Sunflowers and a Tea-Length Dress for a Rustic-Inspired Country Wedding

Lovely readers, I have a little something to give you a pick-me-up today, if you’re suffering from a mid-week slump as we get closer and closer to pre-Christmas chaos, like me!

Take a break, grab a hot cuppa, and soak up these stunning images by Ryan of Shutter Go Click Photography fame – our second wedding from this image-making talent today! Quite a few of the bride and groom’s suppliers, including their uber talented photographer, are a part of our nifty online bridal resource Little Book for Brides.

Bride Lauren is a senior account manager for an SEO agency and groom Callon is a contract manager for British Gas. They held their summer nuptials on Saturday the 8th of July 2017 at the wonderfully rustic venue Skipbridge Country Weddings in York, after their original wedding venue fell through. This picturesque setting comes complete with farm animals, hobbit holes, rustic decor in the countryside – and the addition of sunflowers added lovely bright pops of colour.

“Our wedding photographer, Ryan from Shutter Go Click Photography, was without a shadow of a doubt the best wedding photographer ever! We were so glad we found him, and weirdly that was through Instagram searching #yorkshireweddingphotographer! He was so attentive throughout the lead up to the wedding. I felt like I had to chase quite a number of suppliers, but Ryan was all over everything. He was hilarious, gave the best advice and caught the best moments throughout the day that we adore.”

Images by Shutter Go Click Photography

“The main theme and style of the wedding came mainly from our love of wildlife and wanting a rustic inspired, farm-like wedding. The colour palette came from sunflowers – they were something that always reminds me of my Grandma and always make us smile, so there was no doubt that oranges, yellows and ivories were going to be the theme.”

Lauren’s dress was the divine tea-length ‘Darla’ style by House of Mooshki which she bought from Bridal Rogue Gallery – and the moment she tried it on she knew it was ‘the one.’

“I always had an idea of what I wanted in my head – tea-length style, lace and tulle, and three-quarter-length sleeves and then I found the ‘Darla’ dress after coming across House of Mooshki. I loved everything about the dress, mainly the length. But the back of it is stunning and the sleeves just finished it off for me. It was the first dress I found, first dress I tried on and I knew it was the one instantly.”

The beautiful bride donned a stylish pair of limited edition Rachel Simpson shoes in lemon – how fabulous! – which she bought before she’d even found her dress. I’m still in love with my divine heels by this talented designer, who is also a part of our handy bridal resource – see the member listing here.

The florist, Lyn Parker, helped Lauren and Callon pair flowers that would complement the sunflowers, instead of standing out on their own and did an amazing job to make them all work beautifully.

“Cal and I met in Headingley in Leeds on a random night out in 2007. He was away with work, none of it was meant to happen, I should have been working the next day, but wasn’t needed, and Cal should have been sitting an exam, but they brought them forward. After we met and chatted he gave me his number. I put it in my phone and shut it, but it was one of those flip phones and I hadn’t realised it didn’t save.”

“Luckily, Cal had let me know where he was staying and I called and left my details with reception (my mum said at the time, sometimes fate needs a little push). Three days later he called, mainly because he thought it was a wind up from his colleagues and thought it was all a joke. But again, lucky for me, he called and we arranged to meet the next day!”

“Eight years later we bought our first house and he proposed the day we moved in. Cal had hung fairy lights all over the front room and was down on one knee with a song we both love on in the background. I was just crying and laughing all at the same time, it was perfect! We married two years later after ten years together and needed this time to save for the wedding and plan everything.”

“My hair accessories were handmade pins by my friend Louise, but originally for my sister Louisa’s wedding, and then Louise used them for her wedding and then I borrowed them. Three weddings and still going strong, they were the perfect finishing touch.”

“The first bottle of perfume Cal bought me was Chanel – Chance, Eau Tendre. So I had this for the day plus my girlfriends bought me the body lotion too and I smelt amazing all day! I felt like the dress, shoes and veil did enough and didn’t require anything else, so kept it pretty simple with just the diamond studs that Cal had bought me years before.”

“Jane Walton was an absolute star – my veil was bespoke and I absolutely adored it. She made it perfectly to match the dress.”

“Cal and his party were outfitted in smart Slaters attire paired with pocket watches from Gamekeeper Cottage on eBay and beetle cufflinks. He had two best men, Oliver and Gavin, friends since they were 10 yrs old. Both them and their partners helped us out massively when it came to decorating the tipi – we couldn’t have done it without them.”

“My dad flew in from Arizona for the wedding and walked me down the aisle. I think he was more nervous than me as he was holding onto me so tight, but it was a beautiful moment and something I’ll always remember.”

“We had to have one bible reading and we, like many, chose Corinthians 13: 4-13. Our vows were traditional church vows, but something we laughed at was during the run up to the wedding we had bets going about who was going to cry more, me or Cal.”

“And when we both saw each other at the top of the aisle we were just beaming. I managed so well right until the ‘have and to hold’ and I literally couldn’t get the words out, I had a full-on wobble, and the vicar just kept on repeating the vows thinking I had forgotten, but I just looked at Cal and took a deep breath and continued. By all accounts I took half the congregation down crying. Hahaha!”

“Whenever we hit a bump in the road in our relationship, whether that be money worries, family or work, Cal always sings ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley, ‘don’t worry, about a thing, because every little thing is gonna be alright’. We even had a huge poster made before we moved in our house with those words written on it.”

The couple’s wedding rings were by Craven Jewellers. I just adore this sweet touch for their special mementos of their big day.

“I chose a classic white gold band because I love my engagement ring so much, Cal was amazing at choosing it. And then Craven’s told us that if Cal had any gold, it could be melted into his ring, so we took a ring from Cal’s late Grandad and had that added to his ring, which was such a great idea.”

Guests travelled in a vintage bus from The Keighley Bus Museum Trust.

The maids were gifted a gold bangle with the word ‘Love’ inscribed on it from Kikki K from the bride and their pretty dresses were via ASOS.

“I was so lucky with these dresses. They were everything I was looking for and my sister and best friend Laura loved them, but then I found out they had been reduced as well – definitely my best buy at £35 each.”

“Hair was by Lisa at Yorkshire Bridal Hair and make-up by Meg Lindow. Both are truly amazing ladies and super lovely and will keep you calm and chilled on the day!”

Papakata – who are treasured members of our bridal directory Little Book for Brides – provided the tipis at the venue and one was filled to the brim with paper lanterns to decorate.

“Paper lanterns were always at the top of the list when it came to decoration. I had wanted to cover the entire ceiling, but when doing it yourself we realised how difficult this was. So we chose to fill one peak of the tipi with as many lanterns as we could fit, as this was above the tables. And it looked great, but only thanks so our friends and family for helping out. We could never have done it on our own.”

Tunnocks tea cakes were used as the favours and name places, as Cal always loved having them whenever he saw his great aunt Lil or Grandma when he was little – what a lovely and personal touch. And the stationery was crafted beautifully by Sienna Mai.

“All our stationery was incredible. Sienna had set designs but could make bespoke amends to them, and she was so reasonable on costs for what we received. Even the twine that was to wrap around the invites was cut to size; everything had been thought of.”

“My mum and step dad made us two floral benches and spent the days leading up to the wedding decorating them with artificial flowers and tear drop candles. It was the perfect touch to the setting and something we were so thankful for. They did a fantastic job.”

“After cancelling our original choice of caterer and through a recommendation and after hearing our plea, Taste Cuisine came to the rescue, literally, and took over everything concerning the food. Their attention to detail and making us feel at ease was exactly what we needed and the food was incredible. Deep-fried mac and cheese balls! The best.”

The newlyweds were so happy with their choice of band, who thoroughly entertained everyone.

“It was such a shame we couldn’t keep these guys – The Burning Aces – on all night, they were brilliant, interacted with the crowd, took requests and were just fantastic. They performed our first dance song (Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’) and we couldn’t have been happier.”

“The first dance was without a doubt one of the greatest moments – being surrounded by everyone you love and singing a song that means the world to you was quite unbelievable. Also, Ryan took us off for some photos later on in the evening and we could see everyone all over the venue laughing and singing and knowing that all those people are there for the two of you and enjoying themselves so much gave us both such a wonderful feeling and made everything worth it.”

“Another incredible moment came when we were serenaded by one of the waiters called Walter from Taste Cuisine, who was Zulu. Callon was born in South Africa in Amanzimtoti, Kwazulu-Natal and during the signing of the register in church we played a song called Ngqothwane (known as ‘Click Click Song’) which is a traditional song that is sung to newlyweds as a blessing. When Walter heard about this, he insisted on singing this song for us in front of all our guests. It was a really beautiful moment that came out of nowhere, and Ryan our photographer caught the loveliest shot of this moment – I love that picture.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“People will always tell you to take some time for yourselves; do this, it was one of the best moments of our day. It just gives you a chance for things to sink in. We only took 5 minutes, but we can recall every second. But also, someone will always be there to help you, and if you’re like me and didn’t want to ask, just do it. Your friends and family want to help, let them, it will save you so much stress in the long run, so delegate!”

“Our original wedding budget was £15,000. But that was gone as soon as we had to change the venue, we then had to pay out for multiple things that originally had all been included. We will never know the full amount we spent, we bought so many things just along the way that was never accounted for. We paid things off as we went and staggered everything out. As much as we would have loved to get married straight away from getting engaged, that was never going to happen to have the wedding we really wanted. We also wanted to say a massive thank you to our families who contributed to helping us have the wedding of our dreams – we couldn’t have done it without them.”

Golly gosh, after pouring over Ryan’s work, I really want to get a snap of myself in the hobbit hole, just like the gorgeous bride and her groom! Thank you to the lovely two for allowing us a peek into your simply stunning summertime wedding – all of the love and emotion just oozes in every shot.

I’ll leave you with these thoughts by the beautiful bride on how helpful she found wedding blogs, including Love My Dress, in the lead up to her wedding. We just love to hear how we played a small part behind the planning of your big day.

“The blogs showcased weddings that seemed achievable to me. Everything was real. And they were always the best place to find information. Getting engaged doesn’t come with a guide and can be very overwhelming. Having places like this that provide you with the supplier details for any budgets are a great place to do research.”

Enjoy the rest of the week lovelies – and good luck with the Christmas crowds!

Love Jo -xo-