Lewis and Amy's Fun and Relaxed Full of Colour Back Garden Wedding by This and That Photography

Happy Monday everyone and how was your weekend? Did you get the mini heatwave where you are and if so did you manage to make the most of it? We were at Alton Towers all weekend and it was boiling and super busy! But we had a wonderful time, Dexter loved it! Now on with the week and hopefully the sun will stay with us now for a bit, it would be lovely to see a bit more of summer! Today I have the most wonderful wedding to share with you, from regular to the blog This and That Photography. Kirsty always sends me the best weddings and this one is no exception. Amy and Lewis chose to hold their wedding at home in their back garden, which cut down on a lot of costs and also made the day super personal. They could do exactly what they wanted and really went to town on making the day super personal. Choosing a bright and fun colour palette, lots of paper lanterns, flags, festoon lighting and some bright flowers, this relaxed, fun wedding is the perfect way to start off the week. I just LOVE it.

A laid-back day, full of love and happiness that definitely didn’t take itself too seriously.

Amy and Lewis were married on 11th August 2018 at their own garden in Hampshire (we officially got married 2 days before at a local registry office with 13 guests). We had a close friend officiate the second ceremony. ‘We aren’t ones to make a big fuss. Originally, I was looking at the whole tipi wedding thing but it just never sat right with us. One day I suggested doing it in the garden as we are lucky to have a lot of space and it instantly felt right and far more realistic budget-wise! Lewis took a little persuading but so glad we made that decision. We had 58 guests for the day and about a further 40 for the evening. It took 8 months to plan from booking the registry office.’

How they met
We originally met through mutual friends about 17 years ago. There was always a bit of a spark between us, but we were both always in relationships. Eventually we found ourselves single and on a night out together..….8 years and 2 children later we felt it was time to make things official!

The proposal
Lewis proposed whilst on holiday in France a few years ago. We were lying in the garden having a drink, watching the sunset, when he casually turned to me and asked. There was no big song and dance, not even a bended knee and he managed to genuinely surprise me. It was perfect.

How did you allocate your budget?
We knew our budget was going to be very small so we tried to estimate how much all the big stuff would cost and go from there. We knew our main requirements for a really good do were food, booze and music. Those were the elements we focused on and everything else we tried to allocate as we went. I know it sounds really cheesy, but we really did want the day to just focus on love and laughter and felt we didn’t want or need all the bells and whistles.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
A videographer was definitely a splurge, but we both agreed from the outset this was a must and Josh gave us such a brilliant price. The rugs I hired were also a big splurge, but they really set the scene of the ceremony beautifully. Everything else we tried to do in the most economical way possible. The catering was by far the biggest expense, but we kept costs as low as possible by going for a BBQ style and limiting the food to two courses. We also made the decision not to have an evening buffet. I know this can be a bit controversial, but we made sure to let the evening guests know beforehand. We would have loved to feed everyone, but our budget just would not stretch. We were so lucky to hire the marquee, fire pit and poseur tables from a friend, which saved us a huge amount of money, and incredible friends and family that did the makeup, flowers and cake for next to nothing.
I didn’t want to spend money on anything non-essential; so we skipped having favors or stationery and we spent the months before the wedding stock piling drinks ourselves so we could provide welcome drinks. Obviously hosting ourselves also saved any big venue costs.

How did you choose your photographer?
I searched through a lot online but Kirsty immediately jumped out at me with her relaxed and fun style.

The dress
The skirt was by Catherine Deane, and I paired it with a top by Stephanie Allin. My shoes were super cheap from New Look, and I picked up the earrings for about £6 from Bristol market.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suit jacket was Hugo Boss, with trousers from All Saints and a shirt from a local shop; John Goodridge Menswear. The shoes from Base London. My two bridesmaids wore jumpsuits from Free People.

Theme or colour scheme
I didn’t want there to be a theme really, as I didn’t want it to be too matchy. We knew we wanted to include as much colour as possible and for the overall look to be fun and relaxed. Lewis is from Scotland originally so I’d say that was as close to a theme as we got. We had little nods to Scotland here and there.

Flowers
All seasonal English flowers & foliage. Eryngium mixed wild flowers, dahlias, scented garden roses.

Decoration
Lots of lanterns which we were lucky to borrow and fairy lights. I bought lots of prayer flags on eBay which we hung around and we hired some festoon lighting. We chose table names based on various Scottish slang that I put in different frames I had collected from charity shops. We also collected lots of different Ale bottles to decorate the tables with wildflowers inside. The giant ‘LOVE’ sign we made by having letters cut from MDF and covering in fabric. The order of service was written on our living room mirror.

Food
BBQ with an array of salads and chocolate brownies for pud

Wedding cake
A lovely friend Alison made the cake for us. It was something I gave about 5 minutes thought over. We knew it would be delicious and that’s all that mattered in choosing one!

Entertainment
Blue Juice were our brilliant band

Stationery
I designed and sent the invites using an online site called Greenvelope.com.

Personal touches
Or things that you did yourself? The arch we built and put together with some pompom garlands I found on Etsy. I did what little stationery we had (table names, place names, song sheets), playlists, pretty much everything we did ourselves! We were so lucky to have a lot of friends and family help set everything up.

Special moments
We both loved the ceremony. Having a close friend officiate made it really special and as I wrote it myself it was extremely personal. Having our children there and be a part was also very special. Also Flip Cup!

Advice for other couples?
Hosting at home can be really stressful as you can’t really ever escape the wedding planning/thinking. We found ourselves constantly staring into the garden trying to put it together in our heads. Especially difficult as you have to organize absolutely everything yourself. Try and take time off when you can as it can easily become overwhelming!

Biggest surprise
ust how smoothly everything went! Anyone who knows me knows organizing this sort of thing (or anything) isn’t my bag at all. And certainly not Lewis’. That we pulled it off so well still surprises us both!