It’s almost the weekend and we have another gorgeous wedding to share with you – this time, sent in by my lovely friends at The Little Paper Shop in Cheshire! I can’t introduce this blog post without plugging my modern calligraphy classes at this gorgeous wedding & paper boutique – it’s in Nantwich, and I’ll be there on the 7th of September for beginners modern calligraphy and brush pen lettering workshops – come and join me if you can!

Now as well as being the creative whirlwind and owner of The Little Paper Shop, Cara is a talented wedding photographer. She captured Liz and Andrew’s Shropshire wedding for them, and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with you today!

Liz is just beautiful in her Essense of Australia wedding gown, which she found at Shropshire Country Brides. Despite a few dress wobbles in the run up to the wedding, Liz stuck with her choice and we LOVE how beautifully this dress works on her – it was meant to be for this stunning bride!

We both love the outdoors and I particularly love flowers so I wanted there to be lots of flowers involved in the day: we had edible flower cocktails, a wildflower meadow, the vicar had a floral stole, the church and yurt were full of flowers and the bridesmaids wired fresh flowers to their own hair-combs to wear on the day! The yurt was such a beautiful structure and felt very natural and relaxed which is how we wanted the guests to feel on the day.

A beautiful rural wedding between two farming families from Shropshire, full of handmade rustic touches

The day begins at a handmade gated entrance to the yurt on the field at the bride’s parents’ house. The couple had prepared the field, planting a wild meadow months prior to the wedding, which bloomed just in time!

We love the unusual cricket bat table plan made from donated crickets bats from the Groom’s cricket team. “The cricket bat table plan looked stunning and was really easy to make! Andy’s cricket team donated most of the bats and we screwed them to some old pallets, sanded them down and then got a local printer to print the stickers.”

Liz and Andrew got married at their local church- St. Michael’s and all Angels Church in Alberbury, Shropshire. “We couldn’t have got married anywhere else! It is a stunning church and an important place for both of our families.”

After the ceremony, they headed across the road to a classic car racetrack, where they stopped racing especially for the ceremony, for them to do a lap of the track in an old school Morgan, waving to all the spectators!

Our reception venue was a pair of yurts from ‘Castle Yurts’ in a field at my parents’ house in Shropshire. Having it at my parents’ house was a lot of hard work in preparing the field but it also meant we could have lots of personal touches including sowing a wild flower meadow on the entrance to the field which bloomed just in time!

My dress was by Essense of Australia and I found it at Shropshire Country Brides near Much Wenlock. I ummed and ahhed about several dresses but I wanted something with lots of lace and I loved the sweetheart neckline and lace straps. I had so many doubts before the day including ringing Andy up a few months before to tell him I had to get a different dress but on the day I had no doubts- it felt perfect!

Andy and his groomsmen hired morning suits and ties from Martin David in Shrewsbury. He wanted to be traditional and smart so morning suits were a must!

Bridesmaid dresses were by Maya at Asos. We were looking for pale blue long dresses and these were beautifully beaded – so pretty!

The flowers were all done by friends and family with a mix of flowers bought from a wholesaler and donations from peoples gardens. My Auntie Pat did the bouquets and included one of my Grandad’s roses in my bouquet which smelled amazing and was so special! It was so lovely to have so much help from friends and family it really made the prep so much fun!

Invite design was from Something New Stationery and printed by one of my bridesmaid Anna’s parents and the floral artwork for the Order of Service and Table numbers were done by Andy’s Nana and printed by his Uncle Deck at Welshpool Printing Group.

Our friend Rachel made a croquembouche which we decorated with edible flowers. I had always wanted a croquembouche since I saw one on Masterchef! The caterers brought it out with sparklers before the dessert course so that everyone could have some with their other puds!

We had a really good local covers band called ‘Fourphit‘ followed by ‘Girl on Sax’ who played her saxophone to dance music whilst dancing around with us on the dancefloor!

It’s hard to pick a favourite moment but probably the first dance which wasn’t practised at all but involved Andy throwing me around the dance floor as we attempting some sort of spontaneous Strictly-inspired routine!

Our local pub owns a Morgan car which they hire out so we hired it from the Friday to Tuesday and used it to go to/from the church and on our minimoon! There is a classic car racetrack next to the church but they stopped racing for the ceremony and then we did a lap of the track straight afterwards and waved to all the spectators! It was great fun but it is only a 2 seater and a bit of a squeeze- a good job I didn’t have a meringue dress!

My brother did a bit of filming of the day and has compiled us a ‘best bits’ video which saved us a great deal of money and gives us a fun insight; especially into the evening when everyone’s had a few wines!

Liz & Andrew’s Shropshire wedding supplier list

Wedding photography by Cara Green at The Little Paper Shop, Nantwich
Dress: Essense of Australia
Boutique: Shropshire Country Brides
Suit: Martin David
Venue: Castle Yurts
Invitations and stationery: Something New Stationery
Band: Fourphit
… and more tunes by: Girl on Sax