Quirky Riverside DIY Colourful Wedding

This quirky, fun and colourful celebration certainly left a smile on my face today. Balloons and blooms featured heavily in rainbow colours, not to mention ribbons, a boat trip and goodie bags for guests. Ekk.

WWW readers Jane and Paul tied the knot on the 15th August 2015 in Stratford Upon Avon in Warwickshire. They held their reception at StratfordArts House and really made the space their own. Laughter and personal touches, teamed with plenty of food and drink was the vision and it was all planned in 4 months.

Jane wore a super gorgeous Candy Anthony polka dot gown with blue petticoat, which she accessorised with a veil she crafted herself. She looked stunning.

Thanks goes to the fantastic Alternative Images Photographer for sharing these images with us today.

THE PROPOSAL | The proposal came as a bit of a surprise to both of us! It’s a bit embarrassing to admit we were actually at our friends’ wedding, got a bit carried away and decided to do it ourselves. We spent a lot of the day talking about ‘if we got married’ until I slipped us and said ‘when we get married’ and Paul demanded that I propose first. He got down on one knee but I had to do the asking. Of course we kept it to ourselves as it would not be cool to hijack a friends’ wedding with big announcements!

After the proposal we bought the ring together at the shop where Paul’s parents got their engagement ring. He had perhaps not so subtly pointed it out to me on a few separate occasions so it was obvious where we would be going ‘if’ we ever got married! The bonus was getting to choose it myself. I picked a beautiful vintage cluster ring in a diamond shape which I just love!

THE VISION | Friends, family and fun! Very informal with lots of colour, laughter and personal touches. Plenty of food and drink!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Although we had been engaged for a long time we only really had a short time to plan for the wedding as we were initially focused on buying a house and setting ourselves up first. In April we cracked and decided life was too short and we wanted to do a proper wedding and come back to the house planning later. We gave ourselves just over four months which were also already jam packed with other things to do. It got a bit stressful in the final weeks but we managed to pull it off!

BUDGET | We spent a little more than we initially intended to but got some really good deals by shopping around and being determined to not be held to ransom by the wedding industry. Our venue was an excellent deal as it is not a typical wedding location but worked beautifully with a bit of imagination. The naked cake cost half the price of an iced one and in my opinion was much nicer. The flowers cost a fraction of what you would pay a florist by going for a more informal look. The wine came from the supermarket/Amazon and in the evening we had a buffet from M&S to top everyone up. Going with an informal BBQ was also much cheaper than silver service and made the day more relaxed.

THE VENUE | We were originally looking for a village hall to keep costs down and to enable us to do what we liked in a relaxed informal atmosphere. Our ideal location was a beautiful garden or riverside. In the end we opted for Stratford ArtsHouse – a beautifully refurbished modern theatre. I had stumbled across it by chance and as we arrived Paul told me he had been there before, for roller disco as a child! It had great facilities, a huge multi-purpose space which would serve as a ballroom, a cute courtyard and a bright sunny foyer with a bar. We were able to take complete control of the space for the day and do what we liked which was perfect for the DIY day we had in mind.

To ensure some of our original vision was incorporated we organised a boat ride on the river Avon for all the guests. Avon Boating has a beautiful mooring in the centre of Stratford with picnic tables in a little riverside garden where we served prosecco and snacks as everyone waited for the boats. We walked everywhere on the day rather than opting for cars which was perfect given Stratford’s compact size and gorgeous location. We led into a big informal BBQ back at the ArtsHouse as people filtered back in from the boat ride. By the time we arrived at the venue the party was in full swing.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | The dress came from Candy Anthony which makes beautiful 50s and 60s inspired dresses. As we had planned to do a lot of walking throughout the day a train was just going to get in my way! I chose a four layer teal petticoat for extra volume and colour. I tried on about six dresses in Candy Anthony and honestly I would have worn any one of them, they were all stunning and so much fun. They were also able to work on a three month notice period which was an important factor!

I made my own birdcage veil and decorated it with feathers from my Granny’s wedding head dress. I added a broach from my other Granny and one from each of Paul’s two Grandmothers. The whole thing cost about £12 and was one of my favourite details of the day.

The shoes were from LK Bennett. My mum gave me the pearls my Granny gave her on her wedding day and Paul’s mum bought me some amazing dangly pearl earrings. Paul sent me a beautiful delicate gold Celtic bracelet that morning.

My hair and make up was done by Marie at Re Al Hair and Make up and I can’t recommend her enough. She told me her previous clients included Dale Winton which is not necessarily what a bride wants to hear but there wasn’t a glimpse of orange in sight. I had my trial just two days before the wedding and thinking I was being efficient I arranged our trial photographer shoot for later that afternoon as I would be beautifully made up. When Marie explained that she would do each side of my face in a different style to see which I preferred I had to laugh.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Paul’s suit was from Brook Taverner online. They stock a range of separates with various lengths so it was a great alternative to getting a tailored suit at very short notice.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had two ceremonies as our venue was unlicensed and the registry office could only accommodate 35. We were married legally first with our immediate family and a few close friends then had a bigger but more personalised ceremony at the ArtsHouse where we could do as we pleased. One of my close friends “married” us and our mums each chose a poem to read. We also each chose a reading to be read by our friends, Paul chose some words by Bob Marley and I picked song lyrics by Eartha Kitt, my all time idol. My cousin Conor played an Irish jig version of ‘Here comes the bride’ as I arrived and we walked out to Etta James ‘You got it’. The first dance was ‘Put a spell on you’ by Screamin Jay Hawkins.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | The two bridesmaids wore beautiful white and multi-coloured floral dresses from ASOS. They each found some colourful shoes and white flowers to balance the colours.

THE FLOWERS | My mum did all the flowers pretty much single handedly! She ordered them from Triangle Nursery, an online service which sources them from markets in the Netherlands and delivers them by post. We chose a mix of bright colours and I designed my own bouquet which mum expertly arranged. We bought inexpensive vases in pink, purple, green and blue from B&M which set the colours of the flowers off beautifully.

THE CAKE | The cake was divine! We ordered a naked style cake with three flavoured tiers from local bakery Milly Molly Mandy. It was chocolate with ganache, lemon with raspberry buttercream and vanilla with rose buttercream. We kept it simple and added a few flowers. It tasted even better than it looked.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We actually found our photographer very much last minute. We were trying to keep costs down and hadn’t prioritised it but we are so glad we changed our minds in the last few weeks and were able to get the amazing Rob Farrell at short notice. Rob was really easy and enjoyable to work with as well as being super professional – he really made us feel relaxed and we were delighted with the photos. Well worth the unbudgeted cost!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | As the main room was very large it needed big decorations to make an impact. We went with 20 huge 3ft helium balloons with ribbons in a mix of bright colours which really filled the space. We got them from Linda and Sarah at Stratford Fancy Dress who really went out of their way to deliver what we had in mind. As a backdrop to the ceremony we draped a garden trellis in big coloured streamers and added some parasols and pom poms – along with a few of the massive balloons it looked amazing and created a really happy atmosphere.

To add some personal touches we hung pictures of our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings and printed big family trees. We also had a very casual but overflowing sweet table as my Dad owns a sweetshop so a pretty sweet trolley would have been inauthentic to us! Instead of table name cards and favours we printed silly pictures of everyone and left them a personalised goody bag on their table – I think Paul was ready to kill me by time we had sorted out 120 guests but it added to the happy mood of the day and got everyone laughing. We had planned a slideshow but that got dropped when it didn’t come together in time, you can’t do everything!

THE HONEYMOON | Yet to come! We had two weeks off to set up and recover from the wedding and as it was on location our families stayed around for a week or so.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | So many! My Dad rushing me out in the morning not telling me he had promised a big group of American tourists he would bring the bride to see them, I got a huge round of applause as I came down to meet them. The actual getting married! Cruising on the River Avon past the swans to beautiful fiddle music. Seeing the ideas from our heads come to life and working!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Do it your own way, don’t be afraid to ditch expensive or unnecessary traditions or to do something a bit differently, but keep it true to yourself instead of trendy. Also ditch the details which don’t come together, no one else will notice! Give up complete control or worrying on the day and enjoy it to the full. Update your guests on the schedule for the day so they know what to expect and keep them topped up with snacks if you have a long day. Happy guests make the day!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Alternative Images Photographer

Venue | Stratford ArtsHouse

Boat Trip | Avon Boating

Hair & Make Up | Re Al Hair and Makeup

Dress | Candy Anthony

DIY hair accessories | Etsy

Cake | Milly Molly Mandy Cakes

Amazing Balloons | Stratford Fancy Dress

DIY Flowers | Triangle Nursery

Colourful decorations and much more | Ebay

What a marvellous day.

Jane and Paul, many thanks to you both for sharing your wedding story today xo Lou