Midsummer Night's Dream Inspired Dinner Party Wedding

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It's Friday!! YAY. And to finish the week on a high I have a super pretty wedding to share with you all.

Laura and James chose to marry on Saturday 3 ^rd May 2014 at Dewsall Court, Herefordshire. They had a vision of a relaxed dinner party with a Midsummer Night's Dream feel.

There were the most gorgeous floral displays and bridal bouquet, thoughtful crafty touches and candelabras.

Laura looked beautiful in her romantic dress with flowers in her hair, while James was dapper in a custom Cad and the Dandy suit. So very charming.

Thanks so much to the fabulous Gemma Williams for sharing her images with us today.

THE PROPOSAL | We got engaged on the 7 ^th of December 2013 and I'm sure everyone says the same but James proposal to me was the most perfect I could ever have imagined and he says he not a romantic. We had booked a weekend away at The Pig in Brockenhurst as a pre- Christmas treat for ourselves on the first weekend in December. We were coming from different directions that day and I arrived at the hotel in plenty of time, but by 8pm James still had not arrived. I was getting a little concerned as to his whereabouts but he eventually turned up rather flustered and we were in such a rush to get to dinner I forgot to ask why he was late. That night we had a fabulous dinner with friends and then Saturday we had the day to ourselves. It was a lovely crisp winter day and after a very leisurely breakfast at The Pig, we wrapped up warm and set off on a long walk into the New Forest. We had a great walk and a long one as we got lost a few times and by about 15.30 the sun was starting to set and there was chill in the air and I was ready to go to the pub! James seemed unusually uninterested in my desire to grab a pint of local ale, and instead persuaded me to stay a little longer in the forest. There was a lovely golden light in the trees and he stood behind me and put his arms around me as we watched the sun go down. I do remember thinking he was being a bit odd and his heart was beating really fast and I did wonder if he was ok.. Then suddenly he pulled away and turned me round and before I knew what was going on, he was down on one knee and he said in a very serious voice, " Laura, will you marry me?" I was in such complete and utter shock; the first words that came out of my mouth were ones of disbelief I had to ask him to repeat himself three times, poor guy. James and I had been together for 5 years by this point and whilst I always hoped and believed it would happen one day, I couldn't quite believe it when it did. To prove he was indeed serious, he then pulled a little black box out of his pocket and handed it to me. Inside was a beautiful fake diamond solitaire which he explained was a holding ring until we were able to choose something more suitable together. I was so delighted and still speechless so James had to point out that I had not actually said yes and he was still on his knees in the cold damp slightly muddy earth, so I quickly accepted, and he put the ring on my finger and I think we floated to the pub to warm up, I felt like I was on a magic carpet..

As we walked to the pub, James explained how he had planned the engagement and all the effort he went to with the holding ring, which made it all the more special for me. He explained the reason he was late on the Friday night were a mixture of disasters of the rings he had ordered not turning up or being the wrong size , rushing out to buy a new one and trying very hard to escape the shops without the excellent salesman trying to persuade him to buy a real diamond. He had made quite some effort with posh paper and fountain pen, writing a letter to my Dad to ask for my hand in marriage, but had not managed to actually get it to my Dad in time for various reasons so ended up trekking across London to the city to see him on the Friday afternoon. Dad read out some of this lovely letter on our wedding day and it is something I will treasure always. I was so pleased that James took the decision for us to choose the engagement ring together because we had such a wonderful time finding it and about 10 lunches and several glasses of Champagne later, we found an an original 1920's ring in the Burlington Arcade in Piccadilly which I totally fell in love with. Proposing with a fake was utterly brilliant as it took the pressure off buying a ring too quickly but it was so wonderful to have something to wear straight away. I will always treasure that ring nearly as much as the real one.

THE VISION | Our vision for the day developed over time and became a slightly less bohemian version of "A Midsummer night's dream. We knew we wanted it to be a relaxed dinner party with a festival feel to it and we wanted to be able to invite all of our close family and friends.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We didn't have a lot of time to plan as we only had 10 weeks! There was no real reason to get married so quickly, but it was one of the few dates that Dewsall Court was free and we absolutely loved it so our choice was made. It was quite an achievement really because James was working away so we only saw each other at weekends and we were spending time trying to find a new flat , trying to find the real deal engagement ring and there did not seem to be a lot of time to plan a wedding. I had not realised quite how creative I was until we started planning the wedding but it was such a fun time and Sadie our wedding planner from Dewsall Court was an angel and really helped us pull all of our ideas together.

BUDGET | We were lucky that we didn't really have a budget, but we did bargain for everything (including my engagement ring and our wedding rings) and almost everyone gave us a discount. We also got a lot of things for free, so don't be afraid to ask.

THE VENUE | We feel so lucky and blessed to have found Dewsall Court which we fell in love with the minute we arrived. We wanted an exclusive use venue, we wanted to bring our own wine we wanted "real food" and lots of it which ruled out lots of options. we also wanted accommodation on site for at least close family and friends and Dewsall answered all of these for us and even better it came with Sadie who helped us plan from start to finish and was an utter delight and thought of everything both in the planning process and on the day.

Dewsall Court was special for so many reasons, but I think primarily because it is first and foremost a family home which has been redecorated to the highest standard, so you feel utterly relaxed and at home, whilst at the same time feeling like you are in a boutique hotel. It's a magical mix of indulgence and retro cool and the staff are all so very helpful and friendly, I cannot rate it highly enough.

We were also so lucky with the weather which meant we could make the most of the stunning grounds gorgeous gardens, a swing, a treehouse and hay bales and fire pits and rugs in the evening, it was like an adults playground!

THE INVITES | James and I went camping to Stratford on the last warm weekend in September 2013 before we got engaged and we managed to get last minute tickets to As you like it , which was one of the best Shakespeare productions we have ever seen (and we have seen a few!). It had a wonderful festival feel which reminded us of Glastonbury and it almost certainly influenced the way we planned our wedding day . After the production I found some glorious postcards of different plays and sonnets which had been made with the original letterpress with the most wonderful pictures.

Sometime later when we were thinking of themes for our wedding day, I said to James I wanted to use the postcards we had bought on our wonderful trip, but I could think how to make it work . My amazing friend Karen managed to turn the postcards into invites with beautiful matching envelopes. they looking spectacular, they were very cheap and unique to us which we loved.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I bought my lovely dress from Tantrums & Tiaras in Putney which was perfect on so many levels, firstly it was a 5 minute walk from my house so really handy for dress fittings and alterations. Also the lady Elaine, was the only woman who gave me every confidence she could make my dress in the time frame and assured me there was nothing to panic about. She made me feel relaxed and in control and it was such a good feeling compared to so many other shop assistants who were aghast that I wanted a wedding dress in 5 weeks' time. I realised early on there was no way I could get a dress made to measure in time, but I loved the sample dress, it just needed some alterations.

So we had to let out the back a bit which was easy enough with some panels, then we added beautiful lace covered buttons all the way down the back. I was quite conscious about not showing too much cleavage so we sewed in a panel of lace around the top of the bust which really made the dress and softened it giving a more romantic look. The biggest change we made was changing the organza on the skirt for a new one, and it looked so beautiful like new when it was all done. I was also a bit conscious about my arms showing and Elaine has an old sample of an organza jacket which suited the dress perfectly and gave it a bit of a grace Kelly look . She also had another old sample of a fake fur cape which I instantly fell in love with and I thought it would have been perfect if the weather was cold. Elaine boned the back of the cape for me making quite a dramatic look for the evening, I felt a bit like something out of Dr Zhivago, but it was so much fun. It was completely over the top but I loved it and it the whole thing cost a third of the starting price of most bespoke dresses, so I felt really chuffed.

I am massive fan of keeping things local wherever possible and I'm very lucky in Putney to have a jeweller Mounir very near the wedding dress shop. I had bought some vintage look earrings and matching necklace in gold with an unusual green amethyst and it was prefect.

I did not want to spend a fortune on shoes, but I did have a real thing about wearing blue shoes under my dress. I searched high and low but could not find anything I liked. In the end I decided to take the plunge and went on a wonderful day trip with my elder sister Katie to Manalo Blahnik in Chelsea. Much to my surprise it was actually a lovely relaxed experience and we had a great time in there but sadly or maybe luckily for me, the shoes just did not suit my feet.

In the end I came across a sale of Filippa Scott shoes on line and I bought some very classic ivory 50s style peep toe shoes which were a bargain at £40 and very comfortable. They got totally trashed on the day so I am very glad now that I did not spend £650 on the blue Manalo's .

FINDING THE DRESS | I think I may have tried on nearly 100 dresses, no joke. I already had a fairly strong idea about what I wanted, but having been lucky enough to be bridesmaid for 8 of my friends I knew that you have to push boundaries with wedding dresses and step out of your comfort zone so that's what I did. I started off with a budget of £600 which I soon found out was a bit unrealistic, but actually it is possible to get not too far off that number. I was very lucky to have my younger sister Jane and two of my best friends Karen and Shelley with me for most of my dress trying on sessions and they were all very honest and helpful, but we didn't find one they all liked. Eventually when they saw me in THE dress they all cried (well one of them got goose bumps) so I knew that was the one.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | I was really keen for James to have a suit made for the day, I decided if I was spending lots of money on a dress then he should do the same, especially as he would no doubt wear his more than I. I was really keen for him to get a suit from Saville Row as James is as English as they come, but Saville row is crazily expensive. My Dad did a bit of research and came across Cad and the Dandy which is Saville row but at a fraction of the price and really great fun. It was a pleasure going there and meeting the team and James felt really good about his outfit. We also bought his tie from the Cad and I persuaded him to buy some red braces which looked fabulous. His shoes were from round the corner at Church's in a lovely chocolate brown colour which went really well with his suit. The last item and perhaps the most difficult was the shirt which he ended up splashing out on at Turnbal & Assor, James outfit must have been about 3 times the price of mine, but he looked divine and I was so happy for him and we had so much fun choosing everything.. we only got his shirt the day before the wedding, so it was cutting it a little fine!!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We were dead set on having as much live music as possible in the day and especially for the ceremony so we felt really pleased when we found Nieve on Alive Network. We wanted upbeat jazzy music for the ceremony and something that would really make us both smile. We chose Nat King Cole's "let there be love" for the music when I was walking down the aisle which was just perfect for us and I was skipping down the pathway with my Dad and my sisters singing along, it was brilliant. We chose "dream a little dream" for the leaving music which fitted our mood perfectly as we floated out of the barn and up to the house to sign the register.. It worked out really well and saved us quite a bit of money to have Neive all day and her band joined in the evening. We stayed with jazzy stuff in the day and then the band (The Blakes) rocked the stage in the evening and it was nonstop dancing all night, everyone loved it.

I have always been a big fan of poetry and have read poems at many friends weddings, but strangely when it came to my own I did not know what to choose. In the end it was James who chose the reading which is actually a song from the 1960s by Wanda Jackson called "little things mean a lot". We asked my elder sister Katie to read for us and we were so pleased she accepted as with most things in our wedding, it was very last minute as we only chose the reading a week before the wedding.

Send me a kiss from across the room

Say I look nice when I'm not

Touch my hair as you pass my chair

Little things mean a lot

Give me your arm as we cross the street

Call me at six on the dot

A line a day when you're far away

Little things mean a lot

Give me a hand when I've lost the way

Give me your shoulder to cry on

Whether the day is bright or grey

Give me your heart to rely on

Send me the warmth of a secret smile

To show me you haven't forgot

For now and forever, that's always and ever

Little things mean a lot

We also wrote our own vows, which seemed a little crazy given how tight we were with time, but I am so pleased we did as it meant so much to us and we have put them in a frame so we don't forget what we promised each other!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I was adamant for quite some time that I did not want any bridesmaids as we wanted to keep the focus on the two of us and I didn't know who to choose; I had been lucky enough to be bridesmaid to so many of my close friends as well as family. However, as with many things that evolved, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I actually could not get married without both my sisters at my side. So with only two weeks to go before the wedding I asked Katie and Jane if they would do me the honour and I'm so so pleased they said yes. I did not want them to wear matching dresses as it didn't feel right, but their outfits complimented each other really well and showed off both of their personalities beautifully and they both looked absolutely gorgeous. They really looked after me on the day and it was a special moment with them that I will remember always.

THE FLOWERS | Finding the florist we wanted was a lot more difficult than we thought. We had two requests that we were not prepared to budge on, one was that the flowers had to be English spring flowers and the other was that forget-me-nots had to play a role, and both things turned out to be quite tricky. In the end I looked on the web at Mr & Mrs Unique and we found Tammy. We didn't want fussy stylised arrangements and we didn't want anything to be matching. We opted for a soft romantic whimsical feel and were quite relaxed about the flowers we had so some of it was a surprise on the day. We saved money by having all the flowers delivered in buckets the day before and we arranged the flowers ourselves which saved us lots of money and it was a really good fun thing to do and we were very lucky to have a team of friends and family to help. We also decorated the roof of the barn with greenery and cherry blossom which was a bit pricey, but it looked brilliant and blended in perfectly with our Shakespeare themed, candlelit feast.

THE CAKE | A lot of people will say that a wedding is not complete without a cake and I was surprised how many people were shocked by our decision not to have one, but James and I had always said no cake. We just didn't feel comfortable with the cutting the cake moment and decided to spend the money on food and wine instead. It was the right decision for us as with a 5 course wedding feast and a wine to match each course we did not think there would be room for a cake and we were right!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Gemma was a godsend and we felt so lucky she accepted to photograph our wedding, especially as it was her own wedding anniversary. Gemma knows Dewsall Court intimately which really helped when setting up all the shots and she was such a pleasure to have around on the day, so much so, we sometimes forgot she was there which was perfect as it made us really relaxed. She has created some beautiful intimate moments of our wedding day, what a star!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Dewsall Court is a wonderful blank canvas which we could have not done a thing and it would still have been amazing in all its natural beauty, but I found that as the weeks went by I really enjoyed being creative. I was also very lucky to be able to borrow various props from people which really set the mood for the day and we also tried to think creatively about things we had that we could use without spending any more money.

We borrowed a chalk board from James mum and we put this at the bottom of the driveway to welcome everyone as they arrived. We borrowed 12 gorgeous candelabras from a friend which really set the scene and really made our Medieval style feast come alive as it got dark. I had borrowed loads of ivory lanterns from work and we placed them down the pathway between the house and the barn and we hung them all in the trees which looked lovely at dusk.

We made a few displays as an entrance to the Wainhouse barn which were a variety of wine boxes I had been saving for years. We asked Tammy to make a lovely soft flower arrangement to float over the top box and then decorated the others with candles and lanterns and some pretty olive oil cans and tins I had saved over the years, it was a bit random but it looked great.

For my hen party we had a craft day and decorated jam jars for the flowers on the wedding day. I bought offcuts of antique lace, rolls of twine, ivory and powder blue ribbon, a rotary date stamp and some brown luggage tags and we all created different things. There were 15 of us and made 60 jars of various shapes and sizes in a few hours, aided by some bubbles and scrummy food. We used the jam jars to create pew ends on the chairs in the barn and also to put all the buckets of flowers in so there were what looked like hundreds of individual posies everywhere.

WE created our own photo booth for the evening by buying a poloroid camera and we used a wine box as a dressing up box which we filled with silly outfits and props. We started the photo wall ourselves and people added to it through the evening, we have some brilliant pictures and it was very cheap and lots of fun.

For the table names, we used the invites so each table was the name of a different Shakespeare play. For the place names I had the idea to use stencil which I found on Amazon in old English and we then bevelled out some wine corks to hold them. The stencilling was a bit time consuming but again we had loads of help on the hen party and we asked a local restaurant to collect corks for us.

We printed out a menu for each table and I wrote a different saying about forget-me-nots on the luggage tags which we attached to each one. I know it seems crazy but I enjoyed looking up all the old legends and meanings of the flowers it and thank goodness there were only 10 tables!

James has the idea to seal each of the 10 menus with red wax which looked massively authentic and his best men organised for us whilst we getting ready.

We got a really good deal on our desert wine which came in really cute 20cl bottles so we decided to make a feature of them and offered them to our guests to take home. My friend Lara made some signs out of the ends of all the wine boxes for the favour table, guests book and the photo booth, its all looked really cool and it didn't cost a penny.

THE HONEYMOON | In the rush of trying to get the wedding organised on time and what with James being away with work, we did not actually get around to organising the honeymoon. That may seem a little nuts, but it was actually quite an adventure not knowing where we were going. After the last of our guests left Dewsall on the Monday we headed off Dylan Thomas country in Aberaeron and stayed at a lovely small hotel on the coast called The Harbour Master. We spent this day here trying to make a plan for the rest of our week as we knew we wanted self-catering as we wanted some space and we also had a boot full of wine and champagne (!) but we also wanted a bit of luxury. After lots of searching and a bit too much driving around we finally found The Grove in Narberth. This was utterly perfect for us as we stayed in one of the cottages (Christmas Cottage) with a lovely wood burner, a little garden and a kitchen so we had loads of space. But it was also only a few minutes walk to the hotel where the food and staff are first class and it was utter luxury so we had the best of both worlds.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | My sisters struggling to get me into my dress and I was swaying and singing, looking out the window watching all our guests arrive listening to Neive singing Eta James ,"At Last" and it was such a wonderful feeling I wish I could bottle it.

Getting ready in the same room as my sister, my brother Alex and my nephew Kendal. Kendal jumping on the bed, my brother dancing around the room, the music on full blast and all or us having a great laugh

My first view of the wainhouse seeing all our crazy ideas some together and all the work our friends did on our behalf, it was magical.

Seeing James for the first time. We decided to have a moment to ourselves before we got married and I'm so glad we did. We had both written each other cards and it was a really special, intimate moment on our own before we said our vows in front of everyone else.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Make it your day and do it your way. Don't get wrapped up in what people say you should do or convention, just concentrate on you both being absolutely 100% comfortable with everything you choose to do or not do. Your wedding should reflect you as a couple and it should be fun, not stressful! Enjoy every minute of the preparations as well as the day itself. Delegate as much as possible and take time for yourselves. When I look back on our day I'm so pleased that even with all the mishaps and some difficult issues we had to deal with on the day, I didn't let anything dull my shine!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Videographer | Leanne Dodds Blooming Lovely Films

Photographer | Gemma Williams

Flowers | Tammy Wild Bunch

Invites | Louisa Hare

Jewellery | Mounir

Engagement ring | Susannah Lovis

Wedding bands | Jade Jewellers

Music | The Blakes

Shoes | Filippa Scott

Dress including bolero and fur | Tantrums and Tiaras

Groom suit and tie and braces | Cad and the Dandy