Fresh & Fun Rainbow Garden Wedding

One of my favourite moments from today’s real wedding feature has to be that first look. It’s something I really am enjoying seeing more of in UK based weddings of late and it makes for the loveliest shots. I would urge you to have a think about doing something private and intimate like this couple did, and have an amazing photographer to capture the moment in all it’s glory.

James and Katherine tied the knot on Sunday 14^th September 2015 at the gorgeous Secret Garden in Kent. They were blessed with sunshine for their outdoor ceremony so it’s a good thing rainbow sunglasses were at the ready. Talking of rainbows, they chose every colour to include in their décor and outfits which looked awesome. Teamed with pretty florals and personal touches you have some steal worthy ideas here folks.

Katherine chose to wear the beautiful Temperley London Long Jean gown which she wore with a feather headdress and spangly shoes. Ohhh just lovely.

Thanks so much to Lydia Stamps Photography for sharing these utterly wonderful photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | Katherine was away at a hen weekend which gave me the perfect opportunity to clean the flat, cook dinner, purchase the ‘proposal ring’(we had previously discussed this as we wanted to buy the engagement ring together from the Lanes, Brighton), and of course ask her father – who was sat down in a small room reading the paper when I called! Shortly before the weekend, Katherine had an infected wisdom tooth and rather than take the no alcohol antibiotics, decided to anaesthetise herself with vodka, so when she returned home on Sunday afternoon she was the worse for wear. I on the other hand was anxious and tried to force feed her a lovely dinner and encourage her to drink champagne! In the end, as she lay on the sofa in her sweats, I dropped to my knee and asked her to marry me. After a stunned silence and brief look of confusion – which felt like hours, she said ‘yes’.

THE VISION | We are not traditionalists and wanted to keep the day very much about us, our friends & family and the things we enjoyed. The day was about celebrating our marriage our way.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Short! We decided to get married in April 2015. Katherine organised a trip to 11 venues in 4 counties over the early May Bank Holiday. We chose the first one! But enjoyed the whole experience – there are some beautiful and quirky venues across the Kent and Sussex counties. Once the venue was booked we started to put together the first of many spreadsheets and we wrote down all the things we enjoyed and our backgrounds.

We wanted our friends to be involved as much as possible, and with performing backgrounds we were fortunate to have Joey play a classical mash-up of Rihanna’s Diamonds (inspired by Tokio Myers who we heard play this in Canary Wharf shopping centre en route to our dancing lessons), Michelle played acoustic guitar and sang “Songbird” and Pandora played acoustic guitar and sang “There is no greater love” – songs we both love. We were played out by Joey and our friends singing “All you need is love”. We were welcomed into the wedding breakfast to an acoustic 3 part harmony version of “don’t stop believing” (a favourite of James’ and experienced by us both at the O2 Glee show).

We love live music, and spent considerable time searching for the right band – we wanted an acoustic set after the ceremony as well as a live set for the evening, both with a vintage twist on songs. With Katherine’s performing background the standards were high and we were delighted by the band ‘The Chandeliers’ (who curiously including the drummer Saul who Katherine went to Drama School with).

Now onto photography (Lydia Stamps Photography) & film maker (Storybook Films). We do have friends who can do this but were mindful not to have friends working after the ceremony. However Lydia and Ollie felt like friends, made us feel incredibly comfortable and we hope they will continue to be part of our lives. We met Ollie at a wedding show and loved the idea of a short film of our wedding experience as opposed to a 3 hour epic. With photography we wanted a relaxed feel that captured the essence of our day with very few posed and group shots and someone we felt relaxed with – James is not comfortable in front of the camera, unlike Katherine. We skyped 3 photographers and instantly felt the connection with Lydia and are delighted she was part of our day. The photos are fantastic.

Katherine has a theatrical background and we both love the theatre which led to us producing a programme of the day as a wedding favour with bios of the wedding party, an interview with the B&G.

We were lucky enough to have a friend design our ‘brand’, which centred around our love of board games and our rainbow coloured day. Mike create a logo for us which we used on our invitations, a banner (which we now use as a table cloth) and the wedding programme. We also had a wedding poster, rather than guest book which we had signed and is now hanging up in our flat.

On one of our first dates, we stumbled into hither green station’s photobooth (we still have the images) so knew we wanted to have this at the wedding. Katherine met with Steve from the Big Booth Photo Booth at a wedding show 2 years previous right after James had proposed. Knowing that is who she wanted Katherine emailed him and thankfully he was available.

James loves sweets and luckily his brother and fiancé had just set up a new sweetcart business which they trialled for free at the wedding.

Katherine has always been a lover of vintage VW’s and even though our wedding was all in one place with no real need for a wedding car, wanted to arrive in style. Dusty Dubs provided a glorious VW camper and they also did DJing so we got a great package!

Katherine has a background in performing so is a capable dancer, James not so much – however we had enjoyed a number of beginners couples dancing classes together and so employed the assistance of the London Academy of Dance.

With hair and make-up Katherine did not want to be made up and wanted a more natural look, she was able to call on her friend James to do her hair and her future sister-in-law for make-up. Slowly but surely things were being ticked off the to do list!

Katherine made many of the decorations and had the assistance of her Usherette Thea on the day and the team at the secret garden to dress the beautiful venue. We also created goodie bags for the guests, which included toys and activity packs for the day. We were luck enough to have glorious weather so garden games were played by all and the children (and some of the adults) relaxed in the glasshouse with a Disney DVD.

Last but by no means least, our wedding coordinator Stephanie at the Secret Garden. She was such a calming influence and helped us tailor the day to us.

We were so fortunate that everyone who was part of the wedding whether a guest or working, felt like friends and were an integral part of the day – we wouldn’t have changed a thing!

THE VENUE | The Secret Garden, Kent.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Katherine had her heart set on the Temperley London Long Jean dress which she saw at a wedding show 2 years ago, when her figure was not suitable for it. Though she tried on a few dresses this was always the dress she wanted. However at £2500 new it wasn’t in budget. Katherine focused her energies on finding the dress, and was lucky enough to find it on eBay and her friends mother collected it from Great Yarmouth (they live in Lowestoft) the headdress was created by a designer from Brighton’s North Laines, which included multicoloured feathers, the shoes were dance shoes, and the jewellery a gift from James in Katherine’s favourite colour red.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Blue suit (Hugo Boss), white shirt and blue tie (TM Lewin), rainbow socks and silver/sapphire cufflinks (gifts from Katherine). Light brown shoes which I bought for our first date.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We asked closed friends Hannah and Liz to read for us – and for them to each select a reading they felt reflected how they felt about us and the day.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | None – we had 2 ushers (close friends of James) and 2 usherettes (close friends of Katherine), and we had our godchildren and family as the 2 flower girls and 2 page boys.

THE FLOWERS | The secret garden has a florist on site Anemone Blue, we wanted natural flowers, that weren’t too big and this and the stunning hops covered archway were amazingly done.

THE CAKE | Katherine’s mother had declared she was going to make the cake before James had even thought of proposing and we are glad she did. James did not want a fruit cake and we decided a rainbow cake would be a real treat. It was huge and delicious – people raved about it for days.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Lydia Stamps.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Rainbow colours, natural, homemade and ‘us’ our seating plan was put on canvas which we now have up in our flat.

THE HONEYMOON | We wanted to have a once in a life-time honeymoon and incorporate into it a trip to Florida to see Katherine’s Uncle who unfortunately was too unwell to come to the wedding. A spa, nice food and wine was the criteria. We flew on Christmas Day which was an experience in itself, into Miami spent two nights there, drove alligator alley to Siesta Keys to visit family for a few days, then back to Miami to head to St.Lucia. We stayed at the Ti Kaye Resort & Spa. It was a small resort with only 33 cottages. We had a cottage over looking the sea with a private plunge pool. It was stunning. We spent our days in the spa, on the beach, kayaking, snorkling.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Our first look – so glad we did that – it took some of the nerves out. We also woke up together and exchanged gifts then went to separate rooms to get ready. It was like our birthdays and Christmas day all rolled into one. After the ceremony we went to the gazebo and sat, a friend brought us some of the canapés and drinks. It was a lovely moment to sit together and take in the fact that we had just actually got married.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It is your day, so think selfishly about what you want it to be – not what others might want. People who come to your wedding should want to celebrate it with you, not complain you don’t have their brand of Vodka at the bar. Don’t spend time trying to accommodate every guests preferences and worrying about every little potential issue. Plan a day for the two of you – no one else, and you will find everyone there loves you and will have a wonderful day.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Lydia Stamps Photography

Venue | The Secret Garden

Honeymoon | Turquoise Holidays

VW | Dusty Dubs

Dress | Temperley London

Flowers | Anemone Blue

So much joy. Hearts for eyes.

Thanks so much to James and Katherine for sharing their fun wedding celebrations with us today xo Lou