Pretty Pink & DIY Autumn Village Wedding with Afternoon Tea

I love Josie and Harry’s attitude to wedding planning, they kept planning time short at 10 weeks and didn’t let the COVID-19 restrictions deter them one bit! It was all about them and their future marriage, rather than fluff or details. Just my kind of wedding!

That being said, they made their village wedding so very pretty thanks to a lot of DIY projects and some very helpful loved ones. They were married in their church and following had a delicious afternoon tea. Their day had a really authentic vintage autumn vibe, which was so welcoming in feel.

From their outfits to the flowers and all the personal touches, they really thought of everything. It looked like such a happy celebration.

A big thanks to Hannah Christine Photography for sharing these joy-filled images with us.

Autumn Village Wedding

The Proposal

Harry: I proposed on a rowing boat we rented by Richmond bridge. It’s something we’d been planning for a while, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I had a few friends hidden on the path along the river and they managed to get some lovely photos of the moment.

Josie: The day we got engaged was so dreamy. We rented a boat in Richmond and it honestly was exactly like the scene on a boat in the Notebook! We got rained on, we had the sun shining and it was so romantic. When we got off the boat I told the boat staff that we got engaged and everyone sitting by the river heard and cheered for us! It was so special and so surreal.

The Vision

Josie: I have been planning my wedding for as long as I could remember, I knew in my head where I wanted to get married, when, what type of dress etc. However, when it came to it and the pandemic was in the mix, it meant things had to change a little.

We got engaged at the end of July and decided to get married at the beginning of October… we had 10 weeks to plan a wedding!

We had spent the whole time planning a 30 person wedding, which we were so excited for, and a week before the wedding Boris announced weddings could only be 15 people! We were devastated and tried to push the wedding forward to be able to have a 30 person wedding… however my passport had run out and wasn’t valid! If we didn’t try to get married that weekend I wouldn’t have known to get a new passport, which meant we wouldn’t of been able to get married on our original date! Boris saved our wedding!

Initially, we were calling it the marriage, the plan was for it to be very lowkey and just get married and save the actual wedding for when we could do the full thing with all the people. However, when realising that the marriage should be done properly in the church I just realised that I didn’t want to try and replicate it a year later. I wanted or day to be special and I wanted that moment walking down the aisle with my dad in a big white dress. If 2020 taught us anything, we had to grab every moment we had.

I just wanted a comfortable day, filled with flowers and the colour pink.

Budget

We were so blessed that my parents paid for the whole wedding, it just meant so much to us and meant what money Harry had saved over the years we could use when we were married.

The Venue

St Michael’s Fulwell is the church we got married in. It’s opposite Harry’s house and Harry had been attending it for 3 years with his parents. I also had a relationship with the church and family as I ended up joining him most weekends!

Your Outfits

Harry: My suit is from Moss Bros. My two best men and I had the same suits, however, there were some differences with mine. The best men had matching waistcoats and ties, whereas I had a biscuit waistcoat and a pink tie to match the wedding theme.

Josie: My gorgeous dress was an off the shoulder, ivory wedding dress. It had buttons all down the back and it had a very full skirt. I only had 8 weeks to get my dress, so it had to be a sample. Luckily for me, the sample fit perfectly! I just loved it and felt amazing in it.

The dress was from The Dress in Teddington. My amazing mother made my veil, she bought the fabric and sewed it for me. The morning of the wedding we measured and thought about where I wanted it to sit and she spent the morning sewing it onto the comb! My shoes were my something blue, I covered my feet in blister plasters the morning of, and safe to say did not feel my feet all day, I didn’t take them off until I went to bed!

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was so God centred which was so important to us as Christians. My gorgeous head bridesmaid played the piano and sang, which was so special.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our amazing photographer was our amazing friend Hannah. I am Hannah’s self-proclaimed biggest fan. Her work is dreamy and I can’t believe that I had my own wedding shot by her! She did a lovely job and the photographs are stunning, both Harry and I felt so comfortable getting out photos taken with her.

Harry’s lovely best man Jesse filmed our ceremony and our photoshoot with Hannah.

We were so blessed that our YouTube wedding Livestream was amazingly done by a friend David, he put so much effort into it and I was so grateful that it wasn’t even something we had to think about because he took the job and got on with it!!

The Styling & Decor

The theme I wanted was everything pink! I really wanted that village wedding feel, almost how you would imagine a wedding would be in Downton Abbey! My mum handmade all of the bunting, which matched the facemasks which she also made too. I just feel it added the most beautiful look to the church. St Michaels really reminds me of the church Ross and Emily got married in in Friends, It looked so rustic.

My mum and dad the day before went and bought all of the flowers from a local floral wholesale, the day before the wedding she proceeded to make all of the floral arrangements, the bouquets, floral centrepieces, I couldn’t be more grateful. A lovely friend of mine designed our order of service and our wedding welcome sign, she did a wonderful job and it matched our day perfectly.

We had a gorgeous afternoon tea, my parents bought the china from a couple who used it at their wedding, and my mother-in-law and specifically picked each piece of china we wanted to use. We were so lucky that close friends and neighbours of my parents are chefs, they offered to make the afternoon tea, it was designed from the Fortnum and Masons afternoon tea, which Harry and I had when we went to celebrate our engagement and 3 year anniversary at Fortnum and Masons in London.

The Honeymoon

Our Honeymoon was in Burford in the Cotswolds. We stayed in a pub/hotel and had a gorgeous room. We spent most of it exploring the surrounding area(s) and enjoying pub lunches and dinners!

It was our perfect honeymoon, and we were so lucky to get a week away, because a week later we went into tier 4!!

Memorable Moments

Harry: The father of the Bride’s speech. It was the funniest speech I’ve ever heard and had everyone in stitches. Although there were a few jokes in there that I don’t think the Bride was too impressed with!

Josie: I think the memorable moments for me was walking through the streets and getting all of the congratulations. It was so surreal and so special. I just loved the attention but also how kind everyone was… especially those wishing Harry luck….

Advice For Other Couples

Josie: The longer the engagement the more you will be fussy, precise, and extra with what you want, the shorter the engagement the more likely you are to forget things! At the end of the day, you know yourself and your budget and think about what is actually important to you.

If people want to help, let them.

Harry and I really did not enjoy being engaged, we found it an overwhelming period, especially within a pandemic. However, being married has been amazing and I wouldn’t change anything if it meant that I didn’t get to spend the past 6 months married to my best friend.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh so lovely.

Thanks ever so much to Josie and Harry for sharing their wonderful Autumn village wedding with us.