Floral Autumn Country House Wedding

I have to admit that Autumn is quickly becoming my favourite time of year. This lovely day struck a chord with me for a couple of reasons. The couple celebrated with their three beautiful children and kept a relaxed and informal feel throughout.

WWW readers Emma and Liam tied the knot on the 17th September 2016 at the Manners Arms in Lincolnshire; a stunning country house with dreamy gardens. It was important to them to not stick to certain traditions, for example, they scrapped the first dance and cake cutting and walked down the aisle together. It’s touches like these that really make a wedding oh so personal.

Emma wore a stunning flowing lace adorned gown by Linea Raffaelli with her hair in a pretty up do filled with blooms. The bridesmaids and little ones looked gorgeous in their chosen attire and Liam chose a navy suit and pale tie for a classic look. The flowers were just out of this world, with rusty orange Dahlias taking centre stage, wow.

Thanks so much to Pear & Bear Photography for sharing these incredible photographs.

THE PROPOSAL | Not long after we’d been together we went on a walk in Dovedale, Peak District which we both loved. We had spoken about returning to Dovedale to repeat the walk with our children many times. On the first weekend in April we decided to finally return. We stopped for lunch in a field with a beautiful view. We had finished eating and I was packing away, Liam had lined the children up, the eldest had the ring in the box, middle one had some flowers that she’d been picking on our walk and the youngest being not quite 18 months was running around in circles. He took me by the hands and asked the question.

THE VISION | Informal and relaxed with our close family and friends. Not too weddingy, no cake cutting, first dance. More of a ceremony and a party.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We got engaged on April 3rd and knowing neither of us wanted a long engagement and liked the idea of a September wedding we started planning straight away.

THE VENUE | As soon as I visited The Manners Arms I fell in love with it straight away. It was just what we’d wanted. Gorgeous food, rooms to stay there, relaxed feeling, plenty of outdoor space for the children to run wild in and we could have the ceremony there too.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Linea Raffaelli gown. Shoes were from ASOS, flat sandals to keep me going into the evening dancing. I’m awful in heels! I wore a pair of studded earrings that were a gift from my parents. Louise created me a gorgeous floral arrangement for my hair that Gemma, my bridesmaid and hairdresser pinned in for me. Gemma did the bridesmaid/flower girls hair, including her own!

FINDING THE DRESS | I was unsure if I wanted a ‘proper’ wedding dress but after trying a few on knew that I definitely did but it need to be comfortable and something I could move easily in. I visited a couple of shops and ended up in Shade Bridal Wear and the first dress I tried on I knew it was the one. It was a sample sale dress that pretty much fitted perfectly apart from needing the length shortening.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Liam’s suit and shoes were from Paul Smith. Shirt and tie Topman.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Liam took charge of the music. He put together a playlist that consisted of songs we both really liked to be played during the day. We picked the songs for the ceremony together, which were songs that meant something to us, memories. We walked in to the intro of Ben Howards Old Pine and we walked out as husband and wife to The Beatles Love Me Do. In the evening we had a band called Squeezebox. They’d played at my brother’s wedding a few years ago and our friends last year and were brilliant at both.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 2 of my oldest and closest friends, Anna and Gemma, as my bridesmaids. I wanted them both to feel comfortable in their bridesmaid dresses so gave them free rein and told them anything light grey. Gemma went with a dress from ASOS ad Anna opted for a jumpsuit from Topshop. They wore their own shoes and both looked gorgeous. I also had our 2 daughters as flower girls, they wore simple white dresses created by Miley and Moss which were perfect!

THE FLOWERS | It was a no brainer with the flowers, our wonderful friend Louise from Number 27 Floral Design is fantastic and I love what she does. We started a pinterest board between us and Lou understood exactly what I wanted. The flowers were perfectly beautiful! I loved them!

THE CAKE | We went for a cake table which was made up of cakes that our fabulous family and friends had baked.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The amazing Anna from Pear & Bear Photography.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Décor was easy as I loved the venue that much and felt it didn’t need anything adding to it apart from the flowers. We had informal seating so no seating plan needed. I loved the idea of a photo guest book, we purchased a Fujifilm instax mini 8 camera to use. It went really well, our eldest made it his job to go around everyone snapping their picture and giving them the book to stick it in and write next to.

THE HONEYMOON | We decided against a honeymoon.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Lots! We decided to walk down the aisle together, we got the chance to spend a few moments together before we went through to the ceremony hand in hand. Liam’s speech. Watching the children having lots of fun.  This was one of the best days of our life, we had such a fun day and spent a lot of time laughing.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Cliché but the day goes so quick, enjoy every second. Have your day the way you want it, we got a few odd looks for walking down the aisle together but I’m so glad we did it.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Pear & Bear Photography

Venue | Manners Arms

Dress | Shade Bridal

Band | Squeeze Box

Florist | Number 27 Floral Design

Hair and Make up | MeMe Hair and Beauty

How truly wonderful.

Emma and Liam, I cannot thank you both enough for sharing your wedding story with us xo Lou