James and Lucie's Enchanted Forest Garden Wedding at Home by Louise Perry Weddings

Today’s wedding is super special as it takes place in the bride and groom’s own back garden. Lucie and James are lucky enough to live on a farm big enough to hold both their outdoor ceremony as well as a super cool Yurt reception. From day one they knew they wanted an enchanted forest mixed with a secret garden theme. This they carried through not only in the decoration but the rustic style natural detailing. With neutral coloured flowers and lots of greenery and foliage across the tables, a stunning display of desserts and cakes and Lucie’s breath-taking Riki Dalal gown, this wedding is just brimming with Boho goodness and so much style. Big thanks to wedding planner Louise Perry Weddings who helped put the whole day together and to Guy Collier for the images

I don’t think there are even words that can quite describe how amazing and unforgettable it was

Lucie and James were married on 14th October 2017. ‘Both were at home on the farm where we live. There is a part of the farm that where the fields meet the woodland that backs on to the farm. Aesthetically it was perfect to fit the enchanted forest setting that we were going for so it was perfect for the ceremony. The reception was in a Yurt that was set up in one of the fields, this also was the perfect location for the style of wedding we had chosen. From the very beginning James and I wanted to have an enchanted forest/secret garden style wedding, and it seemed natural to create this vision at home. We are lucky enough to be able to do this so we wanted to take advantage of this luxury. Surrounded by nature and natural beauty the farm was an idyllic canvas. Another reason for having the wedding at home was because I (Lucie) lost my Dad in 2015, we had lived at the farm as a family and I grew up there with him. For me having the wedding at home meant that in some way a part of my Dad was there with us. We had roughly 180 guests and I think it was just under a year in the planning.’

How they met
We were in a group of friends for about a year before we actually started dating. It was pretty whirlwind, we moved in together and less than a year later I fell pregnant with our son.

The proposal
James asked me to marry him in July 2014 on a visit to Rome. We were in the Sistine Chapel, and I was admiring the Michelangelo painted ceiling and James got down on one knee next to me.

How did you allocate your budget?
We gave our budget to our wedding planner, Louise Perry and she was incredible at allocating the budget in the right areas. For us it was key not to have any gaps in the day, entertainment and food were key parts of the budget for us.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
I don’t think there was much saving if I am being totally honest.

How did you choose your photographer?
Guy was recommended to us by Louise. We chose him to photograph our day because his previous work was so beautiful. I wanted to capture the emotion of the day in the photos and I felt like Guy was the best person to do that.

The dress
My dress was by Riki Dalal. My accessories were my ‘something blue’ by Sophia Webster and all my accessories were my ‘something borrowed’ from my mum.

The suit and bridesmaids
The Suit was from Fusion tailoring in Leigh on sea. And the bridesmaid dress from Blush, a beautiful wedding dress shop also in Leigh on sea.

Theme or colour scheme
Our theme was enchanted forest, and our colour scheme was in keeping with this, colour-wise we kept everything pretty neutral.

Flowers
We had cream Lilies and little cream roses, as well as a lot of foliage.

Decoration
Our decoration was pretty muted and we just kept everything as natural as possible. We had some flowers and some candles, we had some beautiful centre pieces created for our tables by Lily May Florists.

Food
James had pork and I ate the fish. All the catering was amazing.

The wedding cake
We had a 3-tier cake, the first tier was vanilla and white chocolate ganache filling with raspberry conserve. The second was honey with honey buttercream filling and the third was orange blossom cake. It was covered in buttercream with a plain finish. That was also incredible.

Entertainment
For the ceremony, we had a singer who played the acoustic guitar, during the sit-down dinner we had a jazz pianist and then for the main reception we had Festival nights, a folk band and then a DJ to take us through to the night.

Who supplied the stationery?
This was supplied by The Finer Details. Louise, Our planner recommended her and she captured exactly wat we wanted.

Personal touches
The whole day had personal touches throughout, I had a real image in my head of how it would look and so I was very conscious of bringing those ideas to life, right down to the smallest details.

Special moments
A definite highlight for me was seeing all the guests having a great time, smiling and laughing. It was so beautiful.

Advice for other couples
In hindsight, I would have liked to have been less anxious in the lead up, I had it in my head that something was bound to go wrong. My advice would be to remain calm, if you have a wedding planner, have faith and trust them, they know what they are doing.

Biggest surprise
The biggest surprise for me was the weather, after almost two weeks of solid rain leading up to the day, we were blessed with the most beautiful warm and sunny day.