Eclectic Quirky Theatre Inspired Wedding

via

WWW readers Katy and Simon were married on the 28th September 2013, hosting their reception at Haslemere Hall, Theatre and Cinema; which they drew inspiration from for their wedding theme. The most delicoius cinema inspired menu of pulled pork baps with sweet potato fries and coleslaw, ice cream with popcorn and nachos for the evening were all served by usherettes... YUM.

They hand crafted their personal touches and details, had a family feel to their wedding and kept everything as local as possible.

Katy looked beautiful in her customised Raimon Bundo dress and Rachel Simpson shoes, while Simon donned a fun bow tie with his three piece suit and the girls were pretty in floral dresses. Stunning.

Thanks so much to the utterly wonderful Claudia Rose Carter for sharing her photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | We met through mutual friends seven years ago and hit it off straight away.

Two children later, Simon finally decided to make an honest woman of me and popped the question, having arranged a (very rare!) date night in London. He proposed at the start of the evening so we could spend the night celebrating! We had cocktails and pizza and then stayed in a gorgeous hotel in Little Venice.

My engagement ring was (is!) perfect. I loved the idea of having an antique one but hated that I wouldn't know the story behind it. So Simon bought an antique diamond ring but had the stones (two baguettes and one marquise cut) re-set in a new ring.

THE VISION | We wanted something very relaxed and we wanted to involve our friends and family as much as we could. We didn't have a specific theme but I would describe our wedding as very 'us'! We like quirky things and made the majority of our decorations ourselves. We fell totally in love with Haslemere Hall the moment we saw it (which was before we knew we could hire it as a reception venue!). The fact it was a theatre and a cinema played a part in a lot of our choices, for instance we incorporated the deep claret colour of the stage curtains into our colour scheme - and the fact that the Hall is the centre of our community made us want to give our wedding a laid back, old fashioned village fete feel.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We only had six months to plan the whole day but I wouldn't have had it any other way. We didn't want to hang around - plus I work better under pressure!

BUDGET | We didn't want to spend a fortune. My parents paid for our photographer as a wedding gift, and Simon's parents paid for the catering. All in all we spent around £4,000 extra.

THE VENUE | Ceremony: St Bartholomew's Church, Haslemere. Reception: Haslemere Hall, Theatre and Cinema.

We only moved to Haslemere at the end of 2012 and it was really important to us to have a 'local' affair within our new home town. We used a lot of local suppliers and wanted our family and friends to get to see where we have settled down!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Raimon Bundo - bought from Leonie Claire Bridal Boutique in Brighton. I chose the Dalia dress.

This was actually the second dress I bought! I had originally bought an off-the-peg number, but had niggling doubts about it for ages. Friends had told me I'd 'know' when I found the right dress and I just didn't have that feeling with the one I'd chosen. Five weeks before the big day I knew I had to do something about it.

I was due to visit family in Hove the following day so made an appointment to try some dresses on at Leonie Claire. The whole experience was amazing and, as predicted by my friends, I burst into tears when I saw my dress. I ended up buying the sample and Leonie arranged for her seamstress to make the alterations I waited that same day. The dress was originally floor length and with a huge train but I had it taken up so that it was tea length. Leonie was honestly amazing, I've never known customer service like it. I took my dress home that evening. Pearl hair clips. Pearl necklace - antique - my something borrowed (from a friend). Pearl earrings - antique.

Brooch - a surprise gift from Simon on the morning of the wedding. Made by SAXFORD*HAWKINS, who specialise in reworking antique pieces, it was made up of two vintage brooches - one of a daisy (Daisy is our eldest daughter's name) and one of a bluebell (our youngest daughter's middle name). It goes without saying that I cried when I opened it!

Hair by my old friend Nicola Elliott. Makeup by Corinna Harrod who I discovered through Twitter and who is now a great friend! I'm quite specific about how I like my make up and she got it just right.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Suit: Marks & Spencer. Bowtie: Mrs Bowtie. Pocket watch: Family heirloom.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | At the church we were really traditional; I walked down the aisle to Wagner's The Bridal Chorus and walked back up it as husband and wife to Mendelsson's Wedding March.

Readings: We chose Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare, which I've loved forever and 1 Corinthiuns 13 was our religious reading. They were read by my two oldest friends, Emma and Vikki, who I've known since secondary school.

At the reception my brother's band played as people arrived and then my Dad and Godfather's band played after dinner (including our first dance!). The evening ended with an amazing set of our favourite indie and 60s and 70s rock & roll tunes from some of our DJ friends.

Our first dance was to 'Yes I Will' by The Hollies - performed by my Dad and his band (lead vocals by my godfather). We both love 60s music and this is one of our favourite songs. The words were particularly fitting for a wedding day.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had two bridesmaids (two of my best friends) and two flower girls (my daughters). The bridesmaids wore fifties style dresses from Monsoon, with real flowers in their hair and my daughters wore off-white dresses, also from Monsoon, with white converse hi-tops.

THE FLOWERS | The flowers came from my friend's shop, The Naked Grocer. I wanted wild looking, seasonal flowers so opted for sunflowers, craspedia and daisies. I didn't want smart bouquets, I wanted it to look as if they had just been picked. The Naked Grocer did an amazing job - they were just beautiful.

I did my own flowers for the reception, with single stems in jam jars, which I had decorated with ribbon and twine.

THE CAKE | Made by our good friend Sarah Hawkins, from Sarah's Lovely Buns, we had vanilla sponge cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream frosting and edible glitter, vanilla meringue nests with lemon curd filling and decorated with seasonal fruits and a topper of lemon sponge (my favourite!) with a lemon curd centre which Sarah had hand decorated with royal icing & bespoke daisy flowers.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Claudia Rose Carter, who was just AMAZING. She shot our friends wedding last year and literally the MOMENT we'd set the date we called her up to book her!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Because our reception was in our local theatre/cinema we wanted to incorporate that theme into our food. We were also adamant that we didn't want a formal three course meal. Joe made the most divine pulled pork baps with sweet potato fries and coleslaw, which were brought to tables on trays by usherettes. Dessert was ice cream with popcorn and toffee sauce and then big plates of nachos were brought out later in the evening.

Wedding car: A friend's orange campervan -my parents had an orange campervan that I LOVED when I was growing up which was why I chose one as my wedding car.

Stationery: Peony & Rose designed our invites, orders of service - and also the huge posters we had in the advertising frames outside the Hall (which were printed off by a friend).

Décor: We made our own table numbers, which were years - and had photographs of Simon and I from that year on them - and I made the table plan, framing a blackboard with gold gilt. We also gave our wedding a hashtag and encouraged our guests to tweet and Instagram photos - and we made blackboards with this information on for them.

We decorated the hall with 100m of bunting in mustard yellow, claret and burnt orange. Jam jars (collected with the help of friends and family) filled with either a single stem flower (sunflowers and daisies) dried wheat or tea lights. Hessian bunting made by myself. DIY heart table 'confetti' made from bark and paper using different sized heart shaped punches. Paper pom poms (hand made) and old fashioned, round balloons. We also hired LOVE letters from Doris Loves which were the piece de resistance!

THE HONEYMOON | We didn't have a honeymoon as such; instead we spent our wedding night at a lovely local hotel and the following day set off on our 'familymoon' with the girls. We stayed at a friend's house in Padstow, Cornwall and spent five days together as a family.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | I loved every part of it, but mostly the lead up to the big day! Our wedding was a real family affair and a true labour of love. All of our friends and family contributed in some way and that meant so much to us. On the actual day, I loved Simon and I sneaking five minutes away together to digest everything that had gone on! We had been so busy speaking to our guests all day that we'd barely seen each other. It was lovely to have some time on our own, even if it was only a few minutes before dinner.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | As you're walking down the aisle, make eye contact with your husband to be! I can't tell you how petrified I was of having to do that walk and having everyone looking at me. I was planning on keeping my eyes to the floor but a week before the wedding two different friends told me they'd done the very same thing and regretted it. That moment when I locked eyes with Simon will stay with me forever. Without sounding too corny it was magical.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Claudia Rose Carter

Venue | Haslemere Hall, Theatre and Cinema

Dress Shop | Leonie Claire Bridal Boutique in Brighton

Veil | Richard Designs

Shoes | Rachel Simpson (Eva style)

Brooch | SAXFORD*HAWKINS

Makeup | Corinna Harrod

Bowtie | Mrs Bowtie

Flowers | The Naked Grocer

Cake | Sarah's Lovely Buns

Catering | Joe Gray