WWW readers Kate and Jon tied the knot on 24th August 2013 and chose Wethele Manor, Warwickshire to hold their outdoor ceremony and marquee reception. With a love of country cottage garden flowers Kate chose the prettiest natural summer blooms for the bouquets and table flowers. She also sewed the sweet fabric table names and hand stamped the spoon favours.
Kate looked so beautiful in an ethereal feel Mia Mia wedding dress which she teamed with patent nude Jimmy Choos and flowers in her hair. Jon looked dapper in a grey suit by Reiss and the bridesmaids wore pretty peach Laura Ashley dresses. So beautiful.
Thanks so much to the super fabulous Daffodil Waves Photography for sharing her photographs with us.
The Proposal… Jon took me to Blenheim Palace (it’s always been one of our favourite places) as a surprise with an amazing picnic, he proposed next to the rose garden by a gorgeous view of the lake, was lovely with our little boy Alex there to share it.
The Vision for the Day… We both wanted a relaxed, fun day that was unpretentious, colourful, pretty and full of laughter, with lots of personal touches. We only wanted our nearest and dearest there so we had about 40 for the day with another 50 in the evening. Our little boy is the centre of our world so we wanted him to enjoy the day as well so we didn’t want the day to be formal.
The Planning Process… Once I had found the perfect venue (Wethele Manor) I just worked off a list, and generally went with the suppliers who got back to me quickly, and were friendly (and the right price of course!)
The Venue… Wethele Manor, Weston-Under-Wetherly, Leamington Spa, CV33 9BZ.
The Dress + Accessories… My dress was a miamia dress from The Wedding Barn, Leamington Spa. My shoes were Jimmy Choo (swit swoo!), and were a nude patent peep toe because I wanted something that I could wear again. Hair by Cheryl Williams my hairdresser. Makeup by Kerri O’Conner.
Finding the Dress… I knew what I didn’t want rather than what I did! I tried lots on that were corseted and strapless, because that is all they have in a lot of places, but knew I wanted to wear something that I would be comfortable in all day and that I could dance and eat in! I thought I wanted something lacy, but nothing I tried on was quite right, I saw my dress online and thought it was perfect, so the googled a local supplier and that was it, job done!
Groom’s Attire… Jon and the best man Graham both wore the same suit from Reiss, which they both loved, and will wear again!
The Readings + Music… We had all our favourite music playing throughout the day, I could see our friends humming along to the music during dinner! I walked down the aisle to Sigor Ros by Hoppipola, which is a gorgeous piece of music, we wanted to avoid being cheesy, without trying to be cool! First dance was to The Lumineers, Hey Ho, we both love that song and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through the first dance without crying if we had has something soppy!
Beautiful Bridesmaids… My gorgeous bridesmaids all wore Laura Ashley dresses; I just fell in love with the colour and thought they would all feel comfortable in them. Lydia had not long had a baby so I didn’t want her to dress them in a prom style bridesmaid dress. Shoes were from Dune.
The Flowers… Flowers are one of my favourite things so I was very excited about the table flowers and the bouquets. I could never decide on one colour or type of flower so I asked for bright pastels and whatever was in season. I love cottage garden flowers so we had delphiniums, roses and peonies and lavender. My florist was Sarah Horne, the shop for a start was so gorgeous, and they were so lovely and did my table flowers for a great price. Ever since Jon had proposed I have been collected crystal vases of all sizes from charity shops and ebay, I had intended to fill them myself but because I didn’t want a formal display, and wanted them dotted on the table with the glass candle sticks I’d collected (more charity shop delving!) they could dress the tables for such a great price I thought it was best the save myself the stress! I really wanted real flowers in my hair as well, as I thought it would really suit my dress and the way I wanted to wear my hair, when I went to pick up the hair flowers the day before the wedding they gave me a sneak preview of the bouquets and I was I thought they were so so beautiful I may have had a little cry and had to give my florist a hug!
The Cake… I really wanted cupcakes as they are my favourite food type, and I can’t see the point in spending a bomb on a really elaborate cake. I walked past a fabulous cake shop on the way to visiting Sarah Horne Flowers in Leamington called Blueberry Hill Patisserie, it had some brilliant cakes in the window so I popped in and booked an appointment with Sarah Edwards. Again she was so lovely so I was sold! We had one half chocolate and the other half lemon cupcakes with a small red velvet cake for us to cut, the cakes were so delicious and I have that I can pop to Blueberry Hill and have a slice of our wedding cake again! One of the best parts of planning the wedding was taste testing the flavours of cake, which we did with a couple of friends and operated a very strict scoring system!
Your Photographer… Our lovely photographer was Nicola from Daffodil Waves Photography. I knew I wanted relaxed photos, not many group pictures, lots of natural photos of our loved ones. I looked at Nicola’s website and was really impressed by the beautiful fun photos. She called me back really quickly and was so chatty and friendly I knew she was the one for our big day. It goes without saying we are thrilled with the results, its truly so difficult to decide which to frame!
The Details + Decor… I had really wanted pots of lavender plants lining the aisle, so I had plants growing all summer, but realised they were going to flower at the right time and at the last minute bought some chrysanthemums from Notcutts to fill the pots (which were from Ikea) I think they looked really pretty and were a cheap way of prettying up the ceremony, which I always knew I wanted outside. This was a bit hit and miss, after beautiful weather throughout August there was most definitely rain on the way to the venue! Luckily it cleared up minutes before the ceremony was due to start so I got my wish!
I wanted to make as many of the bits for the wedding as my (limited) skills allowed as I love crafting things, I made the table number with some Cath Kidston fabric I had kicking about at home and some buttons, I bought some cheap frames of them and have reused the frames and they have some wedding pictures in them now in our bedroom. I bought some plain cardboard letters form Hobbycraft and covered them in pretty paper. We reused the potted plants from the ceremony and filled them with flags to use as an unusual table plan.
The biggest challenge I gave myself was hand stamping all the old spoons which we used as name places and favours, this was trial and error, as I made so mistakes to start with of not banging the stamps hard enough, getting the letters backwards, to close together or silly spelling mistakes! But it was so worth it in the end, our guests loved them, even if they were a bit wonky!
I was really pleased with the layout of the tables, because we had a small number in the day I wanted everyone to be able to see each other and I think the square we had the tables arranged in really worked, and filled the big marquee brilliantly.
I have some great friends who really helped, including my friend Tania who helped me for hours making tissue pom poms for the dance floor!
Memorable Moments… The ceremony, when we had our first kiss as husband and wife the sun came out, which was lovely and the first this everyone said to us! ‘The sun came out for you!’
The confetti throwing was so dazzling in the sunshine, some of my favourite photos!
Walking into the marquee for the first time, it just looked so amazing with all the bits I’d put together and seeing the gorgeous flowers, and a feeling of relief that the shape of the tables had worked!
Dancing the night away, and laughing at our 2 year old strutting his funky stuff, it was so cute and I would recommend having children at your wedding, they really we so sweet and added to the relaxed fun feel of the day.
Advice for Other Couples… Don’t try and make everything, if it’s not working move onto something else, I really enjoyed making bits and bobs because I didn’t put myself under too much pressure.
Go with vendors you like and that get back to you quickly, nothing worse than having to chase people.
Don’t always hire stuff, we bought all our bunting because it was only a bit more expensive, and you can sell it after! We are using some of ours to decorate a the nursery of the baby girl we are now expecting!
Enjoy every second!
Credit Where Credit is Due…
Photography | Daffodil Waves Photography
Venue | Wethele Manor
Dress Shop | The Wedding Barn
Hair | Cheryl Williams
Make Up |Kerri Does Makeup – 07791 912010
Bridesmaid Dresses | Laura Ashley
Flowers | Sarah Horne
Cake | Blueberry Hill Patisserie
Cake | Sarah Edwards
Oh such a happy sunny day, and congratulations to Kate and Jon on the news of your new baby girl.
Thanks so so much Kate and Jon for sharing your gorgeous wedding day with us XOXO Lou
