Blog: handmade wedding
Samantha Samantha

Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding with garden games, cream tea and a beaded wedding dress

Samantha

Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding // Lucy Jane Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Today’s beautiful DIY village fete wedding is that of  a couple you may recognise from these very pages – Vicky and Steve, one of our TNWC Real Bride couples from last year. We followed them through their epic DIY-ing journey and now we get to share in their gorgeous day and enjoy all their efforts.

After being together over six years Steve proposed to Vicky on holiday in the beautiful Skopelos. Since then with friends and family on board, and with Steve’s handy occupation as a builder, they have gone about creating the most wonderful projects to fill their day with personal touches, all of which you can find out about here.

Naked wedding cake with flowers // Lucy Jane Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Eliza Jane Howell beaded wedding dress for Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding // Lucy Jane Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Coconut shy for Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding // Lucy Jane Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Rustic wooden direction sign for Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding // Lucy Jane Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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Samantha Samantha

Hannah and Gregg’s modern folk wedding at an English manor house with an elegant two piece wedding dress

Samantha

Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Today’s couple Hannah and Gregg are so effortlessly cool and their beautiful modern folk wedding perfectly reflects this. Their stunningly simple style truly allows the emotion and enjoyment of all involved to shine through from the brides’s two piece and flower crown to the radiant smiles beaming across everyone’s faces.

Not only do the photos of their day showcase that it really isn’t always the little decor details that count but they are testament to the importance of finding yourself a brilliant photographer. Hannah and Gregg’s big day was shot by one of our recommended suppliers, the lovely Oxi Photography. Oxana has a real talent for perfectly capturing the essence and emotion of people, which on your wedding day when you are surrounded by all your loved ones, is one of the most important things.

We will now pass you over to the bride Hannah to share with you the finer details about their big day…

Bride in boho two piece wedding dress for Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Bridesmaids in white for Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Bride in boho two piece wedding dress for Hannah & Gregg's modern folk wedding at an English manor house // Oxi Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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Bree and Mitch’s rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace

Charlie

Bree and Mitch's rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Today’s beautiful rustic backyard wedding comes to us all the way from sunny Australia and is a lovely example of how to have a laid back and affordable wedding. Bree and Mitch were high school sweethearts and planned a wedding around their memories of warm evenings sat together in Bree’s parents back garden.

From Bree’s unconventional blush pink Grace Loves Lace wedding dress to rustic handmade details and makeshift bar, this wedding is both beautiful and full of love, but without a huge financial cost. They even had some weather issues, but not – if you’re planning a summer wedding in England – in the way that you’d imagine!

Over to Bree to tell us more about their wedding…

Bree and Mitch's rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

DIY newspaper love heart decorations // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Bree and Mitch's rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Backyard wedding ceremony // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Bree and Mitch's rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Bree and Mitch's rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace // OnThree Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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TNWC Real Brides: Vicky’s gold glitter and sequin wedding cake and bar signs

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TNWC Real Brides: Vicky's gold glitter and sequin wedding cake and bar signs // The Natural Wedding Company

If you are reading this on Thursday, I will be playing with spring blossom at a flower crown workshop by Catkin – you can join in by following me on Snapchat (anaturalwedding) where I plan to share some pictures and maybe even a video or two of what I am up to. More pictures will follow on Instagram and Facebook.

But in the meantime, I have some gold glittery love for you all (even us natural brides often can’t say no to a splash of gold glitter can we?) with some handmade picks from TNWC Real Bride Vicky. She got married last summer but we are only just catching up with the final few bits of her homemade wedding.

You can find all her previous posts here, which include some fab DIY projects and ideas. Over to Vicky…

While I loved planning the wedding I have to admit that by being maybe a bit too organised I found the last couple of months leading up to it, dare I say it, dull! I just wanted the day to arrive.

Initially there was lots to plan and make and decide and then I hit this lull. I really wanted to get on and do things but realistically I couldn’t because everything that was left was last minute things.

Everything was piled up waiting in the spare bedroom – or ‘Wedding HQ’ as it became for the year. Even the confetti bags had been made and boxed up. Like most churches we could only use natural confetti which suited us fine so we had bought a lot of natural flower petals and popped them into bags ready for our page boy to hand out.

Flower petal confetti and gold glitter tape // The Natural Wedding Company

It was during this lull that I decided it was best to stay off websites and Pinterest, as the temptation to do and make more and more things was too great.

I did cave in and make a glitter cake sign…

DIY gold glitter wedding cake sign // The Natural Wedding Company

A sequin bar sign…

DIY gold sequin bar sign // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky’s homemade pallet bar and giant polaroid photobooth, and a DIY illuminated letters

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky's homemade pallet bar and giant polaroid photobooth, and a DIY illuminated letters

We’re back with TNWC Real Bride Vicky today, catching up with the final details she created for her wedding. Having a super handy Mr, they put their skills to use with wood and metal and paint creating all manner of fab wedding things. And that bar – definitely a keeper for the garden post-wedding I reckon!

Over to Vicky…

The handy thing about having a fiancé who is a builder is that you can talk them into making a lot of the things you’ve seen on websites. They have all the tools, know people who can get them things and various mates who can wire things up. It’s very very handy!

Homemade rustic wedding signs // The Natural Wedding Company

On my wish list were – a bar, various signs, big letters spelling out ‘wedding’, a photo booth of some sort, a giant frame to hang photos from and an illuminated “S” and “V”. Steve rather sweetly agreed to all of these things.

The best thing he made were definitely the illuminated letters. We scoured the internet for ideas on how to make them and had no luck, meaning that we had to muddle through on our own. After we made them, another brilliant illuminated letter DIY appeared on this blog from another TNWC groom – if only we’d waited! Like Jon, our only worry was where on earth they’ll go after the wedding – they are massive!

DIY giant illuminated wedding letters // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

Lizzy and Graeme’s country fete inspired Cheshire wedding with vintage ice cream van and cottage garden flowers

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Lizzy and Graeme's country fete inspired Cheshire wedding with vintage ice cream van and cottage garden flowers // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

To describe this wedding at a country fete inspired wedding is really to do it a disservice, because it is so much more than just that. The bride, Lizzy, told me that her photographers “truly captured the happiness and love felt”, a wish that I imagine most of us have for our wedding day. Lizzy has put into words so many of those feelings we have in the lead up to our wedding day, so if you are a bride-to-be then I encourage you to stop a while and read as well as soak up all the pretty details.

For an overview of this beautiful wedding this slideshow put together by photographers Bohemian Weddings gives you a little of the magic these two shared on their wedding day, and includes lots of extras captures. A lovely alternative to a wedding film, and I get all teary watching it despite not knowing these two…

As a quick aside, you might also notice that we’ve changed up the format of our real weddings a bit, we have crafted a new questionnaire for our couples which we hope gives them more freedom to tell us the story of their wedding in their own words. For this reason I imagine that the appearance of these features will change from wedding to wedding, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it will truly allow the stories to shine through.

Natural wedding photography // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

Country garden wedding flowers // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

VW ice cream van // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

Natural wedding photography // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

Beautiful wedding photography // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

Plant pot wedding table plan // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

Lizzy + Graeme, July 2015

So many of the real weddings I share have extra special meaning to me, and today’s wedding is no exception. I was contacted by Lizzy after her wedding photographer cancelled just 8 weeks before her wedding, asking if I could help. After I emailed all of the wonderful wedding photographers in our directory, Lizzy received over a dozen replies, and from those she fell in love with one couple – Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings. I understand the four of them really connected and I am just so delighted to be now sharing Lizzy and Graeme’s wedding with you. Over to Lizzy…

Lizzy and Graeme's country fete inspired Cheshire wedding with vintage ice cream van and cottage garden flowers // Photography Bohemian Weddings // The Natural Wedding Company

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Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding at their idyllic Somerset village

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Fern and Dominic's woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding at their idyllic Somerset home village // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

This beautiful summer woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding is a delight to share, not only because it’s full of lovely details that will undoubtedly inspire many of our brides, but also because it’s the wedding of one last years TNWC Real Brides, Fern (find all her blog posts here).

Fern and Dominic planned a natural down-to-earth wedding in their home village Montacute in Somerset. This idyllic rural village provided a pretty backdrop against which they celebrated their marriage, and wove into their wedding day some of the things they love most – woodland birds and country garden blooms. Over to Fern to share her wedding day…

Fern + Dominic, August 2015

Our wonderful August wedding was everything that we had hoped for. It was really important to us right from the beginning for our day to be really welcoming, intimate occasion to share with our family. We had a very small wedding party with only one bridesmaid, best man and one usher, but this was right for us. Lots of our guests commented on how much they enjoyed the relaxed family atmosphere.

Woodland and country flower wedding table centres // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

Fern and Dominic's woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding at their idyllic Somerset home village // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

Gypsophila and pink rose wedding hair flowers // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

Floral wedding napkins with bird pin wedding favours // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

Fern and Dominic's woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding at their idyllic Somerset home village // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

Country garden flowers and herbs // Photography Belinda McCarthy // The Natural Wedding Company

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Samantha Samantha

Rustic autumnal wedding decor inspiration with pumpkins, dried flowers and leaves from ‘The Crafted Garden’ by Louise Curley

Samantha

The Crafted Garden book review by The Natural Wedding Company

Rustic autumnal wedding decor inspiration from The Crafted Garden

You know how fond we are of a crafted, hand-made project here at The Natural Wedding Company, and a crafted project made with natural, seasonal materials either foraged or homegrown, well that ticks every box in our eyes. It is wonderful projects such as these that you will find in The Crafted Garden: stylish projects inspired by nature a beautiful book by Louise Curley that we are sharing with you today.

We also have a special reader offer for those who’d like to buy the book – you’ll find all the details at the bottom of the post.

Rustic autumnal table display with pumpkins, dried flowers and leaves // The Natural Wedding Company

Book review of The Crafted Garden

I was a excited to receive this book based on the brief synopsis and beautiful cover alone, and although I will admit I was a tiny bit sceptical that it wouldn’t offer anything more than what I could find scouring Pinterest, I will say straight away now that my scepticism was unfounded!

The Crafted Garden winter squash vases // The Natural Wedding Company

The book has been cleverly put together and Louise clearly has a passion for the great outdoors and how you can incorporate it in your home, for a celebration or as a unique gift idea.

I approached the book from a wedding point of view (whilst also already planning how I was going to use each one some how in my home) and excitedly flicked through the pages thinking how each craft could be used or adapted for wedding décor, accessories, gifts and so on and how all the ideas could be adapted through the seasons.

Dried autumn leaf 'Mr & Mrs' wedding garland // The Natural Wedding Company

Although some of the projects may seem simple or obvious, I was surprised at how I hadn’t ever thought of doing them before and it really makes you look around and consider the natural resources you have around you.

The Crafted Garden foraging // The Natural Wedding Company

The book offers 50 crafting projects all inspired by nature and whether you are a crafting amateur or gardening pro it contains a plethora of information beautifully presented to make it easy to read and follow. Broken down into seasons, not only does it provide instructions on craft ideas but really useful tips such as guidelines for foraging ethically, how best to dry flowers (great for after your wedding if you wish to preserve yours) and the best seasonal flowers.

Rustic twig picture frame for an autumn wedding // The Natural Wedding Company

Autumnal wedding craft projects

To give you a little insight into a few of the fab craft ideas in the book we tested a few of the autumnal projects out to hopefully offer a bit of seasonal wedding decor inspiration.

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Fern shares some of her handmade wedding details from napkins to paper garlands

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Fern shares some of her handmade wedding details from napkins to paper garlands

Real handmade wedding details

I am terribly behind for various reasons with my lovely Real Bride posts, so here is a post from Fern that she wrote in the run up to her August wedding sharing some of her handmade details like paper garlands, napkins, and table centre making. The photo of her little boy helping to paint the blackboards is just too sweet!

>> View Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding here <<

Over to Fern…

It’s all in the details

It’s less than five weeks to go to the wedding and I’ve officially turned into a crazy person. Not in a angry, bite your head off way, (ok only once) but in a running around the garden at 5.00 in the morning looking at pieces of wood and measuring how long my garlands are, and trying to work out which of my plants will be flowering in August kind of way.

I have had my first wedding dress fitting and we have all had our hair trial at the salon. So it’s all getting very real now. We are still working on lots of projects for the wedding so here are some sneak peeks, without giving away too many secrets.

Paper decorations

After making the envelopes for my invitations I was left with lots of strips of paper where I had trimmed the papers down to size. I was determined not to throw them away but find some way to use them to make something for the wedding. Then I found this idea (above) on Pinterest for paper garlands. I borrowed a die cutting machine and got to work changing all my strips of paper into little hearts and I have stitched them together on the sewing machine.

For the larger pieces of paper I have made some paper rosettes which, although beautiful, have required some deep engineering to stay in place.

Handmade paper rosette decorations // The Natural Wedding Company

Handmade napkins

I really don’t want too much of a colour theme at my wedding. There is some pink sneaking in to places where it counts, but I really don’t want it to be too “in your face”. I was really inspired by an idea for patterned napkins on Show Me The Pretty and decided to make my own for my wedding.

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky tells us about her locally sourced wedding meal and ‘help yourself’ popcorn dessert table

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky tells us about her locally sourced wedding meal and 'help yourself' popcorn dessert table

Locally sourced wedding meal details from real bride Vicky

A weddig topic close to my heart – food! In the past I think wedding food has often been an after-thought, but more and more it’s becoming something that couples really put a lot of thought into. Here are Vicky and Steve’s plans for their wedding feast!

>> View Vicky and Steve’s DIY village fete wedding here <<

Over to Vicky…

A hog roast with handmade cutlery packages for guests

The food and drink we’ll be serving at the wedding is at the forefront of my mind at the moment as we firm up numbers and start to make the final purchases.

We decided from the very start that we wanted to keep it quite simple to help save the budget for other areas and keep the day relaxed. In the end we settled on a cream tea reception followed by a hog roast is the evening.

The hog roast was easy to organise as our best man’s father-in-law does these as a sideline to his farming. A quick chat on the beach, followed by an impromptu dance lesson (only in Devon!) and we had booked a hog and ram roast with a few roast potatoes thrown in the bottom for good measure. Excellent!

We’ve put together a little bag for each guest to pick up before they eat which have a napkin, wooden cutlery and a hand wipe in. They have been decorated with a personalised stamp which we found on Etsy.

Paper bag eco-friendly wedding picnic cutlery

A cream tea wedding reception

After that came the trickier task of finding a company to do the cream tea for us. Lots of the caterers we approached seemed keen to sell us their idea of what we wanted rather than what we wanted. A simple cream tea became a full-scale afternoon tea. It all sounded amazing but it wasn’t what we wanted.

Thankfully a friend then recommended the lovely Hannah and Sima from The Kitchen Table in Totnes. They have been brilliant, sticking to what we wanted, answering many questions about scone sizes (seriously, how did I turn into someone who worried about the size of a scone?) and even talking us down on quantities.

Even better they are advocates of using local produce, which fits our day perfectly. They will provide the mini pasty canapés, sit down cream tea and all the salads and rolls for the evening do, plus some vegetarian options. Their food looks beautiful and I can’t wait to try it all.

Salad with edible flowers

Victoria sponge wedding cake

They also put us in touch with Queen Bee Cakes, who make the most amazing wedding cakes and are a supplier on The Natural Wedding Company. Sadly they were already booked for our weekend leaving us with no choice but to try and re-create something similar ourselves.

So my lovely Mum and Aunt have gamely taken on the challenge of making the cake. From reading about other weddings I know this is quite common but my Mum is not the most expert of cooks, once serving up a dessert of sausage pie and custard – don’t ask!

Her cakes, however, are normally really good and with the amount of practice runs she’s been doing I’m sure it’ll be great, even if we won’t fit into our dresses any more! She will be making two sponges, which will sit on top of a fruit cake which my Aunt is busy soaking with brandy.

I’m planning on adding a liberal scattering of flowers and icing sugar to make it look pretty! Hopefully it will eventually turn out something like these cakes.

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