Colourful & Home Made Village Hall Wedding

One of the pure joys as a wedding blogger in my opinion is when a couple submit their wedding to me. This particular affair certainly got my pulse racing, let me explain why.

Maisie and Steve tied the knot back in September, being a little shy Maisie wanted a wedding which was relaxed and without stuffy traditions.

They chose the sweetest village hall for their reception which they styled in an old fashioned colourful feel full of home made touches.

Maisie wore the most beautiful Stephanie Allin dress complete with fashion forward pockets. The maids donned home made pale blue dresses while the gents were in braces. Let’s not forget the pretty wild blooms and amazing festoon lighting which really brought the evening party to life.

Huge thanks today goes to the fabulous Holly Deacon for sharing these images.

THE PROPOSAL

Strangely Steve’s proposal came as a bit of a surprise even though we had been together seven years. He proposed on my favourite spot at Newhaven fort watching the ferry drift in. We wanted a small intimate local party wedding and gave ourselves a year to save up for the wedding.

We knew as soon as Steve proposed where we would have our wedding, and didn’t even consider looking anywhere else. A small beautiful village called Iford near Lewes, where Steve’s late Grandad had worked on the farm most of his life.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

I have to admit that the idea of a wedding was quite a worry to me, being quite shy and a crowd phob. Both Steve and I weren’t always keen on a lot of the stuffy wedding traditions, and wanted the day to be relaxed as possible. The main reason for sharing my wedding was to show off Holly Deacon’s great photos, we feel she captured the day perfectly and was absolute brilliant to have around!

We also love colour and didn’t want to be structured with themes, so hung a load of crepe paper streamers from the lovely trees in the field outside the hall and laid some colourful knitted blankets purchased from the Cats Protection shop on the hay bales around the trees.

BUDGET

The wedding came to about £8K not including our mini-moon to Morocco. We wanted the wedding to be personal and not excessive, so that’s why many elements were handmade where possible.

THE VENUE

The very traditional village hall was a perfect venue for a slightly vintage feel, which matched our choice of food, afternoon tea in mixed matched vintage china provided by our caterer Olive Branch Catering. The plan for decorations started around my love for fairy lights and followed with festoon lighting draped across the ceiling and outside the hall and a twinkly fairy light curtain on the stage.

My wonderful maid of honour, Kate and her partner Joe helped make individual slate name signs hung from the back of the wooden chairs that we had hired, for guests to take home and hang in their homes. My sister also made some tasty heart shaped bakewell flavour fudge favours for people to nibble away at during the reception.

THE CAKE

We were very lucky with a warm afternoon at the beginning of September, and still warm enough into the evening to not need any coats. After the very lovely service in the gorgeous church opposite the village hall, the afternoon was started with elderflower cider (from Middle Farm) and lovely canapés. To ensure a party atmosphere we had a free bar which was help yourself in the kitchen, and a sweet and nut table for those drinking munchies everyone gets.

The afternoon tea was delightful with a lovely selection of cakes and pastries, all whilst the fantastic guitar duo Gypsy Dynamite played their hearts out on the stage. Then onto the speeches, which whilst I wasn’t keen on the formality to begin with, I now believe it adds a lovely dimension.

The cake was made by myself and Kate, Steve and I hate fondant icing so opted for a rustic looking buttercream tiered cake, topped with lots of beautiful flowers. I also couldn’t decide on one flavour and opted for three different flavours for each layer different, lemon, vanilla and chocolate sponge layer cake. I have to admit it does add quite a bit of pressure to the timings of things when trying to make your own wedding cake, but definitely worth it if you love baking like myself! The only thing I would suggest if making sponges, freezing the sponges definitely works and make sure you use a tried and tested recipe (I always use the vanilla and lemon recipes from BBC Good Food website).

Whilst we had the normal couple shots, the hall was transformed ready for evening guests and dancing, and guests played football and boules in the field. We hired a vintage looking crepe van, French Revolution to serve tasty crepes all night. The weather was perfect for people milling around and chatting outside whilst sitting on the long wooden bench eating crepes. It was a wonderful party atmosphere in the evening mainly down to my Dad’s great skills on the DJ decks.

THE FLOWERS

I love flowers and wanted to fill the place with as many flowers as possible, neither of us are a fan of formal bouquets and chose wild flower arrangements. The majority of the flowers and extras such as the flower arch, were made by Steve’s Aunty Val and the help from the mums and bridesmaids.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS

I just couldn’t find a tea dress style for the bridesmaid (that was not too vintage looking), and again my lovely mother came to the rescue and we dyed some very lovely silk dupion a very pale china blue and created the dresses.

GROOM’S ATTIRE

We knew we didn’t want Steve and the Ushers to look too formal and opted for skinny trousers and braces from River Island with a light blue floral tie. We hadn’t really intended on a specific colour scheme but somehow ended up being a majority of very pale blue.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

We really feel that the day was everything we had wished for and could not have asked for more from all of our amazing families and friends in helping make the day as wonderful as it was.

There were many memorable moments, but one of the funniest was when my dad saw the perfect opportunity to get the ushers and Groom up on the stage to do a bit of dancing… much to their partner’s horror… The Full Monty… don’t worry it was stopped before the trousers came off hehe!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES

I guess every bride’s journey starts with finding the perfect dress, I had set my heart on lace sleeves and tried on a lot of dresses until I eventually fell in love with a Stephanie Allin dress. The design was modern with pockets (which sealed the deal because I love pockets), but still classic with beautiful lace and silk dupion, and with a bit of a mix up at the boutique my very talented mum, ended up making a beautiful long sleeved lace shrug.

Right up to the wedding day I couldn’t decide if I wanted a veil or not, and luckily we had a spare piece of netting that we placed in my hair on the day and in the evening switched up my look with a flower headpiece and removed my lace shrug, ready for a bit of dancing.

A bit unconventionally the brides and myself got ready at my house, which was nice being in my own environment (and having everything there, knowing myself I would have probably forgotten something important like the dress if I had stayed at a hotel).

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

The amazing Holly Deacon, best find of the wedding. We were also extremely lucky that Steve’s uncle Ray kindly produced a fantastic DVD of our wedding. I took some persuading to want to be on camera, but absolutely love watching the DVD it really brings back all of the feelings and memories of a great day.

THE HONEYMOON

We went for a very luxurious mini-moon to Morocco, for a well-deserved break. We stayed outside of Marrakesh, but had a day trip to the wonderful city…c haotic but brilliant markets, colours, architecture and culture.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES

I obtained a small obsession for Pinterest with all of the endless opportunities for flowers and decorations, I have to admit I did get a little overwhelmed with all the things that I would love to do, but I think you have to stay true to reality and what your venue will suit and focus on creating a nice atmosphere rather than photo opportunities.

Definitely get a video of the wedding if you can, it makes all of the difference reliving the day!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Holly Deacon

Caterer | Olive Branch Catering

Guitar Duo | Gypsy Dynamite

Crepe Van | French Revolution

Bride’s Hair and Makeup | Emma Knight emmaknightmakeupartist@yahoo.co.uk

Dress alterations | Gayle Francis gmfrancis@googlemail.com

Videographer | Ray

Venue | Iford Village Hall

Delicious elderflower cider | Middle Farm

Oh so pretty!! LOVE.

Maisie and Steve, thanks so much to you both for allowing me to share your wonderful day XOXO Lou