6

Mar

2018

Alaw and Gari’s Rustic Chic Farm Wedding by Nesta Lloyd

Today’s real wedding sees us head across to North Wales for the gorgeous wedding of Alaw and Gari. Alaw’s family own a farm so it seemed only right that they hold their reception on it and the results are this gorgeous ‘Rustic Chic’ day. The whole wedding is filled with so many amazing decoration ideas, I just adore the huge hanging flower chandelier. They also had flowers in milk churns, hay bales, festoon and fairy lights, hand-made bunting, all of which go towards creating the most amazing looking farm wedding. Nesta Lloyd has captured the day perfectly, I know you are going to love it.

Our wedding day felt so unique and personal, it reflected both our personalities and encompassed so much of what we love. It was also family orientated and a chance to get really creative!

Alaw and Gari were married on 26th August 2017 at  their local chapel ‘Capel Llannefydd’ with the reception on Alaw’s parents’ farm in the machinery shed! We decided to hold the ceremony in the village chapel where Alaw attended with her Grandmother, Mother and siblings when living in the village and the reception venue was a no-brainer as it was where Alaw grew up, on the family farm in the barn! We had 120 guests in the dday and 250 in the evening. Gari proposed on my birthday, May 2016 so we got planning straight away! It took roughly 15 months.

How they met
We met through the Young Farmers Club which we both attended. We’d been together 8 years when we got married. 

The proposal
It was very sweet. It was my birthday so Gari had made reservations at a local restaurant to celebrate, Gari had told me to get ready for 6:30, no later! I wanted to paint my nails before heading out, so quickly applied some in the living room, when I went through to the kitchen Gari told me he had another gift for me, he gave me a present to unwrap. It was a catalogue for rings, I didn’t twig until he went down on one knee and presented a Haribo ring and popped the question!

How did you allocate your budget?
We allocated our budget by researching average spends and talking to friends and family that had recently got married. We allocated our budget on our priorities which were food, flowers and photography.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on food, drink,  flowers and photography.  We saved on cars (luckily my parents have a Series 1 Land Rover to transport myself and a long-wheel-base Land Rover to transport the bridesmaids and mother of the bride), we saved on the cake as Gari’s brilliantly talented Aunty made it for us! We also saved so much on reception costs as we were lucky enough to hold the reception on my parents’ farm, and with that came many items to decorate the venue, and we had the beautiful scenery free too!!

How did you choose your photographer?
We researched mostly online but Nesta Lloyd was recommended to me by a friend, after seeing her Facebook page and website I fell in love with her style!

The dress
My dress and veil were by Diane Harbridge (Chester), I borrowed a headpiece from my sister, and my shoes were Roland Cartier (Debenhams)

The suit and bridesmaids
Suits were hired from Trefor Jones (Ruthin, North Wales). Bridesmaid dresses from Wed2b (Wrexham, North Wales). Flower Girl dresses and Page Boy suit were from Next.

Theme or colour scheme
We were quite flexible with this! It was quite rural and farm-orientated but I also liked the idea of ‘rustic-chic’ and the colour ‘Mink Pink’ after we found the bridesmaid dresses!

Flowers 
Light pinks and blues (pink roses, blue hydrangea) and lots of greenery! They were picked by our amazing florist who helped us create the final look! 

Decoration 
Flowers (a flower chandelier over the dancefloor which was the main attraction), handmade bunting, fairy lights, jars, candles, draping festoon lights, hay bales, old farm machinery, wooden pallets, troughs, milk churns, lots of photos, hanging hearts (anything we could find on the farm!!).

Food
We had Canapes on arrival at the reception venue followed by a main course of Breast of Lemon Chicken on White Wine and Dill Creamed Leeks, and then a dessert of Raspberry Cheesecake. We then had tea, coffee and wedding cake! For the evening we had a Pizza van serving individual pizzas with a choice of 4 toppings, with chips and salad sides.

Wedding cake
We really wanted a ‘naked cake’ and we asked Gari’s Aunty to make it for us as she makes delicious cakes!! She accepted the challenge and it turned out amazing!

Entertainment
We had a band called ‘Double Vision’ for the evening, who were superb! Had everyone up dancing all night! They even played a few Welsh covers which was brilliant!

Who supplied the stationery?
We used Optimalprint online for our invitations and thank you cards and we used a local printers for the order of service.

Personal touches
We did so much ourselves, the flowers were displayed in various objects, from milk churns to troughs, we also used my late Grandmothers’ teapots and bottles as centrepieces. We used as many items as possible from the farm and borrowed items from family and friends! We used wooden pallets to display pictures and as a backdrop behind the top table. We made our own favours for the guests, mini jars filled with sweets (including Haribo of course!) and ordered personalised wristbands too! We also had some areas made-up from hay bales (snug area and a play area for the kids!)

Special moments 
The whole day was so special, it was lovely seeing family and friends and ones from far who had travelled all the way to celebrate with us. There were so many special moments and we’re still finding out more whilst chatting and catching up with family and friends! We had so many lovely surprises from our family which were so unexpected! My Mum and niece wrote and sang a song about us in the chapel, Gari’s sister also wrote a song and performed with her guitar following the speeches! Gari’s Grandparents also wrote a poem about us and read this out during the speeches, it was all so overwhelming and unexpected!!

What advice would you give other couples?
Relax, and have fun! Try not to sweat about the small things! People will have lots and lots and lots of different opinions, try sticking to what you as a couple want and everyone else will follow!

What was your biggest surprise?
Alaw – on the morning of the wedding I received a scrapbook filled with ‘letters to the bride!’ from the bridesmaids which I wasn’t expecting at all! It was so thoughtful and I couldn’t hold back the tears!
Gari – people’s generosity in general throughout the whole planning process and the day!

 

 

For more information on Nesta’s work go to

 www.nestalloyd.co.uk / [email protected] / 07582839949 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM 

Alternative, creative and natural wedding photographer capturing stories around Shropshire, Cheshire and North Wales. Documenting emotion, soul and energy with a dash of fine art.  

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