Autumn Wedding at Kent Life in Maidstone

Today’s wedding is brought to you by my good friend Jess Petrie, adn it’s the beautiful autumn wedding of Dawn and Martin who were married on 10th October. Both the ceremony and reception were held at Kent Life in Maidstone. ‘We loved the fact that everything was all in the same place and it was like a little village. Also the menu that was available was perfect for our day. We knew straight away that we want our wedding there. Jo McInnes from Zest Catering was amazing. We had 60 guests during the day and about 100 for the evening party,we got engaged in March and the wedding was in October.’

Dawn and Martin's Peter Pan Themed Autumn Wedding by Jess Petrie

Set on a farm this wedding is totally relaxed and full of personality. Jess has done a wonderful job of capturing this gorgeous autumn day, the low light and soft tones really add to the romance and softness, I just love it! Congratulations to Dawn and Martin on a wonderful day!

How they met
We met while both working for the same company, Martin was managing a photography studio in Gravesend, while I was working at the Head Office in Cheshire. I helped Martin with an order he was having problems with and we became friends chatting every other day. A few months on and we decided we would go on a date and that when we started seeing each other.
As you can imagine it was difficult because it was a long distance relationship. We made the decision after 4 months I would move down to Kent. We have been together for 5 years 8 months.

The proposal
We were at a concert watching up and coming indie band Van Susans, who Martin knows as he has shot their album cover. I didn’t realise but before the show Martin had asked Olly, the lead singer, to dedicate a song to us so in front 500 people, Olly introduced the song with “This is for 2 friends of mine, Martin hopes you say yes….”.

The dress
I had been trying dresses on and found the dress I loved, but not the price-tag, so I contacted Julia Cartlidge from Silken Stories (Congletion Cheshire) and we managed to come up with a similar design, it was just perfect. Shoes – Next. Accessories – Alan Hannah. Underwear – Fauve by Fantasie (Figleaves)

The suit
The Groom – Next suit and Converse trainers. Martin also had a hand made bow tie by www.faithbarber.com. Bridesmaids dresses – Kaliko, Bridemaid shoes – Next .

Theme or colour scheme
As it was October, we wanted a very natural autumnal theme as this would fit in well with the venue being a farm; we had a few pumpkins without it being overly Halloween themed. There were also touches of Peter Pan (this was the book that Martin first read to me over the phone when we first got together) such as the table names.

wedding ceremony at Kent Life, Maidstone

Food
Starter: Assiette of Prawns dressed in Marie Rose sauce and served with crusty bread
Main Course: Individual Steak, Portabello Mushroom and Spitfire Ale Pie with puff pastry lid.
Dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding with butterscotch sauce

Entertainment
We had a band call the Van Susans, they are friends of ours and were delighted when we asked if they would play a set.

Flowers
Bouquet and flowers – made by Sheila Gregory from Flowercraft in Holmes Chapel. Ivory Roses and chocolate coloured ribbon loops in my bouquet. Ivory roses and chocolate coloured leaves in the wrist corsages for the bridesmaids. The top table arrangement had ivory roses and autumnal leaves and berries. Table centres were Autumnal Topiary Trees
Ivory roses for the buttonholes – these were by Gwenda Wilkes from Vintage Floral Design

Kent Groom at wedding ceremony at Kent Life, Maidstone

Kent Bride and Groom at wedding ceremony at Kent Life, Maidstone

Kent Bride at wedding ceremony at Kent Life, Maidstone

Decoration
• For the tables the decorations were quite simple; we had the topiary trees sat on a round mirrors, confetti made out of a Peter Pan book, Conkers collected by us, gold skeleton leaves and tea lights.
• Behind the toptable we strung a song lyric (“One day we’ll get married on a hillside”), this was made out of different coloured card for each Letter. We felt this was appropriate as we got engaged to this song and we were on a hill.
• The Cupcake stands were vinyl records in the shape of cake stands
• The favours were a compilation CD of our favourite songs.
• We had 2 Ferrero Rocher sweet trees
• In the Ceremony room we had various carved pumpkins, as well as the large capital letters, hanging hearts on the chairs and seating cards for family members.
• Kent life provided the green archway and we decorated this in a Hop bind, Lavender, and Wooden Hanging hearts.

wedding reception at Kent Life maiadstone

Personal / DIY touches
• The Invitations, Menus, Table Names and Tableplan – we printed on 300gsm acrylic card and for the tableplan we bought a cream framed pin board and attached the seating lists and silhouettes onto it.
• Heart Shaped drawing pins for the tableplan – Wooden hearts off the internet, painted red and glued onto drawing pins.
• Table confetti – made by a heart shaped hole punch, the book we used was Peter Pan
• The CDs and CD cover – we got CDs that looked like vinyl records and burnt our favourite songs on them. The cover was a picture of conkers arranged in a heart shape; Martin took the picture and printed them out.
• Postbox – My Dad made it
• Capital Letters – My Mum made them out of Cardboard and cheap wallpaper
• Confetti Cones – Out of pages of Peter Pan
• Wrapping Paper – I was unable to find a wrapping paper or gift bags that I liked, so I bought some plain brown parcel paper and bags and potato printed hearts all over them.
• Name cards for the ceremony room – made out of luggage labels.

Special moments
The weather was fantastic considering it was October and had been raining the day before. Also how chilled out and relaxed it was.

Advice
Have a dress made rather than get one from a shop. Make your own invitations and stationary. Have a make-up lesson and buy your make up rather than get a beautician, but make sure you practice.