Louisa and Will’s August wedding was filled with sunflowers and rustic, elegant styling touches. I think it’s a perfect promise of summer to come – and I hope it lightens your heart a little this Friday morning. The venue is Lapstone Barn, and the day was full of love, laughter, friends, family – and freely flowing champagne! Grab a cuppa, snuggle for a moment and enjoy the virtual company of this gorgeous pair. All images are by Hannah K Photography, who gets a glowing review from Louisa and Will.

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://hannahkphotography.co.uk

How did you choose your photographer?

I had a recommendation from a friend who was unable to have Hannah as her wedding photographer. When we looked at her website we knew we had found the woman to capture our wedding day. We were drawn to the amazingly light bright and airy style she showcased on her website.

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

Hannah was everything we could have possibly wanted and more. She made us feel totally at ease from the moment we started planning our engagement shoot to our wedding day. I had been very nervous about having my photo taken and Hannah made those all go away. She captured the very essence of our day. The smiles, the laughter, the hugs and all of the funny faces without anyone even noticing their photo was being taken. We could not have asked for a better photographer and would thoroughly recommend the amazingly talented bubbly and loving Hannah!!

Tell us about the moment you saw your wedding photos for the first time?

We got our wedding photos on a day we weren’t together…. I had to wait for over twelve hours to open them. I was so tempted to look without Will. However When we did sit down and look together, we were overwhelmed with emotion. They were perfect and we relived all of the emotions of our perfect wedding day.

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

Most of our suppliers came through word of mouth or local knowledge. We went for all local suppliers bar our wedding rings which came from brilliant earth and Fraser hart.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Don’t be afraid of a little bit of DIY!

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

We said right from the word go that the venue, food and alcohol and flowers were important to us. Oh and of course our fabulous photographer. So for all of those we spent a little bit more money

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

I fell in love with the woodland style from Louise Rowles designs. I asked her to make a few changes and she produced the most amazing stationary we could have imagined

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

So many times. It was the fourth dress I tried on. I didn’t trust my gut so went to a different boutique and my mind kept going back to that first dress. It was everything I could ever have asked for, I came out and held back the tears.

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

Enzoani
Tessa Francis Bridal – Alcester

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

My shoes called Kennedy and were from the rainbow club. My perfume was Jo Malone Wild Bluebelle
My jewellery was family pieces including a bracelet Will bought me the second Christmas we were together.

And what did the groom wear?

Ted Baker – tailored by Ted. He had a tailor made suit with out initials and wedding date sewn in by the inside pocket.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

My bridesmaids had lavender grey dresses from PurBel (tailored to fit them perfectly by a local seamstress)! – they all had different styles of dresses as they were all comfortable in different styles. It worked beautifully and I personally think they are the most stunning bridesmaids anyone has had.

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

We hired a professional for both. Our hair was done by Mavericks hair in Alcester, where I had my hair done as a child and make up was done by the talented Niamh Ford. Both local to where I grew up. My bridesmaids make up was done by my very talented sister in law.

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

I wanted wildflowers and was thinking down the alpine meadow route but featuring sunflowers. I love sunflowers I think they are such a happy flower. I always knew that I wanted sunflowers and then I just wanted white flowers with it. My grandmothers name was Margerite so that’s why we had the daisies. I love white roses and then I just asked the bouquets to be padded out with greenery and gyp. I asked for similar for the table arrangements and then big milk churns full of wild flowers featuring the sunflowers, thinking almost along the alpine meadow route.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

Lapstone barn is beautiful even without any extra decoration. However I knew I wanted flowers and lots of them to make it even more beautiful and ooze that rustic elegance The flowers made the rest of the decoration easy. Mum and I went for a trip down to Rustic Rentals near Bristol and hired wooden crates, many many tea light holders and candle sticks, mini easels and a few more milk churns for good measure. Will is half Canadian so we chose to have mini maple leaves as our name labels and simple tables.

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

My wonderfully talented sister in law made all of our signs and painted names on maple leaves and table names on the mini blackboards. She helped make it look wonderful. My maid of honour and I spent hours one Sunday spray painting the maple leaves gold and putting together our wedding favours – stamping the tag and tying on the keys. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without wonderful friends and family.

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

Another local business made our cakes. Will loves cake – don’t we all. However he didn’t want a run of the mill three tiered wedding cake. Iced or naked. So he found an amazing cake stand made by MH Woodland and then we found Hannah (MUCK cakes by Hannah) we went and spoke to her about having cake that looked like cake. She also produced the best Victoria sponge cake either of us had ever had (sorry mum). She loved the idea and so we ordered a big Victoria sponge sandwiched with jam and buttercream. A lemon cake sandwiched with curd and buttercream decorated with candied lemon rind and a salted caramel with caramel and salted caramel buttercream decorated with honeycombs and dipped popcorn. We also had a gluten free and vegan chocolate and banana cake for those with dietary requirements made by the amazing cocoa bean

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

I come from a half Swiss half Scottish family and love a good ceilidh. We had to have a Ceilidh as I have always found that everyone gets involved young or old good dancer or like me have two left feet. It was the best decision we made everyone had a great time and danced with new people.
We also had my talented sister in law and her husband sing in the church – they were truly amazing and it really made our wedding special to us.

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

Relax and by completely unobtrusively yourselves. Don’t let conflicting family members view points ruin the build up to your day at the end of the day – it will be the best day of your lives and the little things pass you by. And age old advice of take a moment to reflect on the day and stand back and watch just you and your partner. We stood in a stubble field and just watched the horizon together enjoying our first moments as husband and wife.

What’s the best thing about being married?

Spending every day with your best friend.

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Hannah k photography is an absolute must.
Oh and of course Louise Rowles designs.