Lucy and Alexander's 'Bringing The Outside In' Relaxed Cheshire Wedding by Jess Yarwood

Today on the blog, I have this super sweet relaxed Cheshire wedding to share with you which comes from the very lovely Jess Yarwood. Lucy and Alexander wanted a wedding that meant all of their close friends and family could attend, and they wanted it to be relaxed, personal and full of the most amazing flowers and florals. They went for a theme of ‘bringing the outside in’ and transformed Abbeywood Estate and Gardens into their own floral heaven. Filling the tables with super stylish greenery, they kept the wedding modern, but brought in some rustic detailing with wooden slabs, a plant pot table plan and lots of cute decor.

Personal, relaxed and fun.

Lucy and Alexander were married on 26th May 2018 at Abbeywood Estate and Gardens, Delemere in Cheshire. ‘We wanted an outdoor wedding surrounded by the flowers and tree’s, we had around 72 guests in the day, A mixture of close friends and family, it took a year and 4 months to plan.

How they met
We have been together about 7 ½ years. We were friends from collage but got together when we both went to Liverpool for University.

The proposal
It was very personal and beautiful; we went away to a cottage in Yorkshire for a treat just before Christmas. He had planned a wonderful 3 course meal with all my favourite food and we relaxed with wine in the hot tub. My ring was in my wooden advent calendar that he had bought me new that year.

How did you allocate your budget?
We had a rough budget broken down by all the different things we needed to cover off. We didn’t want to spend a fortune but wanted our day to be right for us.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We love our food, wine and music so these were our key focuses for the day and we did splurge a little of a few special bottles of our favourite wine on the day (just for ourselves). Real bargains were the decorations we made the cork name holders and table plan from scratch we bought and potted the herbs and flowers. The bridesmaid dresses were also a real saving as these were around £50 from ASOS and the little flower girl dress was in the sale from Monsoon at around £20.

How did you choose your photographer?
We started our search by looking for local photographers, we wanted a photographer that captured the natural emotions, fun and intimate moments of the day. Jess’s style of photography was what drew us to her, all her shots felt elegant and natural, there wasn’t staged unnatural shots and we loved the way she captured the guests and the day as a whole.

The dress
My dress was by Ellis Bridal and purchased from Sarah’s wedding boutique in Northwich. I knew straight away this was the dress and was actually in the window on display at the time of my visit. My shoes were light pink to pick out the detail of the dress and just from office.

The suit and bridesmaids
Alex’s and groomsmen suits were hired from Groom in Chester. The suits were fantastic we went for a bow tie for Alex vs the ties of the other groomsmen. The dusty lilac bridesmaid dresses were from ASOS, whereas the little bridesmaid dress was from Monsoon, we tweaked the dress slightly with off cuts from the older bridesmaid dress so it all tied in. Alex’s nan kindly did all the alterations.

Theme or colour scheme
The colour scheme took inspiration from the gardens at Abbeywood, on our first visit they had the purple Alliums in full bloom so I we went for a dusty lilac, dusty pink and cream colour scheme.

Flowers
The flowers were probably one of the weaknesses I had dreamed about a wedding filled with flowers, greenery and foliage. In the bridal bouquet we had a mix of Fresh garden flowers; Roses, gypsophila, soft ruscus, hypercium berries, cat mint, rosemary and sage leaves to name a few. We also had eucalyptus and soft ruscus on the tables. It was so nice to have some of the flowers come from the cutting garden at Abbeywood.

Decoration
We went for a very natural decoration of bringing the outside in. Our table decorations were mainly flowers and foliage on the tables we had jam jar full of fresh flowers and surrounded by tea lights, with the large vases full of greenery creating height, we also used slices of wood on the table and as decoration around the venue. Our seating plan was a ladder with potted herbs and plants, surrounded by wooden slices, crates and lanterns. We also had a little table with a sweet and popcorn bar. Most of the decorations came from what we had in our house and we borrowed the lanterns from my mum and sisters.

Food
For starters we had antipasti with breads and dips, for main it was Pork belly with apple, potatoes and jus. For desert we had a chocolate and hazelnut torte with raspberry sorbet. In the evening we went for pizzas served in pizza boxes.

Wedding cake
For the cake we bought a plain white cake with little detail from Marks and Spencer’s and Alex’s Grandma created our daisy flowers and leaves for decoration.

Entertainment
We hired a band for the night and we also had an acoustic session in the day was everyone mingled in the garden and played lawn games. The Band we used were Hudson from Liverpool, they were fantastic and had everyone up on the dancefloor all night.

Who supplied the stationery?
The stationary was all created by my friend from work, he is our creative director and did a fantastic job with all the invites, menus and even our finger print guestbook.

Personal touches
We did as much as we could ourselves, most of the decorations were constructed by ourselves with help of a lot of borrowing from friends and family. It just made it more personal to have the little touches that would normally cost a fortune.

Special moments
The special highlight has to be having the ceremony outside in the gardens, the sun shone all day and the gardens made the perfect backdrop to a wonderful and unforgettable day. The gardens were amazing and seeing people sat talking or just enjoying the view as you walked around was lovely.

Advice for other couples?
Keep it relaxed, there is no need for a jam packed schedule or over tight timings. Enjoy every moment of the day!