Quirky & Vintage Feel Zoo Wedding

I love nothing more than an unorthodox wedding venue and today’s setting is a corker.

Jane and Chadd were married on the 29th August 2015 at Chester Zoo. Oakfield Manor was the perfect atmospheric venue to their vintage feel day, which came with a private safari for them and their guests. Amaze. There was sweet tea cup décor, a decadent naked sponge cake and pretty pastel blooms.

Jane wore a stunning tulle frock by House of Mooshki while Chadd looked really rather dapper in his Ted Baker attire. This is one super special day, oh and I love the proposal story too.

Thanks so very much to Emma Boileau for sending over these delightful images.

THE PROPOSAL | We had spent all night at hospital expecting our daughter, 24 hours of labour pains and then everything stopped so we were sent home. Arriving back on 21 June 2013 feeling very tired and emotional Chadd took me into our daughter’s room, he asked for me to select my favour piece of furniture and we stood talking next to the cot talking about our future and meeting our little surprise and that life wouldn’t be the same without me. He then got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of our lives together.

THE VISION | We didn’t want a traditional wedding as such, so there wasn’t going to be top and tails or a set colour theme. We also wanted to make the day as fun as possible and express our personalities, so finding a venue that was a little quirky was key. We loved the old rustic theme and that what we wanted to look for. The first thing I purchased for the wedding was a huge box of mix and match vintage tea cups and saucers to be used at our wedding favours and decoration. Then it went from there.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | As soon as our daughter Phoebe was born 3 days later (24th June) and we had settled into family life we started to look into venues. After finding our perfect venue and booking the date 29th August 2015 we started to make list of what needed to be done. As neither of us had done this before we didn’t have a clue. So decided to try a few wedding fares and then we were hooked. My wonderful bridesmaid Louise got me into Pinterest and we were constantly pinning and messaging each other with bits and pieces that we had seen. My Mum and mother in law were great too, emailing back and forth with unusual bouquets and flowers. Chadd got really involved and kept the whole situation calm and surprisingly organised.

BUDGET | We didn’t really discuss a budget or have a figure in mind. Chadd is very good with money and wouldn’t allow me to get too carried away. We are so grateful as both of our parents so kindly help towards our big day and that really allowed us to spend more on specific areas. For us the venue, photographer and food were the most important aspects so that is where we wanted to spend the most. We also had 2 years from the date of booking so we spread the cost throughout.

THE VENUE | Chester Zoo was the first place we looked at and visited. It was just perfect, from arriving to leaving. The whole look of Oakfield Manor was spectacular from the huge gardens and trees to the front to the characteristic rooms inside. We chose to marry in the library and then have the wedding breakfast there as well, with the country manor bay windows, floor to ceiling bookcase and marble fireplace we knew then that we and our guests would never forget it and it being somewhere we could always return too with such happy memories.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I had looked around before going to try any dresses on as I had a clear view of what I wanted my dress to look like. Staying away from the ordinary dress I wanted a short tea length style and came across House of Mooshki. I fell in love straight away and found my closest store who stocked the dresses. My dress was called Lily, blush pink with champagne tulle over lay, corset bodice and long sleeves, lace and had it altered to my exact taste taking away the open back and filling with more lace and buttons all way up the back. It was the second dress I tried on, everything after that point couldn’t compare. The whole range Mooshki range is just enchanting and I had a wonderful day trying on as many as I could at The Cheshire Bridalwear store.

My mum found my shoes last minute from the Miss KG range a beautiful champagne platform giving me enough height and keeping them looking delicate enough for the dress.

My wonderful husband also gave me a beautiful gift box the morning of the wedding with flat gold Vivienne Westwood Melissa shoes. I used to speak about how theses shoes would always play a part when I got married.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Chadd always looks wonderful in a suit and we really enjoyed looking for the perfect one. We didn’t want a traditional suit and as the zoo holds a very vintage feel (along with my dress) we started to create a pattern for the feel of our day. With this in mind we went to Ted Baker looking for a tweed blend 3 piece suit in mind. Their suits are incredible and we chose jacket, waist coat and trousers in a burgundy colour with a wonderful quirky silk lining. Then his mum was on the case to find the perfect brogues, silk pocket square and clockwork mechanic cufflinks. It matched my dress and the venue perfectly.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We both love motown and wanted to use this within our ceremony and evening reception. Walking down the aisle I chose Eva Cassidey- Song Bird (from being little I always loved this song). Whilst we signed the register we had Israel Kamakawiwo – Somehwere Over The Rainbow, Barbra Lewis – Love Makes The World Go Round, Marvin Gaye – How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You. Then leaving we had Stevie Wonder – Signed, Sealed, Delivered which was great fun for everyone. Four our first dance we had Al Green – Let Stay Together.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | For the Bridesmaids I had three very different body types to look for. I wanted them to all match in colour a soft sage green but also have something they all felt comfortable in. I actually found dresses which are a multi-way wear dress from Tesco at a bargain price. I was a little apprehensive about the quality but after receiving them they were perfect and couldn’t fault them and became my bargain buy.

THE FLOWERS | Keeping with the county manor rustic theme we chose a mixture of wild flowers for the table which were organised by our room dresser. My scrummy poise bouquet was a mix of garden roses, dahlias, and garden herbs. The groom had a large blush pink garden rose which smelt amazing and matched my bouquet with a spring of garden herbs. Our parents had all different flowers but also had small similarities to each others colours. The bridesmaids had hand tied with lace clusters of astilbes matching my bouquet colours. And Phoebe had a lovely sparkly flower wand. All put together by Wild Floral Design Chester.

THE CAKE | We were recommend a cake maker that used to work at Chester Zoo in the catering department, ‘Time for Tea and Cake’. We met Rob at his home and tried the many different cupcakes he baked for us, different flavours and fillings. We wanted a naked cake with buttercream, fruit and edible flowers. The cake surpassed all our expectations and was not only delicious but a fantastic talking piece at the wedding. The bottom layer was vanilla, the next layer white chocolate with rose water, the third layer strawberry and top layer lemon each with jam and matching buttercream filling. Summer fruits were placed around each layer and followed by a mix of wild edible flowers. On top we had dove birds suspended from a arch Rob created last minute as we completely forgot all about the top.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | My Mum found our wedding photographer Emma Boileau after stumbling across her in a wedding blog. She was exactly what we were looking for, fun, artistic and captured each moment perfectly. We booked her straight away and even though the wedding wasn’t for two years she always kept in touch even whilst travelling. The day couldn’t have gone any better and Emma certainly captured the best moments throughout the whole day and evening from the wedding party, guest and most of all our daughter Phoebe. We really can not thank her enough for make our wedding last forever.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We came across a room dresser company at a wedding fair that encompassed all the things we wanted. Ryan and Gemma who are ‘The Green Door’ up-cycle all of their decorations and have the best ideas and designs. We met with them at their studio to go through what we wanted for the day and came way even more excited with what we had planned. And on the day we were not disappointed.

THE HONEYMOON | We had always wanted to travel to Jamaica and we had never been that way on holiday before so it seemed like the perfect place not only for the white sandy beaches and clear blue seas but for the amazing food. We stayed at the Grand Palladium Jamaica in Lucea and it was nothing but the most romantic, exotic, delicious escape we could have had. We decided to go just the two of us leaving Phoebe with our parents, it was really hard to be away but glad we took the time to celebrate our marriage. This is definably somewhere we will go back to.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Jane: A memorable moment for me was arriving at the zoo feeling like a celebrity as everyone gathered around to see me when I got out of the car and I got a big cheer.

Chadd: Having a private safari including a tour guide was great. It was something that all our guest could join in and just have fun. Then coming back to a hog roast was the icing on the cake.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Trust who you buy into. Just because the price is good doesn’t mean the service will be. We had a close call with a hog roast company, they weren’t necessarily cheap but we paid a deposit and they suddenly stopped being efficient and started to worry us when we tried to GIVE them money and they didn’t have the facility to accept it. We lost out on £45 deposit and had to rebook.

Hiccups happen and it really is just about enjoying the day, when you start to plan pick the things that mean the most and focus on them first then that way you know you wont be disappointed.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Chester Zoo

Reception Venue | The Hot Hog Roast Company

Photography | Emma Boileau

Flowers | Wild Floral Design

Dress | House of Mooshki from Cheshire Bridalwear

Suit | Ted Baker

Wow, what a day.

Jane and Chadd, many thanks for sharing your wonderful nuptials with us xo Lou