Stylish Budget Friendly Village Hall Wedding

What a wonderfully stylish wedding we have for you today. There’s colour, gorgeous details and a whole lot of love, all on a sensible budget, what a treat! Elanor and Nathaniel wed in West Sussex on 26th August 2017. Following their personal church service, this gorgeous couple had a village hall reception at Boxgrove Village Hall near Chichester. There were well-placed pretty florals galore and some yummy treats too!

Ellie and Nathaniel thought long and hard about the details that represented them as a couple with the help of Pinterest! One of my favourite touches is the floral garland and “Just Married” bunting outside the church, what an amazing confetti shot that made for.

Ellie got her hands on the Self Portrait dress for her dreams thanks to Kate Middleton wearing the style and it being brought back into stock, what a piece of luck! Her dapper groom Nathaniel wanted something a bit special and his patterned Moss Bros number is just the ticket. I just love the splash of colour provided by the bridesmaids in red, they all chose their own dress and the overall effect is wonderful.

Nataly J Photography has captured the love in the room just brilliantly, thank you so much for sharing these fantastic images with us. Enjoy WWWers!

THE PROPOSAL | Nathaniel proposed in Rio de Janeiro at Parque Lage, after a wonderful lunch and walk around he park he sat down with Ellie by the water fountain and handed her a handmade memory book and the ring was at the end!!

THE VISION | We wanted a wedding that represented us both, our favourite things and our cultures without breaking the budget!

THE PLANNING PROCESS |  We had decided we wanted an August wedding in Chichester where Ellie is from so that our family’s could all come, from there we searched for a venue and then set the date! Next was to speak with Nataly who we already knew we wanted as our photographer and hit Pinterest!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Confession – before Nathaniel proposed I already had seen the dress and loved it, and when he proposed I went to order it and it had sold out! Thanks to Kate Middleton however when she wore it Self Portrait brought it back in stock and I got the dress I wanted. My favourite colour being red I wanted to bring it into my outfit, I saw these Dune shoes and they were so comfortable and would go with my Kente dress too.

GROOM’S ATTIRE |  Nathaniel wanted a patterned suit jacket, he had saved many different ones on Pinterest but it was this paisley suit from Moss Bros that caught his eye!

EVENING DRESS | For the evening we had decided this was a great time to change into traditional Ghanian Kente cloth, we were blessed by a friend with the material brought from Ghana and a seamstress and tailor in London stitched them for us.

THE READINGS & MUSIC  | As Christians we wanted God to be at the centre of our marriage ceremony, we had 2 friends read Colossians 3: 12-17 ESV and John 15:9-17 ESV. We have some very talented friends so Bola, Jacob and Megan led us in worship during the ceremony singing three of our favourite songs; How Great Thou Art, God is Able and Ever Be.

Aisle Music: we wanted a classical piece of music for the bridesmaids, Ellie and her father to enter the church to, we chose a stunning price called Arrival of the Birds by London Metropolitan Orchestra. We left to Shut up and dance by Walk the moon.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Our stunning bridesmaids all chose which dress they wanted; they are from asos, oasis and bohoo. They styled their own hair but makeup was done by the amazing Annie.

THE FLOWERS & CAKE | we were so blessed by Ellie’s grandmother who did all of the stunning floristry and baked our wedding cake for us. The cake was so delicious, 3 flavours; gluten free lemon on top, salty caramel in the middle and lime and coconut on the bottom.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Nataly was so amazing throughout, from our engagement shoot to receiving wedding day our prints. She takes such incredible shots and edits them so beautifully.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We spent many hours looking through wedding blogs and Pinterest gathering our ideas for decorations at our wedding. We wanted it to be simple with nice details that represented us. We bought many of the decorations ourselves but also hired some in for example the barrel bar!

HONEYMOON | We had an incredible honeymoon, jetting of the day after the wedding and arriving at the stunning Putahracsa Hua Hin Resort in Thailand. They treated us so well and the food was incredible. After a week in the sun relaxing we dived into Bangkok city staying at the Atrium Hotel who made us feel very special! Highlights: Elephant riding in Hua Hin, The Hua Hin cookery class with Beau, and the Banyan Tree Dinner River Cruise in Bangkok.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Treasure every second of the wedding day because as everybody says it try does fly by! We absolutely loved dancing with all our family and friends, and squishing as many people into the photobooth as possible, it really was a day of love and laughter!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | We would advise other couples to take their time planning, we had a one year engagement which was perfect for us, we didn’t feel any stress. Also choose vendors who you can trust and are recommended. And don’t be afraid to ask family for help, they will love to use their talents to contribute to the wedding!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Nataly J Photography

Videographer | Daniela Ing

Cake Topper | Sophia Victoria Joy

Confetti | The Chirpy Blackbird

Bridesmaid dresses | ASOS, Oasis, Boohoo

Wedding Dress | Self Portrait

Groomsmen suits | Moss Bros

Groom’s Suit | Moss Bros

Hair | Hannah Riely

Makeup | Annie Hunt

Church | St Paul’s Church, Chichester

Reception Venue | Boxgrove Village Hall, Chichester, West Sussex

Couple’s shoot location | Cass Sculpture Park

Photobooth | Say Cheese Media

Doughnut wall | Mr Bowman’s

DJ | Jason Baptiste

Prop hire | The Beautiful Day and The Toast

What a beautiful day. Thank you Elanor and Nathaniel for sharing the love with us! Rachel x