Rustic & Whimsical Autumn Halloween Wedding

Oh where to begin this afternoon? Let’s step back into the Autumn, Halloween in fact, to when WWW readers Eloise and Jonathan held their fabulous nuptials.

The vision was rustic and seasonal. Think show stopping, drop dead gorgeous blooms in reds and oranges, pumpkins, candles, wooden tables, lanterns and festoon lights. Oh yes.

Eloise looked so beautiful in her Caroline Castigliano gown and glam make up look. Jonathan went for rich burgundy tartan kilt while the maids wore red dresses. Simply stunning.

Sam Riley Photography, thank you so much for providing these wonderful images.

THE PROPOSAL | On holiday in Spain on the Tetris after a romantic dinner. Jonathan gave me a gift from Tatty Devine. I opened it and it was a beautiful fun necklace in sparkly gold saying will you marry me. The girls in the shop were very excited to make it! I turned to look at Jonathan and he was down in one knee with the ring.

THE VISION | Rustic autumnal Halloween wedding. With a cosy feel, old vintage wooden banquet tables ready for a feast of pies! Hay bales outside, we made a huge sofa to cater for the whole family! Lanterns in all shades of autumn hanging on festoon lights. We decorated tins and jars all along the table with candles to light up the whole venue. It was Halloween so loads of pumpkins from a pumpkin farm and a trick or treat table. Lots of beautiful flowers! We wanted a relaxed feel and everyone to have the best time, a big celebration!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | 2 years of planning a DIY wedding, buying from antiques markets, boot sales, Amazon and high street shops! Using local suppliers to create our rustic wedding feel.

BUDGET | £15,000

THE VENUE | Rotherwick Village Hall a beautiful old brick listed building that we could recreate our vision perfectly! A beautiful peaceful spot in the countryside not far from our church ceremony at Ewshot St Mary’s.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Caroline Castigliano and accessories from Amazon. Rainbow club shoes and veil and belt from Pronovias.

FINDING THE DRESS | Local shop with an amazing sample sale. I bought the dress from Aurora Brides in Cheam.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Hand made tailored kilt from Kilts 4 All based in London. Jonathan’s kilt matched the colour of the wedding wearing a Lindsay tartan. My bouquet was tied in the same tartan to bring all the colours together.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Jonathan’s sister Arlene did a beautiful reading. We had a piper at the church as Jonathan is Scottish. I walked down the aisle to amazing grace it was very romantic and perfect! It was 50s music as we entered the venue, our save the dates were an illustration of us in Back to the Future so it captured that moment in time. Film soundtracks from our favourite films as we had dinner to match our table names. A ceilidh band for the dance, The Timorous Beasties they were fantastic everyone was dancing the whole night!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 2 bridesmaids my sister Eleanor and best friend Michelle. 2 flower girls our nieces Emelia and Grace. We had 2 pageboys our nephews Freddie and Malachi in kilts they looked so cute!

THE FLOWERS | Were stunning by Paula Rooney she captured our vision perfectly. Wild autumn flowers, dark reds, oranges, yellows and greens. The centre pieces were pumpkins filled with flowers to capture the feeling of Halloween. We had flowers in Jars and moss with twigs and fairy lights it was like a autumn woodland. We put a tree in the bar area and I put little decoration birds on the branches.

THE CAKE | We went for a rustic naked cake by Rex’s Heavenly cakes. Displayed on a vintage barrel which we hired, surrounded by ivy and roses.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The AMAZING Sam Riley assisted by Paul and Carissa!

THE HONEYMOON | 2 years of saving up props and everything to create our vision! We booked a last minute honeymoon deal after the wedding we headed to Jamaica for some relaxation, cocktails on the beach and sun!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Enjoy every second and make it perfect for you! With a DIY wedding we had a fantastic wedding coordinator on the day, Jenny Knight who assured the day went perfectly. We didn’t need to worry about a thing so we could sit back and relax and really enjoy the day!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Caterers | Pieminister

Photographer | Sam Riley Photography

Florist | Paula Rooney

Videographer | Mel – melaku.zenebe@bauermedia.co.uk

PA system | Berkshire Events

Ceilidh and Function Band | The Timorous Beasties

Bar Staff | Dupre Events

Cake | Rex’s Heavenly Cakes rexturan@googlemail.com

Wedding Coordinator | Jenny Knight

Pumpkins | Foxes Farm Produce

Busses | Hodges Coaches

Hired Props | The Ark Camberley

Incredible.

Eloise and Jonathan, thanks so much to you both for sharing your wedding story with us xo Lou