Morning everyone, and what a gorgeous week we have lined up for you here at Festival Brides! Let’s kick start our Monday with an absolutely STUNNING real wedding, brought to us by the wonderful talent that is Kirsty Mackenzie Photography. We showcased another wedding of Kirsty’s here on the blog last month, (check it out here if you haven’t already!), and we just love her work so much that we had to share more.
Emily and Danny were married in church followed by a festival inspired reception at Painshill Park in Surrey. Captured on film by Alice Underwood Films, this wedding is totes chic and features the most beautifully dressed bride. Emily donned a low-backed, delicately strapped, lace Mikaella Bridal gown which she had uniquely altered to feature sheer sleeves made from her veil material! She flaunts a stylish and neutral flower crown upon her naturally flowing bohemian locks, and softly injects a bit of boho glam into this festival wedding. Using a ton of DIY tricks (and her mum’s creative talents), this bride had a clear vision of everything she wanted on her big day….
I used Pinterest for a lot my ideas. Our theme started off as ‘festival’ as we love going to festivals together! At festivals, the best bit is the drinking, which is what inspired parts of our day. We used DIY bunting and decor, served American style street food and arrived in a VW campervan to compliment our theme.
They chose quaint and personalised decor pieces to fill the blank canvassed space at Painshill Conservatory, and evidently put the hours in when it came to creating a super detailed and special day.
I’m so lucky to have a creative mum! I roped her into helping me with a lot of the planning and I couldn’t have done it without her. DIY weddings are certainly cheaper, but you definitely need patience and time. We found that lots of prosecco also helps!
Let’s hand over to the bride herself to tell you more about her typically English, DIY festival wedding in the rolling Surrey countryside….
(Take a little peak at this first, courtesy of Alice Underwood Films)
Popped the Question over Prosecco in City Jazz Bar
I was convinced that Danny was going to propose on holiday in Marbella in September 2016 – he ended up asking me in a jokey way. Being a diva, I wanted a ring, so said I wanted him to do it properly when we got home. A month later he took me to London for my birthday and popped the question over dinner in a jazz bar (after many bottles of Prosecco!).
Church Wedding Followed by the Perfect ‘Blank Canvas’ Reception
We were married at the All Saints Weston Church in Esher, Surrey and our reception was held at Painshill Park in Cobham, Surrey. I was christened at All Saints Church so it’s very special to the family. It’s very simplistic, small and it overlooks a golf course and pond. We transported our guests to Painshill Conservatory from the church – the venue has the most beautiful walled gardens and the conservatory itself is a perfect blank canvas – it really brought a festival feel to the day and we were so lucky the sun was shining.
Short but Sweet Ceremony
I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of Mumford and Sons’ ‘I Will Wait’. We kept the ceremony quite short (about 30 minutes) and included 2 hymns and two readings. We got married on 4th May so there were of course some Star Wars jokes throughout the ceremony!
Wild Flowers, Berries and Eucalyptus Flower Crown and Bouquet
We used a florist in Hampton Court called Buttonhole Florist for my flower crown and bouquet. I had a mixture of taupe roses, wild flowers, berries and eucalyptus in both the flower crown and my bouquet. My mum is very handy with flower arranging too which was so useful for the venue flowers and the buttonholes. I love gypsophila, so this was pretty much everywhere on the day. We also added it to the bridesmaids and flower girls’ hair and bouquets.
DIY Bunting, Giant Balloons and ‘Sign a Cork’ Station
Me and my mum made pretty much everything and it saved us so much money. Even though it was a huge task, it was so fun to do and everything had a personal touch. Outside the venue we had giant balloons with multi-coloured tassels which looked amazing, however if I’m honest, they didn’t last long and they were expensive to blow up. I bought the balloons from online for 99p but then it was £20 each for a shop to fill with helium. My clever mum also made about 20 meters of bunting to decorate the whole area!
It was a beautiful day so we had tables and chairs in the gardens and the beer barrows were full to the brim with alcohol. We had a DIY photo booth with a polaroid camera, guest book and funny props. We also had a station for guests to sign a cork and put into a glass vase. We made the name places out of cardboard and then secured them into Prosecco corks – I must say, it was very enjoyable collecting all of these! A friend made the table centres from wood and cut them down into circular discs, along with the cake stand which was made from the same wood.
American Style Food Stalls, Cupcakes and 3- Tier Cheesecake
We had food stations serving American buffet style food. We had butterfly chicken, chilli chips, hot dogs and dirty burger. The food was so good! We also had bubbly on arrival to keep our guests happy during the photo hour.
We didn’t want to do the traditional ‘cutting the cake’, so I kept my mum busy (again) by making vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with lace cupcake holders. We had tiny flag cake toppers with ‘I Do’ and ‘Mr and Mrs Jones’ written on them. We also had a 3-tier cheesecake which was served in the evening with crackers, grapes and chutney.
Unique and Bespoke Lace Sleeved Dress with White High Top Cons
I originally bought a dress from Wed2b which was beautiful, and I kept it safe in a cupboard for a year until I was ready for alterations. However, a dressmaker told me that due to the shape of it, they wouldn’t be able to do anything in terms of alterations and it was the wrong style of dress for me! I was heartbroken and I couldn’t believe I needed to start from scratch with only 6 months to go. I went to Love Me Do Brides in Walton and tried on a lovely Mikaella Bridal thin strapped, low cut, lace dress – I knew instantly that this was the one. I found an incredible seamstress who made me sleeves from the lace of my train – it was the dress of my dreams and it was so special to have such a unique dress.
I wore a pair of high heels from Office as a treat from my lovely Godmother and my evening shoes were a pair of standard white high top converse. The fabulous Tabitha Professional Makeup did my make up and The Hair Experience gave me a soft, boho style on the day.
High Street Groom’s Attire
We hired the suits from Moss Bros which worked out really well. All of the suits were the same, except Danny had a grey waistcoat and the others had blue waistcoats. The taupe coloured ties matched the bridesmaids and were only £7 each online. He wore dark brown shoes from Topman and the button holes were wildflowers and berry’s made by mum. The bridesmaid dresses were from ASOS and my mum made the flower girls dresses which were a champagne colour with a lace top.
Kirsty Mackenzie Photography and Alice Underwood Films
Kirsty Mackenzie Photography is absolutely awesome. Danny was actually dreading the photos, as he finds it all very awkward, but Kirsty made it so fun and she actually encouraged us to take the mick out of each other which was very easy to do. We have some truly stunning photos, in some of the most beautiful areas of Painshill, and her confetti and smoke bombs shots are the best! She’s so talented, creative and lovely, and I would highly recommend her.
Alice Underwood Films is absolutely amazing! She was recommended by my photographer and I fell in love with her work straight away. She made it all so relaxed and caught some really special moments.
Incredible Band and Flip Flop Station
The Matt Strafford Band were AWESOME. I saw them pop up on a Facebook ad and I was hooked after hearing a few songs from their Soundcloud. The set was 3 x 45 mins band with DJ-ing in between. They got everyone up dancing from start to finish, even the oldies! I would definitely recommend them. We gave out Flip Flops from Primark for the evening – we created a sign which said ‘a little treat for your dancing feet’
First Dance
Our first dance was to Jessie Ware’s ‘Alone’. We aren’t a slow dance type of couple, so we just wanted to have fun to a song that means a lot to us.
Favourite Moment
Our photographer took us outside during the sunset. She caught some amazing smoke bomb shots and we just walked around for a while and soaked up the atmosphere. We had beers in our hand, and had a good laugh about how drunk everyone was.
Any Advice?
It honestly goes so quickly! Take a step back for 10 minutes and take it all in. Also, don’t stress over the detail on the day, as the guests seriously don’t know any different! Do what YOU want to do and don’t do what you think your guests will want to do. It’s your day and your guests will have fun no matter what.
The Line Up
Photographer: Kirsty Mackenzie Photography; Videographer: Alice Underwood Films; Wedding Venue: Painshill Park; Bride’s Dress: Mikaella Bridal; Bridal Boutique: Love Me Do Brides; Wedding Dress Alterations: Gemma Mclaughlin; Wedding Makeup: Tabitha Professional Makeup;
Bridal Hair: The Hair Experience; Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS; Groom’s Suit: Moss Bros; Florist: Buttonhole Florist; Flip Flops: Primark; Caterers: Create Food; Band: Matt Strafford Band
