Gemma and Matthew’s Pretty Pastel Country Vintage Wedding By Toast of Leeds

I have another fabulous wedding for you toady from my good friend Shelly at Toast of Leeds. As you know, Shelly is a regular to the Blog and never fails to come up with the wedding pretty when she sends me a submission. This country vintage wedding is no exception; full of pretty pastels, bunting, vintage details and a whole host of DIY loveliness!

The lovely couple are Gemma and Matthew who were married on 27th July 2012. The ceremony was held at St Peters Church in Bottesford and the reception at White Heather in Hemswell. ‘We wanted a simple blank canvas in order to create our country theme so the marquee was perfect for this.’ They had 125 guests plus 50 extra in the evening. It took a year and a half to plan.

‘We had a beautiful, vintage country wedding which we shared with friends, family and the sunshine!’

How they met
We met 6 years ago on a ‘work night out’; a colleague brought Matthew with him and we got chatting.

The proposal
We went to Centre Parcs for Christmas with Matt’s family. He took me for a Twilight Spa session and when we were alone on the balcony, wrapped up in fur blankets and looking out over the forest, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was very romantic.

How did you choose your photographer?
We were looking for someone a bit different who had a love of vintage. I found Shelly at ‘Toast of Leeds’ on a Wedding blog.

The dress
My dress was by ‘La Sposa’ but I had the top remade to match my own design. The Shoes were by ‘Else’ from ‘girlsofelegance.com’. My jewellery was borrowed from my sister-in-law.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suits were from ‘Next’ and floral shirts from ‘Marks and Spencer’.
The nude bridesmaids dresses were from French Connection.
The Flowergirl’s dress was from Next. Pageboy outfits from Monsoon.

Theme
I really tried to stay away from having a colour scheme – I wanted to have lots of colours with nothing particularly matching as such. The idea was that the colours complimented each other instead of being the same. The theme was ‘country vintage’.

Food
There were canapés on arrival, salmon fish cakes for our starter, a summer salad buffet for our main and a chocolate torte for pudding. In the evening we had a rustic cheese platter.

Entertainment
We had the in-house disco with all our favourite tracks.

Flowers
A mixture of typically country garden flowers. Our bouquets and button holes were a mixture of hydrangeas, roses and foliage.

Decoration
Bunting, home-made candle jars, small flower jars with fabric bows, jugs of flowers, doilies!

Personal touches
Pretty much everything was handmade by myself including the pretty table names inside vintage frames, luggage tag name cards tied on to china cups and saucers with ‘To have and to hold’ ribbon and twine, the table plan, seed packet favours, the candle jars (partly made by my mother and father in law), the bunting and flower jars (helped by my good friend June). We also had a vintage games table, a table plan on a twine washing line, luggage tags for people to write their messages on which were then hung on a twine washing line, a suitcase for our cards, and a range of vintage cake stands for our cupcakes.

Special moments
The speeches were fantastic, seeing everything put together within the marquee was incredible, but the ceremony was the best part; the church was filled with all the people we love and it was amazing to have them all there, sharing our special day.

Advice
Make a to-do list and don’t put anything off until another day! Enjoy and savour every second as it just whizzes past.

Biggest surprise of the day
No surprises! Except good weather of course!

Supplier shout Outs
La Sposa Dress – Divine Gowns in Chelmsford 
Wedding Invitations – Julia Ward Studios in Harrogate
Cupcakes – Likkle Bakes (Facebook)
Videographer – Willowscroft Ltd 

For more info on Shelly’s work go to:
www.toastofleeds.co.uk
http://toastofleeds.com
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
[email protected]
0113 3560157

♥  You can see more Real Weddings featured on the Blog HERE  ♥