Relaxed & Natural Pastel Thorpe Garden Wedding with Yurt Rec

A very warm welcome to Louise and David who are kindly sharing their gorgeous Thorpe Garden wedding in Staffordshire with us. Their day was ever so relaxed and comfortable, with a natural feel and pretty pastels.

I love how Louise and David approached their planning, despite moving their wedding date and changing their honeymoon destination, they had the most incredible time. When the heavens opened and there was a thunderstorm mid outdoor ceremony, did it affect their plans? Heck no, they opened their brollies and went full force with their plans. I love that. Proof that rain and stormy weather needn’t change your wedding dreams.

Then there were the WWW wedding suppliers who were onboard, with Louise donning a stunning lace Katya Katya gown and the bridesmaids in darling Rewritten frocks. YES. From the magical yurt reception to the stylish cake and the pretty blooms, I have a funny feeling you’re going to love their day.

Camilla Andrea, I can’t thank you enough for sharing these very special images of such a happy celebration.

Thorpe Garden Wedding

The Proposal

Dave proposed whilst we were on holiday in Japan, we went for a sushi picnic in the Imperial Palace Gardens in Kyoto and Dave proposed with a ring he had had made by our jeweller friend, (Harriet at Allen Brown) whilst walking around the garden, of course I said yes straight away!

The Vision

We both just wanted to have a day that was relaxed, comfortable and fun. We didn’t want anything to feel overly formal as that just isn’t us. Our main priorities while planning;

Outdoors
Relaxed meal/buffet/family style
Good music

The Venue

Thorpe Garden

We booked the venue because we wanted to get married outside and Thorpe has a beautiful outside ceremony area. We also really liked the menu, as the food was all family-style sharing, and we were keen to avoid a formal 3 course meal.

The Ceremony & Music

We were pretty determined we wanted to get married outside, which is the main reason for us picking this venue.

On the day of the wedding, it was flitting between glorious sunshine and rain but we so wanted to get married outside that we decided to just go for it and it was the best decision we made!

It was lovely and sunny when Louise arrived at the venue, but right as I was about to walk down the aisle, it started raining, as we gave our vows it started thundering, all our guests got soaked, but the ceremony was filled with love and laughter and was so memorable that we wouldn’t have changed a thing. By the time we finished the ceremony, the sun came out and everyone dried off over Pimms and Prosecco!

Music:

Aisle song: Bon Iver – Holocene
For signing the register and leaving the ceremony, we just played Fleetwood Mac’s album – Rumours
We made playlists on Spotify for the canape/drinks reception, and meal
First dance: You & Me Song – The Wannadies
Reception music: The Burgundy’s

Your Outfits

Louise’s dress was from Katya Katya, I loved the lace pattern on the dress and the relaxed fit, It was important to me that I chose a dress I was comfortable in. It was the first wedding dress I tried on.

Dave’s suit was from Moss Bros, He wanted a dark blue suit and loved the material of this one. And his tie was bought from Next.

Bridesmaid dresses were from Rewritten, I arranged for us all to do the Rewritten home try-on service, which was great because we met up at my friends flat, Rewritten bought a variety of their dresses in different sizes and colours and the girls could try everything on.

I didn’t mind what the girls wore, I again, wanted them all to be comfortable and was expecting them to choose different dresses but they all liked the same dress (Mykonos dress), I didn’t want them all to be wearing the same dress in the same colour so we went for a mixture of colours (Concrete, Bluebell and Marine).

Louise’s flower hairpiece was made by our florist; Ivison, who whipped it together at very short notice as this was a last-minute decision made during the week of the wedding!

The Styling & Decor

Flowers were provided from Ivisons in Lichfield, Hannah who owns the shop did an amazing job. I wanted a pretty natural looking bouquet, with lots of greenery, and chose some natural colours to go with the foliage; peach, blue, and white. Hannah arranged the flowers beautifully with; eucalyptus, olive, peonies, roses, delphiniums, alongside natural/wild flowers.

I spent summer of 2019, going to car boot sales every Sunday to try and source as many antique glass/medicine bottles as possible and Hannah used these for table decorations.

Cake was provided by The Cake Spa, we went for a simple semi-naked cake with chocolate filling.

Your Photographer

Our photographer was Camilla Andrea and we were so happy, she captured the day perfectly and made us feel comfortable and relaxed, group shots were pretty quick so we got to spend lots of time with friends and family.

The Honeymoon

This is a sore spot! Before postponing the wedding, we had initially booked an amazing trip to South Africa, we were going to do a road trip from Cape Town to the Western Cape, stopping for wine tasting, whale watching, kayaking and finally a Safari before flying to Mauritius. Understandably this trip was cancelled due to Covid though.

Instead, we stayed in the UK and went to Cornwall, we stayed in a yurt and spent a week wild swimming, paddle boarding and exploring the beaches. It wasn’t South Africa, but we loved it and still had a great time all the same.

Memorable Moments

Rumbles of thunder during the ceremony.

Everyone jumping on the dance floor during the first song, we didn’t know if people would be up for a party with everything going on with Covid, but our guests had no hesitations and everyone was dancing from the start.

Advice For Other Couples

Chose what you want, it’s your special day and should be how you dream of it, but don’t get caught up stressing about the small stuff, at the end of the day it will be a great day regardless of what colour tie your husband is wearing, or what flavour cake you have!