Paper Cranes and Pretty Flowers ~ An Elegant English Country Garden Wedding in Durham

Good morning lovely ones.  It brings us so much happiness this morning to share an absolutely delightful wedding with you; I love the way this wedding has been photographed by North East photographer Katy Melling, and I adore the sweet little film created by film makers Mischa and James (who eagle-eyed readers may recall we featured back in December last year).

Illustrator Emma married Ben, a Farm Management Consultant on 16 August last year.  The couple, who live and work in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, chose Emma’s parents garden in Shincliffe Village, Durham, to tie the knot.  The whole wedding was full of English country garden charm that I knew our readers would appreciate – enjoy all.

Film production Mischa and James Wedding Films

"With me being British and Ben being a New Zealander and Danish we wanted to incorporate all those cultures into the wedding. And as I live in New Zealand, I wanted a really English feel. There was a bit of 30s inspired styling too as I have a romantic view of that era, especially the colours and music.

We really wanted a marquee wedding in a beautiful English garden, and Mum’s garden in the village was just perfect.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Katy Melling

“Ben and I met in Greece, working in a holiday resort for the summer. Ben was a water-ski instructor and I was a windsurfing instructor. After living in the UK and Australia together for a few years we finally moved to New Zealand to settle.

Ben proposed under a beautiful waterfall with a view of Mt Ruapehu volcano in the background. We were engaged for 7 months before we got married."

“I bought my dress while on holiday with my Mum and sister in Perth from Hobnob Bridal. The designer was Brides Desire and the gown design was Petite Rose.  It was the first dress I tried on and just fitted my figure perfectly and as it was champagne and not white, it worked much better with my English complexion.

The detailing was beautiful and the full lace overlay and beading gave it a vintage look. It was also really comfortable so I felt elegant throughout the whole day.”

“Our florist was Elvet Flowers of Durham.  I really wanted the colours to match my dress, and for them to have a vintage feel with off whites and pale greens. Both my Grandma and Aunty had a waterfall bouquet so I really wanted something similar.

As I live in New Zealand, I gave the florist some reference images and let her make the decisions on the flowers, with help from my Mum, and they were perfect. I had Lily of the Valley in my bouquet, as they’re just beautiful.”

"I made 1000 peace cranes to decorate the venue. I also made bunting that was strung up ,plus we had candle sticks, hurricane lamps and flower buckets all from Ikea.
We hired loads of festoon lighting to decorate the marquees, and up-lighters for trees – Ingram Sounds http://www.ingramsounds.co.uk/

"Saying our vows in front of everyone we love was a really special moment. But my favourite part was going off on our own for the photographer to take some photos. It gave us some time to ourselves before the party really got started."

“Our photographer was Katy Melling.  We are in love with our wedding photos. Katy was just brilliant from the first time we met, throughout the whole wedding day and after. She made us feel at ease throughout and captured our day perfectly.”

 

"My dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World', played on acoustic guitar.

We decided to write our own vows together, altering them slightly from one another to tailor them more to our own personalities. We didn’t want them to sound too traditional but to include the values that meant a lot to us in our own words. 

Our readings included 'Love is a Great Thing' by Thomas A. Kempis. We really liked the wording – it sounded romantic yet not too cheesy.   We also had the lyrics to 'That’s How Strong My Love Is' by Otis Redding read during our ceremony.  It's one of my favourite songs and sounds beautiful when read aloud – and we also played it for our first dance."

“We had a Danish cake that was brought over and constructed by some of our Danish guests. And we had a cake in the shape of a camper van that we both travelled around Europe in. Both were delicious.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"I was told to just relax and enjoy every single part of your wedding day as it goes so fast. It really doesn’t matter if everything doesn't go to plan, feeling calm and enjoying yourself is way more important.

We planned our day quite well so that everyone knew where to be and when; we had a great MC that kept it all together, I thought this was a really great way for guests to just enjoy themselves and really feel part of it."

What a completely gorgeous day! Huge thanks to Emma, Ben and their photographer Katy Melling for allowing us to share these absolutely lovely photographs.

Brides, are any of you planning a garden wedding at all, perhaps belonging to a family member? If so, you might want to explore more detail in our English country weddings category.

Have a beautiful morning all,

Love Annabel

Photographer – Katy Melling
Venue – The bride's Mum's Garden
Brides Dress – Petite Rose by Brides Desire via Hobnob Bridal
Headpiece – small roses pinned in to bun
Brides Shoes – 'Kart' sandals via Dune
Brides Accessories – Earrings via Gavin Shelley Jewellery (0191 3831221)
Groom's Attire – Tailor made in New Zealand at Crane Brothers, Auckland
Bridesmaids – Making History Dress + Lori Lee Maxi Dress + ASOS sandals + Lil Tiki Pendants
Flowergirls – Broderie Anglaise dress via John Lewis + Warehouse Embroidered Dress
Page Boys – Marks & Spencer
Florist – Elvet Flowers, Durham 
Camper Van Cake – Truly Crumbtious
Entertainment – Roots Acoustic Trio via The Alive Network
Festoon Lighting & Audio Equipment – Ingram Sounds
Rings – Creatif Design + Grieve Diamond Jeweller
Catering Company – Curly Garmer
Hair Stylist – Andrew at Steven Scarr Hairdressing, Coxhoe, Durham

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