George and Phaedra’s ‘Cider Fest’ Somerset Wedding with Lots of Vintage Country Charm. By Helen Lisk

Today’s wedding is a beauty, It comes from sunny Somerset and is full of spring time sunshine and lost of country goodness. It has all the things I love about country weddings, Tipi’s, hay bales, amazing sunsets, golden light and a relaxed laid back feeling to the whole day. There has been so much thought and care put into this wedding, as you will see from all the beautiful details and hand made elements. It has all been captured perfectly by Helen Lisk who did a wonderful job of bringing the day to life.

‘A spring-time, magical, vintage, English countryside, tipi, cider-fest!’

Phaedra and George were married on 25th May 2013. The wedding took place at Hinton St. George Church with the reception at the orchards of Perry’s Cider Mills in Dowlish Wake, Somerset. ‘I love church wedding ceremonies so knew I wanted to get married in the church where I went to Primary school in Hinton St George. I have a lot of fond memories of going there with friends when we were kids. George was less sure to begin with but once we’d met the vicar – a lovely woman who made a real effort to get to know us he agree. The orchards at Perry’s Cider mills were an obvious choice for us for the reception because it’s George’s family business. They’ve been making cider there for four generations so it has a lot of history for them and when you’ve got a setting as beautiful as the orchards why would you consider anything else? The prospect of having to organise everything myself was daunting – its not a public wedding venue – but at the same time I knew we would want the freedom to do exactly want we wanted to do and not be tied into certain caterers or decorations or timings. It meant we could make it really personal to us. The decision was final when we saw some images of tipis in a magazine. We knew we wouldn’t be happy with anything else! We had 97 guests for the day and about 140 in total for the evening. We got engaged 11 months before getting married and started planning it about a month after getting engaged.’

How they met
We met at secondary school aged 13 years old but we didn’t get together until about six months after university when we were 22. It took a bit of nudging on the part of our friends for us each to think that maybe we both liked each other more than friends – I think they cottoned on a lot sooner than we did! We’ve been together a little over nine years now.

The proposal
I don’t think (or didn’t think!) either of us had given much thought to getting married other than thinking it was something other people did when they were grown up! We’d spent the previous two years at weddings, one year managing ten weddings in 12 months including each of the stag and hen dos – so that and our work kept us pretty busy! I didn’t think George was too bothered and I was happy for us to buy a house as the next step so when George proposed on the last night on holiday in Ibiza (the quiet side) I was so shocked he had to ask several times before I actually said yes! George is so terrible at keeping secrets and doesn’t often do romantic gestures that I just thought I would always know if he decided to pop the question. He’d bought the ring the day before we went on holiday, telling me he was going to Currys to look at printers and ink and then spent the week “waiting for the right moment”. Looking back I can’t believe I didn’t realise when he was so persistent in finding a nice place to eat on the last night.
He popped the question at the end of a gorgeous meal in a restaurant. We were the only ones there as it was late and we were sat outside in the garden area surrounded by twinkling Morrocan lanterns. Neither of us can remember what we were talking about but he suddenly announced “Yes, now is the right moment!” and a funny look came over his face and he started wrestling with something in his pocket before pulling out a sparkling ring and asking “Will you Marry me?” If he hadn’t had a ring I would have thought he’d just had far too much to drink! When I told the waitress she ran off to the kitchens where we heard all these girls squealing! They came out with the owner to all congratulate us bringing shots of the local herbal tipple and chocolate desserts. Then despite the fact it was already close to midnight they left us there for a couple of hours while we just chatted away. We were so distracted we forgot to tip so had to return there again the next day to say a proper thank you!

Why did you choose your photographer?
I was looking for images of Hinton St George church online to show George and some of Helen Lisk’s images came up because she’d photographed a wedding there the year before. When I looked through the images on her website I really like how they told the story of the wedding day and that there weren’t lots of posed photos or photos of people doing daft, traditional style, cheesy photos. We also thought the way she captured light in the images was beautiful.
Helen offered to travel up to meet us to show us more of her work which was fantastic as we also wanted to know we would feel comfortable and relaxed around our photographer. I also wanted a female photographer as I knew I would feel more relaxed having a woman with us when getting ready in the morning.
As soon as George met Helen and looked through her photos he agreed she was our photographer. We didn’t meet or look at anyone else and narrowed down our wedding date by her availability!

The dress
My dress was by Justin Alexander and I bought it from Ann Harding in Bristol. It was actually the first dress I tried on after describing to the assistant what I definitely didn’t want and that I liked the idea of lace. I tried on lots and lots after but always came back to the same one. The shoes were from Lightinthebox.com and I added the flowers myself. I knew I wanted wedges because we would be in an orchard but it took ages to find a pair! The sash and headdress were handmade by a very talented friend, Rose Goddard. The headdress included a brooch of my mum’s and a necklace given to her by her grandmother. For the sash we started with the spare beads from the bridesmaid dresses and then I had the idea of incorporating a bee into the centre, simply because I love bees, but it had to be subtle so people would only notice when they looked more closely. I was ecstatic with both pieces.

The suit and bridesmaids
George’s suit was from Paul Smith. After trying on tails to hire he just didn’t feel comfortable and the fit wasn’t that great. He also felt that tails were too formal for a reception in tipis in the orchard. I was really keen for him to wear a waistcoat because I think three piece suits look gorgeous and I’m really pleased he went for this. We asked the ushers and groomsmen to wear any suit they felt comfortable with, with a white shirt and then bought them each a tie in the same shade as the bridesmaid dresses,
The bridesmaid dresses were by Jenny Packham from Debenhams and I paid £40 each for them in the sale instead of £100. Again I didn’t want anything too formal and had dark grey in my mind but didn’t think we’d find something that suited all four bridesmaids. They all looked absolutely stunning on the day. Their shoes were also from Debenhams (Roland cartier) and they gave us a discount for buying four pairs.

Theme or colour scheme
I knew I wanted peach flowers so we started there. I thought peach was pretty and traditional without being too girly. We decided to throw some pink and white flowers in too for good measure and that made up the colour scheme for the church!
In the tipis – which were the main focal point really – I wanted it to be casual, thrown together with a splattering of vintage country charm and Spring. George didn’t want it to be too prissy so I spent a lot of time looking through magazines, pinterest and blogs to build up a picture of what it would all look like so that we were both happy.
I also wanted to weave some bees throughout the day as I love them and they tied in with the countryside setting. The table names were birds, pondlife and mammals of the British Isles. And we had cider. Lots and lots of cider!

Flowers
I was completely set on peach peonies, my bouquet included peach and pink peonies, peach roses, white daisies and hypericum. The peonies were closed when we were inside but I didn’t realise they open in sunlight – as we were walking to the church they started to pop open and they were just so beautiful!
The bridesmaids bouquets were made up of peach carnations, peach roses, daisies and hypericum. .
We used peach roses and white baby’s breath for the button holes at the suggestions of my florist and they looked gorgeous.
The florist, Rachel Hill was such a star. I didn’t really know the names of any flowers or where to start so how she managed to take my ramblings and last minute requests
We did the rest of the flowers in the church and in the tipis ourselves the day before the wedding. Ordering a mixture of pink stocks, green, white and yellow chrysanthemums, peach carnations, white freesias, purple michelmas daises and baby’s breath from our florist. In the church we stuck to just peach and white but in the tipis we used the flowers to really add some colour to the occasion! One of our ushers made the wooden flower boxes for the tables and I collected and borrowed loads of old jars and vintage milk bottles which we placed in the boxes and then filled each one with a different flower at different heights. We then placed moss around the jars to fill the boxes out and then placed them on each table.

Food
We had canapés with elderflower presse and prosecco in the orchard on arrival – spicy potato cakes, garlic king prawns, chicken skewers and mini peking duck pancakes.
We had sharing platters bought to the tables for starters, a mixture of different breads, hummus, aubergine and tomato salsa, tzatziki and lamb kebabs decorated with wild flowers.
The main course was chicken filled with asparagus and herbs with a Perry’s Cider cream sauce, creamy mashed potato and seasonal veg. For the vegetarians there was a honeyed sweet potato and chick pea stew.
Dessert was again sharing platters of chocolate brownies, mini brown sugar meringues with cream and fresh fruit – half pineapples filled with strawberries, kiwis and melon and tea and coffee served at the table in the vintage crockery.
In the evening we had roast pork baps with homemade stuffing and apple sauce, fresh salads, halloumi and veg kebabs and a selection of cheeses and chutneys.
My mum also went on a cake baking mission and made these incredible tiers of white, milk and dark chocolate cakes that went down a treat with all the guests!
The kids just had smaller portions of the adult’s food.

Entertainment
We had two bands – one for the day and one for the evening – The Beehives and Four on the Floor and I found both through Gumtree having despaired trying to find a decent band for a decent price through agencies.
I was so happy with both bands. Both the singers had gorgeous voices, engaged with the guests and were so flexible and willing to learn new songs and help make things more personal to us. I loved having music in the church and during the drinks reception – it really added to the whole atmosphere. Everyone commented on how fantastic both groups were and all ages were up on the dance floor with both groups throughout the evening.
For the kids they pretty much entertained themselves playing together outside but I did make up party bags for them for during the speeches.

Decoration
We we placed simple white flowers in vintage bottles on the window ledges of the church and for pew ends I’d bought some green foliage hearts that we hung from every other pew end.

Outside of the Tipis we placed straw bales with blankets over them in a circle round a firepit. We hired deck chairs from the tipi company, placed fairy lights in the orchard, fire sticks to light the way to the toilets and car park and borrowed lanterns with tea lights in for the apple trees. When I stepped outside in the evening and the ushers had dutifully lit the fire and every tea light it completely took my breath away.
Inside the tipis we borrowed bunting and placed it around two of the tipis. We strung curtains of fairy lights and hung paper lanterns. We had round tables as I find it easier to talk to people on these and we had white linen and bought hessian table runners from Ebay. Our friend made the wooden flower boxes, I borrowed the vintage bottles and jars and we filled them with flowers ourselves. We bought postcard prints from the same illustrator who made our invitations. I hired vintage side plates and tea cups and saucers which we tied hand written place names on luggage labels and the Seeds for Bees favours placed on top.

In the chillout tipi we had strawbales for seating and covered them with pretty fabrics. We had a firepit in the middle for warmth and a big Morrocan lantern hanging from the centre. George made the bar from a couple of cider barrels and a piece of MDF! He bought wine barrels for low tables for people’s drinks when sitting down. We dotted around some more small Moroccan lanterns which we borrowed and some of the extra flowers for good measure!

My mum made the three tier wedding cake and her friend made all the apple blossom from sugar. I bought two Sylvanian families as cake toppers and we displayed it on a barrel in the centre of the tipis. We borrowed some signs our friend had made for her wedding to direct the guests through the country lanes. We’ve got some old, rusty bikes in the cider museum so we took one of these and hung a sign off that too!

Personal / DIY touches.
• Just before we left for the church I gave the bridesmaids gifts – I gave each a necklace with a tiny bee on it and these cute fine metal bee magnets from Iceland.
• We made the save the dates ourselves using luggage labels and individual letter stamps and ribbon with rabbits on it. Having completed them we knew we did not want to make the invitations ourselves!
• A Bristol based screen printing artist called Tom Frost who’s been working with George designing new labels for the cider designed and printed our invites.
• Essentially I enlisted the help of a lot of artistic and talented friends and family, and friends of friends who were able to take what I was describing to them and then go off and make it for us.

Special moments
• Waking up and getting ready with all my bridesmaids and mum at the village pub was really special and doing it away from the hustle and bustle of home meant it was really relaxed and fun.
• I was so happy the weather was fine because we chose to walk to the church. The walk up with my dad, who had been going to physio for a year to build up the strength in his leg following on from a stroke and my bridesmaids was wonderful
• George didn’t know what I was going to walk in to – I chose Mumford and Sons I will Wait for You which given I was unintentionally twenty minutes late gave everyone a bit of a giggle when we finally got there!
• One of my favourite parts of the day was when the church doors opened and I saw everyone inside smiling at me! I just hadn’t thought about the church being full, and full of everyone I wanted to be there all beaming at me!
• The readings were beautiful.
• For our wedding car we borrowed George’s dad’s old MG midget. When we were first dating George used to pick me up in the Midget to go for drives in the countryside. It hadn’t been started in years and the local mechanic was panicking that it wouldn’t work on the day.
• And the speeches! My dad gave what can only be described as a Benny Hill stand up comic act which had everyone in stitches, George gave me a bestman’s speech which had me crying with laughter and the bestman was in his element – striding around exacting his revenge for when George was his bestman!
• I appear to be listing the entire day so I’ll stop there – clearly I enjoyed every minute – even the bit where the bridesmaids had to cut me out of my dress because George had passed out!

Biggest surprise of the day?
The weather and all the blossom! Its unusual for any blossom to still be out at the end of May – the fact that every tree came out in full blossom on our wedding day is quite remarkable! The orchards have never looked so pretty.
Then just seeing and experiencing the whole thing come together – Stepping out of the tipis as the sun was setting to see that the ushers had hung lanterns with tealights in the trees and had lit them all alongside burning stakes and a fire – the whole thing just looked magical – it really took my breath away and made me realise what a wonderful set of friends and family we have. We really couldn’t have done it without all their help.

Advice
• Keep an eye on how much the groom is drinking in the evening ha ha! Especially when you have a free bar!
• But seriously, surround yourself with people you trust, who care about your wedding day as much as you and who you know will be willing and able to help you out and keep you calm. Its suprising how many things have to be done in the morning that neither the bride nor groom can do and also how frequently suppliers can call you the day before you get married wanting to triple check everything!
• Make sure you know exactly what needs doing and when because everyone will want to help and have a lot of questions so if you already know what you need people to do this will mean you’ll be able to enjoy the experience rather than feel stressed by it – plus people really do want to get involved and feel a part of the day.
• Give the ushers, bestman and father-of-the-groom a detailed list of timings and things to do. I also shared the timings for the day with the photographer and caterers so they knew what was happeneing and when.
• Also if you are organising all aspects of your wedding yourself you do need to be really organised and plan ahead. I had spreadsheets and timeframes and folders with dividers for each supplier as there were so many different ones involved

Supplier shout Outs

Special thanks go to our photographer, florist, the bands, Rose Singleton, the caterers, The Lord Poulett Arms, and Sanctuary Tents but really I want to thank all our amazing suppliers and the whole bridal party as everyone provided us with a fantastic service and no one let us down on the day! 

• Venue: Hinton St George Church and Perry’s Cider, Dowlish Wake, Somerset www.perryscider.co.uk
• Accommodation: The Lord Poulett Arms www.lordpoulettarms.com
• Photographer: Helen Lisk www.helenliskphotography.co.uk
• Tipis: James, Sanctuary Tents, www.sanctuarytents.com
• Catering & linen: Caroline Gent www.carolinegentcatering.com
• Florist: Rachel Hill, Rodfords www.rodfordstheflorist.co.uk
• Bands: The Beehives www.thebeehives.co.uk and Four on the Floor www.weddingbandwestmidlands.co.uk
• Hair and Make up (Bride, Mother-of-the-bride): Cara, Bridal Beauty Makeovers www.bridalbeautymakeovers.com
• Hair and Make up (Bridesmaids):  Studio CCK, www.studiocck.co.uk
• Wedding Cakes: Helen Neal (mother-of-the-bride) and Tina Hedditch (sugar flowers)
• Bridal headpiece and sash: Rose Goddard  www.homemadebyrose.com
  
• Wedding dress shop: Anne Harding www.anneharding.com
• Toilets: Premier Luxury Loos www.premierluxuryloos.co.uk
• Tables and Chairs: Archers Marquees www.archersmarquees.co.uk
• Crockery and Catering equipment: Butterflies www.butterflies-hire.com
• Vintage crockery: Vintage Boo
• Rings: John Titcombe www.johntitcombe.co.uk
• Invitations and table names: Tom Frost www.theboyfrost.blogspot.co.uk
• Order of service: Chard Digital Printing
• Seeds for Bees Favours: English Cottage garden Nursery Ltd www.wildflower-favours.co.uk
• Mens Pocketchiefs and fabrics for straw bales: Piglets Pincushion www.stores.ebay.co.uk/Piglets-Pincushion

For more information on Helen’s work go to: 

www.helenliskphotography.co.uk
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