{"id":261911,"date":"2019-09-04T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=261911"},"modified":"2024-04-25T12:09:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T11:09:13","slug":"outdoor-diy-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/outdoor-diy-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoor DIY Village Hall Wedding with a Dip Dye Wedding Dress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Outdoor<\/p>\n

Now here is a wedding which screams<\/em> personality, fun and colour! It’s time to share WWW readers Molly and Frazer’s epic DIY<\/a> outdoor wedding, which was held at Pleshey Village Hall<\/a> in Essex<\/a> on the 25th<\/sup> May 2019. Their wedding vision was for a day that was totally and utterly them, making decisions which were right for them such as opting out of having a wedding cake or a cold buffet. Instead they brought in alternative ideas, such as a dessert table complete with doughnut wall and a pizza truck to cater. Delicious!<\/p>\n

They had an outdoor wedding ceremony<\/a> complete with Persian Rug aisle and a gorgeous greenery arch as a backdrop to their personal vows. There are some really fabulous touches I am totally coveting, from the bright painted orange welcome sign to the multicolour flowers and the smoke bombs<\/a>. Wait until you see Molly’s dip dye wedding dress in a gorgeous blue hue, she looked stunning. Frazer meanwhile wore a navy suit with vibrant orange accessories and a bee pin on his lapel, so stylish!<\/p>\n

Three Flowers Photography<\/a> was on hand to capture everything and I just love these wonderful photographs, which I am so thankful to be sharing today.<\/p>\n

\"Bouquet<\/p>\n\n

\"Bride \"Bride<\/p>\n\n

\"Outdoor \"Bride<\/p>\n

The Proposal<\/h3>\n

For our 8 year anniversary and Christmas presents combined, we went away to Reykjavic, Iceland. I had a plan to propose to Molly under the northern lights, which she has always dreamed of seeing. The northern lights on that night turned out to be very disappointing, so I abandoned the plan and went with plan B\u2026 The next day we went to see a waterfall that you can walk behind! When we were inside the waterfall we both got absolutely drenched as we slipped and stumbled our way across the gravel, so plan B was cancelled. Our next stop was a tour of a glacier that lies on top of a volcano. This place turned out to be perfect and I got down on one knee and finally popped the question. After a worryingly long pause\u2026 Molly said yes.<\/p>\n

(I (Molly) would like to interject here and add that the pause was due to shock, not doubt haha!)<\/p>\n

\"Stretch \"Ceremony<\/p>\n

The Vision<\/h3>\n

When I first began to plan our wedding I was quite na\u00efve to the planning process. Previously I worked as an Events Manager, so I was excited to dip my toes back into the world of events planning. But, as I dove headfirst into blogs and Pinterest and Instagram and wedding fairs I wasn\u2019t truly prepared for the rabbit hole I was falling down. I quickly became overwhelmed with the choices. Did we want Boho? Or festival vibes? Traditional? Quirky? A fusion of both?<\/p>\n

It took many months of pinning and unpinning and many Google Sheets pages for me to realize that what I really wanted was for our wedding to be\u2026 us.<\/p>\n

It meant explaining to lots of people why we wouldn\u2019t be having a cake, or a cold buffet (if I ever have to refuse a dressed salmon again I might drop down dead). And it meant hours of worrying over small details that wedding guests probably wouldn\u2019t even notice. But it was so worth it.<\/p>\n

\"Ceremony \"Ceremony<\/p>\n

The Planning Process<\/h3>\n

We probably spent about a year seriously planning the wedding. Everything before that was just consideration and suggestion, until we booked our village hall venue around 12 months before the big day.<\/p>\n

I love a bit of organisation so we had a Google Sheet I fondly named \u2018The Big List\u2019. This was a list of wedding to-dos (colour-coded to each of us, of course), with deadlines to keep us on track. Although The Big List seemed never-ending at times, especially as I kept adding little details I had thought of at 3am, it was good to have everything written down in one place.<\/p>\n

We aimed to have everything complete one month before the wedding, and managed to run over that deadline by only one week! It meant in the fortnight preceding the wedding we could focus on the important things; like vows, speeches and final haircuts!<\/p>\n

The day before our wedding we set up the venue with a small team of our wonderful family and friends. I had prepared a detailed list of jobs, and floor plans for indoors and outdoors. I even left a checklist of jobs for the Groom and Best Man for the morning of the wedding; so yes you could say I was very<\/em> relaxed.<\/p>\n

\"Orange \"Outdoor<\/p>\n

Budget<\/h3>\n

We were working to a modest budget for our wedding day, ahead of us leaving to travel the world in September.<\/p>\n

We are so grateful to have been supported by our families to make our day as special as it was.<\/p>\n

And although we don\u2019t want to reveal our final budget on here \u2013 let\u2019s just say it was well under a third of the cost of the average UK wedding\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Bouquet \"Ceremony<\/p>\n

The Venue<\/h3>\n

Our venue was a village hall in Pleshey, a beautiful village in Essex. We viewed almost every village hall in the county to find a hall that had a lovely outdoor area, but didn\u2019t scream \u201cScouts on a Thursday evening\u201d. Eventually we discovered Pleshey Hall, the perfect mix of quaint village hall with potential, and, affordable.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Ceremony<\/p>\n

Your Outfits & Accessories<\/h3>\n

Frazer is so laidback that he is practically on the x axis, so he was in no hurry to sort his outfit out. After much nagging, and several Instagram post tags I managed to direct him towards the Vintage Suit Hire Company. Then, they shared the information of their annual stock sale event at their Boyds of Bedford store, which was perfect for Bargain-Hunter Frazer. After a male re-enactment of that scene <\/em>from Friends where Monica gets her perfect wedding dress we emerged from the shop; a bit sweaty, slightly shell-shocked but one wedding suit and pair of shoes up.<\/p>\n

For me it was a little different. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to wear, as I am not really a girly-girl. I found an alternative bridal wear store in Essex and decided to go along and try some things on with my Mum, sister and friend, just to see if there would be something that I might like. There I tried on one of Lucy\u2019s dip-dye dresses and completely fell in love. It was perfect; a wedding dress that would make me feel like a bride, with something that made it feel a bit different, like me.<\/p>\n

From there I contacted Lucy directly, and went to her studio in Chelmsford where I tried on more of her beautiful designs. Lucy makes wedding dresses to order, so everything was completely bespoke. I had dreaded this part of the planning process, so to find a dress that made me feel like a bride was so special.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Outdoor<\/p>\n

The Readings & Music<\/h3>\n

Some of our wonderful best friends played live music for us during the ceremony \u2013 Canon in D on guitar, cello and violin.<\/p>\n

Then Frazer\u2019s sister Emma read an excerpt from Captain Corelli\u2019s Mandolin, our friend Neil read an excerpt from Philip Pullman\u2019s The Amber Spyglass, and our housemate Wayne wrote something of his own.<\/p>\n

We were so grateful to our wonderful friends for being part of our ceremony. Especially to Frazer\u2019s best friend, Tim Blore who led our ceremony. Tim is a wonderful friend, and an amazing actor \u2013 who is currently making his west-end debut in The Night of the Iguana. We are so proud of you Tim!<\/p>\n

\"Ceremony \"Confetti \"VW<\/p>\n

Beauty<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t really wear makeup and having a make-up artist was something I really couldn\u2019t decide on for a long time. Eventually I made the decision that I should have one, as there probably isn\u2019t another day in my life where I am literally going to employ a person to follow me round taking photos of my face.<\/p>\n

Going to my make-up trial was the most nerve-wracking part of the whole planning process to me. When I arrived Lauren made us feel so relaxed, and I ended up really enjoying myself. The thing I was most worried about was not looking myself \u2013 actually Lauren made me look like the best version of myself.<\/p>\n

On the morning of my wedding Lauren came to my Mum\u2019s house and was absolutely amazing. She made me feel calm, put up with me spontaneously weeping at random intervals, and laughed at my terrible facial expressions. When my sister needed an SOS eyelash intervention she stepped in, and when my Mum required some assistance with her hair styling she was ready for that too. Plus, she made me look stunning so thank you Lauren!<\/p>\n

\"VW \"Bride<\/p>\n

The Flowers<\/h3>\n

My beautiful bouquet and flower crown were made by the wonderful Hannah of Hannah Louise Flowers. Hannah also created the buttonholes worn by some of the men in our wedding party, and the beautiful arch we got married underneath. She was so patient with all of the changes we made, and did such a wonderful job of creating exactly what we had dreamed of.<\/p>\n

The flower arrangements on our tables were actually created by my Mum and sister. After showing them my pinterest board they visited local florists to buy unusual flowers, and arranged them beautifully in the brown bottles and copper cans. My Mum and Nanny also filled the milk churns hired from Anthology Vintage Hire with some Gypsophila from the sides of the road which was so easy but super effective!<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Bride<\/p>\n

Your Photographer<\/h3>\n

Our photographs were taken by the incredibly talented Charlotte, of Three Flowers Photography. Waiting to get the photographs back almost killed me, but Charlotte\u2019s little social media teasers kept us on the edge of our seats.<\/p>\n

Frazer doesn\u2019t like having his photo taken, and I was nervous that I wouldn\u2019t like how I looked in the photos. But with over 1000 to choose from, there are so many that we love!<\/p>\n

On the day Charlotte, and her second shooter Nicola made us feel so relaxed. They were so professional and friendly, and they have captured every important part of our day!<\/p>\n

Our friends and family have absolutely loved the photographs, as have we. Charlotte and Nicola did an amazing job of capturing the colours, the emotions and the memories for us. I literally can\u2019t stop watching the highlights video!<\/p>\n

When we return from our travels we\u2019re going to have a tricky time choosing which photographs we would like to get printed \u2013 there are so many options.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Groom<\/p>\n

The Details & D\u00e9cor<\/h3>\n

It was a very DIY wedding. All of our furniture came from Anthology Vintage Hire; the tables, chairs, benches, barrels, rugs and trunks.<\/p>\n

Our trellis photo backdrops came from Wilkos and were decorated with Ginger Ray bunting, and fresh roses which my Aunt bought in the local supermarket.<\/p>\n

Frazer made our doughnut wall, LOVE light-up letters and copper polaroid photo frame from scratch. He also designed all of our wedding stationery, and signage, and co-created our wedding post box with our flatmate Wayne.<\/p>\n

Frazer\u2019s amazing talent for design meant that he could create so many small touches that really brought the day together. From personalised stickers for the prosecco bottles, to sparkler tags and toilet door signs featuring mini us, I am so grateful for all the hard work that he put in to make our special day so special.<\/p>\n

The place names we had were handwritten by Heather from leigh_calligraphy. The personalised matchboxes were from Etsy seller \u2013 TakestwoShop. The doughnut bags were also from Etsy from seller \u2013 BallardWeddingCrafts. And another Etsy purchase \u2013 our Harry Potter pages confetti cones from seller ShhhSistersSecrets.<\/p>\n

\"Long \"Long \"Mr \"Tea \"Place \"Donut<\/p>\n

The Cake<\/h3>\n

We decided to forgo the tradition of a wedding cake that we awkwardly slice and feed to each other in front of our guests, and instead have a buffet of doughnuts and mini cakes to feast on.<\/p>\n

Frazer designed and built our doughnut wall from scratch, and we filled it up with Krispy Kreme doughnuts (yes they\u2019re more expensive, but supermarket doughnuts just don\u2019t cut it do they?)<\/p>\n

And then I contacted Charlie of I\u2019ll Bring Dessert to see if she would be able to provide our miniature cakes for the dessert buffet. We went to her house for a delicious consultation (my Dad claims this is the best part of wedding planning), and then sent over our final order. Charlie made frangipane, coffee and walnut cake, miniature lemon loaves and victoria sponges, vegan apple tarts and chocolate salted caramel brownies that are to die for. The brownies are so good that I actually didn\u2019t manage to get hold of one on my wedding day, and so Frazer ordered another box the week after the wedding so we could enjoy them on our minimoon!<\/p>\n

Charlie actually found out she is pregnant with twins after accepting our booking, so is on maternity leave currently awaiting her two bundles of joy. Wishing you all the best Charlie, and can\u2019t wait to get some more delicious brownies once you\u2019re back open for business!<\/p>\n

\"Polaroid \"Peg \"Donut \"Centrepiece \"Copper \"Outdoor \"Outdoor \"Outdoor \"Pizza \"Bridesmaid<\/p>\n

Bridesmaids<\/h3>\n

I didn\u2019t have official bridesmaids for the day, just my little sister as my Maid of Honour. She wore a beautiful coral dress which was Karen Millen.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Groom<\/p>\n

Groomsmen<\/h3>\n

Our groomsmen dressed themselves in blue suits they already owned or thriftily picked up in January sales!<\/p>\n

\"Groom \"VW \"Horse \"Outdoor \"First \"First \"Groom \"Outdoor \"Outdoor<\/p>\n

The Honeymoon<\/h3>\n

Frazer\u2019s 94 year-old grandfather wasn\u2019t able to join us for the wedding as he lives down on the South Coast in Littlehampton, so after the wedding we went to visit him for our mini-moon. We had takeaway, visited Arundel Castle and enjoyed lots of time chilling out.<\/p>\n

Now we are preparing for our \u201cmain\u201d honeymoon \u2013 an 18 month round-the-world trip. We leave on 24th<\/sup> September for our first stop which is Bolivia and have planned to do the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu in October, visit Mexico City for Dia de Los Muertos in November, and visit friends in Costa Rica for Christmas. After that it\u2019s a very rough plan that sees us visiting family in New Zealand and Australia, and backpacking around South East Asia. You can follow our adventure on my instagram – @mollytheblog , or on my blog www.mollytheblog.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor \"Outdoor \"Bride \"Outdoor<\/p>\n

Memorable Moments<\/h3>\n