Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

Mint Gold & Peach Summer Marquee Wedding

Those blissful balmy days are soon to be upon us and today we get to revel in a particularly beautiful one from last year.

WWW readers Caitlin and David tied the knot on Saturday 4th July 2015 and held their reception in a sperry marquee at Sherbourne Park in Warwickshire. Mint, gold and peach was order of the day and the hues worked delightfully. There was a stunning metallic cake, pretty blooms, fun giant balloons and quirky stationery to name a few.

How beautiful was Caitlin’s Pronovias lace gown? Not to mention her dreamy hair style and delicate veil. David meanwhile went for a three-piece navy check suit, very dapper indeed.

Thanks so very much to Eliza Claire for providing these gorgeous shots.

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THE PROPOSAL | We were in Sorrento, Italy for a friends wedding and afterwards had decided to travel down the Amalfi Coast where we stayed in beautiful Positano. After a trip down the coast we got back to the hotel where we changed rooms and the hotel staff had arranged champagne, roses and nibbles. I thought this was just because we had moved rooms so started tucking in, when I turned round and Dave was down on one knee! It was such a shock I started crying. I couldn’t believe he had managed to sneak the most perfect ring over with him and had hidden it so well for almost a week before the proposal!

THE VISION | We wanted a relaxed summertime wedding, as outdoor as possible (weather dependant) and the most important things were food, drink and music!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | First things first was the venue, food and band. We soon realised that with our ideal timing being only a year away (July 2015 due to work commitments and family), a lot of great suppliers were being booked up early so we got researching immediately! The venue was the most difficult to find as we wanted it to be near where I grew up in the midlands, and a ceremony and reception in the same location. Food was next along with the band, which we booked as soon as possible as July is a very popular time for weddings. Then on to the details like the dress, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, bar and suits. As the venue wasn’t a standard package wedding venue, we also decided to book help from a wedding coordinator for the day of the wedding and the few days beforehand. This was a godsend as we lived in London and the venue was a few hours drive away.

THE VENUE | The aim was for the day to be as relaxed and easy going as possible so we looked for venues which could hold the ceremony and reception in the same location. I came across my dream marquee/sperry tent with Papakata but needed to find a location to host the tent plus a church nearby. After lots of googling we came across Sherbourne Park, a beautiful venue in Warwickshire with a church on its doorstep which was perfect! The owners of Sherbourne Park were really relaxed and let us plan the whole day exactly as we wanted which was great.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was Pronovias and was from Teokath in Wimbledon. I only visited 3 different stores in the end as I didn’t want to spend too long deciding and which all had plenty of choice. I don’t normally buy expensive shoes but decided to treat myself to some Valentino Rockstud pumps for the day which I still completely love. As a gift on the wedding day, Dave gave me a beautiful diamond bracelet and diamond studs which I wore on the day.

FINDING THE DRESS | Luckily I had quite a clear idea of the kind of dress I wanted and when trying on all sorts of styles, I ended up with a dress that I had tried on quite early on. I made a few minor changes to the neckline of the dress, however these changes ended up affecting the back too which I wasn’t quite happy with. By my last fitting, a month before the wedding, I decided I wanted to cut out the back of the dress in to a low V. It was quite late notice but Chambers Bespoke Tailors in Wimbledon were amazing and did a beautiful job on the dress. I was so happy I went ahead with the change, it was perfect.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | As the day was going to be a more relaxed, country affair we didn’t want formal tails so Dave decided on a three-piece navy suit from Hackett with a pale check. The ushers and my dad then wore three-piece Ted Baker suits which we rented from Moss Bros and matched almost perfectly.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | David’s godfather read 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 and my god mother read Bob Marley – he’s not perfect. A great mix of traditional and modern. At the reception we had SoulBeat, a band from London who had been recommended to us by a friend. We would recommend them to anyone, they were brilliant.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My bridesmaids lived all over the place (London, Manchester, Dubai and Italy) so it was quite tricky finding something they all liked and could try on. I found a beautiful dress in London which they all loved and ordered in 4 months before the wedding. Unfortunately we had a bit of a disaster with the shop ‘misplacing’ 3 of the 4 dresses a couple of weeks before the wedding! In the end all 4 dresses arrived although at different times so a last minute fitting of 3 of the dresses on the Friday before the big day was required. It was probably the most stressful part of the whole wedding but my bridesmaids were amazing about it. It all worked out at the very end and they looked beautiful.

THE FLOWERS | Our flowers were arranged by the lovely Catherine from Rose and Grace – Cotswold wedding flowers. I sent her multiple images I had found on pinterest and she did an amazing job making my vision come to life!

THE CAKE | The cake was created by a friend of a friend. It was two tiers of lemon and chocolate and was completely delicious and beautiful.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The photographer was another of our most important roles and I found Eliza Claire through lots of internet research. Her style of photography was exactly what I was looking for and she did an amazing job on the day capturing everything that went on.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Because we went with a sperry tent it was a black canvas which was great fun to plan decorations and layout. I wanted a colour theme of mint, gold and peach so this was carried through the stationery, flowers and bridesmaid dresses. The tent was held up but three tall poles so these were wrapped with ivy and each table included beautiful mint, peach and cream flowers in urns as the centrepiece. Our favours were home-infused raspberry gin in tiny bottles which also had name tags for table places. This was a bit of a long job as we needed to filter the gin in to a 100 tiny bottles, stick on the labels, add the corks and tie the tags but I had help from family and it was worth the effort! We also spent the day before the wedding hanging paper lanterns and polaroid’s of our friends around the venue but it was great to personalise the venue.

THE HONEYMOON | We were attending another wedding less than 2 weeks after ours, so we decided to travel within Europe. I had seen a hotel in Santorini which looked completely amazing and we decided it looked perfect for a honeymoon. It was called Grace Santorini and was the most wonderful hotel, with breathtaking views, excellent food and lovely staff. The breakfast was out of this world!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | So many people came to us on the day and afterwards to say how amazing the meal and band were. Our meal was through caterers Kemp and Kemp who did a perfect job of bringing our ideas to life. We had a sharing style meal where large boards were brought to the table and guests could help themselves. The slow cooked lamb was delicious!

We were so lucky with the weather as everyone spent time on the lawn playing croquet, enjoying cocktails and tricks from the magician.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | If you have a wedding like ours then I would definitely recommend a wedding coordinator on the day. Louise made sure everything ran so smoothly and we didn’t need to worry about a thing.

The day after the wedding we invited friends and family to my parent’s home. If you can do, this is great as you get to say a proper goodbye to everyone as the wedding day goes so quickly!

I would also definitely try and have a videographer. We almost didn’t however I am so glad we went ahead as it is so great to re-watch and see what everyone else what up to when we weren’t around.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Eliza Claire Photography

Bride’s Gown | Pronovias from Teokath.

Alterations | Chambers Bespoke Tailors

Rings and earrings | Marlows in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham

Shoes | Valentino Rockstud pumps from Selfridges

Veil | Luella’s Boudoir

Florist | Catherine Wedding Flowers Cotswolds

Venue | Sherbourne Park

Marquee Sperry | PapaKata

Wedding coordinator | Louise Harris

Cake Maker | Julia Proud

Caterer | Richard and Karen Kemp

Groom suit | Hackett

Groomsmen suits | Moss Bros

Magician | Neb the magician was a gift from my cousin

Band | Soul Beat from London

Videographer | Sam Gooding

Toilets | Sweet Pee

Utterly brilliant.

Caitlin and David, thank you so very much for sharing your super pretty wedding with us xo Lou

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