A Pretty Shabby-Chic Wedding with a Mint-Green Cake!

You'll easily spot my favourite detail in this lovely pastel-themed wedding. It's the mint green wedding cake! I love everything about it - from the ruffled icing {very this season}, to the shabby chic lace bow, and the pretty mini-bunting topper. It's perfect! There's plenty more stealworthy wedding details - you'll want to copy Heather's bridal style, her Pronovias wedding dress, unstructured bouquet and DIY'd limoncello wedding favours. I'm also a big fan of their twine-wrapped jam jar vases. Fabulous pictures by Jack from Firsthand Photography. If you missed Part 1 of this wedding click here!

We celebrated our wedding at St Edmund's Church at Holme Pierrepont, with our reception next door at Holme Pierrepont Hall.

At the beginning, we didn't have a definitive theme, however it slowly developed with the help of online blogs. We explored lots of ideas, and created our own wedding scrapbook.

We ended up with a kind of rustic, traditional feel to the decorations. Pierrepont Hall is an amazing venue with beautiful gardens surrounding it, and we were really lucky that the weather held out.

Our wedding caterer was Fiona Herbert, who also managed the whole day. The team were vital to the smooth running of our wedding, and everything ran perfectly. All our guests commented on how good the food was at our reception.

Our wedding photographer was Jack at Firsthand Photography. She was fantastic - we hardly knew she was there, and have had so many people comment on how great she was since our big day. 

Funnily enough Jack lives just around the corner from us, so she popped round one evening for an introduction, and we instantly felt at ease.

Mrs Umbels was our wedding florist. They were absolutely fantastic - such a talent and very patient with us. Once we met Sarah in her little hut in the countryside, we knew she was the florist for us.

Our wedding favours were little kilner bottles of homemade limoncello and sloe gin. These doubled up as place names, as the bottles were labelled with little luggage tags.

We had a three-tiered cake with frosting in mint to match the hall and the bridesmaid dresses. It had ruffled icing and a lace bow, and we topped it with mini-bunting saying ' Just Married'. On the cake table we also had matching cake pops and cupcakes, all iced with mint and orange.

I loved planning my wedding! My advice to brides would be start early, breaking this down into a {big} list, and don't settle - you only get one big day!

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A Pastel-Themed Stately Home Wedding with a Pronovias Gown

Take one Princess-style gown, sprinkle it with confetti, and add an elegant chignon, and you've got the recipe for a beautiful bride. Everything about this lovely shabby-chic wedding is romantic, from the white vintage car, to the incredible stately home venue, and the mint-green wedding cake. I've fallen head-over-hells for Heather's stunning Pronovias wedding dress - you'll want to add it to your must-try list. And her bridesmaids' strapless Coast dresses were a great buy! Enjoy these Getting Ready and Ceremony pictures by Firsthand Photography - look out for the inspiring Reception shots in Part 2, later today.

We celebrated our wedding at St Edmund's Church at Holme Pierrepont, with our reception next door at Holme Pierrepont Hall.

At the beginning, we didn't have a definitive theme, however it slowly developed with the help of online blogs. We explored lots of ideas, and created our own wedding scrapbook.

We ended up with a kind of rustic, traditional feel to the decorations. Pierrepont Hall is an amazing venue with beautiful gardens surrounding it, and we were really lucky that the weather held out.

I got my dress from Beautiful Brides in Nottingham, it was a Pronovias design which I still love!

I created our wedding invitations. Initially we sent out Save the Dates with an illustration of Holme Pierrepont Hall that Lee drew for me. I then designed the invitations, which were a collective set of cards - invitation, RSVP and directions / accommodation options. I tied them all together with some simple twine.

Lee wore a set of Ted Baker tails from Moss Bros. He added a silver-grey waistcoat and cravat, and a pink rose buttonhole.

My bridesmaids' outfits came from Coast. They were strapless, Grecian style gowns in mint green. They wore silver shoes, and they all had their hair up for the day.

Mrs Umbels was our wedding florist. They were absolutely fantastic - such a talent and very patient with us. Once we met Sarah in her little hut in the countryside, we knew she was the florist for us.

We chose lots of different pastel colours for our wedding colour palette, and they all came together beautifully.

We chose the traditional Wedding March for walking up the aisle, and our first dance was 'Grow Old with Me' by Tom Odell.

Our wedding photographer was Jack at Firsthand Photography. She was fantastic - we hardly knew she was there, and have had so many people comment on how great she was since our big day. 

Funnily enough Jack lives just around the corner from us, so she popped round one evening for an introduction, and we instantly felt at ease.

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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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