WWW readers David and Nathalie married back in snowy March of this year at the lovely Tewin Bury Farm, Hertfordshire. They wanted to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere with pretty elements they homemade alongside their family.

Nathalie looks super beautiful in her Cymbeline lace dress and veil with the sweetest shoes by Rachel Simpson. David found his slim fit suit in Reiss, which he wore with a gorgeous buttonhole and tan shoes.

I so love the blooms, the stylish wedding party, the cake table and the painted egg cups.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Rebecca Wedding Photography for sharing her photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… For my birthday 5 years ago Dave had surprised me with a trip to Rome, little did I know that there were more surprises in store! When we arrived we were escorted to the honeymoon suite which Dave had organised beforehand and after a day of walking for miles around all Rome’s amazing sights we arrived back to a chilled bottle of champagne in the room.

Whilst we were sitting enjoying a glass of bubbles on the balcony Dave got down on one knee and proposed!

I was so overwhelmed that Dave actually had to remind me to take a look at the ring! It was a complete surprise proposal and so I had no input on the ring but it was absolutely perfect!

The Vision for the Day… We wanted our day to be a really fun and relaxed day with all our closest family and friends around us. I love all things vintage and pretty and really enjoy sewing and baking cakes so we really tried to capture this on the day. Once we’d found our perfect venue we worked on making all the little details add up to create the relaxed but fun atmosphere we wanted.

The Planning Process… We visited loads of venues and did a lot of searching online to find the perfect venue – once we’d found that we did lots of research using online blogs and wedding magazines to get ideas for the rest of the day.

Budget… £11,000

The Venue… The Stable at Tewin Bury Farm. The venue was amazing, so intimate, light and with original features like wooden bars, exposed brickwork and wooden floors. There were also 2 fabulous balconies above the room, one of which we used for our photobooth. We used a company called Oakwood Events to hang fairy lights and paper lanterns in the centre of ceiling between the beams to create a really beautiful light arrangement.

The Dress + Accessories… My dress was Emea from the Cymbeline collection. I love that there is no structure to the dress, it is just layers of lace.

I also had a cathedral length veil by Cymbeline which was edged in the same lace as the dress.

My shoes were just amazing, I decided on Mimi from the Rachel Simpson collection. They were so comfortable and beautiful! As it snowed on the day I also wore my welly boots (Joules), I am so pleased I popped them into the car before we headed to the venue!

I was really struggling with jewellery to wear for the day as I didn’t want anything too formal or over the top, I wanted the dress to do the talking! In the end I opted for a pearl necklace with a bit of sparkle from Beaverbrooks and I was very lucky that my friend Beth had some beautiful pearl drop earrings she leant me. My Nanan made me a pearl bracelet which completed the look perfectly

Finding the Dress… My Mum picked out the dress on our first trip to a bridal store. Initially when I saw it on the hanger I couldn’t understand why she wanted me to try it on, it was a huge mass of material. The second I tried it on I knew that this was the dress I had to have, I absolutely fell in love with it. It just goes to show you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (or whatever the dress equivalent is)!

Groom’s Attire… ‘Ark’ suit by Reiss in grey material. Plain white short from TM Lewin, gold tie from Next. Cufflinks were a gift from ‘Not on the High Street’ and showed little maps of Liverpool (where we met) and Rome (where we got engaged). Shoes were ‘Actress’ brogues from Dune.

The Readings + Music… Canon in D by Pachebel to walk down the aisle.

‘A Birthday’ poem by Christina Georgina Rosetti read by the grooms sisters.

Mumford & Sons ‘Lover of the Light’ played for the signing of the register and Jason Mraz’s ‘I’m Yours’ as we walked out.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… Adult bridesmaids wore the ‘Leigh’ lace dress in minx from Monsoon and the little bridesmaids wore matching dress from Monsoon as well. They wore their own shoes.

The Flowers… The Secret Garden Florist did an amazing job of putting together the most beautiful mix of early-spring flowers and foliage which was designed to look freshly picked and loosely tied. We had single roses in teacups and beautiful arrangements inside birdcages to decorate the tables.

The groomsmen had rustic button holes to match the bouquet.

The Cake… My nanan made us a traditional wedding cake which she decorated using pale peach icing, it was amazing and moist. I made a carrot cake and asked family and friends to each bake their own signature cakes to be displayed on mismatched cakestands, my sister made some amazing brownies to add to the cake table.

Your Photographer… The fantastic Rebecca of Rebecca Wedding Photography. The first time we saw her website we knew we wanted her to be our photographer, her photos are all so beautify, relaxed and happy. Rebecca was with us for the full day from getting ready to the first dance. She then set up a great photo-booth in the evening which went down really well with the guests and provided some of the funniest photos from the day! Everyone commented on how lovely Rebecca was and they barely noticed that she was there!

The Details + Decor… The Stable didn’t need much dressing as it’s such a great venue already. Oakwood Events provided festoon lighting across both balconies which looked absolutely beautiful and really gave the venue an amazing glow.

I had made loads of bunting which we pinned up around the whole stable, I was so happy with it, all those hours at the sewing machine were worth it.

We made all of our favours with the help of David’s Mum. We painted egg cups in a variety of pastel colours and attached a luggage tag with each guests name on it, as it was close to Easter we filled the egg cups with mini eggs.

The Honeymoon… We flew out to the Maldives the day after the wedding for an unforgettable week on Kuramathi Island. We booked with Kuoni and used their gift list service to allow our guests to make contributions towards it. The week was spent relaxing in the sun, snorkelling with sharks, rays and dolphins and sampling every cocktail on a very extensive menu!

Memorable Moments… The whole day was amazing, from seeing the snow falling to seeing each other for the first time inside the venue. Then all through a day which was flawlessly organised by the staff at Tewin Bury Farm. We were lucky to get such a great photographer who captured the energy and fun of the day with her pics and has allowed us to relive it just as it felt on the day. The highlight for us was when we snuck upstairs to a balcony together and shared a moment to look out over all our family and friends dancing and let it all sink in!

Advice for Other Couples… Don’t let wedding fayres, venues or other suppliers tell you what you should have. Figure out what you want your day to be like and find the people who will help you deliver that vision.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Venue: Tewin Bury Farm www.tewinbury.co.uk

Photographer: Rebecca Wedding Photography  www.rebeccaweddingphotography.co.uk

Florist: The Secret Garden Florist www.thesecretgdn.co.uk

Lighting: Oakwood Events www.oakwoodevents.co.uk

Disco: 1Entertainments www.1entertainments.com

Dress: Elm Hill Brides www.elmhillbrides.co.uk

 

 

Soooo lovely. Thanks so much to David and Nathalie for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou