Festival farm wedding

It’s a very exciting wedding we have to bring you today, with a bride that will need little introduction. It’s the fabulous, fun-filled, festival-themed family affair of TNWC Real Bride Kerry and her now husband Nick! We’ve shared in the planning and now we can revel in the gorgeousness that is their big day!

Kerry and Nick got married on 9th August this summer at TNWC Recommended Supplier Cowparsley Weddings at Roughmoor Farm, Somerset; which they described as an ‘amazing venue’ and we couldn’t agree more!

Now go grab a cup of tea (or a cider to get you into the spirit of things), take a break and enjoy the wonderful words shared by Kerry…

The Day Before ‘Kipstival The Wedding’

Kerry and Nick wanted to have a humanist ceremony, so chose to do the ‘legal bit’ at a registry office the day before:

“It was a small affair, with only our kids, our mum’s, Nick’s dad and partners present. Right up until the moment we walked into that room, neither of us had had a single nerve, just excitement, but when Nick and I grabbed hands, they kicked in. Our hands became hot and clammy within seconds, but we managed to overcome them and say our vows without any problems. Straight after the ceremony we popped across the road to a pub for some lunch.”

“Nick and I didn’t want anyone to see our wedding venue in all its regalia until the big day, so after lunch we snuck off to spend the afternoon putting the finishing touches together.”

Kerry and Nick spent the evening before their wedding surrounded by friends:

“That evening the boys who’d travelled far and wide, including Nick’s best mate from Gibraltar, spent the night at the local pub for Nick’s stag do! Which meant all the ladies congregated at our house; so instead of finishing off the wedding cake, I spent the evening sat out in the garden till 12am drinking champagne…which was actually very nice, and put aside some of the nerves which had started to brew.

Thankfully, Nick had a great night (if you’ve seen my previous blog you’ll know that this was the first for him, whereas I’d had 4 hen do’s) and wasn’t feel too ropey (thank goodness!) the next morning.”

 The Morning of The Wedding

Kerry didn’t relax the morning of their wedding, instead finding time to finish their cake whilst her bridal party were at the hairdressers. However after a little meltdown, saved by Nick and rescue remedy, she was ready to get on with what she had been waiting for and make her way to the venue.

“Both my hairdresser and photographer were onsite, so after a little tour of all the rooms, the girls went off to get into their Kimonos which I’d bought them from JustCottons on Etsy. The rooms were lovely; Gill (who runs the B&B) had laid on refreshments for the adults and colouring books and sweets for the kids. Each room had the guest’s names written on tiny chalkboards and in our bedroom we had champagne and flowers.”

“I’d decided to do my own make up, I’d had a couple of make-up trials, but I was never quite satisfied with them, and came to the realisation that I’m the only person who knows my face, and how I like to apply make-up, so I’d bought a few nice brands and applied as normal.

With my hair, I usually always have it straight, unless I’m going out, when I curl it, so I went for the slightly curly option with a loose plait through the fringe. My hairdresser continued this theme throughout all the girls’ hair, which was a sweet touch. I then finished off my look with a little bridal hair band.”

The Dress

Kerry didn’t start her search for her dress in the normal manner, with visits to a list of bridal boutiques and is a great example of alternative ways you can find your ‘one’ for your wedding day;

“I started my wedding dress hunt on eBay, I didn’t want a second hand dress, but there are hundreds on there in all varying styles, so thought it a good place to start. I’ve never been that girl who dreamt of trying on loads of dresses in a bridal boutique, there is nothing wrong with it if you are, but for me, I get all hot and flustered when shopping, so preferred to research this vital purchase from the comfort of my own home…usually in bed on my phone (nearly every night!!).”

“I knew I wanted a lace dress, and the one I found had beautiful lace capped sleeves and flattering pleating on the bodice, but I needed a 2nd opinion so I text a picture to my best mate and sister. They both loved it but I was still quite sceptical as it was a made to measure dress from Hong Kong. Everyone’s heard the horror stories, but I just hadn’t found anything else I liked, so I made the leap of faith and pressed the ‘Buy it Now’ button!”

“Around 2 month’s later the dress finally arrived, it was a little too big, so I knew I was going to have to have it adjusted, and I was a little worried about the fabric, however once I met my dressmaker (who works for a very well known bridal designer in Taunton) she put my mind at ease.  She did an amazing job; having to take it up and in, plus reducing the amount of bling, which I hadn’t been expecting. I was so pleased with the finished results, but sadly had to pack ‘her’ away for nearly a year.”

Isn’t the colour of these bridesmaid dresses stunning!

The Groom

Nick left making the decision about what to wear until ‘the last minute’:

“Nick hates shopping, much like most men really, but he had an image in his mind (thanks to Pinterest) so I left this bit down to him. However, in true Nick style he left the shopping bit until 3 weeks before the wedding, which of course brought with it a huge amount of stress. He knew what he wanted in his mind’s eye, but couldn’t find anything within his budget.”

‘In the end, all four of us (kids and all) hopped in the car, drove up the motorway to Exeter and trawled around the shops. We were starting to loose all hope, but thankfully House of Fraser came to our rescue. Nick purchased a fantastic waistcoat from Ted Baker, along with a blue-grey linen cotton mix shirt and a pair of smart trousers.

He asked me if he was allowed to wear trainers, which was absolutely fine, as our wedding was never going to be a suit and tie event. We’d told everyone on our invites that the dress code was festival chic, so anything goes.”

The Ceremony

 “It was time to get into our dresses and head on down to the ceremony tree. This was the point where I thought the nerves would really kick in; having to walk down the aisle in front of everyone. But after a couple of glasses of Champagne and my 14 year old brother by my side (in place of our father, who we lost 12 years ago) most of the nerves had disappeared and been replaced by sheer excitement!”

“Nick and our children were waiting for us at the tree; my two beautiful bridesmaids lead the way, followed by my brother and I. We walked across the gravel drive, through the marquee and up the hay bale lined aisle to ‘Praise You’ by Fat Boy Slim.

Following a hug from my brother, I took Nick’s hand, I was just so relieved to be standing up there with him, I instantly relaxed – I remember relaxing my shoulders and holding his hand.”

“We sat on a wooden bench under the tree while Julie, our Humanist carried out the ceremony. It was such a personal and touching service, we loved every minute of it.”

“We’d asked both of our mum’s to play a part; Nick’s mum read ‘A Love Knot’ by Frances Nagle and my mum being a Pagan, carried out a hand fasting, the bind of which was made from some lace off my dress, fabric from my sister’s dress and some hessian which I’d used to make decorations from.”

“My mum had also given us a broomstick, which we laid at the end of the aisle and as we left the service to ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld we jumped the broom.”

The Flowers

Kerry chose to use a florist that grows her own beautiful seasonal blooms: ‘Lucy Gower from Sweet Cicely Flowers is based just a few miles up the road, and grows to order. The moment I met Lucy I knew I wanted her to do our flowers, we hit it off and she exactly knew the style I was after.”

“Sadly a lot of the flowers I wanted were out of season, but she made loads suggestions which helped me come to my selection.”

“I took my Mum along to Lucy’s farm and she made up a trial bouquet which I could take home and a selection of jars with gorgeous smelling flowers, which on the day made the marquee look fantastic.”

Photography

“We had two photographers – Dave Owen is a friend of ours, who took amazing natural photos at our daughter’s 1st birthday party, so we knew we wanted him for the wedding, but being our friend, we wanted him to be part of the day too.”

“So I also enlisted friend and ex-colleague Roni, who is a arts student here in Taunton and is also a photographer at the local nightclub, to capture the evening party shots. However Roni said she wanted to be there all day, so she came in with us girls as we got ready and took some fantastic shots of us in our kimonos, while Dave was down on the lawn taking snaps of our guests as they arrived.”

“The the two of them worked really well together throughout the day and we liked the fact that we had two different photographers to capture every moment (the only problem now is that we have over 2000 photos, which makes it really hard to decide which ones to get printed!).”

The Reception

Kerry and Nick’s reception was a relaxed affair, with a great retro ‘bar’ and yummy looking catering perfect for the festival vibe they wanted:

“The afternoon was spent in the glorious sunshine with champagne saucers in hand, hugging and kissing all our guests as they came up to congratulate us.”

“This was our first opportunity to say hello to some of our friends and family who had travelling a really long way to be present, and is one of the main memories we have of the day; along with looking around and seeing the children playing with the lawn games, the adults all stood around laughing, looking really relaxed and all having a great time.”

“While all this was going on, the paella was being cooked in front of us, which was a fantastic spectacle, and drinks were being served from Cedric the Citroën van which we’d hired from A Couple of Mugs. It really was picture perfect, exactly how we’d imagined it to be.”

Kerry did an impressive amount of crafting for the wedding, some of which she has shared with us in previous posts.

“I made quite a lot and started really early (which would be my first tip to any budding DIY bride). Origami flowers made from music paper, over 100 glass jars with burlap, lace, twine, pearls and some of the origami flower, ‘Mr & Mrs’ burlap bunting, a bouquet sleeve made from some of the fabric from my wedding dress and burlap.”

“Our table names were the names of every festival we’ve been to together, so I made these using frames from Ikea, card hearts on sticks to line the aisle, our wedding programmes; which I was particularly pleased with, were printed on brown card and had a plastic pocket full of flower petals.”

As Kerry already explained she also made her own wedding cake the morning of her wedding day:

“The design which I’d finally decided on was an amalgamation of two others I’d seen on Pinterest here and here. After a few technical glitches, I finally got it finished.”

How completely delicious is this cake? Kerry was very brave, working on this beauty the morning of her wedding, but it definitely looks worth it!

“Following our meal, Nick and I went off for a photoshoot over in the neighbouring field, which was a lovely moment, whilst we were sat on the straw bales with the sun beginning to go down, we could hear the first band (The Bristol Soul Collective) kicking off, and the sound of chattering and laughter, bliss.”

This is such a gorgeous happy family shot!

“The Bristol Soul Collective played a fantastic set which saw people start to make their way to the dance floor. Once they’d finished it was time for hot dogs around the fire pit and sparklers. This was when the sun had gone to bed and the twinkly lights came on; beautiful.”

“The last chapter of the day, was sealed with a fantastic set by our favourite local band FILTA. They drew everyone onto the dance floor, and there were many hands in the air.”

“Sadly, the party came to a close around midnight, which was where we had to say goodnight to our guests and to Kipstival the Wedding. It was the most amazing, fantastic and dreamy day. It does go by in a blur, but it’s just fantastic to sit through the photos after and the memories will come flooding back.”

Memories and Words of Advice

Looking back on their big day Kerry and Nick share their most memorable moments:

“For Nick it was walking into the marquee, having been introduced by my sister’s husband, to applause from all our guests. For me, it was probably the bit in between getting married and sitting down for dinner, as we stood on the lawn, drinking champagne and being congratulated by all of our friends and family.

For both of us (being keen dancers), the main memory which makes us smile is thinking back to the evening when everyone was dancing round the marquee to our favourite local dance band FILTA, just fantastic!”

Kerry offers some great words of advice for those currently in the process of planning their big day:

“We completely and utterly enjoyed the whole wedding process, the planning, the making and the doing. If we were to offer any advice, it would be to start trawling Pinterest and wedding blogs as soon as you get engaged, you’ll have so many ideas at first, so filter these out onto boards, such as hair, flowers, decoration etc, then revisit these and over time you’ll start to whittle down what you really want for your big day.

Then the fun begins, if you are going to make your decorations eBay is fantastic for pretty much anything, and then Etsy is another really good place.”

“On the day itself, give as many jobs to people as possible, this can be from car park attending, to candle lighting, it’s the little things that you’ll not have time to think about, so get someone else to do it for you, you’ll find that people will offer their services left right and centre, so take them up on it!”

“Then just let the day go by, and enjoy every minute, it is a cliché but it’s so true, you can spend all the time in the world planning, but the day itself just flies by, so take a minute to take stock; look around, listen to the sounds, smell the smells and enjoy.”

The Honeymoon

Kerry and Nick didn’t let the celebrations stop there as they enjoyed a minimoon travelling around the UK after:

“After the wedding, we spent 5 nights away; 1 night at the beautiful and uber trendy 131 Hotel in Cheltenham followed by 3 nights of being at one with nature at the simply fantastic Cabin on the Lake in Wales and finally we wrapped up our minimoon with a single night at the luxurious Wood Norton Hotel in Worcester.”

Who hasn’t finished reading that with a massive smile on their face?!

Thank you so much to Kerry and Nick for not only sharing their gorgeous wedding day with us, but for sharing the details building up to the day and their planning process. It has been wonderful being part of it all!

{Details}

Photography: David Owens & Titania Do Rosario
Venue: Cowparsley Weddings Taunton –  (TNWC Recommended supplier)
Dress: Goddess0220 on Ebay
Kimonos: JustCottons on Etsy
Groom’s Waistcoat: Ted Baker
Bridesmaids Dresses: LittlePrideBride on Ebay
Flower Girls Dress: Monsoon
Flowers: Sweet Cicely Flowers
Caterers: The Authentic Paella Company & Red Tricycle Catering
Bar: A Couple of Mugs
Wedding Cake: Cakes by Potts