Real Outdoor Vineyard Wedding with a Peony Bouquet

I think I've died and gone to wedding-heaven. This incredible big day has made me want to get married all over again. In a vineyard. On a beautiful summer's day. With a fishtail plait. I had to go back and look at my own wedding pictures to stop myself feeling jealous. {Yes I'm that odd}. I'm featuring zillions of Our Labour of Love's shots, because I can't quite find the words to describe the golden gloriousness of every wedding detail. Let's just say my favourites are the personalised fan programmes, the ombre ruffled cake, the perfect font on their place markers, Athena's huge pink bouquet, her father's kilt, and the ribbon and lace table runners. It's perfection in a Tiffany box! P.S. Athena's a lovely name for a girl, isn't it?

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The Cutest Crocheted Cake Toppers

If you're a regular reader, you've probably got bored of me banging on about Etsy, but I can't tell you how amazing it is for wedding inspiration. All these new eastern European sellers have recently joined, and their creativity is amazing! Latest on my love-list are these crocheted cake toppers from CherryTime in Slovenia. Aren't they perfect for a shabby chic wedding? Mojca hand-makes them, so she's open to bespoke orders, and there's plenty more in her Etsy shop - these are just my favourites.

{I want this!} Hearts & Happy Ever After Wedding Cake Topper, £29

{I want this!} Clown Fish Wedding Cake Topper, £48

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A Perfect English Summer Wedding with a Teepee! - Part 2

This summer wedding season has been all about the teepee marquee, and I'm happy to wager the trend will last us all the way into 2013. I love their rustic simplicity, and the fact you don't have to buy in expensive draping and lighting. Add in family style dining tables, big vessels of wildflowers and hay bale seats snaffled from a local farmer, and your all set for your wedding reception. Cheryl and Richard celebrated their big day on the perfect English summer's day, with tonnes of beautiful wedding details. I love how they themed their tables with personal photographs, and DIY'd their place-markers with bird stamps. Their wedding cake is work of white chocolate art, hiding a rather delicious chocolate biscuit interior, and their flowers were DIY'd by one of their bridesmaids. Huge thanks to Cheryl for all her lovely recommendations on how to plan your wedding, and big love to wedding photographer Hester Marriott, for her amazing pictures from the day. Don't miss Part 1.

My flatmate at the time, Charlotte Bromley Davenport is a wedding photographer, and she recommended Hester Marriott who is not only local to the church but a brilliant wedding photographer. We were adamant that we wanted someone with a great eye and reportage style as well as a warm and likeable personality, so soon as we met and she showed us her portfolio it was clear she was our photographer. 

On the day itself Hester was a true professional yet sensitive and gentle with us all; we hardly saw her and yet we were given the most beautiful shots which perfectly captured our day.

I have so may wonderful memories from the day - standing at the back of the church on the hottest day of the year seeing all my favourite people in one place, having our photographs taken as a family in the gorgeous sunshine whilst our friends sipped champagne, standing barefoot on a hay bale as my new husband gave his speech, my new husband grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the tipi to see fireworks overhead....I could go on and on!

I'm a country girl at heart so it felt only right that we have a country-style wedding. Richard was wonderful and really let me indulge my little-girl dream of a tipi outside the church overlooking the farm, hay bales, lanterns and a fire. It was rustic and beautiful - everything I had hoped for on my wedding day.

One of my bridesmaids offered to do the flowers, which was brilliant. I was pretty specific about the look that I wanted; traditional mismatched English flowers tumbling from vintage jugs, watering cans & enamel buckets.

We were kindly lent the vases for the table decorations so deliberately chose a mismatched rustic look. We wove ivy around the beams in the tipis and hung lanterns everywhere which were lit as the sun set.

Our photographer, Hester Marriott, recommended the caterers Mange 2 who are local to the church. As soon as we met Georgie and had our tasting session it was clear they were the ones for us. They worked with such sensitivity to give us our dream wedding, with hessian baskets for the sweet jacket potatoes, the most incredible hog roast and fantastic staff to serve it all. 

The food was absolutely exceptional; literally every single guest commented on it, especially our fabulous canapes and our beautiful chocolate biscuit wedding cake covered in white chocolate.

I loved planning our wedding day. We had five months to pull it all together and it far surpassed everything we had hoped. I had to find my dress pretty swiftly to ensure it was made in time but everything else fell into place. I'm a huge fan of lists (!) and found that a detailed plan for the day was crucial, to enable the ushers to follow your instructions on the day without overloading anyone.

Our wedding band Saloon Star came through a recommendation from a friend; we were absolutely DELIGHTED as they encapsulated the folksy, lively, rustic feel to the wedding. Everyone danced their socks off!

♥ Want more wedding marquee ideas? ♥ Or how about more blue themed weddings? ♥

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A Perfect English Summer Wedding with a Teepee!

When it comes to weddings and the weather, it's always risky in Britain. But one couple who rolled the lucky dice, came up trumps with a beautiful sunny day in Hampshire, and a gorgeous array of wedding details you'll be dying to steal. Gorgeous bride Cheryl chose her local family church for her wedding venue, followed by an amazing teepee wedding reception in a nearby field. The wedding has a countryside theme, with hay-bales, rustic jugs of flowers, and family-style dining, but with a big dollop of glamour on top, thanks to Cheryl's sparkly Jenny Packham wedding dress, Richard's morning suit and five gorgeous bridesmaids in cornflower-blue dresses. I love the simplicity of Cheryl's all white bouquet, her elegant up-do and her subtle bridal jewellery, and the colour pop of her bridesmaids and their bouquets. More gorgeous reception details coming in Part 2 - don't miss it! Huge thanks to the lovely Hester Marriott for her fabulous pictures.

My wedding dress was designed by Jenny Packham, and I bought it from a shop near Guildford called Miss Bush. My sister and one of my bridesmaids came with me to try on dresses and it was my bridesmaid who found my dress.

I have a connection with St Mary's Church in Alresford which goes back years. My family used to run the watercress farm which the church overlooks, and generations of my family are buried in the churchyard. I was christened there and used to go the church with my grandmother when I was a tiny girl. One of my most precious childhood memories is waking in the early morning at Manor Farm to the sound of the cows outside and the church bells ringing.

It's so easy to focus on what the bride is going to wear, but we made a real effort to order something special for Richard. He had a bespoke cream tie and beautiful shirt, bought for the occasion.

Richard and I met via my flatmate, who organised a dinner. It wasn't love at first sight as Richard arrived late, bought a four-pack of lager and was wearing a dodgy jumper! But as soon as we sat next to each other we couldn't stop talking and the rest is history! 

We had a whirlwind romance, culminating in Richard whisking me away for one of the most wonderful weekends of my life in Crackington Haven where he dropped down on one knee by the sea and proposed.

My flatmate at the time, Charlotte Bromley Davenport is a wedding photographer, and she recommended Hester Marriott who is not only local to the church but a brilliant wedding photographer. We were adamant that we wanted someone with a great eye and reportage style as well as a warm and likeable personality, so soon as we met and she showed us her portfolio it was clear she was our photographer. 

On the day itself Hester was a true professional yet sensitive and gentle with us all; we hardly saw her and yet we were given the most beautiful shots which perfectly captured our day.

♥ Want more wedding marquee ideas? ♥ Or how about more blue themed weddings? ♥

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Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.