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John & Joy: A Rustic Handmade Garden Party
Today’s wedding is just the perfect note to start this week on! John and Joy were married on the 3rd May in a traditional Jehovah Witness ceremony at their local Kingdom Hall. Before the wedding the couple held a picnic by the canal for their nearest and dearest so as to spend some quality time with them before the evening reception – how cute is that!
This is a bride and groom with some serious style, John wore a suit that was all sorts of classy whilst the bride wore a stunning white gown with a delicate and pretty floral crown. Could this wedding get any better? Well YES! It certainly can because the bridesmaids wore the most beautiful lime green polka dot dresses that I have ever seen.
Honestly I have been overwhelmed with the excitement of featuring this wedding and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts!
Here is what Joy had to say about the day…
” We met in our local woods for our pictures in the morning, because it is just so wonderfully beautiful and it really is a special place of ours as we had held many bonfires and outdoor film nights the in the past. We then decided to meet up in a secret garden in Wolverton by the canal for a picnic as we wanted to have some time with our dear friends and family before the evening. We were then married in a traditional Jehovah’s witness ceremony in our local kingdom Hall. For the reception we headed to a cute little pub down by the canal, for a bbq and a dance, it had a wonderful marquee and a beautiful view over the water.
We had decided on a ‘Rustic Handcrafted Garden Party’ theme to our wedding, so we endeavoured to do as much as we could together as a couple. All our colours we very neutral, mainly greens and browns as we wanted to blend in with the forest, garden party theme as much as possible.
We hand made photo bunting, which was bunting made with photos of us and our family and friends, reused jars and bottles and decorated them with polka dot ribbon to be used as flower pots and candle holders. We then made labels for the jars with stamps and ink. We had the three bridesmaid’s that walked down the aisle carrying these jars with their bouquets inside and the same material from their dresses used as a ribbon tie around the tops.
We also handmade all the table numbers, runners and direction signs, bought a dozen cake stands and plates from second hand stores especially for the sweets table and filled jars with sweets and homemade chocolate hearts. I’m not sure if many would have seen them but we collected 40 or so pine cones from the woods and cleaned them up and added a little bronze spray paint to give them a little shine and used them as décor too. We also had a typewriter for our guest book.
We tried to be as individual and as handcrafted as we could. We had a lot of help with the beautiful flowers and bouquets from a friend of ours who has an awesome looking Vintage stall with all sorts of bits and pieces at the Vintage fair in Milton Keynes. She provided quite a few rustic looking props that brought all the pieces together. John also surprised me with a bike he had restored, our friend then filled the front basket with flowers that matched my bouquet, they were beautiful! She put all the flowers together to look like they had just been collected from the forest (calla lily being the main focus flower), she did a marvelous job!
The grooms suit was secondhand from a vintage store on ebay of which there a quite a few I know, but he has found a few suits that way. He likes that Marl flecked brown look and it fit in with the woods scene and the green polka brilliantly too. His mum is a bit of a genius and she made up his waistcoat for him and there was the outfit.
My dress was from a little bridal boutique in Totnes,Devon. The dress wasn’t complete though so my maid of honour and I bought a piece of lace, died it in tea and made an add-on bit for the top of the dress which I wore to the ceremony and in the evening. I also made a satin belt for the dress too.
I just love a good Polkadot and we saw this fabric at a vintage fair and instantly loved it. I had a vision in my head as to what the bridesmaid’s dresses would be like (all 9 of them) and our friend who is a seamstress measured, cut, pinned and made all the dresses from a design we drew together.
Ria Beth was our photographer, she is a very talented girl. She saw our vision for the day and understood exactly what it was we wanted. On the day it was almost as if she wasn’t there? I was worried that I would feel really awkward during the photos, like i was on the set of a photoshoot, and that it would feel a little forced and plastic. However Ria has a great way of making you feel relaxed and it was all very natural. I think the pictures speak for themselves really and just go to show how great our photographer was. Maybe i’m biased but I feel that she captured above and beyond what we had anticipated and that they are truly beautiful pictures.
My advice for couples getting married in the future would be to be original. Have fun. Plan together. Don’t listen to too many other people; listen to each other. Grooms, get involved, it’s more fun than you think!
I know right! Isn’t that just the most beautiful wedding you have ever seen! It is the perfect example of how DIY’s can make your wedding so personal. I also love just how much thought and feeling went into each aspect, the woodlands they dated in, the special picnic with their families, the photograph bunting.
Are you falling in love with this amazing photography? I know I am!
Much Bespoke Love
Emily ♥
♥ Photographer: Ria Beth
♥ Venue: The Galleon
♥ Brides Dress: Bridal boutique, Totnes, Devon
♥ Grooms suit: Vintage, Ebay
♥ Bridesmaids Dresses: DIY
♥ Flowers: DIY
♥ Props: Vintage Fair, Milton Keynes
The shot of him holding her veil on the bike. The best!