Colorful Homemade Vintage Wedding

Combine an eco-friendly wedding with a floral 1950’s wedding dress and a super stylish groom and you get one laid-back, gorgeous, totally unique wedding. So is the case with Rebecca and Ross, whose wedding from the United Kingdom has all the right amounts of fun, color and vintage gorgeousness.

We wanted our wedding to be casual, fun, friendly and relaxed. We wanted it to feel like being at a garden party at home. We wanted it to be colourful and full of laughter. A bit like a festival, farmers market or a country fair. We threw in a bit of vintage clothing and styling (which we love) and we wanted the wedding to reflect our passions for locally sourced and seasonal food and drink as well as to be green as we could make it using recyclable and reusable products as much as possible. We wanted it to feel like us.

We never had a theme or colours but would describe our look and ethos as Retro, Rustic, Vintage, DIY, Eco-friendly, Colourful, Playful, Homely, and Eclectic. We DIY’ed our save the date and hosted it on You Tube, designed the image on our invitations which were e-vites and our wedding website. Ross’s Mum Val sewed all the gingham table cloths and Ross and the boys erected huge festival flags in a rainbow at the entrance to the barn. We arranged the flowers with Rebecca’s sister’s help. Rebecca sourced all the mason jars from the USA on etsy.com and the cake stands and vintage glass bottles from car boot sales with help from her Dad.

We always knew we wanted a civil ceremony as neither of us are remotely religious. We were so pleased that the civil ceremony in Kent, called a Kentish Ceremony, allows you to basically write your own ceremony, as long as you keep the legal declarations, so we were able to make it fun, personal, meaningful and community focused and it really reflected the commitment that we wanted to make to each other.

We decorated the barn with help from our families and Jane Kirk, the owner of the Barn, the day before the wedding. It is a complete blank canvas, literally everything you need, with the exception of tables and chairs, has to be brought in but that meant it was the perfect site to create exactly what we wanted. Our wonderful friends and families all made cakes and biscuits for the dessert buffet, our friends Suki and Anna sewed and knitted over 50 metres of bunting. Ross designed a poster in the style of a wordsearch that all our guests were meant to sign as witnesses – but we forgot to take a pen so it’ll just have to be framed and put up anyway!

We decorated with over a hundred photos, many that that we used for our save the date, that we printed out and pegged to string. Rebecca sewed pairs of lovebirds and different sized stuffed hearts out of Cath Kidston fabric. We bought the metal drinks coolers at Sainsburys and found the paper straws online. We found disposable plates made from leaves and non-plastic biodegradable cups.

Our friend Richard donated the plain white table cloths, champagne buckets and a stereo as well as all the wine at the bar. My sister and her best friend Jo chopped endless fruit for the Pimms and my Aunties baked sausage rolls and made my favourite cheesecakes.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Do your research first. Pick vendors whom you respect and trust; we were floored by how amazing everyone we worked with was, not just becuase of their talent and what they created, but how were just to discuss ideas with. We went with our gut and we saw only one caterer, one photographer and one florist and they were perfect so we went with them! Let people help you, you will be surprised at how much people will show they care about you and they will show you in so many small ways. Stick to your guns over what really matters but remember the day is not just about you. Be kind to each other. Enjoy it!

Wedding Vendors (Kent, England):

Ceremony and reception location: Ratsbury Barn/ Florist: The button holes, corsages and thank you bouquets as well as the bride’s and bridesmaid’s poseys were all designed and created by Jen and Bek of Blooming Green / Photographer: Emma Case/ Wedding Dress: Vintage from Fur Coat No Knickers/ Bride’s shoes: Dune/ Bride’s Jewelry: ‘Love’ necklace from Accessorize/ Hairpiece: Whichgoose/ Hair: Friend, Sarah Furlong/ Makeup: Friend, Jade Atkinson/ Groom’s suit: Hugo Morris Bespoke in Brighton/ Groom’s shoes: Herring Shoes of Northampton/ DJ: iPod playlist / Caterer: Deborah and John of Pumpkin Catering/ Dessert: provided by guests / Wedding invitations: Designed by the groom, view here/