It's Such a Perfect Day...

I remember the delight I felt back at the beginning of this year, when my daughter asked if I would help her create a vintage themed wedding for her and her fiancé, to take place in the autumn. You see, all through childhood, my 3 daughters showed little interest in my passion for old things. Yes they were always good thrifters and often found bargains to fill their wardrobes from the local charity shops, but for the most part, anything else second-hand that I would come home with, usually met with a roll of the eyes from them all. I think it was mostly that feeling of uneasiness that children can experience when friends visit their home for the first time - Ours wasn't perhaps the 'coolest' and certainly not the most modern, which may have been what they had wished for at the time, but slowly I think they realised that many of their friends liked to visit our house because it was welcoming, homely and comfortable. At the time it must have been character building, for now none of our girls really follow the rules, or try to conform...

Anyway, as we chatted, it was clear to me that my daughter knew exactly what she wanted for all aspects of her wedding day. The challenge was to achieve it on a very tight budget. I am proud to say that we spent a fraction of what many would consider the average spend for a wedding these days...It took a lot of work, regular early mornings visiting car boot sales, fairs and flea markets, and hours spent making things, baking cakes, creating the outfits for the main wedding party and planning every detail. But the rewards were of course worthwhile and the smallish dent to our purses can easily be endured. 

Here we go...

As well as the vintage theme running throughout, a reflection of the season was also important to my daughter. Having booked a local village hall for the reception, we decided to decorate the tables with an abundance of vintage goodies, colourful autumnal flowers, harvested berries and vegetables, and some personal touches such as framed photographs of the happy couple (and their little one!)

Over the months we collected vintage duvet covers and bed sheets in floral designs of orange, yellow, pink and green. The tablecloths needed to cover 6' trestle tables, so a large piece of fabric was required. After opening up the duvet covers, I was able to seam them where necessary to create the right lengths, with generous drops on each side.

Any fabric left over was cut into a pennant shape for bunting (we wanted LOTS!). Any smaller off-cuts of fabric were cut into diddy triangles to make mini bunting to dress the bar area and buffet room.

Photo by Andrew Brannan Photography.


Another textile project was to cover this old Raleigh Shopper bike in vintage floral fabrics...like you do!! :)


I used PVA glue and scraps of heavy weight furnishing fabrics which I smoothed on to the bike frame, saddle etc. I also lined the shopping basket on the front and wired a little green wicker basket to the back.




The baskets were filled with plants that I bought for a couple of pounds from my local car boot sale. I added bunting across the front of the bike with the word 'welcome' stencilled across it. The bike stood in the foyer of the village hall to welcome guests as they arrived for their warmed mulled cider - served by Jill and Reg - thank you guys! - You were stars! 
;-))

Vintage china was of course another major feature and was another thing we were constantly on the look out for...
Autumnal shades were first choice, but it soon became apparent we may not be able to be that focused with the time factor involved.

Dinner plates for over 100 guests to serve themselves to the buffet...

I made the cutlery pouches for each guest too.

We did all the catering ourselves, including making chutneys...

And a huge array of cakes, which were mostly family recipes.

We were even sent a traditional New Zealand cake recipe from my eldest daughter who lives there at the moment, which meant, unfortunately, she was unable to attend the wedding. My youngest made the cake, which included kumara (sweet potato), pineapple and kiwi fruit amongst its ingredients. 

Photo by Andrew Brannan

Tea plates for serving slices of cakes.

We also bought lots of vintage tea pots and jugs for holding flowers...

The tea pots were filled with viola plants, which we displayed on each table standing on piles of antique books. (Both bride and groom love reading, which was another personal connection to them. We also used antique sheet music where we could as my new son-in-law plays the guitar.)

So, as the big day drew near, my Mum came to stay with us...
On the Wednesday we visited my friend Debbie, whose neighbour had promised us as many hydrangea flowers as we'd like to pick...for nothing! 

We ended up filling three dustbin bags with them - The colours were beautiful, ranging from deep reds to soft pinks and greens. They became the perfect base to our floral creations, making our lack of floristry knowledge and skills less of an issue...

On Thursday morning we went for a walk to the local fields around my home. We foraged branches of hawthorn berries, blackberries and rose hips to add another nod to autumn to our displays. I also picked some of the sedum flowers growing in my garden. 

We then spent the rest of the day (that's my Mum, my youngest and me) flower arranging.

(These particularly beautiful hydrangeas are what I saved to make the bridal bouquets)

We ended up with masses of little posies to spread amongst the guests tables at the reception.

We even added a few feathers in there too.

For some of the larger displays, we threaded a few artificial flowers in amongst, but all in all, I am chuffed to think the whole floral content for the wedding cost us virtually nothing! :) 

Last minute jobs, before the setting up of the hall could begin, included sharing boxes of chocolates onto plates for guests...

Nuts too!

And preparing lots of fresh salads and cold meats. 

Then at around 6pm on Friday evening, (the earliest we were allowed to get into the hall), we loaded up the cars with everything that we'd prepared, to start the mammoth task of dressing the hall for the reception. 

This was the head table, which we actually placed in the centre of the room, surrounded by tables for guests. I wasn't sure how this was going to work, but my daughter was adamant this is what she wanted rather than one long table at the end of the hall, which would make it difficult for us all to chat. I have to admit, she was completely correct...it worked a treat. 

There are so many details I could mention, 

Like the hand made corsages for the girls...

and the boys...

The matching place cards for the head tables...

And the typewriters for friends to leave their messages for the guest book...

but I fear I may be boring you...

(I am thinking of putting together a short self-published book about all the hand crafted items, to show you don't need to spend a fortune to have a perfect day.)

Photo by Andrew Brannan
I would just like to mention my daughters beautiful bridal gown though.  She bought a fairly inexpensive evening gown from a high street chain...

Photo by Andrew Brannan

And embellished it by hand with antique lace, brooches and buttons.  Another huge saving on the cost of the wedding...and a wonderful reflection on my daughter's skill, who studied fashion and textiles at uni. She looked sooo beautiful on her wedding day...I can't stop looking at the photos.

Photo by Andrew Brannan.

She also made her own headpiece  She used some antique French  lilac flowers which some of you may have seen in the past in a vase in our living room. (They can be seen on our mantelpiece under the bauble wreath on this Xmas post.) I've had them for years, but they proved to be the perfect colour to go with my daughters dress. 
Photo by Andrew Brannan.
So, the stage was set...On Saturday morning my Mum, Dad and me headed off to the hall to deliver all the food and arrange on the plates. When I got back I hand-tied the hydrangea bouquets for the bride and two bridesmaids with antique lace...then to get ready myself!
***
As we drove to the ceremony, my gorgeous girl asked me if I thought it would be OK for her to be bare foot, as the little sandals she had bought were uncomfortable…I thought ‘why change the habit of a lifetime – just do it!’  I love the fact that she ended up walking down the isle bare foot…it sums her up – she was always my ‘wild child’ and a bit of a gypsy…A last minute decision  but one of our best! - I'm so glad our wonderful photographer was able to capture this memory for always…

Photo by Andrew Brannan.

They were married at The Little Theatre In Bath. 
Another of the highlights was that our eldest daughter, unable to attend the wedding, (as I mentioned she is living in New Zealand) - sent a short film congratulating the happy couple,  which was shown on the screen at the end of the ceremony. Sniff...


Photo by Andrew Brannan.


Photo by Andrew Brannan.


Photo by Andrew Brannan. 

Photo by Andrew Brannan. 

Photo by Andrew Brannan. 

It was a magical day - one which we shall never forget. Its great to have such a lovely son-in-law, who I know thinks the world of our Marrissa and also their own little girl. They are a young couple and the simple ceremony and style suited them - fun was the order of the day! 

**

Photographer Andy was with us from Saturday morning, taking shots of us all getting ready (we had a houseful that morning with 13 of us all getting our glad rags on!) - to the evening celebrations at the village hall. I can't recommend him enough. If you'd like to see all the photos that he took from the day, they can be seen here.

His website also features some of his favourite shots as part of his portfolio. 

 

Sorry this was such a long indulgent post, but the wedding has been a huge part of our lives this year and I didn't want to forget some of the details, which I shall now be able to look back on here on my blog in the future.

Niki x