York Homespun Wedding

Quintessentially British, Kath and Ste’s wedding will charm you with loads of style. Emma Case Photography, who is not new to Ruffled, was on hand to capture their day at the York Maze – a corn maze field complete with a pretty barn and a giant trampoline!

Neither of us had a specific idea of how our wedding might look, but we both wanted it to be an informal, fun and relaxed event. It was also important to us for our guests to have a good time. When I first started looking at magazines, I saw some beautiful weddings but they didn’t feel like our style. It wasn’t until I discovered the world of wedding blogs that I found some real inspiration – we particularly liked the look of a lot of the casual, backyard style American weddings, and stole a lot of our DIY ideas from these.

We didn’t want to spend a lot on decorations, so I made the hanging fans in the barn myself with lots of help from my bridesmaid Ruth (a primary school teacher so very useful in crafty situations) although I did manage to superglue my fingers together in the process. The flowers were an incredible joint effort by our parents who cut them from their gardens the day before and arranged them in a mix of mason / jam jars and old milk bottles from my grandad’s farm. We also put tea lights into lots of jam jars and put them outside when it got dark.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? I would just say relax, enjoy the planning and don’t let it become all consuming. Remember that the wedding industry is a big business, so stand your ground and don’t just do something because it’s the done thing or because a supplier is intimidating you into it – my first dress shopping experience was awful because I had such a pushy sales assistant. Having vendors that you like, trust and that understand what you want make life so much easier – so do your research, choose wisely, and it’s half the battle won.

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Wedding Songs:
Processional: “Sweet Thing”- Van Morrison
Recessional: “Good Day Sunshine”- The Beatles
First dance: “Two For The Road”- Bruce Springsteen

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Wedding Vendors and Venue (Elvington Lane, York, England):

Venue: York Maze / Photographer: Emma Case Photography / Florist: DIY / Wedding Dress: Fur Coat No Knickers / Shoes: Joules / Rings: Rust / Hair: Bang Hair / Makeup: Catherine Gajewska / Groom’s suit: Debenhams / DJ: friends and family / Dessert: Yorkshire Wolds Dairy Ice Cream / Wedding invitations and posters: Liz Newell ([email protected])