English Country Wedding

This wedding sent by Joanna Brown of Browns Photography packs a serious punch. Not only is this sweet couple deeply in love, but they also have a taste for some awesome decor — how great is that reception tepee tent? Not to mention the precious Mr. and Mrs. tent as well! Make sure you settle in for this one… if you’re anything like us you’ll take a while to pore over these pictures!

From the bride, Kelly: We wanted a relaxed day without too many formalities where everyone could hang out and most importantly have fun. Also, I get bored easily so we wanted to have loads of stuff going on (we had fireworks, fancy dress photobooth, a DJ, an awesome band, a lindy hop dance lesson, old black and white movies, a cake competition and a hot tub (obviously!)). I guess it was inspired by all these festival/country house parties we go to a lot, events like the Last Tuesday Society , Wyndstock and Secret Cinema. I basically ripped off all the bits I loved best about them! I work in publishing so the wedding quickly took a literary theme too – all our stationary was library-ish and the table’s were named after our favourite books. My obsession with the mid 20th century meant it was always going to have a vintage vibe too. I think it was very English.

[I’d describe my wedding as] English country house party. Quirky. Vintage inspired. Literary. untraditional, fun (I hope!)

As above, I was inspired by the trend for quirky, vintage-y house parties so it had, I like to think, a mid-century country house party, but in tipis with a hot tub! We didn’t really have a colour scheme but we did try to work with the spring colours generally around – primrose, greys and wisteria blues.

I tried to do as much DIY as possibly. I made all the stationery myself. I typed all the invites on my 1940s typewriter which was a real mission! They were supposed to look like library cards. My step dad made the table plan. It was supposed to look like old library cataloguing draws and I made escort cards to look like cataloguing cards with the cataloguing number and book (which was the name of the table) on them. I got an old date stamp to stamp them all with (we used this on the order of service too). I made all the orders of service stealthily on my work printers! Henry and I made all the signs and i spent what felt like forever making paper pom poms and super gluing bunting out of old lace curtains from ebay because I didn’t have a sewing machine. We used a 1960s typewriter for the guestbook. My mum made the bridesmaid dresses by taking apart one of my favorite dresses which I’d found in vintage store Beyond Retro. We arranged all the flowers for the venue ourselves using flowers from my mother in law’s gorgeous garden and supplementing them with wild flowers from a brilliant florist call The Wilde Bunch.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now?

I REALLY wish we’d had an event manager on the day. I event manage as part of my day to day job so thought it would be easy but I was so wrong! With so much going on on the day I don’t think I really relaxed until about 10pm, which was fine but it would have been nice to leave it to someone else by that point, especially when the band came up to me during dinner and asked for money to go down the pub!

Other than that, if you’re going to DIY start early – especially invites. I had no life for about 3 months doing those! Don;t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone loves weddings and are probably desperate to help you. I was overwhelmed with offers of support. I also think if people invest time in a day they have loads more fun.

If you have a back garden type wedding where you are doing everything yourself I really recommend booking yourself in for something the night before the wedding so you can take a step back from it all, relax and focus on what’s really important (especially then you find out the best men have run out of petrol on the Clifton Suspension Bridge and only made it in time because they managed to flag down an ice cream van).

Also, you can never have too many paper pom poms.

View all images from their wedding

Wedding Songs:
I walked in to Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve and out to The You and Me Song by The Wannadies. Both really 90s songs! They were played by the Bristol String Quartet. We really wanted to sing at the wedding so everyone sang Stand By Me by Ben E. King. I was worried it might not work or that people would think it was odd but afterwards people said how much they enjoyed it. We didn’t have a first dance.

Location: near Bristol, England / Wedding Photographer: Joanna Brown of Browns Photography / Ceremony: Mansion House / Reception: groom’s parent’s backyard / Florist: Wilde Bunch / Wedding Dress and veil: vintage from Fur Coat, No Knickers / Wedding Shoes: Vivienne Westwood’s Lady Dragon from ebay for £50 / Jewellery: Rust / Hair and makeup: Isabel While of Bridal Styling in Bristol / Bridesmaid Dresses: handmade by the bride’s mother / Groom’s suit: Henry wore a bespoke suit from Saville Row taylor Oliver Benjamin it was supposed to be a modern twist on a ‘50s style. All the other boys wore dark grey suits of their own. The bride made Liberty print handkerchiefs for them all / Band: Brassroots / DJ: Ollie Lyles / Ceremony Musican: Lindy hoppers were Hoppin Mad, String Quartet were the Bristol String Quartet / Caterer: Catering was Anne Guy / Dessert: Cake competition and caterer served them all for pudding / Wedding invitations: handmade by the bride / Transportation: We had a 1948 Bristol bus from Quantock Motor Services