Kayleigh and Kieron’s beautiful English country wedding, with Sky Photography

Published by Claire Gould on

Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (17)

Hey lovely! How was your weekend? I had a fantastic calligraphy workshop on Friday, followed by two Christmas shopping trips over the weekend… and yes, I’m almost done! We shopped locally in the Lake District and bought lots of gorgeous handmade bits and pieces for everyone. I still have my man to buy for… leaving the trickiest until last!

Today I’m sharing a gorgeous wedding which lovely Simon and Karla from Sky Photography submitted to the blog a few weeks ago. Gorgeous bride and groom Kayleigh and Kieron were married at Bassmead Manor Barns back in the summer (remember those wonderful sunny weeks which seemed to go on forever?!) and their day is just blissfully beautiful.

Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (41)

“Our wedding was just the best day ever, surrounded by our favourite people. It all happened in the beautiful English countryside during the 2018 heatwave.

We wanted to keep the day relatively informal. The venue didn’t require a lot of decoration, due to its gorgeous surroundings. We kept the decor quite natural, in a simple navy, white and blush theme. The flowers were a dusty pink rose ‘Amnesia’ and big fluffy white ‘David Austin’ roses amongst lots of luscious eucalyptus and greenery.

Favours on the tables for guests were wild flower seeds in little brown recycled envelopes which featured our names and wedding date. Each packet of seeds contributed a percentage of money to one of eight chosen charities.

For our food, we opted for chicken sharing boards on the tables and had nominated a ‘carver’ who had to wear an apron and chefs hat. This was a really sociable way to eat and less formal than a traditional wedding breakfast.

Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (24)

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://www.skyphotography.co.uk/

We discovered SKY photography whilst looking around wedding venues, they were a recommended supplier. We loved their photography style and that they are a husband and wife duo, so we could have two shooters on the day.
We loved having Simon and Karla as part of our day. They weren’t intrusive and fit in well amongst our guests, we didn’t even notice them snapping away during the ceremony or the speeches. They weren’t pushy and didn’t take up lots of our time, we wanted to spend time with our guests, so only opted for a handful of group shots. All of their candid shots look so natural and capture the moments perfectly.

We were so excited when we received the photos! It bought all of the memories from the day flooding back to us. We were also able to look through each others preparation on the morning, thanks to Simon spending his time with Kieron and the groomsmen and Karla with me, my bridesmaids and mum. The photos are perfect, we keep looking through them.

Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (1)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (2)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (3)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (4)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (5)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (6)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (7)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (8)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (9)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (10)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (11)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (12)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (13)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (14)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (15)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (16)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (17)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (18)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (19)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (20)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (21)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (22)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (23)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (25)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (26)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (27)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (28)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (29)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (30)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (31)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (32)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (33)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (34)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (35)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (36)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (37)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (38)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (39)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (40)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (42)
Natural styling for a relaxed and beautiful English wedding with images by Sky Photography (43)

Where did you find your suppliers? (Blogs, magazines, recommendations?)

We found a lot of our suppliers browsing wedding venues, both our photographer and band were recommendations. We also spent a lot of time browsing online, using local suppliers wherever possible.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

We made a lot of the decorations ourselves. For example, we bought a wooden post box for our cards off of ebay, spray painted it white ourselves to match our colour theme and then stenciled our wedding date onto it. We also spent a year collecting jam jars for our flowers, little things like that can really add up. This meant we had more money left for other elements of the day.

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

The venue, which is ran by the caterers Galloping Gourmet, the photography and the evening entertainment which was a live band, The Ashmore Brothers.

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

I made all of the stationery myself. From the Save the Dates, to the menu’s on the table, everything was in a simple black and white, with the same stylish theme running throughout.

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Yes – as soon as I put it on! It featured all of the vintage elements I wanted with the lace sleeves and button detail with a slightly modern twist. When I first started trying on dresses, I was sure I was going to opt for something very slim and fitted, but I instantly fell in love with the long train on my dress. As soon as I put the veil on I felt like a bride…and my mum looked like she was going to cry! So I knew it was the one. I didn’t want to take it off!

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

Deirdre by Maggie Sottero from Serendipity Brides.

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

I opted to have a veil with my dress, but decided to keep my other accessories very simple. I wore tiny tear drop diamante earrings I picked up in Pandora during a lunch break. My shoes were a bit indulgent (but shoes are my guilty pleasure) from Jimmy Choo, they were a nude colour with a touch of sparkle. i wanted something special, that I could wear all day. Although I did have to resort to the fluffy sliders for the dance floor.

And what did the groom wear?

For the ceremony, Kieron wore his formal RAF dress uniform. Due to the informal setting of our wedding, he opted to change after the ceremony into a navy tweed suit from the Vintage Suit Hire company in Bedford. Their service was great, they offer both a made to measure service, as well as hire. Kieron chose to have his three piece suit specially made, which he accessorised with a blush coloured bow tie and personalised pocket watch.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

The bridesmaids wore a blush floaty maxi dress from ASOS, which featured a splattering of sparkle on the racer style body, to match my shoes. They all looked absolutley beautiful.

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

Our hair was put up into messy, braided buns by the talented Charlotte Tennant and Jayde Belgrave. I was very undecided how to wear my hair, so found lots of styles I liked on Pintrest and had a trial with Charlotte a month before the wedding. She took her time and we tried a couple of variations. I was so pleased with the results, which put my mind at ease for the big day.
I chose to do my own makeup, I had a few trials but always felt I wanted to tweak it afterwards as it didn’t feel like ‘me’. I did lots of research before investing in some new MAC makeup brushes and YSL, MAC and Charlotte Tilbury makeup.

Describe your wedding flowers. Who arranged them for you? (florist details would be lovely please)

I chose my flowers after browsing Pintrest. Originally I wanted daisies but decided on roses after my Nan, Rosemary, passed away in June 2017. I wanted to include lots of greenery and eucalyptus, so chose two different types of rose to stand out amongst the greenery. Rose ‘Amnesia’ worked well with the blush/nude theme which featured across the bridesmaids dresses, Kieron’s accessories and my shoes. The ‘David Austin’ white roses’ were a special addition and just looked absolutely stunning. My talented sister, Rosie Gunnion, arranged all of the flowers for us.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

No – the venue was already so beautiful, we just added a few personal touches.

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

I enjoyed making the decorations and the stationary, it was quite time consuming, however its saved us a lot of money and added a personal touch to the day. I liked that I was able to make the design consistent across my Save the Date, invitations, menu’s, table numbers, place names, thank-you cards etc. I was really pleased with the outcome and everything looks great in the photos!

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

We chose a rustic, tiered, semi-naked sponge cake. Neither of us like fruit cake or heavy icing, so we wanted something light and summery. The flavours were raspberry and coconut and lemon and elder flower. We kept the decor simple, just using flowers. Kieron’s sister, Roxanne Mulkerrins, kindly made our cake as a gift.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

A family member, Carl, performed the music during our ceremony, I walked in to him performing The First Time Ever I saw Your Face (by Roberta Flack) which was a bit of a tear jerker. He then performed throughout our drinks reception in the sunny courtyard area within the venue’s gardens. In the evening, Kieron and I chose The Ashmore Brothers to perform. Despite the warm weather outside, they managed to keep the dance floor full and started their set with our first dance, Ho-Hey by the Lumineers.
I bought Kieron a watch as a surprise on the morning of the wedding, which my Chief Bridesmaid, Rosie, presented to him whilst adding the buttonholes to the Groomsmens suits. I had the back of the watch personalised with our wedding date, so it’s a bit of a keepsake.
We also surprised our guests during Kieron’s speech, as I joined him to say a few words. We wanted to personally thank and hand out the gifts we had bought for our wedding party and parents together.

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

Enjoy every minute. Everyone always say how quickly it flies by and it really does. You spend the months leading up to a wedding worrying over every detail…and it is important, but on the day itself, we just laughed and had so much fun with each other and our guests, we didn’t notice that we hadn’t lit the sparklers or that not everyone had signed our wooden K (guest book).

What’s the best thing about being married?

The best thing about being married is knowing that whatever life throws at us, we made vows to support one another and will never have to face anything alone. You get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend.

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Photographer – https://www.skyphotography.co.uk/
Band – http://ashmorebrothersband.co.uk/
Wedding Dress – http://serendipitybrides.co.uk/
Suits – https://www.vintagesuithire.co.uk/
Venue – http://bassmeadmanorbarns-weddings.co.uk/
Confetti – https://www.adamapple.co.uk/
Favours – https://wildflower-favours.co.uk/product-category/wedding-favours/seed-packets/charity-wedding-favours/
Rings – https://www.samarajames.com/


Claire Gould

Claire spends her days writing - either in beautiful calligraphy or online. She lives on the edge of the English Lake District only minutes away from the beach, where she loves to escape and unwind. Claire's calligraphy can be found at www.byMoonandTide.com. Claire launched the English Wedding Blog in November 2009 - it's been a top 10 UK wedding blog ever since, with a regional focus we hope you LOVE.

1 Comment

Laura Harrison · November 14, 2018 at 10:23 am

Beautiful images! The 2018 summer heatwave combined with a summer full of weddings was a blast – all but two of my couples had amazing weather.

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read previous post:
Dorset wedding photographers Robin Goodlad Photography (3)
Welcome to English Wedding! Dorset wedding photographer Robin Goodlad

Are you having a lovely, cosy, lazy Sunday? I'm covered in paint and supping hot chocolate... we're painting our living...

Close