You know what we love most about this wedding (that is, other than love between these two)? The fact that Sarah and Adam’s venue was none other than the Groom’s parents garden. I mean, how amazing is that?! An immaculate curation of beautiful blooming flowers, these two celebrated their beginning in the sweetest way possible and thanks to Samantha Ward Photography we’ve got it all in The Vault!
From Samantha Ward Photography… Sarah & Adam’s wedding was on a glorious summers day, the kind of summers day in England which you can hope for but definitely not expect. This was perfect as Sarah & Adam had chosen a country garden reception which wouldn’t have been so accommodating with summer showers.
The day was filled with laughter, family, friends and especially love. From the formal, yet personal ceremony in the beautiful church at Pickering to the informal, beautiful reception in Adam’s parents garden. The traditional canvas and pole marquee looked stunning and I was blown away by the styling inside, so simple yet so effective.
There were so many elements of this wedding which were delightful, the mismatched bridesmaid dresses in tones of pinks, Sarah’s stunning gown and Adam’s stylish suit, the bridesmaids walking the short distance to church whilst trying to stop the confetti flying away, the garden fete games on the lawn, the festooned lighting through the trees (which looked so magical at dusk) the long trestle tables in the marquee (harking back to tradition), the sharing platters of food and the overall relaxed atmosphere of fun and love.
Sarah and Adam had created a day with beautiful details, wonderful food, drinks and entertainment. They had thought of their guests at every point and yet hadn’t lost the importance of their union, their marriage and their love for each other.
From the Bride… Adam & I were married in Adam’s home town of Pickering in North Yorkshire on July 25th 2016. The ceremony was held in Pickering Church, the church which Adam grew up around (and was altar boy at when he was a young chap). It is an absolutely stunning old church with beautiful medieval paintings along the internal walls. We had two readings in the church; the first was Romans 12 9-18 read by two of Adam’s university friends Dan and Nige; the second a poem by Bee Rawlinson “I Take You” which was specially selected and read by two of my close school friends Ania and Andrea.
We were extremely fortunate that Adam’s parents allowed us to have the reception in their gorgeous English country garden. The garden is immaculately cared for by Adam’s dad who put in a huge amount of work in months leading up to the wedding to ensure that there were beautiful flowers blooming in July. We hired an incredible marquee from Will’s Marquees which really was something else!
We wanted an English country garden look to our wedding. We chose very natural colours such as blush pinks and greens. Whilst we didn’t want everything to ‘match’ we wanted all the aspects to complement each other and fit in with the look, something that we tried to achieve all the way through the wedding, from the initial ‘Save the dates’ to the table decorations. The decoration of the garden really bought everything together; Rachel at Simply Vintage was so much fun and really understood what we were looking for. She had so many brilliant ideas which I would never have thought of; from the foliage around the poles in the marquee, the festoon lights in the orchard and the fire pits for the evening. Rachel arrived the day before the wedding in her truck of wonders which had so many props to play with. Lynne (from Stem Designs) worked alongside Rachel which meant that the theme was consistent across all parts of the decoration. Whilst we had initial discussions of some of my favourite flower choices, I gave her a relatively free rein as to the end result. I was like a child in a sweetie shop when she turned up with more peonies that I’d ever seen. The bouquets were just lovely; I went for a natural trailing style whilst the bridesmaids had more traditional bunches. We had long tables for the reception so instead of centrepieces we had flowers and foliage in small vintage bottles and jars dotted around the tables. We had additional flowers dotted around the garden and hanging from the trees.
I had six bridesmaids and wanted them to be in different but similar dresses. I asked them all to find a blush pinky knee length dress with a vintage / garden feel. Allowing them all to pick their own dresses not only meant that they ended up with dresses that they liked but removed the stress of trying to find a dress style which suited everybody’s shape. I bought them all individual vintage earrings which I selected over the course of the year leading up to the wedding.
After the evening meal we had the White Keys play. It took a while to find a band that we liked, so we were delighted when we found that the White Keys were available to play and happy to travel up to Yorkshire from London. We went to one of their gigs before the wedding and I knew that they would be just perfect; upbeat, fantastic singers AND performers who got everybody dancing. I am so glad that we were able to have such an incredible band. It made a huge difference to the evening and the dance floor was constantly packed.
Finding a photographer was one of the hardest parts of planning the wedding. It was very important to me to not only have a photographer who took amazing photos, but somebody who would also be lovely to be around on the day of the wedding. We had a Skype meeting with Sam before booking and Adam and I instantly felt comfortable with her. She is so lovely and easy to talk to. Her photos of the day are so beautiful and she has managed to capture so many special moments without me even noticing she was there.
My overall best piece of advice for future brides & grooms is to work with suppliers that are nice, fun people who you trust…… and enjoy it. We would not have been able to achieve our perfect day without our wonderful friends and family who were happy to get involved; including my mum drying rose petals for six months, collecting endless jam jars and being there for constant guidance, my bridesmaids cutting, glueing and sticking invites for 180 people, Adam’s dad working tirelessly on the garden, Adam’s brother fixing a last minute electrical crisis and the whole wedding party helping out a huge amount before and on the day. To everybody that helped, Adam and I will be forever grateful. I loved planning our wedding and would not have changed anything about it.
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Photography: Samantha Ward | Photography: Samantha Ward | Floral Design: Stems Design | Wedding Dress: Elizabeth Stuart | Ceremony Venue: Parish Church Of St Peter & St Paul | Church: Parish Church Of St Peter & St Paul | Reception Venue: Private Residence | Bride's Shoes: Rachel Simpson | Catering: Home Grown Hog Roast | Catering: Home Grown Hog Roast | Hair Stylist: Emily Hawkes | Groom's Attire: Ben Sherman | Groom's Attire: Ben Sherman | Bridal Boutique: Luella's Boudoir | Bridal Preps: The White Swan | Bride's Hair Accessory: Britten | Decor + Styling: Simply Vintage Events | Entertainment Day: Evelyn Iris | Entertainment Evening: The White Keys | Groom's Shoes: Jones Bootmaker | Makeup Arist: Louise Lunn | Marquee: Will's Marquee
