A 1980’s Wedding Dress for a Colourful Handmade Village Hall Wedding

Hello lovely ones. How many of you are ‘crafting’ brides, and planning to put your skills to use when it comes to styling your wedding day?  And if so, how many of you might be up to the challenge of creating 100 cushions and 100 chair covers, a wide range of hand-stitched table decor, DIY wedding favours and venue decor? Meet crafting bride Janet – an Oil Company Administrator and part time craft and vintage seller extraordinaire (you can see her Etsy store, ‘The Vintage Shoppy’ here. Janet nailed it when it came to crafting for her wedding, and I love and am so super impressed with her achievement!

Janet married her beau Mitchell in May this year with a weekend long celebration of pure fun and frolics, including a ceremony at Marischal College, followed by a village hall style party at Garlogie Village Hall in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Photography by Donna Murray

“I love vintage and crafting – I actually have my own business teaching crafts and own an Etsy shop called ‘The Vintage Shoppy’.  I made 100 cushions and 100 chair covers out of vintage fabrics – from curtains to bed linens to tablecloths, it all got cut up and revamped to produce covers for the somewhat boring chairs the hall had.”

“We love vintage in general so didn’t stick to any particular eras but there was a strong old school summer gala theme based on our childhoods. We do love a bit of nostalgia.”

“I did all the planning by myself – I’m involved with Candybelle Vintiques who organise vintage events in Scotland however, so it didn’t feel like too much of a challenge!”

I laughed out loud at this little ‘how they  met’ story. I adore Janet’s honest. I can just picture the scene!

“Mitchell and I met when he was 18 and I was 19, in a kebab shop. He ‘saved’ me from the sleazy guy working in the shop and then proceeded to fish his kebab out the bin to see if I wanted some!! When we had left university we decided we wanted an adventure so moved to Hong Kong where I had family and this was an amazing time for us both.

We had great jobs and travelled a lot as it was a great base for visiting the far east and met so many amazing people. We came home so inspired we built up a craft business (www.i-heartart.co.uk).”

“Our lives were on hold a little while we put all our efforts into building the business. Finally 5 years later we decided it was time to get some work/life balance so booked a holiday to Hong Kong. Mitchell had always wanted to propose in Hong Kong as it was such a big and special part of our lives, even if he had to wait 3 years to do it and I was quite ready by this point!”

“He finally proposed in January 2014 on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Hong Kong, with spectacular night views of the Hong Kong skyline. I had began to think he was acting very fishy as he insisted on walking and walking for ages until he found a quiet spot and after a full day of shopping I just wanted a seat! And if anyone who has been to Hong Kong knows, there is never a quiet spot, so when we eventually got a spot to sit down he ask me if I wanted my charm. I have a Thomas Sabo charm bracelet where he buys me a new one whenever something significant happens in our lives) so I was like, oh yes please!”

“He presented me with a miniature ring charm and I remember being cheeky and piping up ‘well this is nice but it doesn’t fit’, at which point I turned around and found him down on one knee ring in hand!

I was soooooo thrilled I couldn’t speak and immediately burst into tears. After a while I heard him say ‘so is it a yes?’ as I was flapping so much.

We decided to get married on our Anniversary which is the 22nd May which was nice as it’s only 1 date to remember and gives us a good year to plan and craft as I love making things.”

“I wore a 50’s style vintage dress that was actually from the 1980’s. I had been searching high and low for a dress and did purchase a short 60’s maternity wedding dress from Ebay so had been settled on that. However, curiosity did get me and I did go dress shopping just to see what was out there. I always knew I ultimately wanted a vintage dress but was having such a bother find one that fits and suited my shape. I did try on a dress from Mooshki Bridal that I loved and came to work describing the style but emphasised that I wanted that but vintage if possible. Then one of the ladies in work said that what I was describing sounds exactly like her wedding dress. So that week she brought it in and I just fell in love! It was absolutely perfect so she gifted it to me!

It was exactly what I wanted, a 50’s/60’s vintage style. Sheer top with sleeves demure but still cute and fun, it had beautiful lace scalloped edge on the skirt and sleeves. It was originally full length but I had it altered to a tea length dress.”

Janet’s bridesmaid wore an original vintage 1960s shift dress, that was actually oroginally a full length maxi-dress but adjusted for the wedding.

“My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘A Thousand Years’, by Christina Perri.

We wanted a very simple registrars ceremony with close friends and family. The room at Marischal College is lovely and we wanted to keep things straight forward. We carried out a declaration rather than vows as we felt it fitted us better. Mitchell had spoken to the registrar before and had included a few nice surprises. He always shares lunch with me and I like to eat all of mine so he promised to carry on sharing his lunch!”

“I stumbled across my veil in a charity shop in Edinburgh.  It was a 1920’s veil, white with lace cap, 3 tiers and full cathedral length with lace edging. I had bought it on a whim as I loved it but hadn’t yet bought a dress so was not sure if it would work or not. When I first got the 1960’s dress from ebay which was ivory in colour I didn’t think it would work but when I got gifted the 50’s dress it just worked perfectly and I instantly knew as all fit into place.

It was exactly as I’d imagined. When the dress came back from the dress maker the length didn’t quite work with the new tea length so I altered the veil and cut it into a shorter veil and attached the lace edged piece to make it into a voluminous 4 tiered veil and it was just gorgeous.”

I’m SORRY! I couldn’t resist sharing this one!!! Hahahahaha! 🙂

“Our photographer Donna Murray was absolutely amazing capturing so many moments from the day and catching my best side unawares. The street I live usually looks so plain but her photography managed to capture in with the retro vibe I was looking for.”

“We hired a vintage red mini-mini bus via Colvin Wedding Cars.  We arrived at the Garlogie hall in this tooting our way down the country roads and it then stayed behind to give our guests free rides down the farm tracks past the stream nearby.”

“Outside, we had two gazebos, one of which had a welcome sign, made by myself from a piece of reclaimed wood. I then hammered in some nails and wrapped wool around them to create the words ‘WELCOME’. Together with the pom poms and bunting it looked very jolly indeed to show off our welcome drinks. The welcome cocktails were created by our friend AJ who teaches mixology and were based on our Scottish and Chinese influences.”

“We chose our venue Garlogie as it had original features such as wooden flooring and granite fireplace that we desired from a country house style venue but we also wanted complete flexibility that you wouldn’t get in a hotel and Garlogie was perfect. Situated on the outskirts of Aberdeen it had amazing country views but still close to the city for our guests.”

“Our catering was a complete DIY effort. We put on an East meets West buffet with the West side put together by Mitchell’s mum Lena and family friend Louise. Influenced by nostalgic children’s parties so included a Hedgehog (melon wrapped in foil with cocktail sticks of cheese, pickles and sausages, sandwiches, vol-au-vents (complete with white chunky chicken). The East side was put together by my parents who own a Chinese takeaway in Aberdeen and they put on a epic spread including, spring rolls, peking duck, roast crackling pork, steamed dim sum, prawn crackers with noodles and rice.

It was just meant to be a small finger food buffet but both sets of parents far exceeded our expections with the size of spread put on!”

“I had already amassed quite a collection of vintage china, tins and glassware which were used for the flowers on the tables. The vintage plates and saucers were used for tealights as centrepieces alongside the vintage bottles and tins in random groupings. I also had mini hearts knitted and poms poms dotted about in the colour scheme of teal, mint green, coral and salmon, a juicy sorbet scheme.

“Helpers were enlisted months before with making poms poms in same colours which was then used to make pom pom garlands to decorate the gazebos and building outside. I had also made knitted words spelling out “Liddell” and this was displayed in the room. There was 3 giant windows in the hall and being an ex-visual manager I wanted to create a vintage window display. So I raided my loft where I keep all my vintage paraphernalia and made displays using suitcases, tins, cameras, typewriters and vintage prints.

A quick tip – I had lots of helpers on the morning helping with the decor and I can be quite fussy with details, so I had practiced the displays beforehand and took a Polaroid pic for the helpers to copy, and my helpers being Visual Merchandisers whipped them up in literally ten minutes.”

“The cocktail menu was a vintage frame sanded and painted in the wedding colours and then chalk pens were used to write on the glass the names of the drinks. This was done by my talented artist friend Emma McHardy. The second gazebo was hung with an assortment of Chinese lanterns brought over by my HK guests. We had a chill out zone outdoors with firepits, cosy vintage tartan and crochet blankets.”

“I spent the whole year searching car boots, charity shops and jumble sales to find all these blankets. I had them laid out so guests could rest their feet, catch their breath or melt their marshmallows to make smores. Smore’s packs were painstakingly put together a few days before and wrapped with pretty baker’s twine.”

“Directing the guests was a handmade rustic wooden sign with reclaimed wood, I had to beg borrow and steal to find the wood, I would be going round to my friend’s house eyeing up scraps in the garden! These were handpainted by myself and drilled holes for twine.  We hung these from a weathered branch that I found on my scavenges in the nearby woods.

We wanted  Scottish feel in the bar area, so the tables were covered with tartan and tweed blankets and one wall was covered with tartan wallpaper. I had masking taped it on for easy removal. The 2nd wall had a stag’s head display, we had paper mache stag heads covered with tartan and tweed fabrics.”

“We had a separate smaller snug room that we used for the buffet and also for the vintage photobooth. I had alot of my own props collected throughout the years including fox furs, pill box hats, gloves and glasses. Guests were instructed to take 2 polaroids, one to keep and one for our guestbook.

Looking at the pictures the next day really made me laugh! Emma again made the signage using an old vintage mirror and chalk pens. The guestbook itself, we wanted scrapbook style so I laid out a variety of embellishments, dymo tape, typewriter, patterned papers and glues so they could decorate their own page to suit their personality.

“We bought gumball and toy vending machines and filled them with sweets ourselves. The capsules in the toy vending machine were filled with nostalgic 90’s toys – trolls, pogs, mood rings and jelly bracelets (probably a regional thing, but was all the rage in our youth and we called them trap bands, boys were to snap one and each colour meant different things!).

I scoured gumtree, carboots and ebay to find all these 90’s toys. Our friend Steve is also a graphic designer and he created the graphics to go inside the gumball machines. J&Ms instead of M&Ms and Mitchy Magic Beans.”

“What vintage style wedding would not have the obligatory bunting which I made from the same vintage fabrics, I think I made about 100 metres in total. I had also made garlands from crochet doilies to make sure there was texture and variety. As I have a love for vintage and have Vintage Shoppy on Etsy too.”

“Our flowers and button holes were completely DIY, I have my own business so was able to open an account with the local flower wholesalers. I went the day before to select fresh blooms myself. I knew I wanted something simple, no fuss and rustic looking – baby’s breath (gypsophilia), giant daisies and hydrangeas as the main flowers, but when I was there I was tempted by many other varieties of wild flowers.”

“For both bouquets I wanted to keep it really simple with the bridemaid’s bouquet in white only with baby’s breath, white gerberas and white daisies. My own bouquet followed the same format with baby’s breath and gerbera highlights with one large hydrangea to set it off. With the bouquet so simple and classic the hydrangea really stood out.”

“We had a watercolour influenced cake in shades of turquoise, pink and peach decorated with fresh blooms of hydrangeas, peonies, roses, gerberas and babies breath. The bottom tier was plain Victoria sponge and 2nd tier was chocolate sponge and a final mini top tier, gluten free and dairy free – mainly for mother of the groom who is diabetic and dairy intolerant.”

“There were so many great moments, I think it was just brilliant have so many guests come from afar and see them all in one place and to have them experience a slice of our Scottish Culture – they all LOVED the ceilidh dancing. I had a full scale visual team from HK and Mitchell’s old boss from HK came too as well as family members.”

“Our first dance was very special, Mitchell had really wanted something acoustic and Im more of a cheesy pop girl so we really were stumped on the perfect first dance song. I was championing McFly’s Love is easy so as a compromise we asked one of Mitchell’s best friends Bob (singer/songwriter) to play an acoustic version. It was so special and personal to us I loved it! And fantastic to involve Bob too.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“DIY is not for the faint hearted! I spent the year before spending weekends with elbows out at jumble sales and carboots, sewing sewing sewing and knitting! But I had a blast having friends round every week to help and it really did make it an event for us all and they loved playing their part in the process.

If you are having a DIY wedding, rope in your friends and have a regular craft night slot every month or even week. It not a chore at all when you are sat round with copious amounts of tea, cakes and fabrics. And PLAN!! As bridezilla as this sounds I did have a spreadsheet and notebook detailing jobs to do, guest list, costs etc. In a previous life someone told me, ‘if you don’t plan, then you plan to fail’, and it’s so true.

There is nothing at all we’d have changed.  It all fell into place and was exactly as id imagined – I think because i did a lot myself and it was all in my head which scared other people but not me as I knew what I wanted. The only thing that I would’ve had differently was some help to pack up the next day!! But I suppose that is part and parcel of not having a hotel/venue do it all for you and I would much rather have that personal touch in all aspects that I had.”

What a fabulous, fun-filled day! Janet, I get the distinct impression crafting a million cushions for your wedding was a walk in the park for you – and what a really gorgeous way to add personality and a very personal touch to your day. Thank  you so much for allowing us to share your wedding with our readers.

You’ll find Janet on Instagram here and here – and whilst the issue of social media at weddings is hot on the agenda (did you read our etiquette guide yesterday?) you can also look up their wedding hashtag on instagram at #liddellwedding2015.

Love Annabel x

 

Photographer – Donna Murray
Planner/Stylist – The bride aka, The Vintage Shoppy
Venue –  Marischal College + Garlogie Village Hall in Aberdeenshire
Wedding Dress – Pre-loved 1980s vintage, gifted by a friend
Veil – Charity shop find
Bride’s Shoes – Miss KG from Debenhams
Perfume – Chloe
Groom – custom made kilt in the family tartan
Bridesmaids – vintage 60’s dresses + horseshoe charm bracelets
Florist – All DIY
Cake – Carol Buchan [email protected]
Transport – Vintage Mini Red bus via Colvin Wedding Cars
Entertainment  – Magician + Bouncy Castle – Bouncy Castle + Iron Broo (they were fantastic!)
Rings – IBB London
Catering – All DIY except Candy Floss Machine + Little Miss Whippy
Stationery – DIY using The papetrie + Hobbycraft products
Hair Stylist – Nichaela from Headrox