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Blog: Real Weddings

Charlie

Caroline and Gareth’s spring wedding on their farm with a rustic barn reception and pretty homemade details (part one)

Charlie

Spring farm wedding (part one)

I have a super special real wedding to share with you today. For regular readers or those who’ve been following last year’s TNWC Real Brides you probably remember the lovely Caroline who was planning her wedding with a real focus on homemade details and supporting local businesses.

Back in May last year she tied the knot with her Mr-to-be Gareth, on their farm in Nottinghamshire, and today I have the delight of sharing all their official photographs from their beautiful day. Caroline has also shared so much of what went into their day and how it went, I’m sure that many brides-to-be out there will find not only creative inspiration but reassurance ahead of their wedding day.

>> View Caroline and Gareth’s spring farm wedding (part two) here <<

Before I hand over, I want to start with this wonderful quote from Caroline, that I think is so beautifully worded about what your wedding day is really all about:

“At times it was hard work and with the weather not on our side we were really tested (big puddles all over the barn floor after a torrential downpour 2 days before the wedding worried us a little!) but on the day, none of it really matters. You’ll always have the best day ever, surrounded by all the people you love the most and at the end of it all you’ll be Mr and Mrs, and at the beginning of an amazing adventure through life together – and that’s really what its all about.”

Over to Caroline to tell you all about her wedding day…

“We knew what we definitely didn’t want was a traditional, formal, wedding day feel to the day and the style was most definitely a handmade, relaxed, informal country wedding and just a jolly good knees up really! We were both bought up in the country, for our second date Gareth bought me a pair of wellies and we took his dogs for a long walk around the farm which I think was pretty much the moment I knew he was ‘the one’, so it seemed quite fitting to have a wedding that gave us a chance to get our wellies on!”

Charlie

Jo and Dom’s natural and relaxed Scottish wedding with a ceremony in a ruined chapel, picnic on the beach, and foraged flowers

Charlie

Relaxed Scottish wedding with a beach picnic

A real wedding feature has been long overdue, and what nicer way to kick off 2014 than with the exquisite wedding of Jo and Dom. They got married last July in Scotland with a ceremony in a ruin chapel amongst the dunes, a beach picnic for all their guests, swimming in the sea, foraged and wild flowers for the bouquets and table arrangements, and a beautifully decorated tent – phew!

I could go on and on and on about everything that I love about this wedding, but it’s better than I just let you immerse yourself. Go get lost in Jo and Dom’s wonderful day…

“We wanted our wedding to be as natural and relaxed as possible. We wanted to be able to enjoy it, and for everyone else to have a good time too! We had a humanist wedding in a tiny ruined chapel on the east coast of Scotland, just down the coast from Edinburgh followed by a picnic on the beach.”

“I grew up there and every Christmas my family walk down the beach to the ruin with some friends and hold an informal Christmas ceremony where we sing carols and have readings and generally acknowledge that its Christmas.”

“Dom proposed on boxing day 2012 on a rock just beside the chapel and there was never any question that we would marry anywhere else. It’s a very important place to me. Our wedding guests had to walk over the dunes for half an hour to reach the chapel so the weather was definitely a concern! But no, we didn’t have a wet weather plan!”

Izzy

Hayley and Iain’s rustic and romantic wedding in the country with hessian, lace and daisies for an intimate feel to the day

Izzy

Romantic wedding in the country

I took a look back through the Real Weddings we’ve featured on the blog, and it’s been months and months since we last featured one. In other words, it’s been too long – I know how much wonderful inspiration and ideas that other couples’ weddings provide, and we have lots of pretty ones lined up for you.

Today we have the romantic, rustic country wedding of Hayley and Iain who got married in Cheshire this past September which was sent to me by Christopher Ian Photography, one of the great photographers on our directory. Over to Hayley to share with you the details of their beautiful day…

Izzy

Alison and Rama’s back garden Bedouin tent wedding with a dash of English country charm and a bohemian bride

Izzy

Back garden bedouin tent wedding

What a treat we have for you today with another beautiful real wedding – this time with a bit of twist. Usually weddings are submitted to us by the bride or her wedding photographer, but today’s pretty Somerset wedding was sent to us by wedding stylist Kirsten who runs The Little Wedding Helper.

The bride and groom – Alison and Rama – had a down-to-earth wedding held in their garden full of bohemian styling, Moroccan lanterns, and a dash of English country charm. The couple decided not to have a wedding photographer, but lucky for us they allowed Kirsten to bring along her own photographer to capture some of their day and gorgeous details.

One of my favourite parts of Alison and Rama’s wedding is that guests were invited to bring flowers rather than gifts, which were then used to create the table decorations – what a lovely idea and one that created a vibrant palette of colour that really complements the Bohemian feel of their wedding.

So it’s over to Kirsten to tell you about Alison and Rama’s wedding and how she helped style it…

Izzy

Jaime and Dave’s relaxed spring wedding with lawn games, a seasonal bouquet and Scottish kilts

Izzy

Relaxed spring wedding

Today we are sharing Jaime and Dave’s gorgeous spring wedding in Hampshire. Fans of the outdoors, Jaime and Dave wanted their wedding to reflect the natural beauty of the gardens at Taplins Place in Hartley Wintney where they held their ceremony and reception.

Guests were entertained with giant lawn games, a coconut shy, a ‘hook-a-duck’ stall and homemade ‘Fruits of the Forest’ gin. With a wedding cake made of cheese and the relaxed ‘fete’ feel to the wedding, Jaime and Dave were able to make their wedding truly about them – nature and garden lovers.

– Izzy x

Now over to Jaime to share their beautiful wedding day with you…

Jaime and Dave got married in May this year, I love the reason why Jaime and Dave chose May for their wedding and honeymoon, “As we grow our own veg, we knew that we didn’t want to leave too much work to Dave’s Dad and his wife, who were looking after the house, our dogs and our garden. So I guess you can say that our vegetable dictated when we got married!”

Charlie

Chloe and Nick’s relaxed seaside Devon wedding with natural seasonal ‘just picked’ flowers and a jasmine flower crown

Charlie

Relaxed seaside Devon wedding

I am really delighted to be bringing you another exclusive real wedding to the blog today. This wedding was shared with me via the lovely Chloe from BareBlooms, a TNWC flower farmer, as it was not only a wedding she did the flowers for, but she was also a guest as the bride (also called Chloe) and groom are friends of hers.

Bride and groom Chloe and Nick were really relaxed about their wedding day and wanted a simple celebration with just a few lovely details – it’s quite refreshing when it’s so easy to get bombarded by detail heavy weddings seen on so many wedding blogs.

Over to bride Chloe to share their pretty wedding day with you…

Chloe and Nick got married last June in Devon, which they chose because it was the place where they met: “Nick was at Dartington College of Arts and I was working in Exeter, my mum, stepdad and gran live in Exeter and all our friends are mostly based in the south of England, so we felt that Devon was a natural choice.”

Izzy

Sarah and Sam’s old fashioned country village wedding with a pretty garden party reception on a shoestring

Izzy

Old fashioned country village wedding

I’m thrilled to be sharing another exclusive real wedding with you on the blog today – a gorgeous June wedding set amongst stunning North Yorkshire countryside. The bride Sarah, was one of the lovely girls who joined me for my TNWC 5th Birthday Party last April, so it’s especially lovely to share her wedding after hearing about their plans last spring.

For anyone planning a wedding on a ‘shoestring’ then this wedding is for you – as Sarah mentions later on, they took ideas they saw and worked out how they make it themselves. It’s a real DIY wedding on a budget, but a totally beautiful one.

Over to Sarah to tell you all about her beautiful wedding to Sam…

Sarah and her husband Sam chose the 23rd June 2012 to get married, “because it was the Saturday closest to the midsummer solstice and there’s an old English tradition of weddings on that day. We wanted an old-fashioned country wedding with an informal feel, and we tried to make everything homemade if it possibly could be.”

“The week before the wedding was a crazy whirl of preparations because it was such a DIY affair. Luckily we had a fantastic team of family, friends and neighbours who worked tirelessly to finish preparing the food and decorations.”

Izzy

Holly and Laurie’s English picnic wedding in Shropshire with country garden flowers and handmade details

Izzy

English picnic wedding

I have got some truly lovely exclusive real weddings coming up for you on the blog, so I do hope you’ll check back over the coming weeks to soak up all the wonderful inspiration these brides and grooms have to share.

Today’s real wedding is beautiful. I feel like I’ve got to know bride Holly over the past year or so as she emailed me a couple of times in the lead up to her wedding – not only was she inspired by my own wedding stationery, but she also won her wedding photography via a competition that I’d promoted on the blog!

Holly and Laurie got married in Shropshire on the 15th of September 2012 with a wedding ceremony held at Ludlow Castle, and followed up by a picnic wedding reception at Henley Farmhouse on the Acton Scott Estate.

Over to Holly to tell us all about their wonderful day…

“We both just wanted a really relaxed wedding where all our guests could just have fun. We wanted a day that was personal to us – we didn’t have a huge budget so we knew from the start that we would probably be doing lots of the work ourselves – with the help of our friends and family.”

“We actually found searching for a venue one of the most stressful parts of planning, we were looking for a blank canvas without lists of suppliers we had to use and we didn’t have lots of money to spend so we struggled to find somewhere. I grew up in Shropshire and loved the idea of a Shropshire country wedding.”

Charlie

Laura and Dave’s autumn barn wedding with a handfasting ceremony and seasonal decorations

Charlie

Autumn barn wedding with a handfasting ceremony

It has been a while since I featured an exclusive real wedding on the blog, more through my own fault than lack of them to share. Whenever I put together a real wedding feature I feel this immense sense of responsibility to the couple who’s wedding it is – after all this was their special day and I want to do my very best in portraying it here on my blog.

As a result it takes me a great many hours to put together the beautiful photographs and carefully answers questions submitted by the bride. Today’s wedding is a very gorgeous autumnal affair, that was inspired by the couples love for the countryside.

Laura and Dave got married in Stratford Upon Avon during the autumnal month of October, with a humanist ceremony. Their wedding was captured beautifully by TNWC photographer Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography. Over to bride Laura to tell us more about the day…

“We both love Autumn and were keen to reflect the season, with it’s lovely cosiness and beautiful colours. We wanted it to feel personal and handcrafted – no ‘Gold Package’ all inclusive deals! And being a country girl at heart, I wanted it to feel rustic, homely and unfussy.”

Charlie

Jodie and James’ epic weekend wedding full of feasting, festivities and handmade details

Charlie

Epic weekend wedding with handmade details

Today I have an incredible real wedding. It is utterly epic (I don’t use words like that often) and it’s not short on beautiful ideas and inspiration if that’s what you’re looking for. I’ve even broken it down into headings because there is so much to share with you!

Jodie and James got married on 15th September 2012 and spent the whole weekend celebrating with their family and friends. Jodie has kindly told me so much about their incredible weekend celebration, and I am sure that many of you brides-to-be will find lots of helpful snippets throughout from Jodie and James’ experience.

Without further ado, I’ll hand you over to the lovely Jodie to tell you all about their epic wedding weekend…

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