In nature, autumn is a blaze of vibrant colours and this week’s Real Wedding is all about those quintessential autumnal colours. Emerald green bridesmaid dresses, rusty orange leaves, plump purple blackberries, soft brown fur and deep red dahlias. This autumn village hall wedding is a feast for the senses too; the textures are intense with pheasant feathers, ears of wheat and berries adorning the dahlia bouquets, buttonholes and hair clips.

Captured by TNWC recommended photographer, Amy Taylor Imaging, Laura and Jamie’s autumn village hall wedding is the product of a whole community coming together and pitching in. The ceremony took place in her parent’s tiny local church and the celebrations unfolded in the village hall in which her youth clubs were hosted when she was a teenager.

We chat to bride Laura to find out more about the their special day…

Autumn village hall wedding

Everything is exuberant in autumn

“We hadn’t even got out of the car before I asked if we could get married in October. I’d always wanted to get married in autumn; I love the richness of the colours and the abundant amounts of food – everything is exuberant at that time of year, and that feeling of warmth and plenty summed up my feelings about getting married, surrounded by friends and family.”

Morning transformations

“I had a really horrible cold on the day, which wasn’t very relaxing, but did get me out of running around doing last minute bits – that was left to the groom, the best man and my lovely parents.

“The hair and make-up artist did absolute wonders given what she had to work with that morning, and as the adrenaline started to kick in I started to forget to feel ill, although I was worried no one would hear me saying my vows as I’d lost my voice.”

A secluded wedding ceremony

“I wanted a traditional wedding, so it was important to me to get married from my parent’s house. I also wanted it to be private, so we chose a small and secluded local church so that there would be no on-lookers.”

Traditional country wedding

“I wanted a traditional country wedding so it was also important that it was in a church with my Dad giving me away and my sister giving a reading. Jamie is very laid back and was happy as long as we had enough food, drink and room for all our friends and family.”

In it together

“I was so relieved to see Jamie when I walked in because he looked more nervous than me. We are neither of us fond of being the centre of attention, but I felt when I saw him that it would be ok because we were going to do it together, and not on our own.”

Handmade decorations for the church

“We decorated the church with the flowers grown by Mum’s lovely friend, and Mum and I made hessian bows for each pew end. It was very simple but looked effective. We had some autumn-themed bunting up outside as well in the beautiful old church porch.”

Seasonal, sentimental dahlias

“I wanted to have dahlias for the wedding flowers, not just because they are one of the few things flowering at that time of year, but also because my great-grandmother used to grow them so there was a family connection.”

Bouquets of feathers and blackberries

“A lovely lady my mum knows through the WI grew all of the dahlias that we used to decorate the venue and the church in beautiful reds, whites and golds. The flowers for the bouquets came from the wonderful Flowers by Fiona and she also made my floral crown. She included pheasant feathers and faux blackberries in the bouquets along with grasses.”

A warm wedding dress

“My wedding dress was £400 on the sale rack in a local bridal shop. I loved that it was a warm colour, not pure white, and the material was rich and heavy which felt right for the theme. It was completely not what I was planning to wear (something slim-line and lacy) but was definitely the right choice.”

Statement autumn flower crown

“I loved my cathedral train two tier veil and feather shrug which was very warm. The main feature that everyone commented on was my flower crown, which was a beautiful creation by Flowers by Fiona.”

Relaxing wedding photography

“Amy Woodward-Taylor was our photographer and she did a fantastic job at making us feel less stupid. As I said, neither of us are keen on being the centre of attention, but she was great at making us feel less self-conscious and more relaxed, and the final photos really captured all of the warmth of the colours and the mood.”

A lovely cheesy proposal

“Jamie and I met in the pub one evening through friends while we were at university. Five years later we got engaged in Prague on New Year’s Eve when having a tour in a vintage car. It was very cheesy which I loved. And he gave me a really beautiful ring.”

A village hall wedding

“The venue was the village hall I used to go to Youth Club in; it has recently been re-furbished and has beautiful wooden floors, a high ceiling and a lovely bar, but also came with all the kitchen facilities we would need, and a field for parking (kindly loaned to us for the day by a local farmer).

“We drove to the village hall after the ceremony and it was lovely to have that time together in the car, just to have a few minutes alone.”

Pinterest wedding created by Mum

“This was definitely a Pinterest-aided wedding. That is where a lot of the ideas came from.

“Our main resource was my Mum; she is very gifted in all types of arts, crafts, sewing and making and she was able to create many of the decorations and details. Having the wedding back where my parents live in Shropshire also meant that we were able to use a lot of her contacts in the community, and through the WI, to beg and borrow favours, materials and equipment.”

Everything handmade

“Apart from clothing everything else was handmade – buttonholes, hair clips, bunting, table confetti, actual confetti, cake toppers, pew ends, table arrangements, puddings, drinks, wedding cake, cake stands, guestbook, table numbers, table plan, wedding tree, invitations…”

Needle felt squirrel cake toppers

“I am very lucky to be surrounded by amazingly skilled and artistic family members – one of my cousins is amazing at sugarcraft. I made and iced my own wedding cake, and she did the most fantastic decorations for it and my Mum made the needle felted squirrels on top – the whole thing was completely free, bar the cost of ingredients. I could not have been happier with it and feel like it really pulled the whole theme together.”

Seasonal wedding decorations

“We had quite a few pheasant feathers in the arrangements at the venue as well (Mum had sourced these from a local butcher during shooting season and had stripped, cleaned and size sorted a box load).”

Hearty autumnal food

“Food was a pork bap and copious amounts of salad provided by Brian the Butcher, followed by homemade apple or apple and blackberry crumble at the ‘crumble station’ – I love crumble, but having made enough topping and fruit for 100+ people it might be a while before I have it again.”

An evening feast

“For the evening buffet we again had enormous amounts of food: salads, pork pies and cheeses from local caterers Naturecater and ale from the local brewery Hobsons.”

Wedding advice

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or take people up on their offers to help. People really do genuinely want to help and are happy to be asked. Our wedding wouldn’t have happened if so many people hadn’t been generous with their time and skills, and the day wouldn’t have had the same community feel to it if it had been organised by professionals.”

Help from the WI

“I also have to thank the amazing ladies from the WI who helped with organising the venue, serving, catering, making canapes, clearing tables, keeping everything ticking over – they were fantastic.”

Light up the night

A benefit of darker nights?  Festoon lights, candles and sparklers.

A Ceilidh and a Spotify playlist

“We had a ceilidh band for the first part of the dancing – it isn’t a village hall event without a barn dance. Ringerike come highly recommended and a lot of fun! We then had a Spotify playlist for the rest of the evening, which meant we could pick all our own music and no one had to DJ.”

What a beautiful wedding. An enormous thank you to bride Laura for sharing her thoughts and ideas – we’d like to know if your mum can be hired, what an amazing job!  And finally a massive thank you to Amy Taylor Imaging Photography for sharing it with us.

{ Details }

Photographer: Amy Woodward-Taylor
Venue: Neen Sollars Village Hall
Flowers: Flowers by Fiona
Wedding Food: Brian the Butcher & Naturecater
Entertainment: Ringerike