As featured on BOHO weddings
As I jumped up, he went down on one knee and popped the question!
How did he propose?
We were on holiday on a small Greek island and went for a walk. All holiday we had been taking jumping photos using the self timer on Iain’s camera. He was planning to propose further along the walk but then I saw a great view over the sea and said we should have a jumping picture there. He actually got a bit grumpy with me and told me to clear all the stones off the ground so we wouldn’t twist our ankles (now I know he was just a bit nervous and stalling for time!). As I jumped up, he went down on one knee and popped the question! At the time my first thought was he was saying my name because I had miss- timed the jump. It made for a great series of photos we now have on our wall at home.
Who were your suppliers?
I was determined not to spend an outrageous amount on a wedding dress and was really keen to get a secondhand one. In the end I bought a sample dress from Krystle Brides in Bath. They were so lovely throughout the whole process. The sample dress had a couple of holes in but they altered and fixed it so you could never tell and now it’s totally unique and it cost just over a quarter of the original price!
I wore flat beaded sandals from New Look - they were so comfy all day and I will be able to wear them lots in the future. I wrapped a blue ribbon from my mum around the ankle fastening as my something borrowed and something blue.
A lovely lady called Julie did my hair and make up - she was recommended to me and had done the hair and makeup for two other friends weddings.
Our caterers were Wards Catering based in Bristol. Dan was great at helping us through the whole process. We chose canapes which we enjoyed on the lawn with prosecco and cider made on the farm, then cheese and meat platters for starters and Moroccan stews with flatbreads and couscous for mains. We had creme brulee for pudding which is Iain’s favourite!
Our band were Crimson Kings and were incredible! They did classics and modern songs, with a lean towards indie tunes which suited us perfectly. The were one of the best wedding bands we’ve ever heard and only wish we had another excuse to book them.
Our day was very DIY and it wouldn’t have been possible without our own hard work but also the help from our generous friends and family!
All our printing was done by one of Iain’s best men, Mike - he helped with the designs and helped bring our ideas to life.
Our amazing cake was made by Iain’s sister Sarah - it was everything we wanted and tasted so good.
We bought all the flowers from Brunel Flowers at Bristol flower market and our Mum’s arranged all of them into all the bottles and jars that we had collected and decorated. This worked out a lot cheaper than getting them via a florist and they looked stunning. The jam jars have been passed through our friendship group for several weddings and are now boxed and ready for two more in 2020!
One of my Bridesmaids Lesley spent a couple of hours on the friday putting the bouquets together. I loved the colours in there and we wrapped the stems in hessian and burgundy ribbon to match the bridesmaids dresses. They looked perfect and I still have mine dried out at home.
I collected petals and dried them for our confetti - I love that in some of the confetti walk shots the resolution is so good I can see individual petals and know where they came from!
About a month out from the wedding I decided that I was going to make cheese straws and sausage rolls to go with the cheese and meats we had bought from Murrays Butchers on Gloucester road in Bristol (these guys were absolutely amazing if you are thinking of organising the evening food yourselves to help keep the cost down). I begged and borrowed tupperware and freezer space from friends in order to store around 300 cheese straws and 200 sausage rolls. They tasted amazing (if I can say so myself!?) and we served them on old slate roof tiles that my bridesmaid Steph had rescued from being thrown away.
For wedding favours, my Bridesmaid Megan and I made around 1300 pieces of fudge and boxed them all in one day! It was a bit of effort but fun when you have a friend around and it saved us so much money rather than buying it pre made and boxed.
How long did you spend planning your day? What were your biggest challenges? What did you enjoy most? How did you research and find suppliers?
We found the venue in October and our wedding was July so we had a few months to organise things. The main challenge was probably to organise all of the suppliers and companies we were hiring equipment from. We had a rather large spreadsheet to keep all the info in one place and keep track of all the costs. I really enjoyed pulling it all together - you should definitely be allowed to put it as project management on your CV!
The story of your day
We had been at the farm since Thursday setting up so our morning was pretty relaxed as we only had a few jobs to do.
Jen stayed in the house with her bridesmaids getting ready whilst my best men and I, along with some helpers, set the chairs up in the field as well as setting up the music system for the ceremony. We directed the caterers and, most importantly, we sorted the bar out!!
Once that had been sorted and the escaped cow had been returned to its field…
Once that had been sorted (and the escaped cow had been returned to its field) the best men all headed up to one of the tents so we could get ready (enter Mike and Sophie).
Once we had sorted ourselves out we headed back down to the field to start welcoming the guests and eventually getting them all sat down.
Next was the service - it was great. We had a Humanist ceremony which was very personal and perfectly suited to us. We had friends do readings (one of which turned out more like a performance as they had made dinosaur hats), a song sung by Deano, one of the Bridesmaids and a group singalong to finish the ceremony.
After the service we had a confetti tunnel, canapes and drinks on the lawn, group and family photos, lots of different garden games and spent lots of time talking to our guests in between photos.
We sat for dinner and Jen and her Dad both did their speeches before we had our meal.
Then food, lots of food!
After dinner I did my speech followed by my best men (lots of abuse in there)
After this we went out with Mike and Sophie to have some photos with our best men and bridesmaids, and then some with just the two of us.
After that was all done it was party time!! the band kicked us off and we partied with them until around midnight and then we switched over to our own playlist.
Songs you chose to be part of your day.
We asked Deano, one of my Bridesmaids to sing during the ceremony. She has an amazing voice and we asked her to sing ‘The One’ by Kodaline as we thought the lyrics were really suited to us and to the day.
We had a group singalong of ‘Build me up Buttercup’ to end our ceremony.
We had a group singalong of ‘Build me up Buttercup’ to end our ceremony. We had the lyrics printed in our order of ceremony and everyone really threw themselves into it. It was a great moment to look around and see everyone enjoying themselves so much.
We chose ‘Your heart belongs to me’ by Jarrod Dickenson for our first dance. One of our first dates was to see him perform in Bristol and it’s a perfect song. One of the gifts Iain got me in the morning of the wedding was a signed CD from Jarrod wishing us happiness for the day! I didn’t know if I would cry but it tipped me over the edge!
Advice for couples planning their day
Be prepared to miss out on a lot of the stuff you plan.
Have a very loose plan that can change, nothing will run to time.
Don’t try and make everyone happy, it’s your day and you are the most important people. someone will always complain about something.
Only invite the people you want there, we went on a policy that we had to know when we looked back at our photos in 5 years we would be able to say we still talk to everyone in our photos.
Your favourite photo and why?
The one on the log.
Who doesn’t want an album worthy photo of their wedding crew!! The log shots were great fun and this one has all the people most special to us in.
Iain and Jen’s Contacts and Suppliers
Wedding Dress - Krystle Brides, Bath
Shoes - New Look
Band - Crimson Kings
Catering - Wards Catering
DIY - Murrays Butchers, Gloucester Road, Bristol
Bouquet and Flowers - Brunel Flowers at Bristol flower market and arranged by friends and family
Venue - Moor Farm, Gloucester.