Pretty Quirky & Pastel Wedding

I can’t get enough of lacy ladies, Devon and her maids, don’t they look glorious? Devon is just stunning in her Pronovias Printella gown, which despite her buying it when she was a little bit tipsy (oops!), turned out to be the most wonderful choice, as were the bridesmaids in their last minute but ever so stylish Chi Chi London dresses. Of course, Devon’s groom James also looked fabulous in Next.

WWW readers Devon and James tied the knot on 9th September 2016 at Holdsworth House in Yorkshire. Devon didn’t hang around with any of the planning and sounds like one of the most accidentally organised brides ever! Having said that, the pair didn’t take anything too seriously and I think the laughter and fun of the day really shines through, I’m sure Devon’s solution for ‘Happy Tears’ came in very handy. Our lovely couple chose décor which was meaningful to them and tied it together with the pastel theme, didn’t it work out well?

Thank you so much Georgia from Happily Ever Captured for the simply beautiful images.

THE PROPOSAL | James proposed whilst we were in Lincolnshire staying at his dad’s caravan by the sea for the week. It took him up until the last day to build up the courage and had been hiding the ring from me all week. Apparently I kept ruining the moment! Apparently asking him to watch for passers by whilst I took a wild wee on the beach wasn’t romantic haha! In the end it was in a field walking the dog, it was awkward, hilarious and very us! I was over the moon! The dog ruined the romance again by promptly bringing over a mouthful of cow poo to help us celebrate.

THE VISION | I love all things vintage and have a vast collection of teacups and teapots so the vision sort of started there! We picked a beautiful old venue that all my old knick knacks looked at home in. We collected and crafted over 12 months and just sort of threw it all together at the venue the day before. I stuck with pastels to avoid it looking too messy and basically set about making anything I saw on Pinterest that I liked! It saved a fortune and I really enjoyed doing it.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Within four weeks of being engaged I had bought a dress, booked the venue, the photographer, videographer and florist. I don’t think I intended on being quite so organised but I am very decisive and James was happy for me to take the lead. After that it was just crafty, fun bits so I didn’t find it stressful at all really! ….apart from hand sewing 120 hart shaped herbal tea bags. It took ages but I was too stubborn to admit defeat!

BUDGET | We didn’t set one and I wouldn’t advise anyone follow suit with that! Family helped significantly and we paid the rest as we went along with some clever budgeting! I’m a bargain hunter and a bit of a cheapskate so managed to keep it under 13k….we think!

THE VENUE | Holdsworth House, a stunning Jacobean house local to us with amazing courtyard and gardens! We needed a venue that was also a hotel, with disability access, local and free in September and it fit the bill…..thank God! We ended up getting married in the courtyard and it was more beautiful than I could’ve imagined!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Dress shopping was so much fun! I went with my mum and best friend and went to two shops, one in the morning (pre prosecco lunch) and one in the afternoon (post prosecco). I tried the Pronovias Printella gown in the morning and then went back and bought it whilst a tad drunk in the afternoon then panicked for 6 months that I’d made a terrible decision as I couldn’t remember how it looked on. Thankfully after alterations it was even more stunning than I’d remembered and I felt amazing in it! I expected to choose a vintage Tea length number but ended up with a sexy, fitted, illusion back number, my husband was very pleasantly surprised on the day! I wore very simple jewellery: a pair of pearl earrings gifted by my mother in law, a green cameo ring of James grandmothers and a sapphire brooch in the underskirt of my late great nana’s as my something old and blue. I also wore a fine gold bracelet with an infinity sign on that my sister presented me whilst getting ready, accompanied by the most heartfelt touching speech!
Shoes were Kurt Geiger and very sparkly, not my usual style but perfect with the dress.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | James, his two brothers and my dad all wore brown checked suits from Next. They wore floral dickie bows made by a talented friend Robyn Egerton. James also wore his late grandfather’s pocket watch and a pair of Huddersfield town cuff links.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | James and I were eager for the formal part of the day to be minimal and to crack on with the fun and celebrations so we had no readings. Music was all picked by James and run past me, the songs he chose were all so heartfelt and for such good individual reasons they all became my favourites. I still can’t listen to my aisle song without welling up and yet

I’d never heard it before we started planning our wedding.

Aisle: S.Carey – Alpenglow
Signing of the register: Bright Eyes – First day of my life.
First dance: Ryan Adams – I love you but I don’t know what to say

BRIDESMAIDS |I had my sister Ellis, my younger cousin Molly, my best friend from back home Anna, my best friend from Uni Nicole and my second soulmate and sister in law Megan as my maid of honour. It was a great mix of amazing women from different stages in my life that all mean so much to me.

They wore blue dresses from Chi Chi London that I adored. However up until the week of the wedding they were all wearing dresses I was having made but I realised the fabric I’d chosen was slightly transparent in some of the colours. I ordered dresses that arrived two days before the wedding and completely the wrong dresses arrived. In the end the bridesmaids dresses arrived less than 24 hours before the wedding and no one tried them on until the day! I think everyone was a little stressed apart from me who found it all quite amusing ( I had to laugh so I didn’t cry I think) I ordered enough sizes for them all to go up or down a size if needed and had a needle and thread at hand to sew anyone in if required!

THE FLOWERS | Pink Ginger of Saltaire. I found her on Pinterest and assumed from the amazing flowers she would be way to expensive and how wrong I was. Sarah was so creative, laid back and reasonable it was a no brainer! She even helped come up with ideas for my favours and decorated my cake on the day. She arrived and gifted me with a flower press and a collection of my flowers she had already pressed for me to keep. She was amazing and the flowers were above and beyond what I’d wanted.

THE CAKE | I never eat cake at weddings and hardly ever remember what they look like either so I was eager not to spend a fortune on my own. After hearing good things we decided to get a white three tiered cake from M and S. one fruit layer, one lemon and one chocolate. I hear it was nice but I didn’t taste any as I was far to busy dancing and sipping bubbly! We put a teacup of sentimental value on the top and my florist filled it with flowers! It looked great and cost £150.

PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEOGRAPHER | Our photographer was Georgia from Happily Ever Captured. She is just fantastic! The pictures were stunning and she was so helpful and friendly on the day! Everyone thought that her and my amazing videographer Sarah MacVean were friends of the family. They were both non-intrusive and a great part of our day! We had a great laugh with them both and the end results of both brought me to tears!

THE HONEYMOON | we went backpacking round several islands of Croatia. It was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone! We obviously had far too much as Baby Marsh is due almost exactly nine months from our honeymoon.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Finally catching up with my husband during our first dance and both agreeing that we needed to put on some more deodorant and get a chewing gum immediately after! Who said romance is dead! Honesty is always the best policy!

During our bridesmaids photos, flashing one of my bridesmaid’s bums and us just having a good boogie instead of posing….makes for some surprisingly good and natural photos!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Don’t take any of it too seriously! Let your hair down and have fun celebrating your new life with your nearest and dearest and make it memorable. No one really cares about all the details on the day (not even you) We both had an absolute blast as did all of our guests and we have no regrets at all. But do try take photos before the champagne giggles kick in!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Happily Ever Captured

Flowers | Pink Ginger

Venue | Holdsworth House

Dress Shop | Dotty Taylor Bridal

Videography | MacVean Videography

Bridesmaids dresses | Chi Chi London

Groomsmen Bowties | Egg by Robyn Egerton

Thank you so much Devon and James for sharing your beautiful wedding with us. Rachel x