcase which was from a car boot. The order of the day was done on a black board, the menu’s on the table were just cheap frames from IKEA, The wedding invites we made ourselves – my sister took pictures of us in front of a white sheet in our front room which we edited and then printed ourselves. We also made postcards for people to leave messages on by the typewriter guest book.

We made all the table name settings – we just downloaded typewriter text to make it look more retro, printed them on card and cut them out.”

“We wanted to use a photographer and videographer that had a quirky and alternative style, we didn’t want typical soft focused pictures of us in a garden – BLAH! We spent some time researching and found Neil Thomas Douglas who was amazing and perfect. We could not be happier with the pictures and couldn’t recommend him highly enough.”

“My hair was kindly done as a wedding gift by two of Luke’s friends, Abbie and Kirstie. I showed Abbie pictures of what I wanted and she put them altogether and created my hair which I adored.  I didn’t wear any hair accessories – my hair was a piece of art in its self.   I adored my hair and still admire pictures of their handy work.

I did my own make up – I just treated myself to a few new pieces of make up from Dior instead of getting a makeup artist.”

“My earrings were from Accessorize. I borrowed a pearl bracelet which belonged to my mother’s mum who passed away before I was born – It was lovely to have something like that for my wedding day. I was traditional and had a lace garter belt with a blue ribbon. My bag was £5.00 from Ebay. I like to keep things simple so didn’t have many ‘extras’.”

“We were at a scooter rally at the Birmingham Custard Factory and there was a beautiful cream vintage Jag parked outside my fiends shop, Urban Village. I popped in to ask if he knew who it belonged to and he kindly spoke to the owner, Tony, who owns cars for the love of it not for business.

Tony very kindly offered to drive me to our wedding. I didn’t tell my Dad who loves vintage cars so when the car pulled up he was more excited about going for a drive in it”.

“My father, Ian Emes, gave me away – this was our families first wedding and he gave away his first born so it felt very special for me and I am sure for him handing his little girl over to Luke.  We walked down the aisle to ‘LOVE’ by Nat King Cole and then walked out of the ceremony room to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell ‘Aint No Mountain High Enough’”

“In the hallway we had the guest book which was an old typewriter on a ledge along with some flowers in clear glass bottles and more homemade bunting. I made a photo montage of myself and Luke from an old wooden fruit crate – my creative streak was running wild.”

“In the ceremony room we had white ribbons at the end of each row. We collected and painted wooden fruit crates which we filled with clear glass bottles of homemade pop and red white and blue flowers as well as real flowers.  We kept it simple in there but outside we had a vintage drinks trolley with red paper cups, red and white straws and a glass drinks dispenser of Pimms and Lemonade which was handed out to guests after the ceremony. I made confetti holders out of paper with pop art images printed on them with red confetti inside which were also handed to guests as they left the ceremony.”

“We had a lovely English afternoon high tea by Helen Willoughby of Dinners by Design. My mother in law owns all the vintage china which we used to serve lunch and my father in law made all the vintage cake stands which the sandwiches were served on.

In the evening we had a delicious hog roast by The Whole Hog Company. Both companies were very accommodating and a pleasure to use not to mention YUMMY! They even didn’t mind us supplying a few extras such as wine, olives and salad ourselves to keep costs down.”

“In the evening the ceremony room was turned into a photobooth. We collected lots of props, frames and the Best Man Ben made a free standing photowall for us which looked like a real wall. People could stand behind it and it looked like they were in the photos handing on the wall. This went down really well with the guests who have some very funny pictures – in fact some people spent most of the night in the photobooth room.”

“We decided that we didn’t want any entertainment as such just music which we were very fortunate with and got it all for free. My sister supplied the decks (Thanks Ollie) and then some lovely friends DJ’d for us.  For 10 years I have worked for a 60’s organisation called The New Untouchables so most of our friends have amazing record collections with rare 60’s music – we are very grateful to everyone who played for us: Rob, Holly, Ben, Scott, Ollie, Bubs – I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone or I will be in trouble.

Our first dance was Al Green ‘Let’s stay together’ – we danced for the first few verses together and then our parents and family joined us on the dancefloor. It was lovely to share this moment with everyone dancing with us.”

“My favourite moments?  One of my favourite moments was just me and my Dad in the car on the way to the Hall. I was nervous, excited, scared and very emotional, but he just held my hand and kept me calm. It was a memory that I will hold dear to me forever.   Another moment was just after the ceremony as we walking out of the room as husband and wife I turned around to see all my family and friends there smiling, crying and cheering. When I had walked down the aisle all I concentrated on was Luke so turning around and seeing everyone was a lovely feeling.”

“Other favourite moments included sharing a dance with my parents later in the evening, and all the speeches were lovely but the most emotional one was when my sister got up to read an email out from my best friend, Carla, who was unable to attend the wedding. It was funny, emotional and heartfelt and it meant so much that she managed to get centre staged even without being that the actual wedding.”

“I am sure every bride says the same thing but the whole day was beautiful, overwhelming and special having all those people there to celebrate with us. We have memories forever from that day. In all honesty there is nothing that I would have changed. We had a very small tight budget but we still managed to have the day of our dreams and not go without anything that we wanted so we are very proud of what we achieved – if we could do it all again we would do it just the same….maybe without the having to be back at the hall to take all the decorations down at 9am the next morning – now that I would maybe change!”

 

 

 

 

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“I was told that the average wedding costs £12k but I am very proud and relieved to say that ours came to half of that. We had to beg, steal and borrow for this but we did it and are not starting our married life in debt – which I never understand people doing for one day.

Don’t panic, I am blessed (I think) with being very boring and organised and this did help me stay calm and have everything done on time.  Work together – the bride does tend to take control which naturally happens, but include your husband. It is both your day after all. We both contributed to ideas and it was our day, our style and it worked.  Don’t just get things off the peg – be imaginative and put your own mark on your day.  The more you do yourself the prouder you will be with the outcome.“”

“It can be done on a budget and you can cut corners by doing things yourselves just don’t be scared to try. You don’t know until you try.

Oh and most important – wear waterproof mascara – it gets emotional!”

What a gorgeous day, I do so love it when a couple work hard to create a wedding on a small budget, it is entirely possible with a little imagination and plenty of inspiration from the likes of Love My Dress 🙂

Ladies and gents, you can see much more similar style inspiration right here; 1960s, DIY weddings, village hall weddings and Autumn weddings.

Love Annabel