Hanging Flowers And a Matthew Williamson Gown for a 'Country Garden At Night' Inspired Wedding

For our second wedding feature of today, photographer Sarah Ann Wright is sharing her images of Hannah and Joss's lovely Summer garden wedding. The couple tied the knot on 3rd August last year, at Friars Court in Clanfield, The Cotswolds and Hannah wore gown by designer Matthew Williamson, which she purchased from his flagship London store.

“I was very inspired by the Cotswolds garden setting and wanted very natural flowers and a rustic feel. We were also inspired by the glamour of the 1920s – sequins and three-piece suits. I guess if I had to use a form of words to describe my wedding it would be ‘country garden at night’.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Sarah Ann Wright

"Joss and I met at my house warming party. We got engaged on our summer holiday in Croatia and it was completely unexpected (although secretly hoped for!). We were swimming in the sea early morning before breakfast and joss proposed.

It was very deep water so we were treading water and laughing trying to stay afloat. There was no-one around and we were surrounded by the beautiful coastline of Dubrovnik. We got married a year later, almost to the day."

"Our wedding venue was Friars Court in Clanfield (In the Cotswolds). We wanted somewhere that was near to Oxford as it is my hometown, and specifically wanted somewhere with a relaxed atmosphere and the ability to chose our own suppliers, decorations etc without being tied in to any venue deals.

We designed the invites and menus ourselves and used a drawing of birds done by my father."

"Our florists were Green & Gorgeous, who grow all of their own flowers so you can only have what is in season. As they have not been imported, they have a much stronger smell too, and I just loved the idea of that. Walking around the gardens and picking out what flowers I would have was one of my favourite parts of the entire planning process! They also offer a DIY service so I bought buckets of flowers from them which my mum and I then arranged. Green and gorgeous then supplied all the bouquets and button holes which I was so thrilled with – the flower girl headbands were a particular favourite."

“My dress was by designer Matthew Williamson. I was adamant I did not want a big dress and I wanted to feel very relaxed and comfortable. This dress did exactly that – it just felt like a beautiful silk dressing gown that I didn’t want to take off. I also loved the Swarovski detail on the front.

I didn’t know immediately it was ‘the one’ but I kept thinking about it and after second try on I had to have it.”

"In terms of decor we used paper pom poms and lace bunting made by my stepmother. We were also lucky enough to have use of hanging lanterns in the garden - these had been left from another event. We also had lots of night lights and candles in the evening."

“Our photographer was Sarah Ann Wright. To tie in with the overall relaxed and natural feeling that we wanted for our day, we also wanted very natural photos and Sarah is great at those. She made us feel very relaxed on the day and really listened to what we did (and didn’t) want. I am thrilled with the photos and she captured some great moments.”

“I really enjoyed getting ready with the bridesmaids. It was sych fun and quite relaxed. Listening to the speeches was also great fun, and just generally getting to walk around and spend time chatting to my guests. It was all quite overwhelming to be honest and the ceremony itself was a bit of a blur! We were advised to take some moments, just the 2 of us, and I’m so glad we did this - even though they were brief.

We hid in the lavender garden for a quick glass of champagne together after the ceremony and then went upstairs for a little while after the meal – I had a cuppa and we just escaped, which was nice and much needed!”

"My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of 'If Not For You', by George Harrison because it is one of our songs and we loved the sentiment of the song.

We wrote our own vows for our ceremony too - it was a really fun process wiring them together. The last part of the vow was 'most of all, I will always be your friend', which is very true of our relationship so felt like a nice sentiment to end on.

My mother read 'I carry your heart' – it's one of my favourite poems and I cannoy read/hear it without crying!"

“We both had rose gold rings – mine was very skinny and joss’s thicker and hammered gold. We just liked the colour and wanted to have the same. Mine was bespoke by a jeweller in Hatton Garden and Joss’s was ordered from Etsy."

“We had seen the beautiful cake that Yum Nums had created for a friends wedding and so got in touch with them. We had a ‘naked’ cake – a mix of sponge flavours covered in fresh fruit and it was delicious!”

"Our caterers were Sadlers Caterers. We had a great gourmet BBQ and a mix of desserts. They ran the bar for us in the evening and let us provide our own booze for the meal and reception which helped keep costs down. They also sourced an amazing cheese board for us for the evening food and oversaw the running of the day. We had rave reviews from our friends about the food and the staff so I’m really pleased we went with them."

Words of Wedded Wisdom...

“Try to do as little as possible the day before the wedding as no matter how calm a person you are, you will feel a bit stressed or nervous. Also delegate as much as possible and expect that things won’t go exactly as planned, but you won’t care. Also, its true what everyone tells you..it is an incredibly overwhelming day and so try to take some time out if you can. If you build the odd 10 minutes alone into the day it will really help you to compose yourself.

I didn’t have much control over this, but our Wedding was at 3.30pm and I would advise to not get married that late in the day if at all possible. It makes it a very long day when you inevitably wake up really early on the day.

I was told all of those things and didn’t really listen but hoping to pass it on to other brides. I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t care even if something went wrong, but I got married in the rain and I didn’t care so there you go!”

Such a beautiful gown! I really hope you have enjoyed looking through this beautiful garden wedding - you can see plenty more inspirational country garden weddings here.

Love Annabel

Follow Love My Dress® on Google
Disclosure - this post contains Etsy Affiliate Links

For our second wedding feature of today, photographer Sarah Ann Wright is sharing her images of Hannah and Joss's lovely Summer garden wedding. The couple tied the knot on 3rd August last year, at Friars Court in Clanfield, The Cotswolds and Hannah wore gown by designer Matthew Williamson, which she purchased from his flagship London store.

“I was very inspired by the Cotswolds garden setting and wanted very natural flowers and a rustic feel. We were also inspired by the glamour of the 1920s – sequins and three-piece suits – I guess if I had to use a form of words to describe my wedding, it would be ‘country garden at night’.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Sarah Ann Wright

"Joss and I met at my house warming party. We got engaged on our summer holiday in Croatia and it was completely unexpected (although secretly hoped for!). We were swimming in the sea early morning before breakfast and joss proposed.

It was very deep water so we were treading water and laughing trying to stay afloat. There was no-one around and we were surrounded by the beautiful coastline of Dubrovnik. We got married a year later, almost to the day."

"Our wedding venue was Friars Court in Clanfield (In the Cotswolds). We wanted somewhere that was near to Oxford as it is Hannah’s hometown and specifically wanted somewhere with a relaxed atmosphere and the ability to chose our own suppliers, decorations etc without being tied in to any venue deals.

We designed the invites and menus ourselves and used a drawing of birds done by Joss’s father."

"Our florists were Green & Gorgeous, who grow all of their own flowers so you can only have what is in season and they have not been imported (so they have a much stronger smell too) and I just loved the ideas of that. Walking around the gardens and picking out what flowers I would have was one of my favourite parts of the entire planning process! They also offer a DIY service so I bought buckets of flowers from them which my mum and I then arranged. Green and gorgeous then supplied all the bouquets and button holes which I was so thrilled with – the flower girl headbands were a particular favourite."

“My dress was by designer Matthew Williamson. I was adamant I did not want a big dress and I wanted to feel very relaxed and comfortable. This dress did exactly that – it just felt like a beautiful silk dressing gown that I didn’t want to take off. I also loved the Swarovski detail on the front.

I didn’t know immediately it was ‘the one’ but I kept thinking about it and after second try on I had to have it.”

"In terms of decor, we used paper pom poms and lace bunting made by my stepmother. We were also lucky enough to have use of hanging lanterns in the garden that had been left from another event. We also had lots of night lights and candles in the evening."

“Our photographer was Sarah Ann Wright. To tie in with the overall relaxed and natural feeling that we wanted for our day – we also wanted very natural photos and Sarah is great at those. She made us feel very relaxed on the day and really listened to what we did (and didn’t) want. I am thrilled with the photos and she captured some great moments.”

“I really enjoyed getting ready with the bridesmaids. It was really fun and quite relaxed. Listening to the speeches was also really fun and just generally getting to walk around and spend time chatting to my guests. It was all quite overwhelming to be honest and the ceremony itself was a bit of a blur! We were advised to take some moments just the 2 of us and I’m so glad we did this - even though they were brief.

We hid in the lavender garden for a quick glass of champagne together after the ceremony and then went upstairs for a bit after the meal – I had a cuppa and we just escaped for a little bit which was nice and much needed!”

"My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of 'If Not For You', by George Harrison because it is one of our songs and we loved the sentiment of the song.

We wrote our own vows for our ceremony too - it was a really fun process wiring them together. The last part of the vow was 'most of all, I will always be your friend', which is very true of our relationship so felt like a nice sentiment to end on.

My mother read 'I carry your heart' – its one of my favourite poems and I can not read/hear it without crying!"

“We both had rose gold rings – mine was very skinny and joss’s thicker and hammered gold. We just liked the colour and wanted to have the same as each other. Mine was make bespoke by a jeweller in Hatton Garden and Joss’s was ordered from Etsy."

“We had seen the beautiful cake that Yum Nums had created for a friends wedding and so got in touch with them. We had a ‘naked’ cake – a mix of sponge flavours covered in fresh fruit and it was delicious!”

"Our caterers were Sadlers Caterers. We had a great gourmet BBQ and a mix of desserts. They ran the bar for us in the evening and let us provide our own booze for the meal and reception which helped keep costs down. They also sourced an amazing cheese board for us for the evening food and oversaw the running of the day. We had rave reviews from our friends about the food and the staff so I’m really pleased we went with them."

Words of Wedded Wisdom...

“Try to do as little as possible the day before the wedding as no matter how calm a person you are, you will feel a bit stressed or nervous. Also delegate as much as possible and expect that things won’t go exactly as planned but you won’t care. Also, its true what everyone tells you..it is an incredibly overwhelming day and so try to take some time out if you can. If you build the odd 10 minutes alone into the day it will really help you to compose yourself.

I didn’t have much control over this but our Wedding was at 3.30pm and I would advise to not get married that late in the day if at all possible. It makes it a very long day when you inevitably wake up really early on the day.

I was told all of those things and didn’t really listen but hoping to pass it on to other brides. I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t care even something went wrong but I got married in the rain and I didn’t care so there you go!”

Such a beautiful gown! I really hope you have enjoyed looking through this beautiful garden wedding - you can see plenty more inspirational country garden weddings here.

Love Annabel

Follow Love My Dress® on Google
Disclosure - this post contains Etsy Affiliate Links