Pale Pink & Pretty Outdoor Lakeside DIY Wedding

I trust you had a lovely weekend? It’s the season of the wedding fair and I am sure many of you have been beavering away planning your gorgeous nuptials. To assist you in your wedding plans today, let me share with you a drop dead gorgeous outdoor celebration.

Hayley and Will were married on the 15^th August 2015 in an outdoor ceremony conducted by their friend at Duncton Mill Fishery in West Sussex. A relaxed and stress free party followed in a marquee decked out in pretty DIY décor. I just love how their nearest and dearest came together to hand craft their day.

Let’s get to the style. Hayley chose the exquisite Florence by Jenny Packham which she teamed with Rachel Simpson heels and a classic veil. Will went for a rather dashing suit from Next and the bridesmaids wore pale pink frocks from Coast. LOVE.

Juliet McKee, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful imagery today.

THE PROPOSAL | After an afternoon at a West End show Will proposed at the Oxo Tower, our favourite restaurant overlooking the London skyline. We celebrated with lots champagne!

THE VISION | We wanted a day that was totally relaxed and stress free, we didn’t want any rules or regulations restricting what we could and could not do! As a result we legally married in Islington Town Hall 4 days before the wedding day which meant we were free to do whatever we wanted on the day itself. Our friend Jed conducted our ceremony (think Joey in Friends at Monica and Chandlers wedding!) and everything was personal to us. Lots of people questioned our decision not to ‘marry’ on our wedding day, but to us getting married was about making life long promises to each other in front of all our friends and family rather than signing a piece of paper…it almost meant we got to have 2 fabulous days celebrating!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | The initial vision for the wedding came from Will and he was fantastic in helping out with the whole planning process. Will would research all the possibilities, I would then pick my favourite option and he would go away and sort it! I decided on the smaller details of the day using blogs and Pinterest for inspiration.

THE VENUE | Duncton Mill Fishery, West Sussex. It was the first venue we visited but we knew it would be perfect for our outdoor wedding (such stunning scenery!) and loved the fact that we could do whatever we wanted with the space. There are a limited number of weddings held there each year which made it feel exclusive and special to us and we loved the fact that we could hire Rosie the rowing boat to take our guests around the lake.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I always knew I wanted a dress that was a little bit different – nothing strapless and poofy! I chose Florence by Jenny Packham because I loved the shape and intricate beading detail and wore it with a long single tier veil. I came across Rachel Simpson shoes online and thought the vintage style fitted perfectly with the look of the dress. As the dress was so detailed I kept the other accessories simple.

FINDING THE DRESS | I was looking online for inspiration when I came across Jenny Packham’s website and knew instantly it was the look I was after. I was amazed to find a stockist less than 10 minutes away, Miss Bush Bridal, and on my second visit I found Florence. The moment I tried it on I knew it was the dress I wanted to wear and although I brought it more than a year in advance of the wedding I never doubted my choice.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Will wanted a 3 piece suit that he could wear again and settled on one from Next.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | The music for the ceremony was performed by some of our very talented musical friends! They kept everyone entertained before I arrived and played the music for me to walk down the aisle to, which Will had composed. They also played ‘As time goes by’ during the ceremony and ‘It must be love’ as we walked back up the aisle. We had three readings during the ceremony and our evening bands were again made up of friends and previous wedding bands Will had been part of.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I wanted the bridesmaids dresses to be simple and elegant and it wasn’t difficult to find something that suited my gorgeous bridesmaids! I found the dresses in Coast and loved the shoulder detail, low back and rustic pale pink colour.

THE FLOWERS | After receiving a few extortionate quotes for flowers we decided to do as many of the flower arrangements ourselves as possible to save money. We decided to use a local garden centre, Longacre, rather than a florist and ordered all the flowers for the jam jars wholesale through them. Will’s Mum and sister then spent the day before the wedding arranging all the jars which decorated the marquee and lined the aisle. I emailed Longacre photos for mine and the bridesmaids bouquets and was amazed on the day how they had created exact replicas of what I was hoping for. Choosing to use Longacres was one of the best financial decisions we made!

THE CAKE | A rustic looking naked cake baked by my Mum. Will’s brother in law created the personalised cake stand for us, which Will later made into a clock which is hanging in our kitchen!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | After a disastrous and cringe worthy engagement shoot with a photographer we found at a wedding fayre we realised how important good photography was to us. My sister found Juliet McKee through facebook and once we meet her we knew we could trust her completely with our photography. She went above and beyond to deliver a beautiful package that included over 1000 photographs and a 10 minute video capturing the story of the day. Our photographs turned out exactly as we had hoped.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | When it came to the smaller details of the day we pretty much created everything ourselves from scratch and would definitely recommend this to other couples if you have the time and patience! Will was fantastic and made the benches that the guests sat on, the lectern used during the ceremony, the confetti cones, designed and printed all the wedding stationery, created the table plan and easel it sat on, the table numbers and the stand for our guest book! I made the place settings, favours and invites. Will’s Dad made all the boxes for our food hampers which sat on the table and the boxes for the flower pot display. Will’s Mum made the lace hearts that decorated the marquee and planted all the flower pots.

THE HONEYMOON | 2 relaxing weeks in Italy.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | During the meal our guests filled out lyric sheets writing down words and memories they would include in a song about me and Will. Our friend James then put this together in a song he performed on the ukulele. It was so unique and hilarious – a really great moment. At the end of the evening Will’s Dad set off fireworks, watching them across the lake with our guests was really special.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Don’t be afraid to ask friends and family for help. The chances are they would love to get involved and help wherever possible. We couldn’t have had the wedding we did without the help of our friends and family – many of whom spent the 48 hours before the wedding setting everything up in the rain and the day after packing everything down while we got ready for our honeymoon.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Flowers | Longacres

Dress | Miss Bush Bridal

Photographer | Juliet McKee

Venue | Duncton Mill Fishery

How magical.

Thanks so much to Hayley and Will for sharing their wonderful wedding story with us here at WWW xo Lou