Today we have for you you the wonderful Welsh, country fete inspired wedding of of our Real Bride Lisa and her husband Tim. It is bursting with amazing handmade details and would you believe me if I told you that it features the most inspiring fashion that is all made by the mother-of-the-bride?
No?! Well, the sewing superwoman, not only made Lisa’s stunning beaded dress, but the bridesmaid’s floral dresses, the grooms and groomsmen attire, flat caps and all and then to top it off her own outfit for the big day. To say I’m impressed is an understatement!
Lisa and Tom’s whole big day truly was crafted with love by their family and friends, and it is one thing I truly adore about weddings is not only the love the couple have for one another but the love shared by everyone around them who want to help in anyway they can to create their dream day.
Anyway to the matter in hand, Lisa and Tom got married in June last year, in a lovely little Welsh town where Tom grew up and for all other details I’ll pass over to Lisa to share.
The morning of the wedding Lisa spent preparing with her bridesmaids in their gorgeous hand-made gowns,
‘I felt surprisingly calm on the morning of the wedding,iIt was a complete whirlwind but at the same time very relaxed. the night before was hectic putting finishing touches to everything but the morning was lovely, with lots of fizz.’
‘In my previous post you will have seen the bridesmaid’s dressing gowns that I made as their gifts, this is where my sewing ability ended and the professional took over, my mother.’
(You must also check out how Lisa asked her best girls to be her bridesmaids, so cute and thoughtful.)
Lisa’s went dress shopping before her mum put her hand to making her stunning dress,
‘I was really fortunate that my mother used to run a business designing and making wedding dresses for other brides. We did both go to a bridal shop and tried on some dresses but my favourite style turned out to be a Jenny Packham.’
‘My dress and the bridesmaid’s dresses were absolute triumphs. The detail in my dress was exquisite and done completely by hand.’
‘To fit the theme I had Rachel Simpson shoes and some pearled head pieces that were bought from e-bay!’
I love a floral bridesmaid dress, and the subtle tones of these are just perfect,
‘My mother made the bridesmaid dresses too, they were 50’s style made out of a green floral patterned fabric as I felt it worked with the men’s waistcoats and also fitted the country theme and they had little lace boleros. We let the bridesmaids decide on their own footwear.’
To compliment the laid-back style the groom’s mother grew the flowers specially for the wedding which included the bouquets, button holes and table arrangements. What a talented bunch they are!
The gents outfits are just as noteworthy as the ladies and some fab alternative inspiration for the guys,
‘Not only had my mother made mine and the bridesmaid dresses, she’d also made her own and all the men’s outfits too. The men’s waistcoats, flat caps and dickey bows were all made out of Welsh wool. We let them decide on trousers and shoes. ‘
‘The wedding ceremony was held at a little chapel across from the green where the reception was held. We didn’t do too much decoration but my mother-in-law made little holders from hessian and hung them over the sides of the pews and in the windows.’
When Lisa first saw Tim she told us it was lovely to see him and by seeing him she felt a wave of calm come over her.
‘I enjoyed the ceremony way more than I thought I would, we had a male voice choir as being Welsh we love to sing. We picked a selection of Welsh hymns and English ones. To our surprise the choir, which was my uncles choir, did a special medley of songs for us, one being “We’ll keep a welcome” which everyone spontaneously joined in with and even the vicar had a tear in her eye.
One of bridesmaid’s did a reading, “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. My advice would be not to worry about it, as obvious as that sounds, you’ll be surprised by how much you’ll enjoy it even if you don’t like being the centre of attention normally!’
After the ceremony, guests made their way to a local pub close to the couples heart, with a plethora of delicious locally sourced canapés:
‘On leaving the chapel, our amazing canapés were waiting for us in the picture perfect Cwmdu pub garden. These were created by our chef friend Oleg Dimitrov also owner of Oyster Blade (if you are in the Bristol area and Oyster Blade is cooking then you have to book!!). Oleg listened to our theme and designed canapés to match; we had Glamorgan sausage lollipops, Welsh rarebit with Carmarthenshire ham and many more using local Welsh ingredients.’
‘The village and the pub have played a large part in mine and Tom’s growing up, we spent many a night in the pub with friends, Tom has worked behind the bar and we try to come back and support the communities events as much as we can, so a few images that incorporated the pub and the village seemed right to have.’
After the pub the wedding guests set off to the next venue, the gorgeously quaint village green which had been set up with Kata tents by on of our recommended suppliers Wedding Tipi.
The evening feast was again locally sourced produce presented in a brilliant, novel way:
‘For our main dinner we had 3 delicious courses provided by a wonderful company based in Brecon called Purple Carrot. Their ethos of using local, seasonal ingredients appealed to the both of us. Tom and I are big fans of sharing food, like tapas or mezze but to fit our country theme Purple Carrot offered to do us a picnic hamper.’
‘We started with a delicious chicken, tarragon and wild mushroom terrine with crisp walnut melba toast. For our main we had the picnic hampers which went well with the country fete feel. Each table was assigned a hamper hero or heroine who was in charge of handing out the contents of the hamper, which included delights such as lamb kebabs, potato salad, bean puttanesca, tear and share bread, selection of Welsh cheese but the show stopper was the big slow roasted Welsh gammon which was given to a member on each table to carve and dish out.’
‘For dessert we had build-your own Eton Mess which had delicious things like Vanilla Meringue, Amaretto cream, Butterscotch sauce,summer berries, Belgian chocolate flakes, nutty praline and raspberry rosewater coulis.’
‘I never really wanted a wedding cake, I always dreamt of a cake table filled with different sponges and cupcakes so people could just pick one up whenever they felt like it throughout the day. I asked my grandmother to make the delicious sponges and she did a fantastic job, my cake table was exactly what I wanted and more! My cousin, as a surprise, made me a three tiered wedding cake which captured the ethos of the day. She also hand drew the happy couple that sat on top.’
How completely adorable is this surprise wedding cake? I’ll take a slice of that bottom layer please!
The wedding was brimming full of handmade details (more of which you can read about the planning for here) with inspiration taken from Pinterest, websites such as ourselves and magazines like Unique Bride.
‘I really enjoyed collecting the crockery and tablecloths for the day (which I still have!), spending time doing the table place names, decorating the tables and lining the table plan suitcases. I was pretty stressed the night before trying to get everything up and running!’
In past posts Lisa shared how she made her handmade napkins and groom Tom made Welsh cake wedding favours for all the guests.
‘For our guestbook we wanted something a bit different. I had spotted whilst searching through Pinterest and other wedding blogs a globe being used as a guest book. We both thought it was perfect!’
Their day was captured by another talented friend:
‘Our photographer was an old friend that I knew from primary school called Rhian-Mai, she is a student studying photography and has a real talent. Rhian is more of a wildlife photographer but was absolutely fantastic on the day and I felt that it was far more personal having someone there that I have known for nearly all my life taking the pictures.’
To top off the wonderful day the festivities (and food) carried on into the evening:
‘We had live music for the evening and to keep our stomachs lined Purple Carrot cooked up some very tasty fish and chips in cones. To finish we had fireworks to seal our very special day off with a bang.’
I truly love all the beautiful handmade style of this wedding, I am thrilled that we have got to share Lisa and Tom’s wedding and planning experience with you! Thank you to the fab couple for sharing and we wish you well with your house renovation and luck in the prospect of starting your new business, life as newlyweds sounds busy and exciting for you!
{Details}
Photography: Rhian Mai Photography
Giant Tipis: Wedding Tipi (TNWC Recommended Supplier)
Wedding Dress: Made by the bride’s mother
Brides Shoes: Rachel Simpson
Grooms Attire: Made by the bride’s mother
Bridesmaids Dresses: Made by the bride’s mother
Flowers: Grown by the groom’s mother
Catering: Oyster Blade & Purple Carrot Catering