Hey lovelies! I hope you’re all having a wonderful day, wherever you are. Do you still have sunshine? I think it’s deserted us here, which makes me even more happy to have a ton of beautiful weddings to share with you this month – and today’s is a dream.

Jen and Adam were married at Houchins Farm, Coggeshall, Essex. They’d originally planned to get married abroad but after spending the last two years traveling together they decided to come back to their roots to celebrate their marriage where they grew up, surrounded by close friends and family. Their wedding photographer was none other than our lovely friend Kathryn Hopkins (whose beautiful pics you’ll have seen gracing the front cover of the English Wedding Bible).

Jen was looking for a non traditional bohemian vibe, and found her dress whilst in Australia. On the day Kathryn mentioned that she looked like a woodland fairy, to which she responded delightedly ‘exactly the look I was going for’! Jen’s dress was Hollie, by Grace Loves Lace, Australia – https://graceloveslace.com.au

The flowers were a rustic mixture of fresh and dried flowers inspired by wildflowers. The style was loose and textured with tones of salmon, lilac and coral. The stunning bouquets included large focal blooms of roses and dahlia, waxflower, thistles, wheat and feathers with lots of foliage like eucalyptus.

We used lots of natural, wooden elements such as handmade signposts, wooden ring boxes, wooden buttons sewn onto the groom’s shirt and wooden stands for the cake and doughnuts. We hired long wooden trestle tables for the wedding breakfast decorated with jars of fresh flowers. We picked up some gorgeous crochet bunting (https://www.embella.com.au/collections/homewares/products/crochetbunting) from Australia and used this as a simple decoration throughout the venue. We also had a suitcase that had travelled quite a bit of Australia with us and we set this up for guests to put cards in.

Wedding photographer’s website:

http://kathrynhopkinsphotography.co.uk/

We had seen photos from a friend’s wedding that Kathryn had taken and instantly knew she was the one for us.

Kathryn has a talent for capturing everything so naturally, her style of photography suited our bohemian wedding and as we don’t enjoy posing for photos we knew that she would capture our day perfectly.

We made a beautiful book from Artifact Uprising – https://www.artifactuprising.com

Wedding month:

July

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

Our wedding was relaxed, non-traditional and fun.

Your wedding style or theme:

We wanted a natural, bohemian vibe to the wedding with a pretty colour palette of coral, lilac and lots of natural greenery. We both love nature and spending time outdoors so wanted to incorporate this and our love of travelling within the theme.
BBQ – (inspired by our time in Australia) Surf ‘n’ Turf Skewers, Cajun chicken,
grilled Portobello mushrooms, Salmon Teriyaki & honey skewers with a garden salad and crusty breads.
In the evening we had a mobile pizza oven serving woodfired pizzas to our guests from the back of a Land Rover!

What’s your top tip for saving money?

We saved money on the venue by booking it on a Monday and by not having a traditional wedding breakfast or 3-course meal but instead had a very informal banquet style meal followed by some sweet and savoury treats.

… and which elements of your wedding are you glad you spent more on?

The venue gave us the option to rent out the farmhouse attached to it and we decided to splurge on this so that the wedding party could stay the night here. Because we got ready in the farmhouse we cut the cost of having traditional wedding vehicles.

Where did you buy or source your wedding stationery – or was making it a labour of love?

As we were living in Australia at the time we decided to send our invites via email which the bride designed. We had a lot of compliments about the way we sent our invites as it was quite different.

Tell us about your accessories: jewellery, shoes and anything else!

Shoes: Dosa Heels by Grace Loves Lace, Australia
Pearl earrings; Ikecho Pearls, Australia
www.ikecho.com.au
Necklace – Vintage
Brides Wedding Ring designed by C.J. Brooks Colchester – http://www.thejewelleryworkshopltd.com/
Grooms Wedding Ring – The Gentleman Smith
https://www.thegentlemanssmith.com/

And what did the groom wear?

Grooms shirt: River Island which the groom customised by sewing on wooden buttons.
https://www.riverisland.com/men
Grooms Trousers: Hammond&Co @ Debenhams
https://www.debenhams.com/men/hammond-co-by-patrick-grant?DM_PersistentCookieCreated=true
Braces & Shoes: Topman
http://www.topman.com/?geoip=home
Bow Ties: Debenhams

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

Bridesmaids: ASOS – http://www.asos.com/women/

Hair and make-up – did you DIY or hire a professional?

One of the bridesmaid’s did Jen’s hair
Make-up Artist: https://www.facebook.com/EmmaCharlottemakeup/

Crafts and makes – tell us about any homemade elements of your wedding… did you enjoy them?

Coming from a design background (bride) we knew that we wanted to do most of it ourselves. The signpost that was on the front gate where our guests had to walk in was personalised with all the different countries that everyone was coming from (there was a lot)! By making as much as possible ourselves, we cut costs and our wedding was very personal to us.

The wedding cake: what kind of cake did you choose and why?

Not being very traditional people we wanted something a bit different so we opted for a cheese tower and Krispy Kreme doughnuts as dessert.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

One of our lovely friends basically formed a band to play at our wedding and they spent hours practising to get it just right, they played lots of classics with a jazz twist on instruments such as the double bass and a keyboard.
The ice cream van after the ceremony was a complete surprise from the Bride to the Groom as he loves ice cream and our guests loved it too as it was a hot day!

Words of wisdom: share your best piece of advice for other couples:

We tried to think about our day as one big party for us and all our loved ones and let it flow naturally rather than something that had to be very rigid. We didn’t have a formal dress code, allowing our guests to wear what they felt comfortable in and had a lot of comments from friends and family that it was the most laid back wedding they had been too, which was exactly what we set out to achieve.
Try not to stress about the little things, perfection is in the imperfections!

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Photographer: Kathryn Hopkins – http://kathrynhopkinsphotography.co.uk/
Flowers: Rebecca Avery Flowers – https://www.rebeccaaveryflowers.com/
Venue: Houchins Farm – http://www.houchins.co.uk/
Wooden Benches: Wooden Bench Hire – https://woodenbenchhirecompany.co.uk/
Caterer: Heathcote & Hare – https://www.bruisyardhall.com/
Evening Pizza: Wood Fired Wonder https://www.woodfiredwonders.com/
Ice Cream: Molly Moos Ices https://www.facebook.com/mollymoosices/
Wine: Peter Watts Wines https://www.peterwattswines.co.uk/
Videographer: Robert Watts –https://www.facebook.com/RobWattsPhotographer/
Band: Alice Anderson
Make-up Artist: https://www.facebook.com/EmmaCharlottemakeup/
Dress & Shoes: Grace Loves Lace, Australia – https://graceloveslace.com.au/
Pearl earrings; Ikecho Pearls, Australia – www.ikecho.com.au
Brides Wedding Ring designed by C.J. Brooks Colchester – http://www.thejewelleryworkshopltd.com/
Grooms Wedding Ring – The Gentleman Smith – https://www.thegentlemanssmith.com/
Grooms shirt: River Island – https://www.riverisland.com/men
Grooms Trousers: Hammond&Co @ Debenhams
Braces & Shoes: Topman – http://www.topman.com
Bow Ties: Debenhams
Bridesmaids: ASOS – www.asos.com