I’m thrilled to be sharing the festival inspired wedding of Rebecca and Gary with you lovely lot on this dreary Monday morning. It is full of smiles, sunshine and colourful blooms – which, I’m sure you’ll agree, we all definitely need a MASSIVE dose of.
Like the beautiful images from Dasha Caffrey, Rebecca’s wedding report has so much heart and warmth, it’ll make you wish that you were her friend AND that you could’ve attended WedFest.
Rebecca managed to pull off this gorgeous affair with a tiny baby in tow, a lack of accommodation for family and friends due to The Goodwood Festival being held on the same weekend, AND being double booked by her original photographer. Seriously? Amazingly calm and collected!
I’m in love with her choice of flowers, in shades of hot pink, sunshine yellow and coral, they really are to-die-for…but wait until you see the giant flower ball. It is truly epic.
Rebecca The Bride: As children of the sticks a rural location suited us. We wanted one that we could play a bit with, but that had some wow about it. Grittenham Barn won us over super quick, with its chilled atmosphere, resident donkeys and understated beauty.
As our wedding was festival themed, I wanted a floaty, bohemian and vintage dress. Luella’s Boudoir has them in abundance and nothing was too much trouble for Rachel and Philippa. Without a sniff of pretention, they lifted my spirits when I felt my body was more baby than bride and I love that we had a big hug on my final visit.
Wedfest was born out of the joy we get from gigs, festivals and fields and the colour scheme was based on the colours that make me smile. I’m not selfish; Gary just didn’t give two hoots about coral, hot pink and sunshine yellow!
We sourced vintage fabric and wallpaper and made pretty much everything, from signs and bunting to a photo booth wall, a giant R & G and table names named after gigs we had been to.
Alongside my massive bouquet of oversized peonies, sweet roses and craspedia (amongst others), which I didn’t let go of until the lights went out…we had flowers hanging from chairs, in kilner jars on the tables and vintage bottles on the fireplace, even woven into the donkeys head collars. But it was the whopping great flower ball that was the most amaze of balls!
“I love you, like you love mash and peas.” Not your average wedding vow granted, but it was important to us that our civil ceremony reflected and celebrated our 9.5 years of togetherness.
“I’ve done a really stupid thing. I’ve double booked you.” The words of our photographer a week before our wedding. So began a hasty search and thank the photography lord for the lovely Dasha Caffrey, who gave up her only free Saturday for us. We have her to thank for capturing every moment of joy and the smiles of every guest. She cured me of my camera phobia and messing about with her in a field in the evening light is a wonderful memory.
Our invites set the tone for our Wedfest and probably got more compliments than we did! My incredibly talented friend Nigel designed them based on a loose brief of a festival flyer and adapted the artwork for our table plan and place settings.
Everyone tells you to take a moment because it goes too quick and it does (especially on a hot day drinking sloe gin cocktails)! Our moment was in a field above the barn. We looked back at everyone enjoying our wedding. It made us grin. Another one is get it filmed. GET IT FILMED. Do not rely on your giddy teenage daughter who will only film her friends doing silly dancing.
Finally, I am now an advocate of a mini moon followed by a belated honeymoon. Prolong the magic. We are about to head off to The Seychelles four months later and be newlyweds all over again. Come on Mr Ruffell our cabin awaits.
Photography by Dasha Caffrey
Venue Grittenham Barn | Dress Charlotte Casadejus | Boutique Luella’s Boudoir | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Hair & Make up Melissa Oldrigge | Band Fake Tan | Florist Angel Like Flowers | Stationery Nigel Gledhill | Flowergirl dresses Monsoon UK | Catering Alexandra’s Kitchen