Peach Balloons and Flowers In Her Hair ~ A Romantic Outdoor Summer Wedding

Good morning lovelies, I hope this first post of the morning finds you rested well and ready to take on the day. 

Pete and Elizabeth's wedding took place on 8th June, 2013 at How Caple Court Gardens in Herefordshire.  I love the soft, whimsical and romantic appeal of these images.  The pretty peach balloons and flowers in Elizabeth's hair add a touch of fun and elegant English wedding style, which just makes it all rather bloomin' lovely.

These photographs were sent in by the very lovely Nicola of Daffodil Waves Photography.

"We tried
to keep in mind how we wanted the day to feel and this was our
inspiration. We wanted a relaxed, natural/outdoor, fresh, sentimental
and, given we’re both big softies, a romantic day.

Neither of us follows
religious traditions, so we had decided on a civil ceremony."

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Daffodil Waves

"Pete and I met through friends that I had been
to university with, on our way to a rugby  match. We were friends for
about a year and then started dating after that. Pete proposed in March
2012, while we were skiing in Val Thorens."

The bride and groom made all their own stationery, including this rather lovely table plan.

I love the whimsy appeal of these pretty roses and other flora in light, pastel shades, set in various style jars and coloured glass vases…

"Our florist was Likes Florists, and we had decided on roses, peonies,
lisianthus to help create a soft and romantic feel. We chose natural
brighter and fresh tones. The bouquets had very little foliage for
maximum flower impact. We did feel that flowers would be an important
part of the day so we did order quite a lot!

Our florists also sourced
some 5ft olive trees that we could have outside during the ceremony and
move into the barn later in the day. We gave both of our mums one as a 
present, and we kept one as a souvenir."

"Our photographer was Nicola from Daffodil Waves.
We decided from the very start of organising our wedding to prioritise
each aspect and one of the highest priorities was to find the best
photographer we could afford, and we are so glad we did.

Nicola captured
the details and emotions experienced on the day exactly.
We have such
beautiful pictures that we treasure, and when we’re old and those
memories have become a bit fuzzy, we’ll get our photos out and relive
the day.

You can’t underestimate the importance of that. Simply put,
Nicola has delivered longevity to our wedding day, the most important
day of our lives so far, in the most accurate and beautiful way."

"My dress was by Watters and was purchased from Agape from Bowden, Manchester.  I
chose it because I didn’t want to take it off! I
loved the texture of the raw silk and the added texture of the edging
panels in the skirt.
 I chose the shortest raw edge plain veil, which I bought from the same shop."

"My jewellery was assorted simple white pearls - a drop pearl necklace, pearl stud earrings and a pearl bracelet.

Hair accessories were fresh flowers from our florist, Nickie, at Likes Florists."

"We had both been keen on a wedding in the
Herefordshire/ Worcestershire/Oxfordshire area. or the Cotwolds and we
both wanted an outdoor wedding. I had wanted a woodland wedding, but we
both agreed that might not be entirely practical!. How Caple Court Gardens, Herefordshire,
was one of the few venues in our chosen areas that offered an outdoor
wedding option with an indoor backup.

When we visited the views of the
Welsh hills were stunning, and we liked the timeless charm of the venue
immediately. It reminded us of the secret garden; a little bit ethereal.
Vanessa, who organises weddings at the venue, was organised and relaxed
which was perfect. We picked an available date and booked it as soon as
we could."

"We were
fortunate that the venue was beautiful and didn’t require huge amounts
of décor, but we did have a few touches. We used large spherical balloons
in a blossom colour to add decoration. We attached them to the olive
trees with ivory ribbon. We made place cards out of brown labels and
ribbon, and table number holders out of slices of discarded tree trunks.

We used the slices of wood as tea light holders too.

The venue already
had fairy lights and some silk flowers, which we opted to keep. We
had a guest book bought from 'notonthehighstreet', and we set up for our
guests to make a thumb print tree. The template for the tree is
available from One Fab Day and we
actually used the tree template to make the save the dates, invites and
table numbers. We love the thumb-tree and it hangs in our hall as a
lovely reminder of our wedding day."

"My Dad
gave me away. We asked the musicians (guitar and cello) to play the music from Edward Zero & The
Magnetic Fields' The book of love."
 

"We didn’t really tailor our vows, we picked the ones we liked from the list given to us by the Hereford registry.  
We
had one reading, which was an excerpt from 'Union' from the book 'The
Beginning to End', by Robert Fulghum. Pete's sister read it."

"Our
rings were from Element Bespoke Jewellery, in the Jewellery quarter at
Birmingham. I chose a 2mm band
shaped to my engagement ring, with an engraved floral design and diamonds,
and Pete chose a concave band with a brushed finish.  As a
sentimental touch he had a single repeat of the floral design on my ring
engraved on the inside of his, and we both had the date engraved
inside too."

"Pete
was really pleased with his suit! He had wanted one that he could keep
so had his dark blue 3 piece suit tailor made at King and Allen in Wilmslow.   His groomsmen hired their suits from Peter Posh Suit Hire. It was one of few places that provided
suit hire for a navy blue lounge suit. They were really flexible and
helpful."

"Our favours were
a donation to Headway – The Brain Injury Association. They are a
fantastic charity who help people and families who are affected by brain
injury. This decision was an obvious and personal choice for us."

"We
wanted a simple cake design in keeping with our theme. Our cake is from Daisy Jack. We opted for the tradition of fruitcake that
we could keep for later."

"My favourite part of the day was
during the ceremony and shortly after the drinks reception. All the
guests had been directed up to the barn for the start of the speeches
and wedding breakfast, and we took ten minutes to ourselves completely
before heading up to join our guests. We sat and listened to the cellist
and guitarist who played the songs we’d picked for the ceremony- our
own private little beautiful concert. Other highlights include walking
the gardens, catching up with friends and family and a vision of my new
husband stage diving in a cape."

"Our
first “dance” was to Ben Howard, Only love. It reminded us of moving
into our current house and is sentimental in a relaxed way- it suited
us. We hadn’t practised a dance and it ended up a daft mash-up of
dance moves.|

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Prioritise
the details and aspects of the day that are the most important to you
both. Don’t budget on the photographer.

Take a few minutes out of the
day just the two of you. Get someone else to keep an eye on order of the day and
don’t wear a watch.  Oh, and do a stage dive!"

Huge thanks to Nicola at Daffodil Waves for sharing these photographs.  If you love Elizabeth's dress, why not take a look at the Watters website.

Congratulations to you Pete and Elizabeth, thank you for so kindly sharing your day – we've loved looking at your photographs.

Who would like to share plans of their own whimsical and romantic style wedding? We'd so love to hear from you.

Annabel

Photographer – Daffodil Waves
Venue – How Caple Court Gardens in Herefordshire
Wedding Dress – Watters via Agape (Bowden, Manchester)
Veil/Headpiece – Agape
Brides' shoes – Lucy Choi from Harvey Nichols
Groom
– Suit by King and Allen + Jones the Bootmaker
shoes
Bridesmaids Dresses – French connection
Flowers – Likes Florists
Cake – Daisy Jack
Entertainment – Palmarosa Strings (ceremony) + Plastic Pantomime (reception)
Favours – donations to Headway (brain injury speciaists)
Rings – Element Bespoke Jewellery
Catering – Vine House Catering
Hair Stylist – Helena Sinclair
Makeup Artist – Penny Wadley

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