Colourful & Creative Travel Theme Wedding Filled With Joy

Are you a travel lover just like WWW followers Em and John (AKA Foster)? They had a creative and colourful travel theme wedding which was just so joyful at The House Meadow in Kent on a summers day.

I am sure you are going to find so much inspiration from their glorious day. Not only was there a ton of amazing DIY decorations, but it was all so personal too. I especially love the custom Guess Who game, the illustrated tea towels featuring all of the guests and the threaded table plan. Wow.

Then there were the sensational outfits, pretty multicoloured blooms, personal outdoor ceremony and gorgeous cake. I can’t thank Livvy Hukins enough for sharing these stunning shots with us.

I have been following WWW for the last few years in the (long Covid) build up to the wedding. This was where we first got inspired by outdoor, festival themed weddings and started to shape an idea of what we wanted to do. It has been an ideal source of inspiration!

Travel Theme Wedding

The Proposal

We were on holiday in New Zealand and had just walked up to the top of Ben Lomond mountain (around 3 hours, quite a tough hike!) when Foster proposed. For my brand, I’m always asking him to take photos of me using my products, and today I was modelling one of my luggage tags on my backpack.

It’s not his favourite thing so I was really surprised when he was really getting into it, and directing me to look out into the amazing view so he could take more photos. When I turned around he was down on one knee – I was in so much shock I just exclaimed “bloody hell Foster!”… The more traditional ‘YES’ came later! We were so lucky that some other hikers spotted him on one knee and took some amazing photos from afar.

The Vision

We both wanted the overall feeling of the day to be fun and colourful and relaxed, with creative and unique details. After 4 postponements and 14 month delay due to Covid it made us even more clear on what was important to us. While we knew we could have gone ahead with a smaller wedding before our final date – we knew we’d regret cutting down to only 15-30 people as we’d both always imagined a party! We had around 65 guests and it was important to us they could be there (aside from some that just couldn’t make it from abroad).

We had been living in Hong Kong for the last 4 and a half years so wanted to have a big bash with everyone. It also inspired us to include a twist of Asia within the day – think bamboo steamers to serve macarons and birdcages for décor, Thai street food in the evening. This developed into a ‘travel theme’ which we incorporated into the decor within the beautiful rural Kent setting.

An outdoor ceremony, games on the lawn and a fire pit were the first things we agreed on when picturing our wedding day.

Budget

We made a lot of the décor ourselves and didn’t need to get a tipi in the end, which saved money. We’re not entirely sure what we spent overall in the end, but having an extra year to split the cost across was one of the up-sides of the Covid delays!

The Venue

We actually chose our venue having never been there! We were in Hong Kong at the time, and when we found The House Meadow online we just knew we wanted to get married there – we took the leap so that we didn’t miss out on one of the last dates available. It could not have been more perfect for what we wanted, with a gorgeous old barn, sat next to a lake with ancient oak tree and gazebo, it was ideal.

Set in the countryside it is just stunning and perfect for the relaxed and unique vibe we wanted – Clare at the venue was incredible (especially considering how many changes and stresses we had to navigate with covid) and let us do whatever we wanted to make the day our own.

It is such a great canvas to get creative with. We got married under the old oak tree, turned the gazebo into a secret gin bar, we partied in the barn, put outdoor seating areas around the place, and sent floating candle boats off into the lake in the evening. Our guests LOVED the location, especially the toilets that let you see right through into the farm with horses looking back at you.

Your Outfits

Em:

After tying on about 10 dresses nothing felt quite right, until I put on the Freida gown by Maggie Sottero from Go Bridal in Tunbridge Wells. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind (it was strapless and with a sheer middle panel) I just felt so comfortable and great as soon as I put it on so I went with it.

I then got it altered to make it exactly what I wanted, filling in the middle to make it a bit more covered, and adding off-the-shoulder straps with extra lace from the designer. I wore it with a simple veil and sparkly chunky heels from Kurt Geiger and felt amazing on the day.

The extra year also gave me time to make a bomber jacket for each of my bridesmaids and Mum, and one for myself.. (photographed on wedding morning), and I wore mine in the evening when it got colder.

John:

Foster got his suit made while we were living in Hong Kong from the renowned Sam’s Tailor who has made suits for all kinds of celebs over the years. The whole experience was great fun – choosing each element of the 3 piece design.

He chose a lovely bright navy for the jacket and trousers with a funky interior lining and a grey herringbone waistcoat. He fell in love with the process of getting the suit made as each fitting with Roshan was so fun, and it looked so great on the day.

The Ceremony & Music

We had a wedding blessing under the Ancient Oak Tree at the House Meadow, next to the lake.

It was the world’s longest entrance, as we walked from the barn around the lake and across to the aisle. I’d been nervous of it (especially in heels on uneven grass) but actually loved that extra time to take everything in and chat to my Dad!

Our friend Charlotte Andrew sang and played violin with acoustic guitar accompaniment. She played the Detectorists theme as I walked down the aisle.

Our old friend Mark officiated our ceremony, which made it amazingly personal, especially since he is a policeman so had the perfect mix of authority and familiarity!

We all sang The Beatles ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ and my mum did 2 beautiful readings. At the end we danced down the aisle to ‘I’m a believer’ with home-made petal confetti thrown at us.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Livvy Hukins was our photographer and she was so wonderful and captured all the joyfulness of the day perfectly. We were so happy with the photos – from beautiful couple shots to fun shots on the dancefloor – she seemed to have got everywhere!

The Styling & Decor

As a designer I loved the chance to make as many of the details of our wedding a bit different and handmade. The details really meant a lot to us, and the extra year gave me more time to make it all! Foster bought me a Cricut for my birthday which was amazing for creating so much of the décor and signage!

To represent our travels we assigned each table a different country that we’d had a special trip to. For the centrepieces, I created 3D photo sculpture of each trip and secured them under glass bell jars in the middle of each table setting, along with a hand embroidered name and icon of each country. The top table was New Zealand where we’d got engaged. Each place setting was marked with a ticket made using my Cricut.

We then made a colourful threaded table seating plan on a wooden sign to display outside the barn (My brand @chasing_threads_ is all about travel and stitching, so a bit of the inspiration from that came through here..!).

My friend and illustrator (Rosie Upright) drew each and every guest, which we made into tea-towels with everyone’s faces on as the wedding favours – like a fancy version of the ones you would get at school! Made such a nice memento and was a great way to include everyone who came (and those that couldn’t make it).

I also used these drawings to make 3 sets of ‘Guest Who’ boards, which I designed, laser-cut, then super-glued each piece with a hinge (quite the fiddly labour of love!). Each guest featured on one of the boards, and we left them on tables for friends and family to play throughout the day.

We transformed the gazebo into a DIY gin bar, decorated with photos and bunting (made by my mum) and filled with vintage furniture from Anthology. Straws with our faces on made a fun finishing touch.

Bright and colourful flowers were put across the venue by See Rose Design florist – decorating the swing under the oak-tree, the aisle and throughout the barn.

I also used some colourful silks I had bought in Hong Kong to make 3 pinwheel tapestries which we hung behind the top table in the barn.

Our cake was a simple 3 tier lemon/chocolate/vanilla and we decorated it with some mini bunting, flowers and a Cricut ‘Wooohoooo’ sign I made.

The Honeymoon

We had a mini-moon in the Isle of Wight right after the wedding which was lovely. We stayed in the Honeymooners Ark with a hot tub in the middle of nowhere and it was sooo nice to relax after all the excitement. We’re hoping to do a bigger trip to Costa Rica when it is possible.

Memorable Moments

We wrote our own vows and I was blown away by the lovely things Foster said – he’s not usually especially gushing, but the vows were so beautiful, there wasn’t a dry eye, and it made the ceremony so special and emotional.

My Maid of honour did a rap for her speech and it was absolutely brilliant and hilarious! Everyone was blown away and in stitches!

We also loved the golden hour just after dinner with all our friends gathered outside our DIY gin bar. All the big stuff was done and it was a moment to look around at everything we’d created and take it all in!

Advice For Other Couples

We put out an old phone on a tripod at the outdoor seating area and let guests take selfies throughout the day. The results were so funny, with a huge reel of funny images with different mixes of friends, all with the same background. It made such a fun slideshow – definitely recommend as an alternative to using disposable cameras.

Would really recommend writing your own vows, but try not to leave it last minute like I did! It was such a stress still writing them the night before!

Mix it up with the speeches – we loved having the maid of honour do a speech as well as the best man. People worry about having too many speeches, but it’s nice to hear from a mix of people from both your lives!