Happy Friday folks! What are your plans for the weekend? We’ll be relaxing after a tough week of man flu, I think!! But let’s hark back to the summer months, shall we? Beautiful Leila & her gorgeous groom Mike had a laid back outdoor wedding in June at the very lovely Shortmead House in Biggleswade, which is set in the Bedfordshire countryside. It had a very English country garden feel, which photographer Lorna Newman has captured beautifully for us. I hope you love this stunning summer wedding as much as I do!

All images are by lovely Lorna Newman, whose style is wonderfully fun and creative – her romantic shots throughout the day from morning through to sunrise are just divine. The wedding was non-traditional, very beautiful and relaxed, it was just perfect. 

“I had always loved Grace Loves Lace dresses but never thought I would have had the chance to try one let along buy one! They opened a showroom in London and it went from there…

As my dress was so beautiful I wanted to keep everything minimal. I opted for simple earrings and I had fresh flowers in my hair.
My dress had a split up the front so my shoes had to be special as they were going to be seen. They were Gianvito Rossi and were blush pink (which fitted in with the colour scheme). I picked them so I could wear them again!

Mike wore a navy suit with black shoes and a light navy tie.

 

 

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://lornanewmanweddings.com

We came across Lorna’s amazing photos on Facebook. We got in contact and then realised she was local to the area, so we booked her!

We couldn’t have asked for a better photographer to capture our special day! She really understood the informal and relaxed atmosphere we wanted and it shows perfectly in all the photos in particular our bride & groom photos. We saw Lorna as a guest at our wedding more than our photographer as she fitted in so well! The photo booth was also a very big hit with our guests.

We had been promised some ‘sneak peek’ photos the week after the wedding day. We were sat on a beach in the Cayman Islands on our mini-moon when they came through, I cried! They were so beautiful.

 

Photographer’s website – Lorna Newman Wedding Photography

Facebook – @LornaNewmanWeddingPhotography2018
Insta – @lornanewman_weddings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding venue:

Shortmead House, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire

Wedding month:

June

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

Best day ever!

Your wedding style or theme:

Relaxed, informal & rustic
Blush pink, dove grey, whites & floral greens

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

Local suppliers which we found ourselves

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Set a budget and focus on what is the most important to you and then any nice extras can be added at the end if you have any budget left over.

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

Honeymoon and photographer

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

I found the invites on Etsy and then contacted the company directly. We didn’t send ‘Save the dates’ as it saved us money which we were able to then spend on other things.
We had cupcakes as favours for all our guests so we sourced the boxes from eBay and we had friends and family help make them all!

The 2 best men, pageboy, father of the bride & father of the groom also all wore the same.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

I had 1 bridesmaid, my longest best friend of 20+ years.
She wore a simple blush/taupe dress from Reiss with a opening at the back. She also had flowers in her hair so we both complimented each other.

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

Hired a professional.
Sasha Wren Makeup artist & hair stylists.
She did hair and make up for the bride, bridesmaid & mother of the bride.
Couldn’t recommend her highly enough. She was amazing and knew exactly what we wanted.

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

Skipps florist in Biggleswade.
Both bride & bridesmaids hand tied bouquets complimented each other. Bride had pink roses as well whereas the bridesmaid didn’t. They were both tied with flowing grey ribbon. They were rustic and beautiful!

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

As it was outside the venue and grounds were already lovely and the beautiful weather really helped! We added a few extra bits in the marquee to make it more special and to fit in with the theme. We had fairy lights all around and clusters of paper lanterns hanging from the marquee.

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

We had a 1 tier fruit cake which was decorated with a flower garland which matched the bouquets.
We also had 3 different flavour cupcakes which were individually boxed as favours for our guests. The flavours were, chocolate orange, pistachio & vanilla.
A family friend made them all and they were delicious!

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

We surprised our guests with a string quartet before, during and at the reception drinks. We had picked the music with them before hand.
We decided to do our own music as it was very informal. On our invites we asked every guest to RSVP with their favourite song. We then played them all throughout the day and evening. There were some really mixed but great choices!

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

Everyone will give you advice and tell you that you have to do things in a certain way. That’s not true! The day is all about the two of you, so do exactly what you want and enjoy it! Take a moment during the day to step back and take it all in.

What’s the best thing about being married?

Referring to each other as husband and wife, still feels very weird but also really nice!
And no more saving to pay for a wedding so we can plan more adventures to make more memories!

Leila and Mike’s Shortmead House wedding supplier list

Photography – Lorna Newman Wedding Photography

Venue – Shortmead House, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.
Make-up & Hair – Sasha Wren Make-up & Hair
Wedding dress – Grace Loves Lace
Flowers – Skipps Florist, Biggleswade
Marquee & Venue dressed by- Hall and Co Event Design