Erin and Tom's Relaxed Riverside Country Pub Wedding in Oxford by Babb Photo

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful week so far? This week sees the end of January and the beginning of February, the shortest month of the year, so on my reckoning it will be Spring before we know it and the end of all this cold weather! Yay to that! What are your plans for the weekend? I’m hopefully having a chilled one. We have lots planned over the next few weeks, so I’m hoping to spend some time at home with Nik and Dexter before the madness of the next few weeks begins. To end the week we are going back to a venue we visited on Tuesday, The Perch in Oxford. Situated on the banks of the Thames in Oxford, The Perch is a super cute country pub, perfect for a relaxed and chilled out reception, and that’s just what Erin and Tom were looking for in their big day. With a ride on the river from the ceremony to the reception, this really is the most lovely of wedding days, typically English and full of quaint touches, captured perfectly by Laura at Babb Photo.

Erin and Tom were married at The Perch in Oxford. ‘We love Oxford, and there are many meaningful places there for us. One of them is The Perch, a country pub set on the Thames just outside the town. We lived nearby for several years, and cycled there once even through a flood! ‑ often for Sunday lunch. We both love the countryside and thought that The Perch would be a perfect for this. We also really love good food ‑ no sad chicken/fish! The Perch has an incredible wedding feast menu.’

How they met
We met in Latin class! We were both doing postgrad degrees at Oxford, and met there. We lived in Oxford together for several years with brief stints in London, Cambridge, Venice, and Boston, MA!

The ceremony
Erin’s grandparents live the US and couldn’t travel to Oxford for the wedding, so it felt important to us that they be included. Erin asked her grandmother to write a short reading for the ceremony, which her
sister read. We also chose to have a poem read ‑ ‘The Master Speed’ by Robert Frost. Erin is from New England, where Robert Frost lived and wrote, and we wanted to incorporate this into the ceremony. Frost wrote the poem for his own daughter’s wedding.

The Photographer
We absolutely love our photos! We loved Laura’s work because it was so colorful, relaxed, and creative. We knew that we didn’t want photographs that were too stiff or formal ‑ we wanted photos that would capture how much fun it was to celebrate our wedding in the gardens of our favorite pub! We were really nervous about the couples portraits ‑neither of us are particularly natural in front of the camera, but Laura and Pete made it really easy and fun. We actually found it was one of the most relaxing parts of the day, because it was the first time we were alone together! So it was a special moment.

The Dress
I never saw myself getting married in a white wedding dress and I loved the flowers. It seemed perfect for a country wedding.

Flowers and Decoration
We wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere, with informal, blowsy flower arrangements and rustic tableware that suited the countryside style of the pub. Our florist, Daisies, is right in north Oxford near The Perch, and perfectly captured the relaxed, rustic atmosphere that we wanted to create.

Entertainment
Wedding Smashers did an excellent job DJing!

Special Moments
The boat ride up the Thames! We traveled between the ceremony and The Perch by boat, and it was just perfect.

Advice for other couples
Don’t worry about the small things ‑ napkin colors, wedding favors, etc. No one remembers, and most don’t even notice. Focus on the things you really love (flowers? food? cake?!) and it’s easier to enjoy
planning, and much less stressful.