Lauren and Jack’s Boho Chic Gloucestershire Wedding by Nicola Thompson Photography

Happy Monday everyone I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you got to enjoy Mother’s day, either being a mum, or with your own mum! Mine was lovely spent with my boys in the sunshine, perfect! We have another busy week for you and we are kicking it all off with this gorgeous Gloucestershire wedding from Nicola Thompson Photography. It’s a fabulous day, very elegant, but filled with lovely accents of Boho goodness. From the flower crown to the giant balloons, to the handmade table plan, it all looks superb!

Our wedding day was light-hearted, relaxed and so much fun. The combination of delicious food, lots to drink and brilliant live music made it the perfect day.

Lauren and Jack were married on the 30th September 2016 at Elmore Court in Gloucestershire. ‘We couldn’t decide whether to get married in Cheshire, where we live and close to my family and friends, or in Gloucestershire, which is where Jack’s family are from. As soon as we saw Elmore Court, the decision was made for us. It is a beautiful 16^th century manor house, where we had our ceremony, and a stunning separate purpose built building for the reception, all set amongst meadow-like gardens. We fell in love with the place straight away! We had 100 guests in the day and a few more in the evening. The wedding took 11 months to plan, which was only just long enough!’

How they met
We met in the French Alps, where we were both working a winter ski season in 2008, so we have been together for 8 years.

The Proposal
Jack proposed in November 2015 in Central Park, New York. It was an unusually warm and sunny day for the time of year and we were walking around the park stretching our legs in the sunshine, having completed the New York marathon 2 days earlier, when he got down on one knee! I had absolutely no idea it was coming!

How did you allocate your budget?
It’s so easy to get carried away and overspend, so we chose the areas that were less important to us to do cheaply, so that we had a bit more flexibility to make sure we got the important things right.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on the food and drink, the band and buying all the groomsmen’s suits, which we intended to hire. We saved by having no official wedding car, having Jack’s mum do all our flowers and having the cake made for us by a friend. One of my bridesmaids did my make up so I saved by not having a make up artist. I would definitely make all the same choices again.

Why did you choose your photographer?
I found my photographer, Nicola Thompson, by accident! I had been looking for someone based near to the venue, rather than up in Manchester, but a friend of mine recommended Nicola. I loved the style and she was brilliant on the day and I absolutely love our pictures.

The Dress
My dress was by Maggie Sottero and was one of her older styles that I had seen and loved online – it was quite difficult to track down, as it wasn’t a current design, but I was glad I persevered, as I loved it just as much in real life. I chose not to have a veil and instead wore a flower crown. I bought a very basic one and added real flowers to it on the morning of the wedding.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
The suits were all from John Lewis. We bought them instead of hiring, because we found we were able to get a more flattering fit for our very varied groomsmen! The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Monsoon. I bought the flower girl dresses from an American dressmaker on Etsy. They were one of my favourite wedding purchases!

Theme or Colour Scheme
I started off with one, but it faded as the planning went on, as the main focus of a colour scheme is often the bridesmaid dresses and we had difficulty finding any in the right colour that suited 5 very different girls.

Flowers
The bridesmaids had mainly white hydrangeas with white roses and greenery in their bouquets, and I had the same, but also added some deep pink/red roses. The flowers for the venue were the same as in my bouquet.

Decoration
Very little! The beauty of our venue was that it didn’t need much at all. The main house was so ornate and classic, and the Gillyflower building was already bedecked with beautiful lighting, so other than flowers, we only added a couple of giant Kate Spade balloons.

Food
We had lots of canapés during the drinks reception, including mini Cornish pasties and Welsh rarebit.
For the wedding breakfast, we had Mediterranean sharing platters as a starter, butter roasted Cotswold chicken for the main meal and a chocolate and hazelnut delice for dessert.
In the evening we had lots of ‘tyre-size’ pizzas delivered, which were a huge hit!

Wedding Cake
The cake was one of the less important things for us – we kept it simple – it was a naked cake topped with berries and it was made for us by a friend.

Entertainment
We had a ‘roaming duo’ perform during the drinks reception and their band mates joined them to make a live four-piece band in the evening. The band was called The Revue – they were fantastic and very popular with all of our guests.

Stationery
I did some of it myself and used designs by Bethany Eden Art (on Etsy) for the rest.

Personal Touches
We made the table plan ourselves, using pallet wood, ribbon and a lot of eucalyptus. I also did the place settings myself – with a lot of last-minute help from bridesmaids the night before the wedding!

Special Moments or Highlights
I honestly couldn’t pick any! I absolutely loved the whole day, from being at the hairdressers with my mum and bridesmaids in the morning to saying our vows and gorging on giant pizzas at 3am, it was all perfect.

Advice for Other Couples
Prioritise the parts of the day that are most important to you, and don’t get hung up on the little details, just because other people usually include them. And if you’re having a band or photographer, book them as soon as possible – we couldn’t believe how far in advance they were all booked. On the day itself, completely let go of the organising and just enjoy the day – the venue staff and the wedding party will make sure everything goes to plan.

Biggest Surprise
That everything went exactly how we hoped it would go! It was the best day of our lives and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Supplier Shout OUts

• Venue & catering: Elmore Court, Gloucestershire – www.elmorecourt.com
• Dress: Maggie Sottero – bought from Cloud 9 Bridal in Liverpool – www.cloud9brides.co.uk
• Flower girl dresses: Pink Perfect Shop on Etsy – www.etsy.com/shop/pinkperfectshop
• Evening food: Fat Toni’s Pizza, Gloucestershire – www.fattoni.co.uk/gloucester
• Hair: Blushes, Gloucester – www.blushes.co.uk
• Music: The Revue – eightraymusic.com/acts/the-revue-band
• Photographer: Nicola Thompson –  www.nicolathompsonphotography.co.uk
• Stationary: Bethany Eden on Etsy – www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BethanyEdenArt

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