Relaxed Colourful & Fun Floral Marquee Wedding

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This has to be one of the smiliest, happy real weddings ever and I just love it! We are joined by WWW readers Alice and Lee with their Bordesley Park wedding in Worcestershire, which was held on the 28th September 2019.

Alice and Lee live in Australia and they did not only plan their wedding from the other side of the world, but they did it all in just 6 months. Proof that wedding planning can go super smoothly even with potential obstacles. Theirs was a day filled with colour and flowers, plus personal meaningful touches. For example a charity donation in lieu of favours and a very special humanist wedding ceremony. Isn’t that just lovely?

I’ve not even mentioned the gorgeous attire and just how wonderfully the marquee was decorated either! You are going to love it all. Lisa Carpenter Photography thank you so much for sharing these absolutely beautiful images with us.

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Bordesley Park Wedding

The Proposal

Lee planned a weekend away for us at an amazing hotel called Tumbling Waters just south of Sydney, where we live. We usually plan things together, so I’ll be honest, as soon as he told me he’d arranged a weekend away for us I had a pretty strong inkling he might propose and had my nails done just in case. We had an amazing room complete with a bathtub on the balcony and views of the forest and sea. We spent the Saturday morning at the beach, then having amazing spa treatments. That afternoon as we were sitting on the balcony, looking out at the ocean, drinking champagne, Lee asked me to marry him. It was perfect!

The Vision

Lee and I are both from the UK, but we met in Sydney and have lived here since. The most important thing to us when visualising our wedding was that our family and friends in the UK would be there to celebrate with us. In these crazy covid times we realise how lucky we were to be able to have this for our wedding! We wanted a big party, with great music, delicious food and most importantly, all the people we love there with us, so we quickly decided that we’d get married in the UK. Living in Australia, we have developed even more appreciation for the beautiful British countryside and we wanted to have our wedding in the countryside, with lots of nature and lots of light.

For me, a big part of the vision was the flowers, I love colour and wanted lots of beautiful, wildflowers and bright colours in our day.

The Planning Process

Lee proposed a week before I had a 2 week trip back to the UK to spend Easter with my family. So, less than 48 hours after he proposed I was on the phone to the Birmingham registry office to investigate registering our intent to marry as I knew a friend who’d had difficulty with this. We did too and in the end we were unable to have our legal wedding in the UK, but that meant we had our ceremony with our amazing Humanist celebrant Hannah Bryant, so everything worked out perfectly!

While I was back in the UK, I ended up buying my dress and seeing our venue, loving it and provisionally booking it. Fortunately, Lee trusted my judgement and even in my very poor phone snaps and videos he could see what a beautiful space it was.

We got engaged at the end of March and recently had some friends who’d arranged their wedding in less than 6 months. I always thought it had to take a year or more, but we were able to organise ours in 6 months. As our wedding was just outside of peak wedding season in the UK, every supplier we contacted was available so it was actually a very smooth planning process.

Most things we were able to organise online and we had a few FaceTime chats with Hannah, our celebrant, Lisa, our photographer and Ben, at the venue. The joys of Pinterest and wedding bogs like this, is that it’s so easy to share the ideas you have and your vision, this was so helpful for things like bridesmaid dresses, flowers, cake and decor.

The planning process was actually really relaxed and easy. The week before the wedding was probably the only time it got a bit stressful, making sure everything was where it needed to be. We had amazing support from all of the suppliers, especially Ben at Bordesley Park, who gave us so much calm and helpful advice based on his experience of so many weddings, but also listened to exactly what we wanted and helped us make that happen.

Take a look at our ultimate wedding checklist. Wedding planning made easy.

The Venue

I came across Bordesley Park through our amazing florist, Clair of Bella Lily Flowers, who is a good friend of my sister. She’s done lots of weddings there and I’d seen photos on her Facebook and loved the space. I enquired about September availability and then went to have a look and absolutely loved it. Bordesley Park was about 20 minutes drive from my sister’s house in Cotteridge, South Birmingham, but it feels like you’re in the middle of the countryside.

You can’t see any roads or buildings from the orchard, just green hills and sky, it’s so beautiful and was exactly what we were hoping for. Another huge bonus was that everything we needed was already at the venue and we didn’t have to hire a marquee or furniture and they offered a selection of caterers.

Ben, the venue manager, was an amazing support throughout the planning process and was there for the whole day of our wedding until we left the venue. He was so calm and helped us to feel relaxed and just enjoy the planning process and of course, the day itself.

We chose Rustic Roast as our caterers. I’m a vegetarian, so we wanted a menu that would have a good veggie option. We opted for a mezze style menu with lots of delicious, fresh sharing dishes, giving a more relaxed and social dining experience. The caterers worked with us to tweak the menu as we tasted it and when we couldn’t decide on a dessert, the caterers suggested a trio of desserts – three desserts are better than one! The food was great and working with Rustic Roast in our planning was a really easy professional experience!

Your Outfits & Accessories

Alice – I bought my dress just after we’d got engaged, while I was back home. After a long lunch with my best friend, we decided to go and try some wedding dresses on. The nearest bridal store was David’s Bridal and they were able to give us a walk-in appointment.

I didn’t have a dress style in mind, but when I tried on my dress I loved how clean and simple it was…if you can call a ball gown style dress simple! I felt amazing in it and I booked a second appointment so I could go back with my sister. I was only back in the UK for a couple of weeks and I ended up buying the dress on that trip before we’d even booked our venue, as I wanted to be with my family and friends at home when I bought it.

My shoes were my ‘something borrowed’ from my best friend, they were the Rainbow Club shoes she’d worn for her wedding and were super cute and amazingly comfortable – I didn’t want sore feet stopping me from dancing the night away!

I spent weeks looking for an embellished jacket as an evening cover-up. I found a beautiful, floral embellished jacket on ASOS which I wasn’t sure if it would work with the dress and couldn’t try them on together until I collected the dress in Birmingham the week before our wedding. When I tried it on with the dress at my final dress fitting, I was so pleased with how it looked with the dress. On the day itself, torrential rain kept us inside all evening meaning I didn’t really need it in the end, but I love it anyway!

My flower crown was made fresh by our amazing florist Clair and it was just perfection! I wanted it to be quite delicate and heavier to one side to work with how I was having my hair styled and she absolutely nailed it!

Lee – I’ve always wanted a tailor-made suit and getting married seemed like the perfect occasion to indulge. My suit was from Institchu in Sydney and I absolutely loved the experience of getting measured up and picking out all the details for mine and my best man’s suits, whilst drinking a beer! It was a bespoke, tailor-made navy blue, three-piece suit.

As a surprise for Alice, I chose flamingo lining for the jacket and waistcoat, in honour of the time we first met, when Alice was carrying an inflatable flamingo. I wore it with a tailor-made white shirt, a white pocket square,  and the floral tie was from the Laura Ashley collection at TM Lewin, which Alice claims I spent longer shopping for than she did for her dress! My shoes were brown leather from Florsheim.

Beauty

I decided to have my make-up done for the wedding so I could just relax on the morning of the wedding. Jess was amazing. She had done the hair for the wedding of my best friend and bridesmaid, Gemma, including mine as a bridesmaid and as well as doing beautiful hair, she was also really chilled and lovely – exactly the kind of personality you want around at such an emotionally heightened time. I was so happy to find out she was available for our date and she also did make-up.  Jess did hair for me, the bridesmaids and my sister and my make-up.

I had my hair down, swept to one side, with soft curls. I wanted my make-up to be glowy and fresh with a pink lip. I was happy for the bridesmaids to choose how they wanted their hair, so each was individual and felt great like themself. They all looked stunning!

Groomsmen

Brendan, the best man, also wore a tailor-made, navy, three-piece suit from Institchu. The groomsmen all wore the floral ties from TM Lewin.

Bridesmaids

My bridesmaids are all stunning women and I really wanted them to feel great in what they were wearing and like the individuals that they are, so I asked them to choose their own dresses. I chose a blue/grey colour scheme so that the bright florals would really pop. The WhatsApp group we had was a hive of screenshots and ASOS links, but the girls all chose beautiful dresses and looked amazing! The dresses were from ASOS, Monsoon and eBay. The shoes were ASOS and Debenhams. The flower girl wore a dress and cardigan from Next and shoes from Debenhams.

The Readings & Music

Lee is an atheist, so a church wedding wasn’t right for us, but we really wanted a ceremony that felt like a celebration and a reflection of us, not just ‘the legal bit’, so we decided to have a Humanist wedding. We found our amazing celebrant, Hannah Bryant, online and she worked with us via FaceTime and email to create a really personal, beautiful ceremony. She got to know us and our relationship really well through a really personal questionnaire and was able to help our guests learn a little more about us and our story during the ceremony.

Hannah helped us plan the vows and choose readings. We had three readings; Love is patient (Corinthians), read by my brother, Dan, I Love You (Author Unknown), read by my cousin, Kate and Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou, read by one of my best friends, Caroline.

We also really wanted a sing-along of All You Need is Love by The Beatles, because we love the song and the sentiment. My dad was a musician and music has always been an important part of how we’ve celebrated. My dad died a few years ago, but I know had he been alive he would have played music at our wedding. Luckily, my oldest brother, Mark, is also a very talented musician and when we asked him if he’d play the guitar for us, he not only agreed but also secretly taught my 8 year old nephew, Finn, the chords and he played too! It was a really special, happy and fun moment, singing about love with all the people we love!

Music is a shared passion for Lee and I and we thought carefully about the music we included in our day. I walked down the aisle to a classical version of Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac. Lee and I both love Fleetwood Mac and the sentiment of the song resonates with us and the year we had to spend living on opposite sides of the world when my Dad was ill in England and Lee was living in Australia. During the signing of the certificates, we had Thinking of You by Lord Echo (a beautiful reggae cover of the Sister Sledge song) and we walked out of the ceremony to Best of my Love by The Emotions. Our first dance was to You Send Me by Aretha Franklin.

For our evening celebration, we were lucky enough to have one of my favourite Birmingham based DJs, Sam Redmore, do the music. I’ve spent many, many happy Friday and Saturday nights dancing with my girlfriends at Sam’s nights in various bars in Moseley and Kings Heath and at the Mostly Jazz Festival. Not being from Birmingham, Lee first heard Sam’s amazing re-edits on The Craig Charles BBC Radio 6 show. So, when Sam said he’d DJ our wedding, we were so thrilled! The dance floor was full all night and it was such a fun mix of music, he really read the crowd and even included Mariah Carey in his set for the first time ever (and it was a sweet, sweet Fantasy!) We had to be dragged off the dance floor at the end of the night!

Why not check out these wedding readings and first dance song inspiration too?

The Flowers

For our décor, the first thing I thought about was flowers, bright, colourful flowers. I wanted a mix of flowers to create a sort of colourful, English country garden feel, nothing too refined, something with a slight wildflower feel. And I knew I didn’t want a veil, just a colourful flower crown.

Clair at Bella Lily Flowers was amazing and totally understood what we wanted. She created the most beautiful bouquets for my bridesmaids and me, arrangements for the venue and the flower crown of my dreams! She chatted with me to make sure she included everything and arranged lovely little touches like lavender plants on the tables, as it has a sentimental connection to Lee’s Grandma and my Dad, and we were able to give those to people to take home. She also provided much of the decor details; a vintage bicycle, the table plan display, vases, gift collection box, some beautiful vintage vases and other signage.

The Cake

The cake was a beautifully simple, three-tier, naked cake completed with fresh flowers added by Clair, our florist. We chose to have a selection of flavours, one tier was carrot cake, one Victoria sponge and one was Chocolate.

The Styling & Decor

The marquee is a beautiful big bright space, but we wanted to add a bit of colour. I researched colourful paper lanterns and considered arranging and hanging them, but logistically I didn’t really have the time or the skill to do it myself! Ben at Bordesley Park recommended White Violet Events to help out with decor. They were amazing and at short notice took care of sourcing lanterns, hanging them and taking them down the next day, at a really competitive price.

For our tables, we chose to name them after places Lee and I had visited together. We’re really lucky and have been able to take some amazing trips around Australia and beyond. Lee is an amazing photographer, so this was the perfect way to incorporate some of his beautiful photographs. Each table had a photo Lee had taken at that destination.

We chose not to have a traditional top table and instead have the ‘top table’ as a round table in the middle of the room, another excellent suggestion from Ben at Bordesley Park! This was so lovely as we were literally surrounded by people we love and felt really close to everyone.

In lieu of wedding favours, we chose to make a donation to one of our favourite charities. We love the charity Help Refugees and the amazing, vital work they do to support displaced people and refugees in Europe. Their slogan is ‘Choose Love’ and when I contacted the charity to explain our plan, they kindly gave us permission to use the logo, so we had a greeting card printed for each table bearing the beautiful message ‘Choose Love’.

Your Photographer

Lisa Carpenter photographed my brother Dan’s wedding in 2017. We loved the way she captured the day in a fun, relaxed way and the photos were beautiful! She was also a really friendly, warm person and it was important to us to have a photographer that made us feel really comfortable as you spend a significant amount of the day having photos taken. We emailed Lisa and amazingly she was available so we booked her straight away!

When we chatted to Lisa on facetime and she was just as lovely as we remembered. We love the photos Lisa took and how she captured the day. She had to be quite creative due to the rain getting increasingly heavy during the day, but she captured some beautiful images and one of our favourite pictures was taken under an umbrella!

Your Filmmaker

We’d mentioned to Lisa that we were looking for a videographer and she recommended Dan Dolan. We loved the clips on his website and how cinematic and personal his videos were. A videographer was a big added cost quite late in the planning, but we’re so glad we went for it and booked Dan! He created the most beautiful film of our day, a short teaser and a full 40 minute feature. It’s such a lovely thing to watch and be transported back to the day! I’m so glad we’ll have it to watch for years to come and be able to re-live our wedding day!

The Honeymoon

We visited the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia for our honeymoon. We had an amazing week relaxing, snorkelling with (harmless) sharks and turtles, drinking cocktails and reading books on the most beautiful beach. It was the perfect way to come down from the buzz, excitement and busyness of planning our wedding, getting married and catching up with friends and family and helping postpone the post-wedding blues kicking in for a week.

Memorable Moments

Alice – The morning getting ready with my bridesmaids and sisters, the amazing sing-along to All You Need is Love, the personal ceremony, the speeches, seeing our families and friends partying together, my brother sharing out a tray of tequila shots around the dance floor and the last dance of the night to ‘Like a Prayer’ by Madonna.

Lee – Seeing Alice walk down the aisle, speeches, sing-along, the first dance.

Advice For Other Couples

Lee – do as you’re told by your future wife… Things might get a bit tense in the few days before the wedding, remember why you’re getting married and try to stay calm :)

Alice –

• Don’t let the planning process get on top of you, remember it’s your day and the things you will really remember are who was there and how you felt, not whether the seating plan looks as good as the ones you saw on Pinterest, so don’t let little details stress you out.


•  If you can afford to pay someone else to do tricky jobs do it – I’m so glad I didn’t spend the day before the wedding trying to hang paper lanterns around the marquee and having to take them down the morning after the wedding. The cost of paying for it far outweighed the stress trying to do it myself just before the wedding.


• Don’t be afraid to do something different if it feels right for you – we’d never been to a Humanist wedding before ours and we’re both so glad we found Hannah who made such a personal ceremony for us and the same with not having a traditional top table.


• Ask the professionals – we got so much amazing advice from Ben at Bordesley Park as he’s seen so many weddings and could tell us what works and what is a waste of money.


• Trust the process – We had to have our legal wedding in Australia in the end, due to logistics around registering our intent to marry. I was really disappointed about this initially, but it ended working out perfectly and we got to have another beautiful celebration with our friends in Sydney.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Photographer
Lisa Carpenter Photography

Venue
Bordesley Park

Videographer
Dan Dolan

Hair & Makeup
Jess MUA & Creative Hair

Dress
David’s Bridal

Bridesmaid Dresses & Shoes
Monsoon, ASOS, eBay, Debenhams

Suits
Institchu, Sydney

Cake
Iona Rose Cakes

Flowers & Table Decor
Bella Lily Flowers

DJ
Sam Redmore

Celebrant
Hannah Bryant

Decor Marquee Decorations & Lanterns
White Violet Events

Charity Donation
Help Refugees

How very gorgeous.

Alice and Lee thank you so much for sharing your sublime Bordesley Park wedding with us.

The post Relaxed Colourful & Fun Floral Marquee Wedding first appeared on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings.

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