Dodford Manor in Northamptonshire hosted Alex and Cat’s May wedding. It was important to them that their day was informal using their creativity to craft many items of their day.

They brought and arranged the pretty blooms themselves, made their wedding rings, designed their stationery and stitched their reams of bunting. I love the layout of the tables in the barn, there were fete style games and Cat drove herself to the ceremony. Not to mention how super stylish Alex and Cat looked.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Babb Photo for sharing her photographs with us this morning.

 

The Proposal… We were on holiday in Egypt for Alex’s Birthday and had gone on a day trip travelling on quad bikes into the dessert.  Part of the day was a walk up a small rocky mount to see the sunset.  We got to the top and Alex started sitting down to watch the sunset but the guide just turned around and started leading everyone back down again.  Alex started rummaging in his backpack and I was wondering what he was doing, I had no idea…. Then he pulled out a bag and then a box from inside it.  He opened it and said “so what do you think?” and I said “Yes” and then “thank-you” a lot of times!  We headed down to catch up with the rest of the group and got told off for splitting from the group.  I tried to flash my ring to say we were a little busy, but the guide wasn’t paying attention!

The Vision for the Day… Something that was just us.  The venue was so beautiful on it’s own that we just wanted to add a few of our own touches.  We wanted it to have a less formal feel than a traditional wedding and wanted to mix it up a bit.  We are also both very creative so we wanted to make lots of the items ourselves (with some help from relatives); from the invitations to the wooden boards the starter was served on!

The Venue… Dodford Manor

The Dress + Accessories… Wedding dress by “Brides of Bond Street” in Leicester.  Necklace, bracelets, watch, earrings and hairpiece made by “Twit Twoo” which is Cat’s jewellery business.

Finding the Dress… Cat: I tried lots of different styles on, most of which I’d have been quite happy to wear, but I really liked the tea-length style dresses.  I’m not great in heels and always feel like I have to hold up long dresses.  I thought a heel and long dress combo could result in a disaster on the day and a shorter dress would mean I could get involved in the dancing without having to worry about it.  “Brides of Bond Street” make dresses to order, so you can choose all the best bits from the ones they have in store.

Groom’s Attire… Alex: The thoughts of what I wanted changed several time over the planning period; from formal morning suit (without top hat) to more quirky styles of a tweed suit, braces and bow tie. Pinterest was a great source of inspiration. In the end I opted for a smart 3 piece navy suit but to give it slight hipster look I decided on a bow tie. The groomsmen wore similar colours but to mix it up they all wore ties with the same polka pattern as my dickie bow which was harder to find than I thought; in the end I ordered the set from the tie room in Sweden. This was teamed with tan boots and belt. I also wore the pocket watch which was a Birthday gift from Cat.

The Readings + Music… Readings were called “The One” and “The Future” and were readings that really meant something to us when we read them.  We had them read by two of our close friends.  Cat entered to “Divenire” by Ludovico Einaudi; Alex chose this piece of music and it was just beautiful for the occasion.  We had all sorts of music playing thoughout the day, including Ben Howard and Mumford and Sons.  Our first dance was to “One day like this” by Elbow and was choreographed by Cat.  Cat: I’ve been learning to dance for a few years and wanted to show off my skills and Alex is a natural so we learnt it in the last week before the wedding!

Then we had a Ceilidh which was great fun and meant everyone could join in – we want to have another one!

Beautiful Bridesmaids… Cat’s younger sisters; Marianne Joyce and Rosie Hase.

The Flowers… We wanted to keep it simple, so we bought all the flowers from the local florist and made the bouquets, buttonholes and table decorations ourselves.  We didn’t have a particular colour theme, so wanted to keep the flowers white so that they blended rather than distracted from our other decorations. The bride and bridesmaids bouquets were cream roses with the addition of some little purple flowers in the brides bouquet.  For the table decorations we spent the last few months buying decanters from charity shops and then we put a small selection of white flowers in them and decorated the neck with some ribbon and lace.

The Cake… Made and iced by Cat’s parents, felt bride and groom birds bought from “Freckle.  We had one layer cake, with two more out the back for cutting up and serving as part of the drinks reception after the ceremony.

Your Photographer… Laura Babb.  We’d seen her photographs and really liked her quirky style.  We wanted to have photos that were a little different from the traditional ones.  She really hit the nail on the head.

The Details + Decor… Cat: I drove myself and my dad to the wedding venue!  I didn’t see the point in hiring a wedding car, when we had to be at the venue early and everything was taking place in the same venue.  My dad has a Nissan Z370 and when I jokingly (but hoping) mentioned that it would be cool to drive myself to the wedding in it, my dad had agreed!  It was awesome.

The venue was decorated with bunting made by Cat and her mum Maggie; Maggie cut out hundreds of pieces of fabric and Cat sewed them into 100 metres of bunting!

We decided to have long tables and after some deliberation we agree that we wouldn’t have a top table but that we would sit in the middle of the middle table so that we were in the thick of it and could join in with everyone else.  It was a brilliant decision and really made us feel part of it rather than looking out from a table at the top!

The Honeymoon… Few days in Kuala Lumpur followed by 10 days on Tioman Island in Malaysia.  We stayed at the Japamala resort where there were just 13 individual rooms which are set into the jungle landscape and into the hills surrounding the beach.  It was simply relaxing.

Memorable Moments… Alex: Hearing the entrance music begin and then waiting for Cat to emerge seemed like an eternity, but then seeing Cat walking down the aisle clinging to her Dad was one of the most memorable moments.

Cat: Alex speech, which he did without notes, was incredible, so heartfelt and meaningful and had me and plenty of guests teary!

Advice for Other Couples… Make the decision early on which bits are really important to you and which ones you shouldn’t stress over.  We had a really relaxed attitude towards our wedding; we didn’t have a specific colour scheme, we looked for Bridesmaid dresses that we liked; no matter the style or colour, we didn’t get hung up on specific flowers or colours.  It meant that even in the final days before the wedding we were calm and could enjoy the run up to the big day.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Stationery  - Made it ourselves

Photography – Laura Babb ; www.babbphoto.com

Transport – my dads Nissan Z370!

Flowers – bought from whites florist; http://www.whitesflorist.co.uk Assembled by bride & mum

Bunting – fabric bought from various markets and made by bride & mum

Hair – by the brides cousin, who is a hairdresser

Make-up – by one of bridesmaids

Wedding rings – we made these ourselves at a workshop at http://www.makeweddingrings.com

I love how relaxed their whole day was. Thanks so much to Cat and Alex for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today XOXO Lou