Secret Garden Navy Outdoorsy Wedding - Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

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Another pretty garden wedding today. I am totally spoiling you aren't I?

WWW readers Angela and William were married on the 3rd May 2015 at the Secret Garden in Kent. They planned for their wedding to have an outdoorsy and relaxed feel, complete with charity favours, lush blooms and nature stationery.

I especially love that they said their vows to one another in a heart of blooms... yes really. It was a very special touch. The bridesmaids wore floor length blue asymmetric dresses, the gents looked dapper in navy suits and Angela chose to wear the elegant Gemma by Maggie Sottero. It doesn't get much more stylish than that.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Schryver Photo for sharing these photographs with us.

THE PROPOSAL | We both love the beach and William wanted to find a beautiful coastal area that we could revisit in the future. We went for a walk at three cliffs bay, at the Gower peninsula, South Wales. It was a lovely sunny day and there were many proposal spots to choose from. The perfect chance arose as we were walking back up the cliff at the end of the day, the sun was setting over the sea, and everyone else had gone home. At the top of the cliff, in the golden glow of the retreating sun, Will got down on one knee.

THE VISION | We always wanted something outdoorsy and relaxed. A garden theme seemed fitting for our venue. As we are both from Kent we wanted to get married there. Our main colour of dark blue was one of the first wedding decisions we made together and we agreed straight away.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Was tricky as Angela lives in Bristol and Will is living in New York for work. Will did really well, organising what he could over the Internet, such as designing the invitations and booking photographer, etc. Angela spent a few weekends visiting Kent and my mum was dragged round endless venues and bridal shops.

BUDGET | Aapprox £15k.

THE VENUE | The Secret Garden Restaurant, Mersham-Le-Hatch, Kent. We chose the Secret Garden as we would get to spend time in the beautiful, secluded walled garden. Also, the venue was so pretty by itself that it would not require much decoration at all, especially as our package included floral table decorations from the onsite florist, Anenome Blue. The restaurant does amazing food (the guests really enjoyed the wedding breakfast) with local produce which was another draw for us.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Gemma by Maggie Sottero in Ivory/nude from Jodi in Maidstone £950 ("something new"). Shoes were pink brand also from Jodi reduced to about £30 for the store pair. Our florist prepared some flowers for my hair (wearing flowers in my hair was so cool and it gave me my "something blue"). I didn't buy any new jewellery, apart from the wedding ring. I wore a necklace (and engagement ring of course) that was a previous present from Will, a bracelet that I wore as a bridesmaid for my brother and sister in laws wedding, earrings were "something borrowed" from my sister, "something old" was an 18th birthday present ring from mum.

FINDING THE DRESS | Was difficult as I am so indecisive. I wanted something floaty and straight down at the skirt (which was surprisingly difficult to find), but I was willing to try different styles as long as they weren't too big. No one envies my mum and friend who went shopping with me. I visited 8 shops in Bristol with my friend Thandi and 7 in Kent with my mum. I didn't have an "it's the one" moment, but my Gemma dress by Maggie Sottero was an early contender that I compared all other dresses to. It had a bit of an oldy worldy 20s feel to it due to the colour and the satin felt really lovely against my skin.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Lounge Lizard navy blue suit by Ted Baker, rented from Moss Bros. The groomsmen wore the same suit, without the waistcoat. Ties from Debenhams, the groomsmen wore light blue (Light blue pastel damask tie), and Will wore the same tie in ivory.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Will's mum read a poem: "The One", author unknown.

Our harpist Jeanette Cordery was great and used to work at the same venue as Will's sister Amy. We had 3 songs during the ceremony:

Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

A day like this by Elbow

And Jeanette stayed and played for the drinks after the ceremony.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Angela's Sister Louise, William's Sister Amy, Angela's sister-in-law Joanne, Angela's best friend Lauren. I found the bridesmaid dresses on Amazon, long dark blue with a floral strap. They bought their own shoes. The bridesmaid gift was Bristol blue glass drop earrings which was personal to us both having lived in Bristol together and matched the colour scheme perfectly.

Angela's 3 nieces Emily, Olivia and baby Grace were the cute little flower girls, wearing ivory/cream dresses from Very and flowery headbands from Monsoon. My nephew Thomas was the page boy who did a great job of handing us the rings.

THE FLOWERS | Anenome Blue florist. She prepared bouquet, bridesmaids flowers, button holes and corsages, flower girls wands, and the flowers for my hair. We wanted blues and peaches to compliment (as I didn't want the flowers to be whiter than my dress).

Theme: Peach / lavender blue/ forget me nots / vensulan roses and David Austen Roses.

Blue hydrangeas / forget me nots / David Austen roses / Venusian roses / lavender / touch foliage / silver grey foliage / peach hypericum.

We also had the vegetable garden and gazebo decorated, which unfortunately had to be moved inside due to a rainy morning and therefore an inside ceremony. It was decorated beautifully inside.

THE CAKE | Will's talented Dad made our cake and surprised us by making figures of the whole bridal party on the 3 tier cake. The detail was brilliant, even including the beading/crystals on my dress. He also hand made the cake stand for good measure! This really impressed the guests, who commented on it lots throughout the day.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Schryver Photo. Will chose Helen as he is passionate about photography and liked her photography style. Unfortunately due to Will and Angela's locations, we were unable to meet her until before the day before the wedding, but we bonded straight away, and she made us feel very comfortable while she took photos of us. She is amazing with children as well and an added bonus was that we got such stunning, natural shots of the kids having fun on the day. We couldn't have asked for a better photographer. Our photos document the day perfectly; we look back at the photos and remember those special moments.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Wedding stationery was designed by Will with a rustic and outdoorsy theme - a tree on the invitations and table plan and leaves for the RSVPs and place names. Will's aunty helped us out and arranged for them to be printed.

Wedding favours were charity badges for SMA Trust and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust accompanied by love hearts sweets.

THE HONEYMOON | Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We had an amazing time, one of our favourite places was the Sri Lankan tea mountains near Nuwara Eliya. We stayed in an awesome hotel here that used to be a tea factory, it had incredible views.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Will seeing Angela in the dress for the first time.

Hitting my 3 year old niece Olivia during the bouquet toss (this was a dangerous arena for a child!) We are pleased that she didn't catch it though!

The speeches were funny and original and all went really well. Angela's Mum's speech was really great, Will said such lovely things, the best men Tom and Mark were an amazing double act.

The Razzell men's rendition of Bohemian rhapsody (there are plenty of photos).

Overall the whole day was memorable - the best day of our lives!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Lots of people want to DIY everything for their wedding, but having the venue needing so little decoration was great for us as there was already so many other things to organise. Make sure you do it your way and get as much help from friends and family as possible.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Schryver Photo

Florist | Anenome Blue Florist

Venue | Secret Garden

Hair and make-up: | Flair Beauty (Hayley Wood)

Stationary printing | Leap Printers

Harpist | Jeanette Cordery

Juke box | Digital Juke Box Hire

Favour pin badges | SMAT Trust and Bumble Bee Conservation

Honeymoon | Kuoni

Wedding Dress and shows | Bridal Gowns @ Jodi, Maidstone store

Suits | Moss Bros Hire