Beautiful Summer Country House & Marquee Wedding

I am excited to be sharing the Bedfordshire country house wedding of Bethan and Tom at Eggington House. This beautiful summers day included a dreamy outdoor ceremony, sensational marquee reception and the most stylish attire to boot.

Let’s talk about their styling because the greens and golds looked incredible in the marquee and I am also loving their subtle travel theme running throughout. It makes for a really personal and thoughtful nod to their favourite destinations.

WWW wedding supplier Funky Monkey Tents was on hand to provide the gorgeous lighting and benches in the marquee too which is lovely to see.

Thanks so much to TwoD Photography for sharing these divine images of a tremendously happy day.

Bedfordshire Country House Wedding

The Proposal

After spending a couple of weeks travelling around Japan in November 2018, Tom proposed one early morning at Lake Hakone under a shrine. The forecast was rain all day, but we got up early to explore and Tom popped the question in the hour of sunshine under a shrine on the lakeside.

I was absolutely shocked – especially as I’m not a morning person, but Tom managed to capture the moment by hiring a secret photographer who was casually posing as a tourist at the time! It couldn’t have been more perfect.

The Vision

We planned the wedding for July 2020, with our ceremony to be at my childhood village church with just the reception at Eggington House.

However, after having to postpone due to Covid, both the ceremony and reception ended up being at Eggington House – which ended up being utterly sensational.

We wanted a relaxed, but detailed vibe. We knew we wanted our guests to be looked after and entertained throughout the day, so we ensured there was a red Routemaster bus to collect them and transport them from the hotel to the venue, that there was always live music (from the amazing Gospel Touch and Detroit Soul Collective), there was constant entertainment from the talented magician Dean Maudsley, from our outdoor games and from the fun photobooth and there was relaxed comfort in our seating areas, coffee and tea stations and blankets.

We also wanted there to be lots of elements of surprise throughout the day, whether it be from the magician, the goody bags filled with bubbles and sweets, the evening food area hidden in the woods or the sparklers at the end.

We knew we didn’t want a ‘formal’ meal, but that food was a top priority, so we ensured there were plenty of ‘substantial canapes’ – including mini roast beefs inside Yorkshire puddings, and a huge selection on our open BBQ. Our evening food was also key to us and we wanted to keep it ‘in theme’ so we had different food stations for different locations we’d travelled to – Pad Thai for Thailand, pizzas for Italy and sliders for the U.S.!

Budget

We have no idea how much we ended up spending (and I dread to think of the total). We gave up inputting onto Tom’s excel spreadsheet due to the sheer volume of things we were buying and amount we were spending, but I know that we don’t regret any penny we spent as it made the day so magical.

The Venue

Eggington House was the first venue we went to visit and had everything we could possibly want – from the picturesque house to the stunning gardens. We knew we wanted a blank canvas, outdoor reception and Eggington’s backdrop was the perfect place. We also knew we wanted the sit-down meal to be in a rustic open marquee, and Eggington had one ready for use in the gardens.

The grounds were also perfect as it had separate areas for each part of the day, so even though you were at one venue, you were never in the same place for long!

Your Outfits

As it was an outdoor ceremony and reception, I knew I didn’t want to have a heavy, full or structured dress and wanted something I could easily move around in. The dress I ended up choosing was a Justin Alexander gown and was one of the first dresses I tried on from George James Bridal in Bedford.

It was a full lace dress with heavy beading and little cap sleeves which gave it a vintage feel which I absolutely loved. It felt perfect and meant to be because it matches my old school personality and vintage-style jewellery.

I chose a full-length veil with lace detail and Swarovski crystals to match the dress which I also bought from George James. Being a bit of a shoe fan, I had two pairs – a pair of Valentino Rockstud heels for the day and a sparkly pair of Kate Spade Keds to change into later.

Tom wanted to wear a smart suit on the day, but one that had a ‘summery feel’ to make him feel like a groom at an outdoor wedding and not a worker in an office. He found the perfect blue suit that he had personalised in Moss Bros and searched high and low for a waistcoat that would work with both the blue suit and the dark green bridesmaids’ dresses.

We found a last-minute bargain on Asos for the waistcoats and they couldn’t have been better.

The Ceremony & Music

Our ceremony was held in a woodland area under a big tree and flower arch. Transitioning from our original church wedding to an outdoor wedding, we wanted a friend to officiate our ceremony to give it a personal touch. We had words of wisdom and readings from various family members and friends throughout the ceremony which made it comical, personal and really quite emotional.

During the ceremony, our music was performed by the sensational gospel choir Gospel Touch. We picked the songs we wanted to walk down the aisle to, along with the songs we wanted throughout the ceremony and Gospel Touch learnt these and were super accommodating.

We both wrote our own vows, which is something we hadn’t anticipated doing, but I’m so glad we did as it made it so magical for us both.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our photographer was the first thing we booked. We had seen Two-D Photography at other weddings and had met them at various wedding fairs, so we knew that we had to get them booked in before anything else! Both Sarah and Dan have been a dream along the way and were so fun and helpful on the day itself. We are in love with our pictures and video and they captured the day so perfectly.

The Styling & Decor

We are avid travellers and love to visit as many places as possible. We knew we wanted to have a loose ‘travel theme’ to the wedding, so our seating chart and table names were all named after countries we had been together.

Each piece of stationery, from the signage, menus and order of service all had a consistent ‘world map’ theme in our wedding colours. We made all the stationery and signage ourselves using templates from Etsy and bought frames to display them from local shops.

We planned our styling in the marquee meticulously with the help of our wonderful wedding planner Chloe at White Button Weddings. Our tables were filled with candles of various sizes, flower bud vases and floral centrepieces on raised gold stands so that guests could chat through them.

We had vintage glasses with gold rims to match our gold charger plates and gold cutlery on our rustic white wooden tables. Each guest had a little suitcase with an edible favour inside, along with a personalised gold wooden name place that they could take home.

Our colour scheme for the day was greens, pinks, golds and hints of black. Our flowers were ‘wild but arranged’ by the talented Noeleen at the Basement Florist. We had large table centrepieces with flowers in deep pinks, blushes and lots of greenery, with a greenery runner on the tables, greenery wrapped around the marquee poles, and flower arrangements dotted around the venue. Noeleen also created spectacular entrance flowers to the marquee and ceremony in milk churns, along with our ceremony flower arch.

Our cake was a simple white and gold design, decorated with flowers in our colour theme and I had a custom cake topper made to represent us scuba diving – as it’s a hobby we both love to do together.

We decorated our bar area with travel-themed goodies we had picked up in various places and I created a ‘find my face’ area for guests to come and spot themselves with the bride and groom. We wanted to make everyone feel that they were special and how much we valued them being part of our day and we think this went down well!

The Honeymoon

Due to Covid we postponed our ‘big trip’ until 2022, but enjoyed a relaxing mini-moon in Crete. We are off to LA and French Polynesia in July 2022 for our 3 week honeymoon, which we’ve planned with Turquoise Holidays and are excited to spend our first anniversary on one of the islands.

Memorable Moments

My mum had spent the last 3 years drying rose petals from her garden to use as confetti for the day. Getting to walk down and have that confetti thrown was really special.

Tom also spontaneously decided to stand up in front of all the guests and perform his favourite song ‘Robbie Williams – Angels’ with the amazing Detroit Soul Collective playing with him. Given Tom has never performed outside of the shower, this is something we’ll never forget!

Detroit Soul Collective also learned our first dance – a country song by The Shires. Whilst not their usual repertoire, we were so grateful they did this for us and it made it even more special.

Last but not least was our little goldendoodle Bonnie walking the rings down the aisle – having her be part of the day was something we could have only dreamed of.

Advice For Other Couples

Enjoy the planning process and don’t get stressed. Work out what your top priorities are and make sure you get the best suppliers for the job – our 3 non-negotiables were our photographers, the food and the band. The rest will fall into place.

The key is to be organised. We are a fan of the little details, and lots of guests at our wedding picked up on these. From the baskets of helpful bits and bobs in the toilets, to the matching gems we stuck on every menu, order of service or sign around the venue to the wall of photos where everyone could ‘find their face’. It’s a day for you both, but it’s also such a fun day with everyone you care about. Make it memorable for all!

Lastly, be creative. Everyone has different tastes, so don’t feel you have to follow the herd. On the day itself I realised my garter was visible through my dress, so I put my creative hat on and ended up spending the day with it wrapped around my ankle. Being relaxed and creative makes the wedding process and day even more fun.

So very gorgeous.

Bethan and Tom thanks ever so much for sharing your Bedfordshire country house wedding with us.