Pretty Peach & Happy Summer Marquee Wedding

I don’t think you can go far wrong with a vision of a fun, happy and personal wedding now can you? In fact I’d have to say that Jonathan and Catherine totally nailed their vision and it’s clearly evident from these wonderful images today.

They decided to get hitched on the 4^th July 2015 and hold their reception at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, the spot where the sweet proposal took place. There is so much to love about their day, the peachy pretty blooms, the multi colour lanterns in the marquee and the outdoor setting to name a few.

Catherine looked effortlessly beautiful in her romantic Naomi Neoh ‘Ditta’ gown while Jonathan chose a tweed ensemble from ASOS. What a stylish couple to boot.

Thanks so much to Katherine Mager for sending over these glorious images for us to enjoy.

THE PROPOSAL | I was totally taken by surprise when on our anniversary Jonny took me to one of our favourite places in Norfolk, the National Trust property Blickling House. A long time before that Jonny had joked that if he caught me one of the swans at the house I would have to marry him, and so on the day he proposed he pulled out a toy swan from a picnic bag, along with a bottle of champagne and, getting down on one knee, produced a ring and asked me to marry him! I will admit that in my shock all I could say for a few minutes was “Are you serious?!” but after that I was very quick to say yes!

THE VISION | We both knew we wanted a fun and happy wedding filled with lots of things that were personal to us and our friends and family. We wanted to whole day to reflect things that are important to us and be enjoyable for all our guests.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We had just over a year to plan the day, and so split it up into major crucial things like the venue which we sorted first, and more minor details which we left until closer to the time. By spreading it out and splitting the responsibilities we managed to make it enjoyable and not too stressful!

THE VENUE | When we found out that we could have our wedding at Blickling we knew that was the venue for us. Even more than that it turned out we could have a marquee on the very spot we got engaged! It was the most incredible venue, the house and lake provided a stunning backdrop and it was lovely to be able to show some of our friends and family from further afield one of our favourite Norfolk haunts. The events and catering team were incredible, helping us pick the perfect menu and putting all the details together to make our day personal to us.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I visited a couple of bridal boutiques with my mum before, typically, returning to the first one we visited and choosing my dress! I had always thought I would go for something sleek and simple but it was actually my mum who convinced me to try on Naomi Neoh’s Ditta dress and I fell in love with the beautiful material and full skirt. It came with a separate lace bolero that went over the top, and I loved the beautiful flower that fitted in with our floral theme for the day.

My mum actually owns a shop (Greenwood & Co) and makes her own handmade jewellery and she very kindly made my beautiful jewellery, including an amazing headpiece, and the jewellery for my bridesmaids.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Jonny wanted a tweed suit and we ended up finding a lovely blue tweed three piece on ASOS which was perfect. We then pieced all the accessories together including shoes, ties and pocket squares from high street shops.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We centred all of the elements of our service around the theme of ‘Love’, with our readings from Corinthians and Mumford and Sons ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘Awake My Soul’! We asked some of our good friends to sing a couple of songs while we signed the register, including a Ben Howard song (who we saw on our first date together) and Emile Sande’s ‘Where I Sleep’.

Some of our very talented friends from our church provided the music for the congregational hymns and the overall effect was beautiful.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My beautiful bridesmaids, my cousin Elizabeth and best friend Angharad, wore gorgeous blush pink dresses from Coast, which had pewter beaded detailing around the neck that my Mum matched perfectly with some lovely earrings and bracelets.

THE FLOWERS | I wanted lots of natural wild flowers in neutral colours, and local florists Bramble & Berry provided lots of beautiful jam jars filled with white and pink blooms which we decorated the church and our marquee with. They also provided a lovely decorated vintage step ladder which greeted people outside the venue.

THE CAKE | We wanted something simple and opted for a very delicious build-your-own sponge cake from Marks & Spencer! Between myself and our florist we provided some decorations and the wonderful people at Blickling put it all together to create our lovely cake.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We wanted our photographer to have a natural and relaxed style, and for our pictures to be more observational than posed and formal. So after much internet searching we came across the brilliant Katherine Mager, and absolutely loved her style and her relaxed manner. She was brilliant on the day at just blending in with our guests, and produced for us a real journey through the day with her photographs, capturing the fun and joy that we hoped our guests felt as much as we did.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Both of us love music and from our very first date together have attended many memorable gigs and festivals seeing bands that we love. I have saved most of the tickets from these, and we used them as our table names on the day, with each one based on a different band and date that we saw them together! We continued our theme with all the music played in the background these from bands.

All of the other finishing touches were DIY crafts that I had put together, including big picture frames containing our table plan and timings for the day, painted and decorated ‘LOVE’ letters and lamps for the tables.

Finally my family and I spent the day before the wedding covering the ceiling with colourful paper lanterns which looked amazing against the white of the marquee.

THE HONEYMOON | After a busy few months for both of us we wanted a bit of luxury and spent a week on the Markarska coast in Croatia in a stunning all-inclusive hotel. A great mixture of sun, sea and sparkling wine.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | CATHERINE: I absolutely loved our church service, it went so quickly but I loved the combination of music and readings, plus the beautiful message delivered by our Pastor Gemma Neill. It was so emotional but so happy at the same time and I loved sharing all of those things that are special to us with our friends and family.

JONATHAN: Sitting by the lake watching the sunset with all the groomsmen and other boys enjoying a cigar and glass of port, and our very own Kisstory play list to end the night on the dance floor with all our guests were some definite highlights!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Include lots of individual touches that are important to you; those are the bits you remember and all of our guests commented on how personal the day was to us. And don’t let anything on the day distract you from enjoying it and making the most of every moment; everything you’ve planned will fall into place and it goes so quickly, so relax and take it all in!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue & Catering | Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)

Florist | Bramble & Berry

Photographer | Katherine Mager

Dress | Naomi Neoh, Ditta from Ivory & Pearl, Comber

Jewellery | Greenwood & Co

Suits | ASOS

Band | Soultown Chic

Cake | Marks & Spencer

Lanterns | The Hanging Lantern Company

Simply beautiful, I feel like I’ve been transported to the summer in an instant.

Jonathan and Catherine, thank you both so very much for sharing your story today xo Lou