Ditsy Floral Pretty Pink Country & Seaside Wedding

Ditsy Floral Pretty Pink Country & Seaside Wedding

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I so love it when a couple fill in their wedding report together. Claire and John planned their day as a team and what a wedding they had.

They married back in August and held their reception at Westport Woods Hotel in Ireland, a countryside spot close to the coast perfect for some beautiful portraits of the happy newly-weds. They wanted a wedding which was both personal and creative. Everything and I mean everything was oh so pretty. Disty floral fabric was utilised alongside hessian and gorgeous blooms. Claire and John looked a vision in lace and a bow tie respectively.

Thanks so much to Cristina Rossi for providing the amazing imagery.

THE PROPOSAL | (Paul) Well.... After planning on setting a date to propose, I wanted to steer clear of the usual choices such as Christmas, Valentines or Birthdays and chose to pop the question on April Fool's day! I am always the joker and had bought the engagement ring 1 week earlier. The morning of April Fool's day, I woke as Claire was getting ready for work and asked her would she marry me. Still with her sleepy head on, she said what? I then shouted APRIL FOOLS!!! I wanted to throw Claire so far off the scent that it would be the last thing she'd think I'd had planned. We both went off to work with no-one aware of my plans for proposal at dinner that evening. I arranged a half day at work and met with Claire brother to ask his permission to marry his sister to which he happily agreed. (Claire's younger brother Dan is the man of the family as she lost her Dad in her teens) Dan really appreciated being asked. I then met Claire when she finished and cooked us a lovely dinner. My plan was to propose at the end of the meal and as I turned to get the ring, Claire jumped up like a flash taking the dishes out to wash up unaware what was about to happen! In a panic, I crept up behind her as she washed up with her marigolds on and went down quietly on one knee. It felt like forever before she turned round and when she did she thought it was late April Fool's joke! When she realised it was a real proposal she started to laugh (which scared me!) and through the laughter and tears said YES! Whooohooo!!!!!

THE VISION | (Claire) I knew I wanted a personal wedding that had our creative touch. Rustic country wedding was the root we went down. The most important things to us were that the atmosphere was fun, relaxed and we could celebrate with our friends and family. (Paul) - Different! We wanted family and friends to see a wedding like they'd not attended before!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | As soon as Paul proposed he asked me to marry him in Ireland. I said yes straight away. He had already loosely planned things in his head and told me straight away how/where we would have our special day and was bursting at telling me! I have fallen in love with Co. Mayo on the west coast of Ireland after visiting for the last 9 years of our time together. There is nowhere else I wanted to marry. The church is so small but beautiful and has been Paul's family parish for generations. It is the church where his Grandparents (on his mother's side) married and their parents before them. Many of Paul's family have married there for over 200 years and it was special to continue this. I said from the very start that I wanted to have photos with a tractor and wear wellies! It's something I had always joked about on my many visits to Ireland and on each occasion would make sure I would have lots of pics on the tractor in with the sheep and cows on the family farm! (Paul) - The beaches in Mayo are gorgeous and you really are spoilt for choice! Pictures at the beach were a must! We wanted to do something different so we arranged for an Ice-cream van to be outside the church as a surprise for our guests.

I am so lucky that Paul is very hands on with everything. I did sometimes call him Groomzilla as he could get quite bossy but it was lovely that he was involved with every single thing. Just after we set the date I started a course for work which meant I had to devote a lot of my time out of work every evening. I did feel bad as I would be busily completing assignments while he was searching for the band, cars etc. This worked well as Paul knows more about music than me and he knew exactly what we needed. (Paul) - This is true! I also told Paul how I wanted a button brooch bouquet to keep forever. I'd seen these in magazines but not found one just right. So Paul spent many an evening searching online whilst I did my coursework and found the one!

(Paul) - As we both live in Coventry and were planning to marry in Ireland, we had a lot of people saying "that will be very difficult" But it wasn't! We only visited Ireland twice after setting the date, fitting in appointments with the Priest, Venue's manager Joanne and meetings with the Irish state to advise of our intent to marry there, all crammed into a short time. Now-a-days everything can be done online. Email and paypal are a god send! We were lucky as everyone was so helpful and helped answering any questions we had.

BUDGET | (Paul) - This is something we never thought of! We didn't set a budget which was a bad idea as we would simply choose what we wanted and go ahead and book/confirm it. We should really have sat down at the start and set strict plans but got very carried away! A way we were always going to save money was by hand-making a lot of the various ideas we had for the big day from invites to décor.

THE VENUE | I visited several hotels on a trip to Mayo without Paul (He couldn't get the time off) I was sending him photos and videos whilst he was looking online at them. The Westport Woods was my favourite from the start. I just had a nice feeling when I walked in. Joanne McEnnif could not do enough for us. Luckily Paul felt the same on our next trip together. So that was the venue booked. (Paul) - The venue itself in Westport, Co. Mayo. It is a beautiful setting and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area. It is a gorgeous hotel with woods behind it backing onto a beautiful lake. The hotel have built a path leading you through the woods to the lake and was always an intention to go there for our wedding pics! Their function room is stunning and had just been renovated with floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the woods/lake.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Justin Alexander dress 8630, Rachel Simpson shoes 'Mimi', simple pearl jewellery - including Jenny Packham earrings, pearl bracelet which was a gift from my fiancé. Hunter wellies in moss green for the tractor photos.

FINDING THE DRESS | (Claire) I had my heart set on a Charlotte Balbier dress called Tabitha, which I'd seen in a bridal magazine ever since we had got engaged. I searched all over and a shop tried to loan in a sample dress but this never materialised. I tried on several dresses with my bridesmaids, my mum and my mother in law to be. I thought I wanted a slinky dress, very simple and vintage but they just didn't feel right. It was my bridesmaid Dawn who passed me a huge meringue dress as I called it! I tried that on in the shop and I just felt like a bride. I knew that for the church wedding it had to be big. That particular dress was lovely it was the back that wasn't right. It was a high back with buttons all the way up. I continued to search and I just couldn't get Tabitha out of my head. Then when I tried on Sabrina 8630 I just knew! I did not want to take the dress off. I looked and my mum was in tears. The dress fitted perfectly. No alterations needed so I just bought it! The same went for my shoes. I just knew that I wanted Rachel Simpson shoes after seeing them online.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | (Paul) - One thing I didn't want is the traditional suit with the tails or cravat (nothing wrong with that) but I had in mind that I wanted a tweed 3 piece suit and bow tie! I wear bow ties regularly and it was a must! The tie had to be floral to fit the theme so I picked various patterned bowties for my best man and 2 groomsmen. They were initially sceptical on wearing the bow ties but once they tried the whole suit on, they realised it was just right! I found our suits on ASOS. I searched high and low in vintage tailors all over the Midlands and online but once I seen and tried on the final choice I was sold! This was finished off with some tanned suede brogues. Very smart and equally as casual and so dam comfy!!!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | (Paul) - In all my family weddings growing up, all my Aunties and Uncles were given all the church duties from readings to offertory. This time we gave all the readings to family. I have a very large family, my Mum is 1 of 10 and Dad is 1 of 6 with so many cousins you would lose count! Each one was read by a cousin or very close family member and we loved bringing them all into feeling a special part of our day. We were very lucky with the church music as a popular Irish singer/songwriter, Frank McCaffery, is a local to the family area in Mayo and close with our family so I emailed him to see if he was available! Fortunately he was free that day and came to sing in the church for us.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Choosing bridesmaids was easy and I did this the evening Paul Proposed to me. I chose Dawn my best friend who I phoned that evening to tell her all about the proposal. My brother's girlfriend of 15 years (Beci) and Paul's sister (Anna) I also had my niece & nephew as page boy and flower girl. I told Paul my vision for the bridesmaid's dresses as I knew I wanted floral and pastel colours with a vintage feel but struggled to find a dress that fit what I was looking for. Paul searched & searched until he discovered Lindy Bop. These dresses I just love. We went on to buy the girls dresses and shoes from Lindy Bop too. We also bought an extra dress to cut up! Sounds mad I know, but it was perfect as we used the material to make button holes for 10 of our immediate family, my flower girl basket, doll and wand so that they all matched.

THE FLOWERS | I wanted to fit in with the shabby chic feel and had my vision of home grown lavender (which reminded me of my Nan as she always had a gorgeous garden & I loved the smell) I'd looked through bridal magazines and had many pictures of flowers just picked from an English garden all displayed in jam jars. The jam jars were all rustic looking with hessian, twine, lace & pearls. So right up until the last minute we were doing our own. Then as time was running out and we had lots to do we decided to find help. We were very fortunate as a family friend in Ireland who has done the church flowers for many years came to our rescue. This was just perfect as she completely took on board our vision. We sent her photos so she knew the type of thing we liked.

So Mrs Kenny sourced the pink & white gypsophlia (for the jam jars) she found the flowers to make the arrangements for the altar and the church pew ends. These were transferred afterwards to the hotel for our top table and entrance. They were just beautiful. Another touch which we enjoyed was the fact that we helped in making these. So there was Mrs Kenny, Paul's God mother Catherine, Myself, Paul, Paul's Sister Anna and my good friend Crissi (my photographer). We spent hours the night before the wedding making all of the arrangements then we drove them to the church. It was lovely to see the church all decorated. Another part which was personal to us, we just love the handmade, homemade feel.

I can remember seeing the Top Table for the first time, it gave me goose bumps. Seeing the flowers and jam jars we had made with love, seeing the Mr & Mrs bunting which we had also made. The table names and Bride & groom frames which we sat for hours gluing and sticking. The frames I sourced from local charity shops and my nephew & I painted. It was a lovely feeling.

THE CAKE | We originally wanted individual cupcakes, one per person and I wanted them displayed inside cup and saucers. Then though, no we like the traditional feel of cutting the cake after the first dance. Plus I like the idea of the fruit cake tier that is then kept to be a christening cake. (Which we have at home)

Luckily finding a cake was easy. There just so happened to be a wedding fair at the venue when we were over in Ireland. They had a cake table with samples cut up to try. Of course we tried all flavours which were fab! Rocky road was just amazing! They had a cake on display, it was the exact pink colour of our colour scheme, and it had ivory lace and pearls. This I knew I would be wearing. It had to be that cake. We booked the cake there and then and took advantage of the 10% discount. This was perfect as we had no searching to do and Angela was so helpful. I asked her to leave the top plain so we could add out Just married cake bunting.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Again this was a very simple process and no need to search or shop around. Cristina Rossi has been a close friend of mine for 14 years. She has known Paul from the start and it was lovely that Crissi could come to both the engagement party and also my Hen weekend in Brighton. This was lovely for both Crissi and our guests as she was no stranger to them. They all know how lovely and dedicated she is. Crissi was there the evening before so she could come out to the farm to visit close family, then she came and helped with the flowers and the church. As Crissi had never been to Mayo before it was lovely to show her around and point out special parts and places which we wanted in our photos. This again makes them feel special. We both knew that we wanted Croak Patrick in the back ground, as a few years ago we both climbed it together.

There was nobody else we wanted to take our wedding photos. We are both comfortable with Crissi and her natural and not posed way. We had a pre wedding shoot just after we were engaged. This captured our fun loving way. It wasn't the normal quite park with just the couple, oh no! We had a busy Saturday morning in Portobello Market. We didn't care that we had people watching all over. On the day you have guests so why not get used to an audience. In fact I forgot there were people all over, I just loved it. We were non-stop giggling. Crissi has an infectious laugh and this just went so well with Paul's sense of humour. I had stomach ache from laughing.

On the day Crissi was in my hotel room at 8.30am. She was busy capturing very moment, every accessory which is so lovely. Crissi was everywhere on the day, she is like a ninja! She jumped down by the river bank to look up to us on the bride, inside the ice cream van with us both to capture that fun memory. Even at diner she was busy snapping photos of the rings outside and taking photos of the sweet table, photo booth, the card wishing well etc.

Crissi did not stop until almost midnight! She took photos of the speeches, first dance, throwing the bouquet, the garter and the girl's v boy's dance off. Even on her way out of the door she then started snapping away at us in the photo booth props in the corner. She could not stop herself. Crissi was just amazing and we cannot thank her enough!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We wanted a pretty, rustic venue that would allow us to hang our bunting and display our vintage finds. We had collected jam jars and decorated these with hessian, twine and lace. The venue were more than helpful when it came to the décor. Everything from the homemade sweet table, homemade photo booth etc they gave us designated areas for all which worked fab. We had so many of our personal touches that made it all the more special.

We had a vintage type writer that had a heartfelt message from us to our guests. We had a wishing well for our guests to leave there cards. This was special to me as it reminded me of my great grandparents wishing well that they had in there garden.

We made the seating plan and table names ourselves. This was lovely as we could make sure it all had the same pretty ditsy floral fabric. It really was a labour of love and again made our day to see it all. The favours were sugared almonds in matching pretty floral bags tied with ribbon. I love the tradition of five sugared almonds both bitter and sweet for our guests to eat, to remind us that life is both bitter and sweet, five wishes for the new husband and wife - Health, wealth, happiness, children and a long life!

With so much of our wedding handmade by us both it made everything so much more personal and let our character shine through. I would highly recommend making things if you can - It does give you a great feeling. Our day was more than we had ever dreamed of.

THE HONEYMOON | As I work in a school and I'm tied to only having school holidays it's difficult. I wanted the time before the wedding to enjoy the build up, finish making everything and just catch up on my sleep! We wanted the August Bank holiday as it suited a lot of our guests for having the Monday off work. We had a big after party on the Sunday night. Same again, a band on all night, private room all decorated this time we had a hot curry buffet which was lovely.

So we are busy planning the honeymoon now, which is nice.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | On the day - seeing Paul's face as I walked down the aisle.

Also the church selfie - This was such fun and really made everyone even the priest laugh. A family member when he was at the altar leaned in for the first selfie of the newly married couple.

Then seeing guests enjoy themselves, seeing the venue for the first time all done up. The beach was special as it was just us. There were many memorable moments. I loved the tractor as it had a special meaning and reminded me of Paul's Uncle John who we recently lost.

The speeches - they were the most adorable and sentimental set of speeches I have ever listened to. I loved them all.

Plus our first dance was lovely. Considering I was really dreading this as I cannot dance at all and I had wanted to rehearse something. This did not happen and we just made it up, with lots of twirling and spinning around ha.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | If you also want a homemade wedding, start as soon as you can. It takes ages! There is no better feeling on the day to seeing everything you have made together but it takes time.

Spread the costs out, buy little and often. I constantly had the postman deliver parcels to us, as I mainly buy online as it suits me to be able to browse online during the evenings and shop around.

Do what you want - make it feel like your dream wedding, as this is your one chance after all! Do not try to please others, they may not have your vision. Let them wait until the day to see everything.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Cristina Rossi

Dress | Justin Alexander

Shoes | Rachel Simpson

Jewellery | Jenny Packham

Suits | Jeff Banks

Mens shoes | Red Herring

Cake | Cakes by Angela Geraghty

Ice cream van | Americano Ice-Cream

Venue | Westport Woods Hotel

Bridesmaid dresses & shoes| Lindy Bop

Page boy & flower girl outfits | Next

The bouquet | Love is vintage (Aylsa Hopps)

The band | Oddity

Wedding cars | U2R1

I just have to say the band Oddity- They were absolutely amazing! They had everybody on their feet the whole night. Brilliant interaction with guests, a dance off, throwing the bouquet and garter was great fun. They were definitely worth the money!

Wow wee.

Thanks so much to Claire and John for sharing their super wonderful wedding with us today XOXO Lou

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