Good morning readers! I’m sure you’ll agree, January is not the easiest month to love (especially now that my supply of Christmas chocolate has run out!). Join me in dashing away the January blues with today’s beautiful English country summer wedding, featuring lots of colourful homespun decor, wild blooms and a stunning Claire Pettibone bride wearing her grandma’s vintage tiara and veil.
Jo, a visual merchandiser, married Conal, a legal administrator, on the 20th of June of last year, in an al fresco humanist ceremony, at Roughmoor Farm, near Taunton.
“We were inspired by brightly coloured festivals and rustic country styling and wanted to include some fun, quirky features. We love colour and were keen for this to come through in the flowers and the decorations we made. We hand made all of our decorations. My mum and I made hundreds of paper flowers which were strung together to form the central decoration for the marquee. Vintage frames, jugs, jam jars etc were supplied by the venue and filled with flowers. The table centrepieces were log slices decorated with moss and flowers. Finally, we hung paper pom poms and lanterns in the trees outside.”
Photography by Naomi Jane Photography
Jo and Conal styled their venue with lots of vintage décor and colourful, homespun details. I particularly like the paper flowers Jo created for the roof of the marquee. You can find a brilliant tutorial on how to make them here on Lia Griffiths website. With the help of some friends, I made some for my own wedding and while it was a time consuming process, I think the end results made it totally worth it!
Jo’s bridesmaid’s looked lovely in mint green maxis and sheer, sequinned shrugs from Debenhams.
Our couple’s big day was beautifully captured by Naomi of Naomi Jane Photography. I particularly love Naomi’s use of light in these images – the colours are so vivid and amazing!
“Naomi is a friend and a great photographer! She captured the day perfectly and everyone loved her relaxed style, she got some great moments without people even noticing!”
After falling in love with Claire Pettibone’s designs, Jo chose the ‘Luna’ gown; an elegant empire line dress with contrast lace detail.
“I love Claire Pettibone’s unique style and felt that it encapsulated the overall theme for the wedding perfectly. My gown wasn’t traditional and I loved the unusual detailing.”
Jo wore a pair of silvery – gold Jonak peep toes and accessorised with a druzy stone necklace from Oliver Bonas and a pair of earrings and bracelet from Accessorize.
“I did my own make up and my hair was done by Hannah White at a salon in Bridgewater.”
Our bride paired her beautiful gown with a veil and a tiara worn by her grandma on her very own wedding day in 1962! I love the idea of an heirloom veil and I am saving my own antique veil with this in mind.
“I think we are both quite laid back and some of the traditional elements of weddings didn’t really appeal to us. We wanted a wedding that felt personal to us and as unique as possible. We chose Roughmoor Farm because we wanted a blank canvas with a relaxed feel and an outdoor element – somewhere we could put our own creative stamp on.”
Jo and Conal’s wild and vibrant blooms were grown by JW Blooms, who specialise in producing organic English cut flowers.
“JW Blooms grow all of their flowers and handpick them the day before. We opted for a mixture of colourful, country flowers that we could use both for the decorations and for the bouquets, arranged by my mum.”
Conal looked the part in a navy tweed, three piece suit and Liberty print tie both from Topman. Our groom opted for a pair of bespoke cufflinks adorned with a vintage map of Brighton and Bristol.
“Conal and I met at a friend’s wedding in 2009. I lived in Brighton at the time and Conal in Bristol. We kept in touch and eventually met up again. All went well and eventually I relocated to Bristol. We got engaged in the Philippines in 2013. Conal popped the question late one evening, after a few drinks, on a beautiful white sand beach on the isle of Boracay.”
Joe and Conal tied the knot outside under the shade of an apple tree and a canopy of bunting. Our bride walked down the aisle with her dad to ‘God only knows’ by The Beach Boys.
“We wrote our vows as we had a humanist ceremony and we wanted words that reflected this.”
Our couple chose two readings; ‘Love is a temporary madness’, an extract from Louis de Berniere’s Captain Correlli’s Mandolin and ‘Oh the places you’ll go’ by Dr Seuss.
Jo and Conal purchased their wedding bands from Diana Porter, a contemporary jewellery designer based in Bristol.
“I wanted a wedding band that matched my engagement ring. I had a design in mind which we then had made at Diana Porter. Conal chose a silver ring with a matte finish.”
For their wedding breakfast, our couple asked Astridges of Exeter to supply picnic baskets filled with delicious food. In the evening, Pizza Adorare served wood fired pizza from their van and a bar was provided by A Couple of Mugs; a mobile service, operating out of a beautiful vintage Citroen van.
I absolutely love the couple’s favours; leather elephants, handmade by a group of Clark’s employees in aid of Cancer Research. You can find the lovely elephants here.
“Our cake was made by our friend, Tracey Dudridge. We wanted a relaxed cake with buttercream icing that would fit with our theme. I took inspiration from a Pinterest image of a woodland themed cake which had rough icing, sprayed gold and covered in flowers. We loved the result and the cake tasted great!”
For their evening entertainment Jo and Conal hired gypsy folk band Fromage En Feu, to help their guests to get in the party spirit.
Our couple helped keep their guests entertained with lawn games and a DIY photo booth…
“Our favourite part of the day was when everyone was up dancing to the gypsy folk music – there were some great moves and some of my favourite photos are the action shots Naomi captured!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom:
“Don’t get stressed about the small details – no one will notice a missing ribbon or decoration on the day! Just make sure you have the right people in the right places, so that all you have to do is enjoy all your hard work!”
A huge thank you to both our couple and to Naomi Jane Photography for sharing these lovely images. If you have been inspired by our bride to do a little crafting of your own, why not take a look at our collection of DIY projects. We have tutorials on everything from creating chair decorations, to crafting paper garlands and flower crowns. For more al fresco inspiration, take a look at our archive of outdoor weddings.
Have a great rest of your week!
Annora x
Photographer – Naomi Jane Photography
Venue – Roughmoor Farm near Taunton
Wedding Dress – ‘Luna’ by Claire Pettibone
Veil – Bride’s grandma’s vintage veil
Headpiece – Bride’s grandma’s vintage tiara
Shoes – Jonak via Sarenza
Accessories – Druzy stone necklace from Oliver Bonas + earrings + bracelet from Accessorize.
Bride’s Scent – Chloé by Chloé
Groom – Navy tweed, three piece suit from Topman + Topman tie from their Liberty print collection
Bridesmaids – Dresses + shrugs from Debenhams + bracelet from Accessorize
Florist – JW Blooms in Wellington
Cake – Created by a friend
Transport – A classic 1920s car
Entertainment – Fromage en Feu
Rings – Diana Porter
Catering – Picnic baskets provided by Astridges of Exeter + wood fired pizzas by Pizza Adorare + mobile bar service in a vintage Citroen van provided by A Couple of Mugs
Stationery – Created by the bride
Hair Stylist – Hannah white
How lovely that they managed to enjoy an al fresco ceremony in England! It looks such a beautiful day and ticks so many of my perfect day boxes – outside, humanist, hyper pretty and full of gorgeousness. It even has the addition of an old mirror which is one of my favourite things – I have five in my house (and not because I’m vain!!) Best wishes to Jo and Conal and their future together xx
I love an outdoor wedding, it’s a very brave option though! The images are gorgeous, everyone looks like they are having so much fun!
Fortune favours the brave 🙂 xxx
Wow, what a stunning dress! Love all the details especially the colourful paper flowers.