Sarah and Adrian described their wedding as ‘happy, fun and full of love' and you can see that so clearly in these beautiful photos by Matt Bowen Photography.
Sarah was a radiant bride, accessorising her fitted strapless lace dress and cathedral length veil with big ‘best day EVER' smiles.
The couple planned the ultimate English garden party – there was bunting, croquet, table tennis, picnic hampers, flowers in wellies, Pimms and pink lemonade, jam favours…the list goes on.
But the thing I love most about Sarah and Adrian's wedding is how they included their friends and family so thoughtfully in their big day.
From The Bride…
My dress was beautiful. All lace with a sweetheart neckline. I had a pearl and diamond belt from another dress (Juno) and I decided to go for a full length veil. My sister had a full length royal blue dress from Whistles which was stunning. We wanted to get her something that she would wear again.
The Ceremony
As it was a church service Adrian’s godmother did a bible reading and then my friend did a reading called ‘Marriage Is' by Emily Matthews.
The Flowers
The bouquets were made up of blue hydrangea, white peonies, cream roses and then herbs and barley and wheat with green foliage.
Centrepieces were blue hydrangea or gypsophila in jam jars with blue ribbons round the rim.
We also had jugs and wellies full of blue hydrangea and gypsophila dotted throughout the marquees.
Our table names were herbs so we had rosemary, thyme, mint and basil on the tables which made it all smell amazing.
The Photography
I found Matt online and was really impressed with his website and his ethos. We therefore got in touch with him, did an engagement shoot and got on really well. There was no doubt he was the right person and we are so pleased he could capture our special day.
The photos are beautiful…we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Décor & Details
It was all pretty much DIY. We had a blank canvas in two empty marquees (the main one providing the space for the meal and dance floor and the second one as a chill out area and also for if it rained, which it luckily didn’t!), with the marquee company providing the tables and chairs.
We bought a huge amount of bunting which went wherever we could find space for it! We then bought a lot of things from both of our family homes, including picnic baskets, picnic rugs, a croquet set, boules, a table tennis table to set up outside, jugs, hampers, wellies, a cricket set, an umbrella stand, an old desk for the guest book, benches, bookshelves, books, a scrabble set and photo frames. We also had a step ladder that I painted blue and made into the table plan with lots of pots of herbs.
We wanted everyone to feel a part of the day so we printed off a load of photos, trying to get at least one of everyone attending, and put them up all around the walls of the second marquee with string. The photos caused some good laughs and bought back lots of happy memories! We also had photo albums of both Adrian and I as babies!
The Favours
Our favours were little pots of jam from a company called The Jammy Cow. We had rhubarb and ginger, pear and walnut and then sweet chilli flavours.
As Adrian is learning to fly and I work for a publishing house we decided to include old books (mostly from charity shops) and model aeroplanes as table decorations.
And then because we wanted to make it as personal as possible, each name tag on the tables had an individual quote on the back relevant to the person. Everyone, without exception, took these away and kept them as personal keepsakes.
No girl likes her feet to hurt after a day in heels, so we provided a relief station that had flip flops in which all disappeared quickly! As it was a sunny day we also put a selection of sun creams here as well along with after sun and tissues.
Adrian was very particular about his beers so we had special beers, chosen by the groom, which were displayed in a wheelbarrow full of ice outside the marquee surrounded by wellies full of flowers.
Also outside were some games to keep everyone entertained whilst we had photos done: a croquet set, boules and a table tennis table which went down very well.
The Entertainment
The Refreshments
We served Pimms and pink lemonade in the rose garden after the service with home-made sausage rolls, pork pies and scones with jam and cream.
At 5pm we then sat down to a three course meal of duck in a plum/hoisin sauce with noodles and cucumber and spring onions (duck pancakes without the pancakes basically!), for main course we had salmon with crushed new potatoes, asparagus and peas and then for dessert we had individual cheesecakes with an orange and gran marnier sauce.
The wedding cake, when cut, was then handed round on platters.
The Wedding Music
I walked down the aisle to Canon in D and then we had the following hymns as it was a church service:
Praise my Soul, I Vow to Thee My Country and Jerusalem (very rousing!).
We then hired a band for an outside, afternoon set to create a relaxed atmosphere. They then moved inside after dinner and played our first dance which was You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall & Oates. We had learnt a routine which has somehow ended up on You Tube!
The band then played through till the end of the evening – a mix of old classics and some very cheesy tunes to get everyone on the dance floor.
Advice For Other Couples
For planning: Have a realistic budget and try to stick to it (there are lots of apps out now but we didn’t use one, although I think they are a good idea!), we got a lot of ideas from Pinterest and create a schedule to make sure you don’t forget anything!
For the day: Enjoy every moment! There will never be another occasion when all the people you love are in the same place. Make sure you take a moment or two to take it all in and appreciate what a lovely, special day it is.
Congratulations Sarah and Adrian!
