29

Nov

2019

Tanya and Brendon’s Outdoor Handmade Woodland Wedding by Lorna Newman

Happy Friday everyone, how on earth are we at the end of the week already? I hope you have had a good one! This weekend sees the beginning of December, so if you weren’t in the Christmas spirit already then you should be by the end of the weekend! Tomorrow we are all of to a Victorian Christmas Market, at Kelham Island, a venue I have had on the blog a few times as they also host weddings. Then we are putting our tree and decorations up. On Sunday Dexter and I are going off on a Christmas adventure together, for a North Pole Experience. The Christmas jumpers are ready to go, I cannot wait!!! So that’s my Christmas filled weekend, what about you? Before that can all happen I still have one more wedding to share with you and a fabulous bridal style article this afternoon. Tanya and Brendon held a laid back woodland wedding, with an outdoor ceremony and lots of handmade details and decoration. Their day is super cute and filled with so many lovely details. I love the woodland setting and all the rustic touches. Big thanks to Lorna Newman for the photos.

A laid back party in the countryside surrounded by good company and nature. Turned out perfect – even with a little drizzle of rain.

Tanya and Brendon were married on 6th July 2019 at Strawberry Grove Growers, Great Gransden in  Cambridgeshire they had a blessing on the 6th July with a celebrant. (Legal ceremony was on Wednesday 3rd July at Cambridge Registry Office). We had 130 guests in the day, another 20 to the evening. I started planning when in hospital, I was diagnosed with leukaemia in December 2015 but the main booking from January 2019!

How they met 
I (Tanya) was friends with Brendon’s younger brother in school. Been together 13 years. Was engaged for 8 years.

The proposal
We had had a lovely day at home together and he surprised me by getting down on one knee in the living room

How did you allocate your budget?
I looked online for rough guides on how to budget for a wedding… then forgot most of it and winged it!

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
Saved on venue as it was ‘mates rates’. Didn’t pay for the cake as my maid of honours mum made it for us. Also had a friend help with invitations and favours. Splurged on a live band and photography as well as a videographer.

How did you choose your photographer?
I went to a few wedding fairs but in the end searched for photographers in my area and Lorna Newman Wedding Photography popped up! Loved her style and immediately bonded with her when we met.

The dress 
Brought my dress from Wed2Be. The dress was called Destin by Anna Sorrano. Accessories were brought from a craft stall at Whitstable harbour on holiday with my friend. My Aunty altered the dress for me.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suits were Marc Darcy. Maid of honour dress was from TFNC. We only had best man and maid of honour. No ushers or bridesmaids. Although we did have two flower girls (Brendon’s nieces). Their dresses were from amazon! And our two dogs also walked down the isle!

Theme or colour scheme
General theme was outdoor / natural. Colour scheme was based around burgundy and included light pink and ivory.

Flowers
The bouquet included gypsophila, baby pink roses, eucalyptus leaves, olive leaves, all tied with hessian and burgundy ribbon. ( Ivory ribbon for the maid of honour and flower girls bouquets). The main decorative flower was gypsophila (in my, maid of honour and flower girls hair, around our
dogs collars, bouquets, end of isles and on tables).

Decoration 
The table decorations included empty wine bottles, jam jars and gü dessert pots! All collected from friends and family, cleaned and labels removed. They were then decorated with twine – all individual designs. Some had gypsophila in, while others had floating tea lights. These were all placed on slices of wood that we got from a friend. The tables also had hessian runners. We also put various greenery from friends gardens around the centre pieces. The isle we made within the trees were lined with bunting hand made by my maid of honour and another friend. We had two trees made into ‘photo trees’. These were covered in photos of Brendon and I when we were younger as well as family members who had passed away. They also had fairy lights on these trees as well as making a light path way from the marquee to the toilets.
We used an Ivory fine netting type material to decorate the end of isles, trees, in the marquee and back of Brendon and mines chair with bows. Other decorations included a watering can with scrabble peices saying Tanya and Bren, a bicycle which we sprayed and decorated with flowers and hand painted pallets with the order of day and table plan on.

Food
We had a burrito and burger stand for dinner and a churro stand for dessert. We also had a selection of cakes made by friends and family.
In the evening we had a cold finger food buffet with more home made cakes and cookies from friends and family. We had a converted horse box bar called The Bird and Bee to carry on the ‘outside’ feel.

Wedding cake
The wedding cake was made by my maid of honors – flowers were purchased from our flower supplier. The cake had three layers – Victoria sponge (bottom) lemon (middle) and carrot (top).

Entertainment
We had a band called ‘Get on up’ which we found through alivenetwork.com who did an acoustic trio during the day then a full band session in the evening.

Who supplied the stationery?
I designed the invitations myself. My maid of honours mums friend printed and cut them for me. A friend then did calligraphy for all the names on the invitations and addresses on envelopes. This friend also did the calligraphy on small wooden slices for each guest as their favour (along with a small box full of wild flower seeds to spread).

Personal touches
Most things, as written above, were hand made by ourselves or friends and family. We also brought kids garden games online (connect four, skittles, darts and hoopla). It was also our friends (the one who did the calligraphy) little girls birthday, so we brought her a cake and gave it to her in front of everyone at the end of the speeches.

Special moments 
Having a small moment between the two of us during our first dance was perfect. Another highlight was when our photographer told us to go off together for her to take some natural shots. It was a perfect, much needed few minutes of quiet where just the two of us got to ask how the other one was.

Advice for other couples
Gets friends and family to help where you can. It doesn’t have to be expensive. And you can get more creative when you hand make things – make it exactly how you want. Also think it’ll mean more once the day is finished.
Also, make sure you take 5 minutes just the two of you. It’s true what they say, the day will fly by, you’ll talk to everyone but feel like you haven’t seem anyone ! But it’ll be one of the best days of your life.

Biggest surprise 
Brendon had put together a box for me to open in the morning with a few personal presents and a little love letter!

 

Supplier Shout Outs

 

For more information on Lorna Newman go to

 www.lornanewmanweddingphotography.co.uk / [email protected] / 07878713615 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / PINTEREST / TWITTER

My Name is Lorna Newman, I am based in Bedfordshire and I absolutely love photographing weddings. I have a relaxed approach and like to work with all my couples to ensure they are happy throughout the whole process, and really want them love their photography at the end of it. I love capturing all those special moments throughout the day, as well as a chance to get creative. It is such an honour to be chosen to be such a big part of someone’s special day and I get the chance to work with some amazing couples.

 

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