Lisa and Owen held their August wedding reception at The Littlebourne Barn, Kent. They wanted a fun and relaxed day with a village fete feel. Cue pom poms, bunting, ice cream, sweets and vintage crockery galore.

Lisa looked beautiful with her plaited hair, natural make up and lace Justin Alexander dress, while Owen donned a  three piece suit by Marks and Spencer. Lets not forget the gorgeous florals and pretty maids too. Glorious.

Thanks so much to Rebecca Douglas for sharing her lovely photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… After four years together, we had talked about getting married, but hadn’t made any firm plans.  We booked a holiday to Turkey last year and one evening while we were sitting on the hotel’s jetty overlooking the river, Owen produced a large box and inside was a beautiful hammered silver bracelet, which he said was to commemorate our anniversary.  Owen asked to look at the bracelet and he said that there was something written on the inside, I took a look and it was engraved with ‘Will you marry me, Lisa?’ As soon as I saw it, Owen got down on one knee and again asked me to be his wife.  We arranged a day out to Hatton Gardens to choose an engagement ring once we returned from holiday.  He certainly surprised me!

The Vision for the Day… After we decided on a traditional church wedding in the Church that Owen used to go to Sunday school at as a child and the reception venue, we hoped to plan a fun and relaxed day that reflected both of our personalities with a mix of village fete, rustic & vintage themes.

The Planning Process… Planning was fun, but at times it was very stressful!  As the venue was a complete blank canvas and the choice of caterers was also our own, there was lots of decisions to make.  We took some advice to choose 3 things that we wouldn’t compromise on and they were; the dress, the photographer and the band and we worked everything out around those three.

Budget… We budgeted for £10k, but it ended up being just over £14k, but we were lucky and our parents helped us with the extra.

The Venue… St Andrews Church, Wickhambreaux & The Littlebourne Thatched Barn.

The Dress + Accessories… Justin Alexander 8530 dress. My late Nan’s sapphire ring, which was my something borrowed, old and blue! A faux pearl cuff bracelet, a silver bracelet that Owen gave me for the wedding morning and diamond and pearl earrings from Earnest Jones.

Finding the Dress… I had tried on the 8530 on my first day of wedding dress shopping, but had discounted it as I thought it was too sophisticated for me and I had almost decided on its sister dress the 8630.  However, I couldn’t stop thinking that the large skirt was too much for me.  I went to around 5 more shops and was feeling like I would never find ‘the one’.  But on the morning of another dress shopping day we found ourselves on the wrong road and ended up going to Wedding World in Folkestone, the helpful assistant chose four dresses after asking me what sort of thing I was looking for and my budget and it included the 8530.  It was the third one I tried and even before it was fully on I said “this is my dress!”  It was everything I wanted and just perfect.  I think I needed to see every other type of dress to realise what kind of dress I really wanted and it wasn’t too sophisticated at all!

Groom’s Attire… Owen wore a grey 3 piece fitted suit from Marks & Spencer.

The Readings + Music… Shakespeare Sonnet 116 & Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Entrance—The Bridal March, Wagner, Exit—The Wedding March, Mendelssohn. Three hymns: One more step, God of all living, God be with them!

Beautiful Bridesmaids… We had 6 grown up bridesmaids & two flower girls.

The Flowers… Our very talented friend Kerry made our wedding flowers and a dried flower wreath, which was hung behind us throughout the wedding breakfast (and is now hanging in our home!).  Owen’s Mum & sister foraged flowers the day before the wedding and they were placed in jam jars and dotted along the tables to go with our rustic barn theme.

The Cake… Was from M&S and the stand was a last minute hire from Nason’s the afternoon before the wedding!  We wanted to decorate it with some gypsophila, but just didn’t have time to organise it.  Owen’s creative sister Lizzie made our fantastic peg people bride and groom!

Your Photographer… The very talented Rebecca Douglas.  We had already booked a different photographer, but as soon as I came across Rebecca’s pictures, I knew we had to have her photograph our wedding.  Her style matched what we wanted perfectly.  After meeting her we knew we had made the right decision.  She is just wonderful to work with.

The Details + Decor… We really wanted a tea party/rustic/vintage look and set about decorating the huge empty barn.  Owen’s Mum folded around 60 paper pom poms, we strung up over 300 feet of bunting and 150 feet of lights.  We were lucky and our tea party caterers (Vintage Style Teas) lent us a lot of bunting and the typewriter, vintage radio and suitcase!  Owen’s brother in law drew the tree for our guests to place their finger print on and I found a lovely dresser on Ebay to put outside the ladies toilets for a dressing room/waiting area.  We couldn’t have made the barn look as pretty as it did without all of the help from our friends and family though, it took two days!

The Honeymoon… We went on a 4 night ‘mini-moon’ to Amsterdam and stayed in a beautiful two floor apartment.  We are planning a longer honeymoon to Mexico for our first anniversary.

Memorable Moments… Riding on the Vintage bus with my Mum, Aunt and bridesmaids to the church, it was a very surreal moment!  Watching each other say our vows are our top moments of the day and Owen particularly enjoyed the Mexican wave in the church before I arrived!

Advice for Other Couples… Hire a wedding planner for the day if you are a DIY bride!  We wish we had as we filled up the sweets table when needed and got annoyed when some of the little details we had planned didn’t happen.  Although planners are an extra expense, we wish we had saved harder so that no moment was spoilt with any problems or empty sweets jar!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Photographer: www.rebeccadouglas.co.uk

Caterer: www.vintagestyleteas.co.uk

Wedding dress: www.justinalexander.com & www.weddingworldkent.co.uk

Furniture & Toilets: www.1stsetting.co.uk

Wedding bus: www.rorkiesbus.co.uk

Wedding car: www.simplystunningcars.co.uk

Make up: www.katiesearle.co.uk

Hair: www.alluregroup.co.uk

Suits and cake: www.marksandspencer.com

Beauty treatments: www.revitalizebeauty.co.uk

Venue: www.littlebournebarn.co.uk

Bar: www.premierbarrunners.co.uk

Mini-moon: www.amsterdamathome.eu

Flowers: Kerry Psalia 07523863416

 

Utterly gorgeous. Thanks so very much to Lisa and Owen for sharing their wedding with us today XOXO Lou