Happy Monday Peeps!

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Today we have an epic wedding to share with you! I have been so looking forward to posting Paul and Katerina’s wedding on our festival pages. Their laid back handmade wedding is full of  love and laughter. the coolest feather headdress, haybales galore, fancy dress, a very dapper tweed suit and a disco shed – what more could you ask for in a festival wedding!

Their wedding is also very close to my heart as Katerina of Rhubka Design designed our wedding invitations and wristbands and became a good friend in the process. It’s been lovely reading all about her wedding and to see her so happy.

Paul and Katerina wanted to create that feeling you have at a festival when you’re chilled, loving the music, snacking and drinking and you look around and think “I wish all my friends were here too”.  That’s what they wanted their wedding to be and that’s what they definitely achieved.

Held in their friends back garden overlooking the beautiful rolling hills of Hertfordshire, they hired the fabulous pavilion tent from Cheltenham Yurt, laid the lawn to picnic mode, and created a movie theatre tent for the kids……….“we asked everyone to bring a picnic (and drinks of their choice). We made picnic tables, blankets a plenty, laid on cocktails and kegs of beer, and watched as our wish came true. Everyone embraced the ‘dress as you please’ and ‘bring what you need to feel relaxed.

I made picnic blankets and fabric covers for the hay bales from fabric from Hitchin market and finds in charity shops. Paul made picnic tables from reclaimed oak, which were dressed with hessian and lace table runners I made from vintage lace finds. We hired some fantastic furniture to dress the yurt and create our ‘top- table parlour’ from Gila Timur in Hitchin, very ethnic feel, solid and just our style. We had wardrobes in the Yurt packed with dressing up, wigs and hats, it was great seeing friends emerge from the yurt with a whole new look. We also hired some props from Keeley Hire in Hoddesdon, including the Pig’s Head (Neil and Linda, whose garden we used as the venue, keep pigs. The head formed the title of the ‘pub’ at the wedding  The ‘Pigs might fly’  (I’m only going for one pint…)

So here it is, their wedding in all it’s festival glory! Enjoy this one guys – it’s definitely one for the inspiration bank!

Over to Katerina…..

A 40th Proposal and an Hotch Potch Wedding theme………..

I proposed to Paul, thought I’d surprise him on his 40th birthday. I designed a card for him, featuring lots of quotes about birthdays, and snuck the proposal amongst them. He found it, shocked me by saying yes and, yep, made me cry!

We’re both creative and a bit cranky. I don’t like things that match, so our wedding was named the Hotchpotch wedding. We wanted everyone to feel relaxed, dress as they pleased, then as the day progressed and the dancing began, the silliness of fancy dress, sunglasses and hats to take over. We love the freedom that simply expressing yourself can give. Don’t worry too much what people will think. If you’re true to yourselves, and they know and love you, they will see it and love it too.

Yolan Cris, Oscar de la Renta, and Alexander McQueen….

I made my wedding dress. I knew I wanted separates and I wanted lots of detail (I’m a crochet/embroidery nut). I drew inspiration form Yolan Cris, Oscar de la Renta, and Alexander McQueen. It took around 7 weeks to make and featured soft grey silk tulle, simple white cotton, an antique wedding veil and vintage lace all over embroidered with a wild flower inspired design.

I wanted a dress that could adapt to the day (it consisted of a 2 layer skirt – so as the day went on, I removed the lower layer and revealed a shorter skirt.)

For my shoes I wore Dr Martens Triumph 1914w Boots in Cherry red…. ..gotta be able to dance all night! My mum thought they were eyebrow raisingly interesting….so me!

I wore rose gold feather earrings from Wilde in Hitchin, and my friend Sharon had Under a Glass Sky turn some of my favourite buttons into rings!

To finish, my friend Rachel also made some feather wrist bands. Subtle and understated is not my style.

Every man should have one good suit…..

Every man should have one good suit. Paul wanted tweed and Cad and The Dandy and Savile Row came up trumps. Beautiful 3 piece tweed suit topped with a beaver fur top hat from Bates of Piccadilly.

A Handmade Native American Headdress…….

My pinterest board for my dress did feature a great shot from Jean Paul Gautier, featuring a Native American Headdress. On my hen night, as I didn’t want the ‘L’ plates shenanigans, my friend Rachel made a white headdress for me to wear that night. As soon as I saw it, I knew that would be my headpiece on the wedding day. It was tricky keeping it out of site and obviously there was a facebook ban on sharing images from the hen do…. Paul’s instant reaction was fabulous.

A Bouquet of Friends…..

I asked all my female friends to bring one flower for me. I wanted to feel them with me as we exchanged our vows. The girls provided me with the most stunning bouquet. Friends Sue and Sam tied the bouquets for izzy and me, and when I saw them, the tears started.

A Cedar tree blessing….

We had a registry office wedding during the week before the wedding, so the actual ‘ceremony’ on the day, featured poetry readings from a couple of friends and us exchanging personalised woven wrist bands and our vows which we had written ourselves. We were ‘blessed’ under a cedar tree, with our friends and family seated on hay bales under the tree bows, overlooking the stunning countryside.

An oiled piece of teak and lots of cake….

Our good friend Anita made our cakes for us. We wanted there to be something for everyone… and they were polished off in record time. We had a Jamaican ginger cake, a carrot cake, and a chocolate cake. Decorated very naturally and presented on an oiled piece of teak adorned with her home grown vines and grapes. The cake table was amazing and they were delicious.

Choose a great photographer……

Very important, choose a great photographer. So much of the day goes on when you’re just milling around chatting, you can miss lots of details, expressions, and Sharon captured those moments brilliantly. She knew the efforts we had gone to and recorded the details. She also took us away from the guests to take some beautiful photographs, we just mucked around, danced with the dog, stroked Tilda the pig etc.

A Disco Shed and Drum ‘n’ Bass…..

We installed the one and only Disco Shed with Paddy on the decks, complete with paraphernalia. He played all day long, then DJ Milk Dud (aka Ben Thompson) did the Drum&Bass late night set in the Yurt….awesome music all day and night.

Favourite Moment……..

We sat sipping champagne looking out at everyone eating their picnics, it had all come together, with loads of hard work and the moment was perfect. We also loved being in the woods, dancing around with Barley the dog, while Sharon worked her photography magic.

Any Advice……..

Have lots of ideas, think of everything you’d like to do. Then do a budget. Once you have the budget you can decide what off the wish list is achievable. Also, lots of people tell you they are happy to help. Try not to be a complete control freak, give some jobs out to others. On the day, you won’t notice if things are a little different to how you thought they would be.  I did melt down slightly the night before the wedding because there were a couple of things I just wanted to do. I’m glad I did them, I knew they were achievable so know your limits and trust yourselves….oh and try not to lose sight of the reason you’re doing all this……love each other!

We had so much support from my mum and dad, from Neil and Linda and from all our friends who lent a hand in the run up to the day and on that morning. We were running around, and I’ve never spent so much time at a sewing machine. Paul and Davey’s company Arcangel were on full wedding mode the week before the day. We loved that everyone just trusted and believed in what we were creating. Everyone was so excited and the comments afterwards have been amazing. Our wedding was not traditional at all, it was fun and was the perfect start to our new life together. We wouldn’t have changed a thing, we loved, chatted, partied and gave our friends the best wedding ever (their words not ours!)

The Line Up Photographer: Sharon Cooper Photography Venue: Friend’s Garden Bride’s Dress: Handmade by Katerina Bride’s Shoes: Dr Martens Triumph 1914w Boots  Bride’s Jewellery: Earrings from Wilde Jewellery; Rings from Under a Glass Sky Groom: Cad and The Candy Groom’s Hat: Bates Hats Yurt: Cheltenham Yurt Entertainment: Disco Shed

Thank you so much to Katerina and Paul for sharing your awesome wedding with us. Loved reading every single detail!

Their first dance will be on the blog this afternoon peeps so don’t be a stranger.

Right…….I’m off to make myself a Native American Headdress!

Big Love

Festival Brides xx