Happy Monday Lovely People! How are you all? I hope you all had a good weekend and managed to enjoy the snippets of sunshine we had in the UK yesterday.
We have such an awesome real wedding to share with you all today. I have been so looking forward to gracing our pages with it! Not only does it feature some of my favourite wedding suppliers, some of which I am so proud to say are members of our Festival Wedding Directory, but also because it is full to the brim of so many steal worth ideas for your wedding. From the DIY inspiration it provides to the gorgeous coral colour palette which works beautifully with the retro vintage vibe of the venue – we love it all and just know you are going to too!
Captured by the brilliant Natalie J Weddings, Tanya and Nick said I do at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre – a unique retro wedding venue that also operates as a vintage steam train museum. Their ceremony and reception was held on a platform between two steam trains and was decorated with macramé, dried flowers, Pampas grass, mismatched German pottery and vases in earthy colours, handmade wooden signs, DIY stationery and so much more. They had a glitter bar, a private train ride for their guests, live music, a beautifully displayed refreshment table and a vintage record player which served as their guest book. Their overall theme was relaxed, bohemian and with a 70’s vibe and we couldn;t be in love with it more! They also wanted to reflect their love for music both within their decor and with personalised elements throughout their day such as the readings in their ceremony. Tanya says…
We just went with everything we loved and didn’t worry about things matching or going together but music and 70’s was the main inspiration.
There is honestly not one element that we don’t love about this wedding lovely people so pour yourself a cup of something nice, get your Pinterest finger poised and lose yourself in the ideas, inspiration and advice Tanya and Nick’s wedding provides.
Look out for Tanya’s gorgeous Grace Loves Lace wedding dress, the incredible dried flower displays throughout (especially the bouquets) the macramé ideas and the amazing table plan designed and made by Tanya and Nick.
Last but by no means least, make sure you watch their brilliant wedding film by Hushabye Films.
Tanya shares with us more details on her gorgeous wedding.
Venice, A Big Birthday and One Knee…
Nick proposed whilst on a little trip to Venice for my 30th Birthday in July 2017, it came as a complete surprise.
A Dress That Gives You Wings…
My dress, shoes and earrings were by Grace Loves Lace.
As soon as I visited their London Showroom, I fell in love with all the dresses and the experience of being there. But I chose the Verdelle because of the ‘wings’. I just loved that feature and it just fitted perfectly and it felt so comfortable so I knew I could wear it all day.
My veil was by Sash and Veil and my dried flower crown was by my florist, Ivy Amelia. My pearl anklets were found on Etsy and the hand painted tasseled jacket was done by myself!
Wed In A Museum…
We wanted something a little different for our venue but really struggled to find it. It was actually our florist that mentioned the Railway Centre. Considering it was only half a hour away, we had never heard of it. As soon as we went to look around, we fell in love with it and we both knew we had found our venue. It couldn’t have been more perfect, we could already spot all the perfect photo opportunities there. We loved the fact it is a charity and the money goes back into helping it stay open as a museum.
The ceremony and reception was done inside the main museum on a platform between 2 steam trains. We had musician Jon Hart play some of our favourite songs as guests arrived. The ceremony was heavily influenced by our love of music and all our favourite bands. I walked down the aisle to ‘Something’ by the Beatles. Our guests did a sing along to ‘Heroes’ By David Bowie. My sister read out the lyrics to ‘Make me feel your love’ By Bob Dylan. Our exit song was ‘You’ve got the love’ by Florence and the Machine.
DIY Stationery…
I designed all the stationery myself. I designed the wooden table plan and Nick who is a carpenter (lucky me!) made it for me. I stained, painted and done all the calligraphy on the wooden boards and macramé it together. He cut me out wooden place names and signs which I could calligraphy and paint including Mr and Mrs chair backs. I painted a banner flag for the top table. Since the wedding and in lockdown, I’ve now set up my own business Daydreamer Creative Studio so I can provide on the day stationery and décor items for other couples.
Incredible Flowers in Hues of Coral…
The amazing Victoria at Ivy Amelia did my flowers. I met Victoria at a local wedding fair before even finding my venue and knew I had to have her do my flowers. I gave Victoria my colour palette, some mood board boards, told her I loved dried flowers and she just worked her magic! Victoria blew me away with all the flowers. What she created was unbelievable. |It was better than I ever imagined! The ceremony area alone was out of this world! Then my bouquet, I still look at it now and think wow, was that really mine! I also collected a LOT of pampas grass which I used to line the aisle and brought lots of plants and cactus to mix in with the flowers on the tables and around the venue.
DIY Galore…
The wedding was DIY galore, we tried to do most things ourselves. Most of the décor were things already from our home (the house looked bare by the time we had taken everything to the venue the day before our big day). I love West German pottery so I used all my vases to line the aisle with pampas grass and the rest for the tables. I collected other vintage vases and plant pots as well from charity shops.
Being a museum venue, I filled the advertisement frames with posters designed by myself of our favourite song lyrics. For the tables I dipped dyed dust sheets to make into table cloths in orange and made my own napkins out of baby muslins which were also dyed. I brought our vintage record player along with a record so guests could sign it.
My bridesmaid Penny who is also the owner of The Little Lending Company leant me all her incredible rugs, rattan chairs, peacock chairs and glass cylinders.
Fliss from Loubelle Macramé provided the macramé backdrop and table runners for the top table.
That Event Company did all the amazing lighting- the festoon lighting made such a difference! (www.that-event.com)
Steam Train Ride, Ice Cream & A Glitter Bar…
Our guests got to take a ride on the steam train after the ceremony, there was an ice cream van (astoreandsonsicecream.co.uk), I set up a glitter bar, our brilliant friend done the Masters of Ceremony duties and done a Mr and Mrs quiz before dinner and the fantastic Dukes of Havoc provided the entertainment for the evening (www.thedukesofhavoc.co.uk)
So Much More Than a Photographer…
The amazing Natalie J Wedding! We couldn’t have had the day we had without her. She is so much more than a photographer. She helped us throughout the planning process with helpful tips to make sure our day ran smoothly as possible. We did an amazing engagement shoot in Paris with her to prepare us for the big day. We can’t thank her enough for everything she has done for us and now we have the most incredible photos we will treasure for a lifetime.
Favourite Moment…
We had the best day ever but one of our favourite moments was during the evening reception when our band sang ‘Hey Jude’ everyone made a circle around us, singing their hearts out. It was the moment we realised that everyone we loved and cared about was right there with us, it felt magical.
Any Advice?
Planning – Don’t worry about things matching or going together just choose things you like.
On the day – Make sure you take a moment aside just you two, we did this straight after the ceremony, just for 5 minutes and it was wonderful.
Most importantly just enjoy it!
Our Film…
The fantastic Jade at Hushabye Films was our videographer. We completely struggled finding the right videographer but then I stumbled across Jade on instagram and she was exactly what we were looking for and knew I had to book her!
The Line Up…
Photography: Natalie J Weddings; Venue: Buckinghamshire Railway Centre; Arrival Music: Jon Hart Music; Props: The Little Lending Company; Lighting: That Event Company; Macramé Backdrop, Feathers & Table Runners: Loubelle Macrame; Bride’s Dress: Grace Loves Lace; Bride’s Veil: Sash and Veil; Groom’s Attire: Fogarty Formal Hire and Tailoring; Flowers & Dried Floral Bridal Crown: Ivy Amelia Florals; Bridesmaid Dresses: Rewritten via Halo and Wren; Bridesmaid Hair Slides: Ivy Amelia; Wedding Film: Hushabye Films; Hair & Makeup: Belles Beauty Hair and Make Up; Cake: Sparkling Spatula; Ice Cream Van: Astore & Sons; Band: The Dukes Of Havoc; Stationery: Daydreamer Creative Studio; Reception Main Meal: Kingfishers Event Caterers; Evening Food: Bandit Street Food; Wedding Favours: The Little Lollipop Shop
