A Quirky DIY Wedding with a Groom in a Top Hat

DIY weddings are always pretty special, because of all the personal touches. This wonderful Alice in Wonderland themed wedding definitely falls into that category - it's chock-full of brilliant handmade details! Bride Sophie made her own wedding cake and marshmallow favours, her friend made the cute toppers, her sister and mother made all the wedding decorations, including incredible vintage china cake stands, and the groom and his ushers were in charge of all the music, and the brightly coloured 'Drink Me' favours. Even the flowers were provided by a friend of the family. Feast your eyes on these amazing pictures by Sarah Jane Ethan Photography, and be sure to check our the Ceremony and Getting Ready pictures too.

We celebrated our wedding at Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham. We both fell in love with the Medieval Hall and Georgian Tea Room. 

We chose to host an Alice in Wonderland wedding, and the variety of secret gardens fitted our theme perfectly. Crook Hall was the first and only venue we visited. 

My bridesmaids dresses were from TX Maxx. I didn't have a colour theme in mind at the time. They were a taupe colour, and suited my bridesmaids beautifully. They chose their own shoes as I wanted them to be comfortable. They looked stunning. The ushers wore grey suits with red ties and hankies, plus a playing card in fitting with the them!

Our wedding photographer was Sarah Jane Ethan. She did the most amazing job at our wedding. My husband used to be a keen amateur, so we knew what we wanted when it came to style and SJ fit the bill perfectly. 

We reviewed the work of a number of photographers online, and met with a shortlist of five. Sarah Jane’s natural light style and lack of formal structure was really appealing, and as a person, she really lived up to her promise of fitting in just like a guest. She's super positive and her personality really put us at ease during those potential awkward moments. Highly recommended!

My father-in-law owns Grove House Plants Nursery in Greatham so he arranged for our flowers to be supplied by another family business, Blackfords Nursery in Hartlepool. I wanted to have simple rustic greenery and white flowers, so we opted for gypsophilia and white roses, with a red rose buttonhole for the groom.

We hired a self drive vintage VW camper van for my wedding car, in which my mum drove me and the bridesmaids to the venue to get ready. We used it for photo duties too, and have some great family shots in and around it! 

After our wedding ceremony, we hosted a Mad Hatter's tea party in the tea room with plenty of quirky twists, followed by a hog feast in the Medieval Hall, with an open fire and candles for our evening guests, all with appropriate music and decorative touches.

We wanted as many unique touches as possible, and I'm fortunate to have a very creative mum and sister who made the majority of our wedding decorations, from moustache drinking straws to giant card bunting.

Our Afternoon Tea wedding breakfast was by Crook Hall, and our evening feast menu was put together especially for us by Mandy at The Spitting Pig.

We didn't go for traditional take away favours, but added a few edible treats for guests. I made small marshmallow treats for each place setting, and my hubby and his groomsman mixed up some multi-coloured alcoholic shots in small drink-me vials.

My sister made cake stands from vintage cups and saucers, which was really effective.

Our magician, Jonathan Pickard was really well received and created some great photo moments with his amazing close up magic. 

Music was a big part of our day, and my husband and his groomsman, Dave, took great care to select fitting tunes for each part of the day, which were played back through a PA system hired from Ingram Sounds. 

I loved planning my wedding. It mainly consisted of Prosecco, tea, cake and lots of lists!! Every weekend was spent spending! My mum had so many lovely ideas and at whatever cost she made them happen. My bridesmaids were and still are wonderful! They kept me calm when things didn’t go to plan or when my husband and I disagreed on things – he wanted a lot more input than most! 

Our parents were utterly fabulous and we could not have done half of the things we planned without them! They supported us in whatever way they were able – financially and materially, with advice, love and guidance. My Dad even missed the football! We are an incredibly lucky Mr and Mrs!

We had a specially decorated vintage suitcase for our wedding cards. Heritage Blacksmith Partnership created a beautiful copper memory box, that my husband gave to me for our engagement. 

My sister made gorgeous hand embroidered hanging clocks and a personalised, hand-stitched guest book designed around the gates of our wedding venue. >My mum made the cute bride bunting from doilies and hand-painted Alice in Wonderland-style signs around the gardens. 

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to design and make the cake myself. This saved us a lot of money plus, as a cake maker, I thought I would put my skills to use. The cake was Alice themed with two tiers, a chocolate sponge and Victoria sponge. We had personalised toppers made by our very talented friend Annie, from Millerville Mini Models.

My advice for other brides? Enjoy the day! Enjoy the planning! Don't stress over the little details, they’ll take care of themselves. Do “six impossible things before breakfast” {I suggest prosecco} and “who is to say what is proper?” – Alice in Wonderland.

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An Alice in Wonderland Wedding with Dozens of DIY Ideas

Oooo, I do love a good theme! And there's nothing like a groom in a fancy red top hat and bow-tie! Rick and Sophie chose a brilliant Alice in Wonderland theme for their big day, and they really went to town with the DIY wedding details. I am so impressed with the creativity of Sophie's mother and sister - between them they created all the wedding decorations, from cake stands made from old cups and saucers, the hand-painted Alice-style signs, the giant playing card bunting, the embroidered hanging clocks, and even a personalised hand-stitched guest book based on the gates of the venue. You're going to want to Pin every picture! Huge thanks to Sarah Jane Ethan Photography for her beautiful pictures of the day - don't miss the Mad Hatter's Tea Party Reception.

We celebrated our wedding at Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham. We both fell in love with the Medieval Hall and Georgian Tea Room. 

We chose to host an Alice in Wonderland wedding, and the variety of secret gardens fitted our theme perfectly. Crook Hall was the first and only venue we visited.

My dress and veil were fittingly from Phoenix Gowns' Wonderland 2014 range, purchased from Sense of Style in Darlington. My mum and I found it whilst out having afternoon tea; it was a little hidden gem. 

My shoes were a vintage find from my mum costing a grand total of £6.80! My earrings were from M&S and I wore my Grandma's engagement ring {on my other hand}.

We had an Alice in Wonderland theme for our day, and everything based in the hall was very Medieval in style. We had a Mad Hatter's Tea Party with plenty of quirky twists, and then a hog feast with open fire and candles for our evening guests, all with appropriate music and decorative touches.

We had lots and lots of DIY projects. We wanted as many unique touches as possible, and I'm fortunate to have a very creative mum and sister who made the majority of our wedding decorations.

My bridesmaids dresses were from TX Maxx. I didn't have a colour theme in mind at the time. They were a taupe colour, and suited my bridesmaids beautifully. They chose their own shoes as I wanted them to be comfortable. They looked stunning.

My father-in-law owns Grove House Plants Nursery in Greatham so he arranged for our flowers to be supplied by another family business, Blackfords Nursery in Hartlepool. I wanted to have simple rustic greenery and white flowers, so we opted for gypsophilia and white roses, with a red rose buttonhole for the groom.

We hired a self drive vintage VW camper van for my wedding car, in which my mum drove me and the bridesmaids to the venue to get ready. We used it for photo duties too, and have some great family shots in and around it! 

Our invitations were fantastic, made by my mum and sister. They worked very hard at making them meet our very specific ideas. Created like a little book, the back page of each invitation had a playing card which determined their seat for afternoon tea. It also allowed them a free drink, but only if they remembered to bring it! 

The invitation was titled 'It’s about Time' as this was a frequent response to the news of our engagement and tied in perfectly with our Alice in Wonderland theme.

My Mum made beautiful wicker hearts and spades to hang on the back of the chairs for the ceremony, along with cute bride bunting made from doilies.

My husband and I have a connection with the Gladiator soundtrack! I bought him the CD as a gift when we first got together. When he suggested we used it, everything seemed to fit really well with the venue and I agreed straight away.

The track we used for walking up the aisle was 'Now we are Free' from the soundtrack, and we used the second half of the same track {which is a bit happier!} for the way back! Our first dance was 'She’s got a way' by Billy Joel.

My geeky Husband is hugely grateful to Halfdan Hansen of Jens Hansen who created a custom version of their 'One Ring' for his wedding band.

My husband chose his own outfit so we'd both be surprised on the big day. He wore a three-piece mid-blue suit from French Connection, with white shirt, bright red bow tie and matching vibrant red top hat from Christy's, complete with Mad Hatter 10/6 price tag. 

Extra details included playing cards to go with pocket squares, and pocket watch bought by our friend {and grooms-woman} Sarah.

Our wedding photographer was Sarah Jane Ethan. She did the most amazing job at our wedding. My husband used to be a keen amateur, so we knew what we wanted when it came to style and SJ fit the bill perfectly. 

We reviewed the work of a number of photographers online, and met with a shortlist of five. Sarah Jane’s natural light style and lack of formal structure was really appealing, and as a person, she really lived up to her promise of fitting in just like a guest. She's super positive and her personality really put us at ease during those potential awkward moments. Highly recommended!

My sister made the hand-painted Alice in Wonderland-style signs to put around the venue and the maze.  

To entertain our guests, we placed giant lawn games in some of the gardens, which we purchased from Uber Games.

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A English Country Garden Wedding with Pretty Vintage Details - Part 2

A vintage tractor, bridesmaids in wellington boots, and military men in uniform - just a few of my favourite things about this quirky big day. Andy and Catherine planned their spring wedding with only four months to spare, and personalised every detail, thanks to the help of their friends and family. In the build-up to their big day, they held craft evenings to cut and sew the bunting, put covers on homemade jam jar wedding favours, and design the wedding stationery. They even prepared an Easter Egg hunt for their guests. Enjoy these fantastic pictures by Sarah Relf at Lawless Rose Photography, and don't miss my favourite wedding detail - the fabulous cake by Dippy Design.

We celebrated our wedding on Saturday 19th April at St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church in Brabourne, Kent. Our reception was at The Thatched Barn in Farthingloe, and we had an English Garden wedding theme.

We were only engaged for four and a half months, so planning our wedding was quite a rush. We partly chose our venue based on what was available at such short notice, but The Thatched Barn was a beautiful venue, which fitted perfectly with our theme.

My husband and the best man wore military uniform, and we had an usher who wore a morning suit with a blue tie. There was also a guard of honour of ten soldiers, who were also all in uniform.

I had six bridesmaids, they wore a floor length pale sage green dress, with capped sleeves and high necks, with a flower detail on the shoulders. They came from Debenhams - they fitted my theme perfectly and suited the various shapes and sizes of my bridesmaids.

We also gave all our bridesmaids wellies from Joules as a gift on the day - an in case it rained. These doubled up as fantastic props for the portrait pictures!

Our wedding florist was Sharon Foreman Flowers. They were English country garden in style. We included gypsophila, eryngium {for a Scottish feel} small pink roses, eucalyptus, and a whole load more. 

Our wedding photographer was Sarah Relf at Lawless Rose Photography. She's an old friend who has a fantastic flair for capturing beautiful pictures.

The way all my family and friends pulled together to make it come true in such a short space of time. We held craft evenings at friends’ houses to cut and sew the bunting together and had a few nights of a production line, putting the covers on the jam jar favours (which my mother in law made).

If my husband to be hadn't been so hands on, it would have made the short timeline quite stressful. However, delegating to him and my fabulous friends and family made the whole thing completely low stress and really enjoyable. People like having a job and a role to play, don't be scared of giving them something to do!

Our wedding cake was made by Dippy Design and it was STUNNING! It was a three-tier cake, with layers of fruit, chocolate and Victoria sponge, and it was covered from top-to-toes with garden flowers made from sugar. 

We topped it sugar wellington boots and a bunting flag. We also had a nod to Andy's military background with a 'drop zone flash' in the middle of the second tier. It was absolutely amazing.

I wanted our flowers to look like I’d gone out in the garden and picked them, and then shoved them in jam jars, wellington boots and various teapots and jugs. Nothing too formal or structured. They were wonderful.

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