Ellinor and Philip’s Gorgeous Mismatched DIY Farm Wedding. By Wedding Photography to Love

I just LOVE todays wedding, a beautiful collection of rustic meets vintage in this DIY farm wedding photographed by Wedding Photography to Love. Ellinor and Philip created a wonderful day filled with a huge collection of mismatched vintage items as well as a number of DIY projects and handmade details. The venue is so beautifully decorated it looks absolutely stunning, with so many pretty details to catch the eye, this wedding is just bursting with personality and so much fun. With gorgeous outfits, beautiful blooms and such a cute couple I just know you are going to love this wedding as much as I do.

‘Like a magical summer Christmas. It was exciting, emotional and a day we’ll always cherish but as everyone says (and I didn’t believe them!) it went by in a blur!’

Ellinor and Philip were married on 9th Aug 2014 at St James Church, Taxal, Whaley Bridge with the reception held at Thornsett Fields Farm, Birch Vale, Derbyshire. ‘We had been through a very stressful few years as I was finishing postgrad study and had just ‘come through it’ . It was a lovely surprise when Phil proposed after it was all over and we’d always said we wanted to get married soon after being engaged as it’s such an exciting time. With the guest list we started at around 60-70 but grew and grew until it reached around 120! It took about 8 months to plan.’

How they met
We met when we were teenagers on a night out at The Vic in Wigan and have been together since 1999.

The Proposal
I had just finished Uni and we went to North Yorkshire in a log cabin for weekend. We were just about to go out to dinner when Phil produced a beautiful ring and got down on one knee-it was a complete surprise. Turns out he’d been saving his weekend pub wages for last year and had always planned to propose one the University stress was over.

How did you allocate your budget
We wanted to have as much control as we could over the wedding so a lot was DIY as we quickly realised a traditional venue wouldn’t allow us this. We got a lot of the venue dressing props/ vintage china from car boots and charity shops-6 months dedicated bargain hunting later we pretty much had all the materials we needed to either make what we wanted and dress the venue. My Mum has green fingers and turned her back garden into what looked like a garden centre leading up to the wedding-she did all the venue/ church flowers and living plants. A lot of the budget went on food/ drink and getting the equipment we needed into the barn to make a kitchen and bar area. I would then say the wedding service itself at the church was the second most expensive thing and we allocated a chunk of the budget for day/ evening entertainment.

How did you choose your photographer
We Wanted journalistic style not the traditional posed photographs. We found Becky’s advert, saw her beautiful portfolio and knew she’d be perfect. And she was, not only a lovely person to have on the day but she caught every detail and the final results were more than we could have hoped for.

The Dress
Yoana Baraschi for BHLDN the Aberdeen gown based on Edwardian Lace 1920s swing dress. Shoes were from Next. Accessories: earrings and bracelet Jenny Packham; vintage silver locket Etsy, (shop some little stars). Veil from Monsoon.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
We were lucky and found the bridesmaids outfits on the High Street-I knew I wanted floral and also liked lace and actually found some lovely summer dresses which combined the both and fitted really well with the vintage look of the day. Phil’s suit was also High Street as it was the brightest blue suit we could find and we both loved the shade of blue! His velvet bow tie was online from Mrs Bow Tie and he got a bargain pair of snazzy shoes which I think we’re the favourite bit of his whole outfit!

Theme or Colour Scheme
We wanted a rustic/ vintage theme with lots of wild flowers and a relaxed vibe-we didn’t have a colour scheme.

Flowers
Formal bouquets created by Hayley’s flower studio. My bouquet: Veronica flower, Cornflowers, Dill, and Dried Lavender with a beautiful selection of Daisy flowers in yellow and white tones. Fresh herbs for the foliage using a selection of sage and rosemary. Bridesmaids: Daisy flower, Dill and Dried Lavender. Flower Girl: Daisy’s. Buttonholes: Veronica flower, Daisy, yellow ball (craspedia), and Dried Lavender.

Decoration
Lots and Lots of bunting and hay bails! Lace covered Jam Jars, mismatched paintings/ old mirrors/old books/ chalkboards with poems chosen by my Dad. Old fabrics with pretty patterns draped around. Candles and festoon lighting. A bit of everything that we picked up from various places in the lead up to the big day!

Food
Canopies on arrival made by my brother. A sit down Sunday roast style meal-choice of meats/vegetable and vegetarian tarts during the day all prepared by very kind friends. In the evening my Mum and friends Mum had baked pies, quiches and we had sliced meats/ chutneys for sandwiches. My Mum also created a rustic cheese cake with baked pears/ grapes and flowers which was beautiful. The sweets were-delicious cakes/ wedding cake all prepared by The Bridge Bakehouse

Wedding Cake
We had a naked wedding cake (as we both don’t like icing!) which was more beautiful than I could have hoped-it was dressed with summer berries and flowers and it was delicious!

Entertainment

We by chance heard John playing his guitar in Macclesfield and both thought he was great and would be perfect for the informal atmosphere we wanted to create. We asked him to play the drinks reception/day and leading up to the wedding it was clear it was important to him to make sure everything was right. He didn’t disappoint! he was lovely to have around and made our day and first dance feel very personal. The evening entertainment was a barn dance-the band and caller were excellent and got everyone involved, it was just a brilliant time!

Buy or DIY your Stationery
I designed all the stationary myself in a kind of trial and error way until I figured out what I was doing! My Uncle is an artist but he lives in Australia, while he was over the Christmas before the wedding he kindly sketched the barn and the Church for us. I used these images as the background to all the stationary and overplayed some pretty vintage lace and birds (sourced from graphicsfairy). I was really pleased with how they turned out and a friend of Phil’s did all our printing.

Personal or Handmade Touches
We did most of it ourselves but we could not have done any of it without the kindness and help from friends, family and the owners of the farm-we are eternally grateful to everyone who helped us in the weeks leading up to the wedding.We made bunting from old net curtains/ any pretty floral fabrics we could source-this became a running joke at work in the lead up to the wedding, many many rock and roll Sat nights! I made jam jars covered in lace for the flowers on the church pews/ at the venue and for tea lights. My Mum made all the table runners from hessian and lace and sourced old oil lamp stands/ chandeliers from car boots/ ebay which she transformed using Annie Sloane paint to make beautiful floral centrepieces. She did this to various tubs/ pots/ all the top table chairs/benches/archways-pretty much anything that came near her was in danger of being shabby-chic’ed by the end of it! My friend and bridesmaid made all the bow ties for the pages boys and best men-at very short notice after the needle and thread defeated me! We managed to source old potato crates from an old potato farm which we dotted about and hung teacups from/ dressed with flowers. I used old mirrors/frames from charity shops to create feature walls attached to the hay bails-we also used lots of old lengths of vintage-style fabric to create these effects. I also made signs for around the venue using old pieces of wood/ chalkboard paint and copied fonts from the internet for each of the signs. My Mum also brought lots of plants and trees along which she had grown which made the whole venue feel very green and brought the outdoors in.

Special Moments
My brother and his family live in the USA so it was just wonderful having them there-seeing all our family together isn’t something that happens often and is something we’ll both cherish. Phil’s speech was also emotional and a moment I’ll always remember

Advice to other couples
Don’t worry if you haven’t as much time as you’d like -ask friends and family, ours loved having the chance to be involved. If tiny details aren’t 100% on the day-don’t sweat it -you’re the only one who’ll notice! Try and take moments to sit, breathe and absorb the day-I never believed them but it does go so fast!

Biggest surprise
Surprise guests! All turned out fine in the end and how well everyone got on, even those we were worried about!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Massive shout out to Richard and family at Thornsett Fields Farm, we could not have done it without them.
• Bow tie groom – www.mrsbowtie.com
• Cakes and desserts – www.thebridgebakehouse.com
• Bouquets – www.hayleysflowerstudio.co.uk
• Venue dressing\flowers & plants\prop & Vintage hire – [email protected]
• Barn dance – www.dgmusic.co.uk/hire-bands-artists/leicester-ceilidh-band.html
• Daytime/early evening acoustic artist – www.johnawakening.com
• Porsche Speedster car hire – www.ferraridreamcar.co.uk
• Tables and kitchen hire – www.barkequip.co.uk/Wedding.html
• Toilets – www.kniftonsmobiletoilets.co.uk
• Photography – www.weddingphotographytolove.com

For more information on Becky’s work please go to:

www.weddingphotographytolove.com
www.rtovey.com
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I’m a Steel City (Sheffield) girl, with a fun and relaxed approach to wedding photography. I love being there to document such an important day with it’s unique details, moments and all those special faces!