If you're dreaming of the quintessential English countryside wedding, these Surrey, England, nuptials are set to float your bridal boat.
From the charming church ceremony, to the chic polo club reception, Oli and Bev's wedding has an elegant, yet rustic, gentrified feel.
With some personal touches (an uphill hike to the church, some well-travelled table names and Mars bars!) and you have a tailor-made day, just made for Bev and Oli.
Photographed by Helen Cawte Photography, Bev and Oli's day is not just stylish and intimate, but looks like it was a lot of fun as well.
With a beautiful lace wedding dress, glamorous nude Louboutins, pearl accessories and white and navy anemones; Bev's bridal style is the stuff wedding day dreams are made off.
Add in a dashing groom, a lively wedding party, and a handpicked wedding venue, and you have the makings of one rather special day out in the country.
The Theme
My favourite colour is navy blue – I always tend to be wearing something in this colour – when it came to picking the colour theme for our big day it seemed like the obvious choice.
The Flowers
Flowers were proving difficult at first due to the navy theme until I stumbled upon a website which showed these gorgeous navy-centred anenome. We thought the colour was perfect and they are not only beautiful, but really different.
The gorgeous flower company did a fantastic job of sourcing the flowers we wanted and making beautiful arrangements for the bridal party and the venues.
The Church
We got engaged at the summit of Mount Kenya after an amazing four day trek above the clouds – with this in mind St Martha's Church was the ideal location for everyone to share in our treking experience!
The church is at the top of a steep path overlooking the surrey hills and can only be accessed on foot after a 10 minute walk uphill from the car park (except the bride, of course, who came up the hill on a 4WD – those Louboutins wouldn’t make it through the mud!)
We had Corinthians as a religious reading, and for non-religious readings, the soulmates section from ‘Now We Are Six’ by AA Milne.
We also had Velveteen Rabbit – My friend Lisa read this out to me on my hen do and it made me so emotional I cried. Therefore we had to add it in and of course, who better to read it out for us than her? It was a great way to get her involved in the day.
The Photography
Helen had been the wedding photographer at a friend’s wedding the year before and we were blown away by the images she created and how lovely she was on the day.
There really was no choice when it came to our big day.
The Reception
We wanted our wedding day to be relaxed, informal and fun.
We made all of the arrangements ourselves and kept the guest list very small (55) mostly friends and close family we really wanted that intimate/close feeling.
The key thing for us was to find the best venues and despite only having six months to arrange the BIG day we made sure we researched venues until we found places which best reflected us and our relationship.
Hurtwood Polo Club was perfect as it had a really relaxed feel – The beams across the roof and walls and fairy lights everywhere make it look beautiful before we even added the candles and decoration.
The first time we went inside I cried it was so lovely– so I just knew we had found the right spot to hold our reception!
The Refreshments
It was a boozy do – in fact we worked out we got through one bottle of Champagne and one bottle of wine per person before we even hit the bar!
The Favours
The favours were made using product samples from our work – A Galaxy chocolate bar, Mars Bar and packet of chewing gum wrapped in navy ribbons.
In Three Words
Love, fun and laughter
Advice for Other Couples
Remember it is YOUR day – although arranging it yourselves is hard work, it really is worth it to have control of the event and make it your own.
Don't Oli and Bev look like they're having the most fun day?
Their engagement story is so romantic, I love the idea that they took a few features from it for their big day. Bev's bridal style is stunning as well, what a gorgeous pair.
Thanks so much to Bev and Oli for sharing their fun polo club bash with us. We imagine there must have been quite a few sore heads the next day!
For more countryside celebrations, see our Rustic Weddings + Chic Weddings.
