An Outdoor DIY Wedding with a Cream Tea Reception

Any bride looking to keep her wedding within a sensible budget is going to L-O-V-E this inspirational big day. Kelly and Gavin flashed their cash where it mattered - i.e. venue and wedding photographer, but kept everything else wallet friendly, by searching for bargains and DIY-ing many of their wedding details. You'll love their handmade stationery, bunting, decorations and hand-picked wedding flowers. And I'm slightly obsessed with their chocolate wedding cake, with its personalised bunting. More fabulous details on how Kelly and Gavin saved money on their wedding outfits in Part 1 - in the meantime, enjoy these stunning shots by Linus Moran Photography.

My husband got down on one knee in Venice to pop the question. Two years to the day, we tied the knot at Kingston Maurward stately home, in Dorset, on March the 16th 2014.

After seeing several different venues Kingston Maurward ticked all the boxes, with the chance of an outdoor wedding I've always dreamed of having. Both being artistic, we enjoyed making as many things as possible. 

Everything that could be DIY'd for the wedding was handmade, from the stationery and decor to the flowers and bunting. As with most weddings we had a budget to stick to. Even with the smallest weddings, finances / expenditure can get out of control. 



The wedding wouldn't have been such a success without such wonderful staff at Kingston Maurward. I couldn't thank them enough, the house looked absolutely beautiful. It was decorated just the way I had dreamed.

Our wedding flowers were hand picked and I chose a mix of hydrangeas, roses, freesias and baby's breath and we arranged them in cream milk jugs. 

My husband and I are very lucky to have such amazing friends and family who helped out on the day. My lovely mum made fabulous sweet trees.

One of my friends made delicious Dorset cream teas. Another good friend Lauren Bannon was very kind to sing for us. My mum surprised us with a harpist and a lovely vintage ice cream cart. It was the best day of our lives!

Our fairy tale wedding was a dream come true. Just goes to show D.I.Y weddings on a budget can work! The tissue-paper pom poms hanging from the trees looked fabulous.

Mark from Pegasus Disco did a great job with the music and mood lighting the room for the evening. Mark played some of our favourite songs from 70's disco to everyone on the dance floor doing the conga. For our first dance my friend Lauren Bannon sang 'At last' by Etta James. My husband and I love this song.

Last but not least, our wedding photographer. The one thing I didn't want to scrimp on, a lifetime of beautiful memories. I had followed Linus Moran's blogs for some time, and loved the natural beauty of his work. I knew I wanted this very talented photographer to take our photos for our wedding day.



We had a lovely photo frame signing board, all the guests have signed it along with putting a special message. Linus also puts together a photofilm, combining the pictures with audio recordings from the ceremony and speeches. He carefully edits the highlights of the day, capturing the tender moments, and all the emotion. I was truly blown away.

We had a lovely photo frame signing board, all the guests have signed it along with putting a special message. Linus also puts together a photofilm, combining the pictures with audio recordings from the ceremony and speeches. He carefully edits the highlights of the day, capturing the tender moments, and all the emotion. I was truly blown away.

Linus is not just a photographer, he's a photo artist who is very passionate and proud of his work. My husband and I are over the moon with the photographs, they are absolutely stunning. It's a wonderful moment, sitting back and watching your own wedding day! Linus gave us a gorgeous personalised leather case, with a USB card inside containing all our wedding day memories.

Make the most out of your wedding budget and stick to it, don't get carried away. Who knows if your wedding dress cost £15,000 or £100? Enjoy your wedding, it's your big day. Hope you too have the time time of your lives! Love Mr and Mrs Relph x

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An Outdoor DIY Wedding with a Cream Tea Reception

Back in my teenage years, we used to go to these amazing parties at Kingston Maurward in Dorset. I have fond memories of the incredible stately rooms, and stunning grounds, including a tranquil lake and arboretum. So it was a wonderful blast from the past to receive Linus Moran's stunning photographs of Kelly and Gavin's wedding. The happy couple chose Kingston Maurward as their wedding venue, and despite getting married in March, managed to have an amazing outdoor ceremony, in the bright spring sunshine. Just goes to show you should always think positive about the weather! Kelly and Gavin love a bargain, and were keen to DIY as many of their wedding details as possible. You'll love their wedding flowers, sweet trees, table stationery, and all their pretty decoration details, including pompoms and bunting. What's more, Kelly's Benjamin Roberts wedding gown only cost £250. Find out more in her answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and enjoy Linus Moran's fantastic wedding photographs....more to come from their reception later today.

My husband got down on one knee in Venice to pop the question. Two years to the day, we tied the knot at Kingston Maurward stately home, in Dorset, on March the 16th 2014.

My wedding dress was from Preloved, a Benjamin Roberts wedding dress that should have been £1700, selling for £250. I fell in love with it, and it fitted like a glove. I love a bargain!

We wanted our flower girls to look like little girls. I was browsing through the rails in Monsoon and found the most amazing dresses. Power blue hydrangea print dress with an over-sized bow at the back.

They were originally £60, but you may have guessed by now, I didn't pay the full sum! They were an absolute bargain in the sale at £30 and I loved them.

After seeing several different venues Kingston Maurward ticked all the boxes, with the chance of an outdoor wedding I've always dreamed of having. Both being artistic, we enjoyed making as many things as possible. Everything that could be DIY'd for the wedding was handmade.

Our wedding flowers were hand picked and I chose a mix of hydrangeas, roses, freesias and babies breath.

The wedding wouldn't have been such a success without such wonderful staff at Kingston Maurward. I couldn't thank them enough, the house looked absolutely beautiful. It was decorated just the way I had dreamed.



The outside ceremony was out of this world, with my friend Lauren Bannon's soft voice singing 'Your Song' by Elton John. The sound of birds singing. The lake sparkling from the sun's reflection. The hottest day in March for 35 years, wow!! I had to keep pinching myself.

Our fairy tale wedding was a dream come true. Just goes to show D.I.Y weddings on a budget can work! The tissue-paper pom poms hanging from the trees looked fabulous.

My husband's slim fit suit and waistcoat dressed up with an Ascot cravat and pocket watch, was from a Ted Baker outlet sale. Another amazing bargain that should have been £700, was only £270.

Last but not least, our wedding photographer. The one thing I didn't want to scrimp on, a lifetime of beautiful memories. I had followed Linus Moran's blogs for some time, and loved the natural beauty of his work. I knew I wanted this very talented photographer to take our photos for our wedding day.

We had a lovely photo frame signing board, all the guests have signed it along with putting a special message. Linus also puts together a photofilm, combining the pictures with audio recordings from the ceremony and speeches. He carefully edits the highlights of the day, capturing the tender moments, and all the emotion. I was truly blown away.

Linus is not just a photographer, he's a photo artist who is very passionate and proud of his work. My husband and I are over the moon with the photographs, they are absolutely stunning. It's a wonderful moment, sitting back and watching your own wedding day! Linus gave us a gorgeous personalised leather case, with a USB card inside containing all our wedding day memories.

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A 1950's Vintage Themed Wedding with a Grace Kelly Inspired Bride - Part 2

With a vintage 1950's theme, and a rustic-glamorous venue, this wedding is something of a humdinger! the bride and groom, Tania and Tegid threw themselves into the planning process, adding tonnes of personalised ideas, and doing a fair few DIY projects along the way. There's lots of money-saving tips in Tania's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, including print-your-own wedding stationery from Zazzle, make your own favours with Jen's Sweet Shop vintage bonbons, and original 1970s figurines of Princess Leia and Han Solo as a cake topper. I'm also a big fan of their heart-shaped blackboards - such a useful photo prop! Loving all their wedding pictures, published with thanks to the talented team of Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography.

We got married in the Midlands on 31st August 2013. The ceremony was held at St John the Baptist's Church in Middleton, followed by our reception at Shustoke Farm Barns in Coleshill.

We saw a lot of lovely old hotels full of character, but for the number of guests we had {approx. 90}, with most of them we would have had to have held our wedding breakfast in a marquee away from the main venue. So when we found Shustoke Farm Barns, a red brick 18th century building which was still being renovated {we saw it pretty much as a building site, without a roof!}, we thought it was perfect. It had all the beautiful traditional rustic charm, but with the added bonus of lots of capacity!

My bridesmaids’ outfits were a design from Mori Lee. We decided on an elegant chiffon design as it suited all my lovely ladies and had the same Hollywood 50s glamour feel we were looking for to complement my dress.

Our wedding photographers were Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography. We discovered them at a wedding fayre and they were the first supplier we booked! Their work stood out from the competition as they clearly had a natural talent for creating stunning and creative photos that were quirky and fun, as well as capturing the more traditional wedding shots. 

As a bonus, HBA Photography were super friendly on the day, and worked tirelessly to capture the various types of shots we had included in our brief.

I am a big fan of Grace Kelly! So my dress was very much inspired by her timeless look. We therefore had a hint of a 50s vintage theme throughout the wedding, from the 50s inspired design on the stationery, the style of the bridesmaid dresses, the traditional bonbons for favours, all the way through to our vintage suitcase, which we used as a wedding card postbox.

We didn't have to do a lot to decorate the venue as the decor held its own. We just added some country-style flower arrangements on the tables in enamel jugs to add a burst of colour.

We chose Claretys for our wedding flowers. They're a local florist near to my mum's house. They were very professional, and I liked the look and feel of their previous displays. The two ladies who ran the shop were also very attentive and listened to what we were looking for, but were great at advising what combination of buds would complement each other, and which flowers might not work. I felt they also offered great value and I would certainly recommend them again!

For all our wedding stationery, we used a pre-designed invite from the website Zazzle, featuring a very 'Bewitched' style, bird and cake design. It seemed a perfect choice to go with the vintage-y feel we were going for, and also complemented our colour theme of taupe and purply/pinks. We used the same design theme and font for all our other stationery, including the order of service, our table place names and for creating our table plan.

A cousin of my husband's created our cake. She has her own small business, called The Bespoke Bakery, creating delicious and fabulous looking cakes. We gave her an outline of the theme/style/colour scheme of the wedding and she suggested the three-tier cake that she made for us. 

It was made of lemon cake for the bottom two tiers, and a fruit cake for the top, with a simple but effective design of hydrangea petals cascading down the side. Sitting atop of the cake were original 1970s figurines of Princess Leia and Han Solo bride and groom, for my husband, lest we forget how big a Star Wars fan he is! ;-)

We had quite a few DIY projects! My groom, parents and I had a bit of a production line going on the week leading to the wedding, diligently making the table plans, favours and name cards. My friend also designed and made the order of service. We also fashioned our postbox from an old vintage suitcase and created a photo display of the wedding photos of our close family members, including all our grandparents.

Our wedding favours were vintage sweets {bonbons}, supplied by Jen's Sweet Shop. They continued the vintage theme, and were quite cost effective, as we made them up ourselves using cellophane bags and lots of pretty ribbon.

I did enjoy being so closely involved with so many aspects of the planning of the wedding, as it felt very personal by the end of it. However, I did find it challenging to balance all the wedding preparation with a full time job, and found it rather tiring by the end! 

It's really tempting to try and be involved in every aspect of planning your day, but sometimes you have to trust other people/suppliers to help you along the way, otherwise, you can get overwhelmed by it all. So delegate, delegate, delegate wherever you can and on the day, try to forget all the planning and just let your hair down!

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