Whimsical DIY Fishley Hall Wedding With Super Cool Style

High fives to Olly and Chloe for pulling off the most epic wedding ever ⚡️. I am thrilled to be sharing their micro Fishley Hall wedding in Norfolk with you, which was all kinds of whimsical, fun and with a ton of DIY to boot. Hoorah!

They were married in the summer with a guest list of 30 following 3 postponements, what proper troopers they are. But it was worth the wait as they had a proper good knees up with great food and drink as well as their nearest and dearest by their side.

There is so much to love, think smoke bombs, cool attire, disco balls, a booth bath, modern flowers and much much more. Georgia Rachael thank you so much for kindly sending over these incredible shots for us to enjoy. What are you waiting for? Go and read all about their day below.

Fishley Hall Wedding

The Proposal

As a celebration for being together 7 and a half years Olly suggested I took some time off work and headed up to Scotland for a short road trip, we headed up to Edinburgh a few days to do some usual tourist and spoil ourselves with nice food and drink! A couple of days later, after driving through the most amazing places, we headed to Orkney Island.

Olly has always known my dream proposal would be somewhere in Scotland. Scotland has always held a little place in my heart as although my Nana and Papa were no longer with us, that’s where they had lived for many years before coming to Norfolk.

Orkney is the most beautiful place, so quiet and serene, we had a day just walking around the local town and enjoying the quaint shops, eating some delicious food and taking advantage of the long summer evenings you get up there.

On the 14th of June 2017 we headed to Earl’s Palace, a beautiful castle ruin and at midday, my life changed forever. He was down on one knee with a beautiful ring, tears of joy and excitement took over and before he could even ask me the all-important question I was already shouting yes!

He had organised a photographer a few weeks before and she captured some beautiful memories for us.

We celebrated that evening with a lovely meal, champagne and a walk around the hotel grounds.

The Vision

3 postponements later, the vision went from big party, all our family and friends, loads of flowers and décor to intimate, relaxing with a ‘yes we can do this’ attitude. All we really needed were our closest friends and family, some seriously good food and a well-stocked bar!

As soon as we got engaged, I knew I wanted to do as much as I could myself, I LOVE weddings, I LOVE designing and I LOVE creating. Flowers, décor, signage, evening food, music playlists and bespoke objects were all DIY by myself or family members.

Being a COVID bride, this worked out really well, as we only had 3 official suppliers to deal with during the postponement process making it fairly stress-free. It also helped that I was put on furlough so I could keep busy by creating things for the wedding, this really helped my mental health during the first lockdown and became a huge escape from the reality of postponing.

DIY isn’t for everyone, it takes an awful lot of time and effort but we enjoyed every moment of it. It was a real family effort (right until 5am on the wedding day!) and the memories we have made are irreplaceable.

Budget

10-12k

Having only 30 guests dramatically dropped the budget, our only advice is spend money on the things people will remember, food, drink and music/entertainment. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

The Venue

The amazing Fishley Hall, Norfolk.

Fishley Hall was the only venue we viewed, once you know, you know.

Originally, we had booked to have the Barn and Hall as part of our wedding weekend, as time went on and the pandemic was more of a concern it was obvious our original plans had to change.

Candice, the owner of Fishley couldn’t have been more helpful throughout the whole process. Our 3rd and final date still sat within the 30 guest restrictions and instead of having both the barn and hall we opted to have the whole wedding in the hall. The conservatory and outside areas at the venue are incredible and looked so amazing on the day.

Fishley is a completely dry hire venue and a blank canvas for any couple to add their personality to the day so was absolutely perfect for us.

Your Outfits

My dress was from the award-winning Pure Boutique in Norwich and was by Rebecca Ingram. Although the dress was fairly traditional, I like to break the rules a bit, so opted for a blush veil (etsy) leopard print shoes and a leather jacket (asos).

Two of my bridesmaids wore TH&TH Siler Mist Luna dresses while the 3rd wore an Anya with Love blush tulle maternity dress, all tulle skirts, including mine, made the bridal party feel very whimsical!

The groomsparty wore navy micro check Ben Sherman suits from Suitdirect.com, grey waistcoats and navy ties from ASOS.

The Ceremony & Music

The decision about the ceremony was in the hands of the great British weather! Covid restrictions meant that we had to wear masks inside if the weather was not on our side, taking this into consideration we opted to try and have our ceremony outside if the weather allowed.

Luckily the weather held out and we had the most amazing outside ceremony with our closest 30 guests, no masks in sight!

We knew that having music outside would help the transmission rates of covid- 19 so we had a silent disco for our evening music, it allowed guests to remain 2 meters away from each other, choose their playlist and boogie in their family bubbles. It was so much fun watching everyone dancing to different songs!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

The incredible Georgia Rachel, she was the first supplier we booked after our venue. Having followed her on Instagram for a while we arranged a meeting back in 2018. It was like we had known each other for ages, a true star, passionate, knowledgeable, and so incredibly cool. Her style of photography is totally amazing, she’s there in the action, without being in your face, she felt part of the family on the day and has captured every moment perfectly.

Her positivity kept me going in the darkest moments of the pandemic. Whenever I needed reassurance that our wedding would go ahead, she was the one I’d go to. When things had to be changed, she was understanding, supportive and accommodating, even when her whole season had been taken from her, she was there with a virtual hug.

We’ve had 3 shoots with Georgia now, an engagement shoot, a postponement shoot and our wedding. All 3 have given us memories to last a lifetime and we cannot wait for her to shoot our massive party… when the time comes!

The Styling & Decor

I did the décor, styling and flowers myself, with the help of family members!

It was really important for me to have a ‘unique’ feel to the day, which added our personality to the venue.

A backdrop was something I really wanted, somewhere to take photos, a centre ‘wow’ piece for the day and a potential ceremony backdrop. Using chipboard and shed roofing I created a backdrop which created different levels and textures, I finished it off with a fresh and dried flower installation, using flowers I’d ordered from Triangle Nursery Wholesalers.

An old bath I’d taken from a pub renovation was upcyled and used as a Booze Bath, painted (in the snow) in a pretty pink and filled with booze, soft drinks, and dried flower petals. It made for a lovely ‘help yourself’ drink station and was a real talking point of the day.

My partner is a huge motorsport fan and races in his spare time so it was really important to have items that reflected this, a family member had created wooden race circuits for us which we used as our table names, they looked amazing all together and really gave a nod to the love of motorsport that we both share.

The bar! It was made using some chipboard and an old desk we found in the garage. We painted it white and added some bespoke signage to give it a little ‘rustic edge’. It looked amazing and we were so pleased with how it came out.

Flowers were brought from Triangle Nursery and all arrangements were made by me, my bridesmaids and family members. The theme for the bouquets were wild and boho, nothing too ‘perfect’ we used the holly chapel eggs to create structure, watched a lot of YouTube videos and just went for it. Added in a few dried flowers that had been grown by my parents and it all came together so well.

The Honeymoon

Covid has paused our honeymoon plans for now but we hope to have a road trip around America soon!

We did have a little Minimoon at Cogham Hall a few days after the wedding, we stayed in the honeymoon suite and enjoyed an amazing 3-course dinner. The spa at Cogham hall is lovely and exactly what we needed after a manic few days packing and unpacking.

Memorable Moments

After 3 postponements, walking down the aisle to Olly was my favourite part. The stress and worry instantly left my body and the ‘we done it’ moment was overwhelming. His reaction wasn’t anything I’d expected, full of emotion and it was a moment I will never forget.

Another thing was after the ceremony and sitting down with all 30 guests, it had been a very long 18 months with lockdowns and limited social contact, sitting in a room with your love ones, celebrating, laughing and crying together was the most amazing feeling.

Advice For Other Couples

Your mental health matters and planning a wedding is no easy task! It’s absolutely ok to ask for help when you need it and take a break from the planning when it gets overwhelming.

Most of all, enjoy the moments that make you smile and take time to sit back and take in everything you have achieved on the day, it goes so quickly!