Quirky & Cute DIY Mill Wedding

Crafty couples, I am really spoiling you today aren’t I? Another beautiful hand made wedding featured here on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings today and I am sure you will pinning to your hearts content once you clap eyes on these images here.

WWW readers Sara and Keith tied the knot on Saturday 11^th July 2015 at The Mill at Ballydugan in Northern Ireland. Relaxed, vintage and rustic was order of the day and what a celebration it was. Let’s begin with the stylish attire shall we? Sara wore an ethereal gown called Colette which was designed by Kisui, she accessorised her dress with a lace edged veil and show stopping hair do. WOW. Keith’s outfit was equally as wonderful, with him donning a check waistcoat, chinos, brogues, bow tie and rustic buttonhole. Amaze.

Fabulous touches included the paper flower bouquets, a very tall naked cake tower and bridesmaids in pastel dresses.

Denise Leacock Photography, thanks so much for providing these images with us.

THE PROPOSAL | Keith and I were travelling around New Zealand in a camper van for three weeks, and our last stop before heading back to Christchurch was Hanmer Springs, we had a fantastic couple of days there water rafting, mountain biking and hiking. We spent the last day relaxing in the thermal pools after which Keith prepared a sort of picnic of strawberries and champagne and then he proposed.

THE VISION | We wanted a relaxed day with family and friends, we tried to include some rustic and vintage themes.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We were planning the wedding for about a year, we took our time finding the venue, we didn’t rush any decisions and tried not to get too carried away.

THE VENUE | We loved The Mill at Ballydugan as soon as we saw it, it was perfect. We had both service and reception there, which was what we wanted. The Mill is both rustic and quirky, we loved that each event of the day moved up to the next floor, the service on the ground floor, the meal on the first floor and the party second floor. Maureen and the rest of the staff there were amazing and I couldn’t recommend them enough.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My was dress was Kisui – Colette and all my accessories, including my bouquet, which was made of hessian, paper flowers, lace and brooches were made by a Sarah Deering textile artist. I really wanted fab shoes and when I saw the Lady Dragon shoes by Vivienne Westwood I knew they would be perfect, even though my feet were sore from dancing all night I didn’t want to take them off.

FINDING THE DRESS | I really wanted a dress with a vintage feel to it and I found it in The White Gallery, a bridal boutique in Burren. Even though this was only the second the place I had visited to look for a dress I knew I wouldn’t find anything that would compare with the beautiful lace detail and overall style. Rachel, at The White Gallery was brilliant and knew just exactly what I was looking for.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | The boys outfits were fairly relaxed, with tweed waistcoats and bow ties, no jackets. We found the waistcoats at Statements Menswear, Portadown and the rest of the outfit came from high street shops.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | The readings were read by family members and we had a brilliant band called Stonewall Folk Group who performed most of the music during the ceremony, they then kept everyone entertained during the drinks reception.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had two bridesmaids, my cousin Leigh and my now sister in-law Kenda. The girls dresses were the same style but two different colours. Their dresses were handmade by my friend Caroline, who did a brilliant job at keeping everything to the vintage theme. The girls accessories were also made by Sarah Deering. I had two beautiful little flowers girls, Ellie and Daynah our nieces, their dresses came from the high street.

THE FLOWERS | The bridesmaids bouquets and the boys buttonholes were supplied by Flowers by Ruth. The bridesmaids flowers were like a wild flower bouquet tied with hessian and the button holes were Scottish thistle flowers.

THE CAKE | The wedding cake was a naked cake made by Wedding Cakes by Design, it was a Victoria sponge with butter icing and strawberry jam and fresh fruit, delicious!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographer was Denise Leacock Photography, who happens to be Keith’s cousin, she did a fantastic job and knew exactly what kind of images we wanted to capture throughout the day. She kept us relaxed and laughing all day, we couldn’t have asked for a better photographer.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | The Mill is a beautiful building which has been very well decorated, so we didn’t have to do a great deal of decorating ourselves. We wanted to keep our décor in keeping with The Mill by using handmade, rustic pieces. Our centre pieces were hand made out of horse shoes I had gathered up, which Keith made into candle holders. My aunty Irene and I then decorated them with ivy and lace flowers. The table plan was displayed on an old pallet and decorated with ivy and flowers. We had a sweetie stand that was made out a wooden ladder with wicker baskets hanging of it to hold the sweets.

THE HONEYMOON | we spent our honeymoon travelling around South Africa, which was amazing. We stayed for two nights in Cape Town, we then travelled along the Garden Route for 7 nights, we then had 4 incredible days at Shamwari Game Reserve and finally 3 nights relaxing in Sun City.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Waiting to walk up the aisle with my dad and seeing Keith as I reached the top of the aisle.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES |Relax and enjoy every minute, the day will fly by. As long as you have taken your time to plan and know what you want from your wedding day everything will run smoothly.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Denise Leacock Photography

Venue | The Mill at Ballydugan

Dress | The White Gallery

Accessories | Sarah Deering Textile Artist

Hair | Headrush Hair and Beauty

Flowers | Flowers by Ruth Hood

Cake | Wedding Cakes by Design

Bridesmaids dresses | Caroline Skuce

Just wonderful.

Sara and Keith, thank you so very much for sharing your delightful wedding with us here today xo Lou