Good morning beautifuls! I hope you all had fabulous weekends full of love, relaxation and happy times. Maybe you spent the weekend searching out the perfect wedding venue or updating your planning spreadsheet? If you’re getting hitched this summer then there isn’t long left to pull out the stops and put the finishing touches to your arrangements. I really can’t believe how fast 2019 is flying by!
Today we bring you a bright and vibrant festival wedding which includes all of the festival features that we LOVE – VW Camper Van bar, festival flags, festival inspired stationery, a glitter bar, garden games, BBQ….the list of wed-fest elements in this wedding are endless! Amy and Stephen were married in glorious Devon (3 cheers! Yes, I’m a Devonshire lass!) at Monks Withecombe, which hosts a beautiful rustic barn and pretty garden grounds. This fun-loving couple knew exactly how they would theme their wedding from day 1 of planning….
We both love music and we are huge fans of going to festivals together. We usually go to at least one every year, sometimes more, so thought it would be fun to have a mini-festival theme to our wedding, with bright colours, flags, hay bales and pallets.
The couple handmade so many items for their wedding, and brought in the help of family and friends to create a superb festival themed day. We love the steel-petrol-blue VW camper and the bold flashes of electric navy blues and bursting oranges. This colour duo is most certainly a trend that will carry through this wedding season!
The day was blessed with sunshine, which meant this big festival party was mostly held outdoors until the warm summer sun set (just look at the end-of-day couple shots by Emma Stoner Photography…..romance is absolutely golden in these images!). Her entire collection is seriously stunning and we’ve so enjoyed looking through them. Here is bride Amy to share her wedding story and tell you all about her colourful festival wedding….
Romantic Amsterdam Proposal
We were away for a long weekend in Amsterdam in December 2016. Stephen was contemplating proposing on an evening canal boat ride as it happened to be the beautiful Amsterdam Light Festival, but knowing I wasn’t a huge fan of public proposals, he actually ended up proposing in our hotel room just before we went for a special meal. It was such a special weekend that I will never forget.
Vibrant Festival Wedding With a Laid Back Devonshire Vibe
We were married at Monks Withecombe which overlooks Dartmoor in Devon. Somebody I got chatting to at the Westpoint Wedding Show happened to mention the venue in conversation when I mentioned I wanted laid back barn wedding.
Barn Ceremony, DIY Jars and Large Borrowed Lanterns
We had a civil ceremony within the ‘Gallery’ barn. I spent months collecting jars (along with friends & family), soaking the labels off and decorating them with brightly coloured ribbon and wildflowers. We hung these on the backs of chairs and sat on the windowsill during the ceremony. My friend, owner of Zaza Homes, kindly donated some of her large lanterns to stand frame the aisle. We had a playlist running whilst guests were seated which featured The XX, London Grammar and Ben Howard. The Bride’s walking in song was ‘Higher Love’ by James McMorrow and our grand exit song was ‘You Got the Love’ by Candi Staton.
Alice in Wonderland Theme with Vintage Accessories
We had 5 different main areas to decorate at the venue so it involved a lot of hard work! I spent a long time scrolling through Pinterest boards finding ideas that really appealed to us. We made over 100m of bunting which took two full weekends! We had vintage apple crates stacked up with Zaza Homes lanterns and a vintage suitcase (purchased in a charity shop) as our card case.
We had an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme in here with connecting for the trestle tables, styled with vintage teacups and keys with name tags. We also added home-grown wildflowers in jars and bottles along with small pots of herbs. We hung handmade gold wreaths with polaroid photos, clear balloons with LED lights inside and collected pallets which we decorated with fairy lights. Paper lanterns lit up with LED lights which we bought from eBay and hung up using fishing wire.
We had a festival line-up style table plan which was mounted on an easel at the entrance to the Corn Barn. We ordered this from Wed Fest. We kept our table plans simple and named each table by a Glastonbury stage name.
Canapes in the Garden and a BBQ Wedding Breakfast
We used Posh Nosh as our caterers. They provided our canapes in the Garden Area post ceremony and they also provided our wedding breakfast BBQ. To this date people are still commenting on how awesome our food was – many have said it is the best wedding food they have ever had!
VW Camper Bar, Instagram Frame and Festival Flags
We had three Kilner dispensers made up of Pimms and Lemonade, organic lemon cordial and water, along with two wheelbarrows stacked up with beers for everyone to help themselves to.
Our friend Josie Florence sang acoustic songs out by the hay bales which we decorated with various blankets. We made a ‘#MarriedMillingtons’ Instagram frame and handmade festival style signage which we paired with bright festival flags
We an amazing old VW Camper van bar supplied by Split Screen Bar – they were extremely helpful! In the evening we had the most amazing woodfired pizzas made by Exe Valley Pizza Co – they were fantastic! We hired in toilets from Andy Loos who set up luxury trailers in the meadow for our guests.
Naked Cake, Eucalyptus Foliage and Bright Blues and Oranges
Our talented friend and bridesmaid, Liz Walmsley, kindly made our beautiful cake as a wedding gift. We had a 3-tier ‘naked cake’ made from Victoria sponge with jam, decorated in figs, berries and flowers (which matched my bouquet). Amy’s Flowers were highly recommended to us by Nicky and Simon who owned the venue. They helped us with our ideas and really knew what they were doing. The bouquets were absolutely beautiful. The main foliage used was silver dollar eucalyptus and the flowers were thistles, cornflowers and dahlias. I knew I wanted blue and oranges in the bouquet for a bright summery feel. I also preferred wildflowers and these were very seasonal. We were also very fortunate to have Stephen’s mother and friend grow a mass amount of wildflowers for us in the months leading up to the wedding which they then placed in hundreds of bottles and jars around our venue.
Bespoke Boho Dress and Blue Vintage Shoes
I actually had the dress made from scratch. I knew I wanted something a little different and slightly boho which was hard to find in Devon. I adore the Grace Loves Lace range and went to the London showroom to try some of the dresses on, however I liked two dresses and wasn’t sure what to do! Then my sister introduced me to her seamstress friend, Lesley Strath (Exeter based), and we discussed my ideas. She got to work on a dramatic floral, low back, side-split dress.
I wore a cathedral length view with floral edging and placed fresh thistles in my hair, and teamed everything up with a pair of Rachel Simpson Mimosa Blue vintage style peep-toe heels – I fell in love with them at first sight!
Crystal Chandelier Earrings and Back Pendant
I wore bridal chandelier earrings made from oxidised silver and a mixture of dark blue and white Swarovski crystals. I also wore a Margaux CZ Back Pendant Necklace from Amy O Bridal – I hadn’t seen anyone else wearing one so thought it would be a great accessory. I had my engagement ring made bespoke by a supplier via Etsy.
Stephen wore a tailor made suit from Moss Bros – it was a chequered grey patterned waistcoat and suit jacket with black trousers and brogues with buttonholes made by Amy’s Flowers based in Chagford. The bridesmaids wore light blue dresses with asymmetric hems from ASOS with silver peep-toe platform heels from Faith.
Incredible Photographer Emma Discovered on Instagram
I actually found Emma from Emma Stoner Photography by browsing through other wedding photos on Instagram – I fell in love with her images straight away. We absolutely loved Emma’s style of photography and it was a bonus that she had worked at our venue before. Emma worked really hard all day and captured so many beautiful moments – we are so pleased with the photos.
At the end of it all, all you really have is the photos to look back on and you need to be able to put a lot of trust in your photographer – the trust really paid off for us.
Pop Punk and Playlist by the Groom!
We had Geoff Music as our band; they played pop-punk which was a bit different and lots of fun! Afterwards we ran a playlist mixed by Stephen who DJ’s in his spare time. It was a combination of new and old dance music which got everyone up on the dance floor!
First Dance
Our first dance was to ‘My Love’ (acoustic version) by Jess Glynne which Stephen then mixed into the ‘My Love’ Route 94 dance version after a couple of verses so everyone could join in and dance with us. We chose this as we both love the dance version but also liked the slow acoustic version!
Favourite Moment
Probably towards the end of the day when we had a beautiful orange sky, everyone was happy, playing games, sack racing and drinking in the sun. It was lovely to reflect on how lucky we had been with the weather and how well the day had gone. It was great to feel like all of the hard work and planning had paid off.
Any Advice?
Everyone told us not to stress about the details because no one pays attention…I don’t strictly agree with this advice as we had lots of people comment on all of our attention to detail! It all depends what you want back from your day. Taking on a huge DIY venue was really hard work but we had it exactly how we pictured it and we both had such a great day with our friends and family.
If you don’t want the stress of planning a wedding, definitely don’t choose a DIY venue. I was sometimes envious of those who chose package weddings…but that kind of wedding just wouldn’t have suited us…
The Line Up
Photographer: Emma Stoner Photography; Venue: Monks Withecombe; Bride’s Dress: Lesley Strath; Bride’s Shoes: Rachel Simpson; Groom’s Outfit: Moss Bros; Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS; Bridesmaid Shoes: Faith; Hair: Hair @ 75 Anna Stokoe Hair Design; Caterer: Exe Valley Pizza Co | Posh Nosh; Decor: Zaza Homes; Florist: Amy’s Flowers; Paper Lanterns: eBay; Stationery: Wed Fest; Necklace: Amy O Bridal; Engagement Ring – Etsy; Singer: Josie Florence; Bar: Split Screen Bar; Toilets: Andy Loos
beautiful bride, groom, decoration and photos of details!
beautiful bride, groom, decoration and photos of details!