A Grace Loves Lace Dress for a Sunflower Filled Outdoor Picnic Wedding

Happy weekend lovely ones – I’ve such a gorgeous, fun and colourful wedding to share right now, with pops of colour, beautiful braided inspirational hairstyles, and the most gorgeous Grace Loves Lace dress (and did you know this Australian bridal label now has a London showroom? Eeeek!).

Rosie and Stu, who both work for local charities, were married on the 10th of September 2016 at Skipbridge Farm in York for their outdoors celebration with loads of ways for the guests to engage.

“We always wanted an outdoors wedding and for it to be a relaxed and enjoyable day for everyone. I had always wanted a giant picnic to share with as many family and friends as possible. We wanted the guests to really enjoy the day and had plenty going on, including many garden games, live acoustic music throughout the afternoon, a band for the evening sets in the marquee, a ‘chill-out tent’ decorated with origami birds hanging down, a whisky shack, hobbit hole where teas and coffees were available and many straw bales and rugs for people to sit, eat and chat.”

Images by Esme Mai Photography

Rosie donned a divine Grace Loves Lace backless dress that she bought second hand via the Still White website.

“I loved Grace Loves Lace as soon as I saw her dresses! My dress was relaxed, beautiful and just felt like ‘me’. I had always wanted a backless dress and this one was just perfect!

The creative save the dates, invites and orders of service were designed by the couple, with help from a friend and Rosie’s sister, who did the majority of the orders of service. I love the sunrise detail on the orders of service. Are you thinking of designing your own stationery? It’s a brilliant way to get the creative juices flowing and I remember it being the best part of my wedmin – I still miss the process of designing our movie ticket save the dates!

The pretty bride sported a braided upstyle hair-do that I am totally coveting, which was created by Lucy at Lushaz with pops of colourful flowers – and Rosie did her make-up herself. She then added her favourite scent – ‘Amor Amor’ by Cacherel – and just a few simple items of jewellery.

“For my jewellery I wore my beloved rose gold hoop earrings (I wear them most days!) and I had bought a rose gold bracelet to match but couldn’t find it on the morning, so wore a pale blue Accessorize string bracelet which matched the bridesmaids.”

“My shoes were espadrille wedges bought from Dorothy Perkins for £10 in the sale and modified by my sister. We attached lace for a ballet wrap around look as I grew up as a dancer.”

In mustard yellow Zara dresses, together with brown leather sandals and Accessorize bracelets, Rosie’s maids were the epitome of style – and also added denim jackets for when the weather cooled.

Rosie’s favourite flower – the sunflower – featured heavily throughout the day and provided such bright pops of colour.

“My mum made up all the bouquets, flowers for the hair and buttonholes. She also had lots of sunflowers in wine bottles scattered all over the venue.”

Stu chose a stylish Ted Baker suit and added groovy gear stick cufflinks found via eBay. His groomsmen looked suave in their navy suits, from ASOS.

 “Stu and I met at high school and were always best friends, but it was not until eight years later that we started dating. Two and a half years later we got engaged when Stu took me on a surprise trip to Budapest, and six months later we got married.”

The bride and her maids travelled to the farm in total style – via a double decker bus with a heartfelt story behind it.

“The double decker bus was via The Bus Stop charity (set up by one of Rosie’s bridesmaids) and one of two charities that we asked guests to donate to as a wedding gift.”

I adore these shots of the couple’s outdoor ceremony, filled with smiling guests relaxing on hay bales at the farm, as they view Rosie’s dad accompanying the stunning bride to ‘Strawberry Swing’ by Coldplay (played live by a duo) down the aisle and watch the ceremony unfold.

“As Christians, we wanted a wedding different from the typical church building affair to show that the God we believe in isn’t constrained to just one church building. We wrote our own vows, promising to each other all the things we value and view as important in a relationship. Our readings were ‘1 John 3:16 – 18’ and ‘Romans 12:9 – 18’ and we chose these because they speak of how to show love to each other and other people.”

“We left it rather last minute and didn’t want to spend huge amounts on rings. The ones we found on Amazon suit us perfectly and the next day delivery certainly helped us out!”

The decor included colourful bunting, fairy lights, festoon lighting, paper balloons and pom-poms and origami birds, which were all contributed by different friends and family members. Throughout the day and night, the guests engaged in a range of party games (courtesy of Rosie’s dad), visited the whisky shack and hung out in the hobbit hole (yes, a hobbit hole!) located on the farm. Such fun! After all of these activities, it was a simple matter of retiring to onsite accommodation.

“Skipbridge Farm and Thistledown B&B (on the same site) provide accommodation including cottages, glamping tents, camping space and a shepherd’s hut. We had guests stay over which meant that they didn’t have to worry about getting home and we could all enjoy breakfast together the next day.”

“We made up picnic crates from an online order at Sainsbury’s. Stu’s dad made the crates which looked amazing! In the evening we had The Yorkshire Pizza Company come and serve pizzas from their wood-fired oven, which went down extremely well and were commented on very highly by many guests.”

The joy-filled images were by Esme and Jonny from Esme Mai Photography and made the bride and groom’s day.

“Esme Mai and Jonny Exon were amazing. We knew of Esme through several other weddings we have been at, firstly at Rosie’s older sister’s wedding. Esme is very talented and produces beautiful photos. We love her style and she is very easy to work with and we would certainly recommend her.”

A live seven-piece band – found through Rosie’s friend – played funky tunes into the night, including the couple’s first dance to ‘Hey Ya!’ bh Outkast.

“Stu’s clever mum made us a four-tier naked wedding cake with sunflowers made of icing. The tiers were chocolate fudge cake, orange cake, carrot cake, and lemon drizzle.”

“We both thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. The preparation, the ceremony, seeing so many people we love, the fun being had by everyone, the dancing, the food, the speeches … everything!”

“Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to eat the cakes that were brought by guests for the dessert table, so we had a late night feast at 2am when the last of the guests were leaving.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Enjoy the day! Don’t worry about small details or worry about how the day runs. You’re with your friends and family, so celebrate with them and enjoy it!”

I’m so chuffed and thankful to Rosie and Stu for allowing us into their big day and am still grinning at how well Esme and Jonny captured the joy on everyone’s faces.

Thinking about holding your nuptials outside? Take a peek at these other lovely weddings in the great outdoors from the LMD archives.

Righto, I’m off to practice my side braid again (silently wishing I were an octopus with more hands).

Love Jo -xo-