The views from Maïlys and Tom’s Peak District wedding are breathtaking. Married at Dunscar Farm, this gorgeous pair had a relaxed day with a DIY vibe – and it’s stunning. Their Peak District wedding photographer John Mottershaw is a friend of English Wedding so we’re absolutely thrilled to see such a lovely review for him from the happy couple!
More gorgeous pics from this outdoor wedding on our Instagram – @englishweddingblog
Wedding photographer’s website
John Mottershaw https://www.johnmottershaw.com
Wedding photographer review
My husband and I were so happy with John as our wedding photographer. He was so professional and easy to work with, and he made us feel really comfortable in front of the camera. We loved that he took a lot of candid pictures, so we were able to capture the real emotions of the day. The end results were absolutely stunning, and we will cherish these photos forever.
Your best moment or memory
The outdoor ceremony was truly special, and the bridesmaids’ and best men’s speeches made it all the more emotional. It was a joy to celebrate with everyone on this special day.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
We had our official wedding ceremony at the town hall on Thursday, so it didn’t make sense to exchange rings again on Saturday. Instead, we incorporated a knot tying ceremony into our celebration. Also because the wedding was part French part English we changed few things to fit both.
Venue name + review
Dunscar Farm
Our Peak District wedding venue was a field with a breathtaking view. Rachel, was ever so helpful and cheerful, serving as our wedding planner on the day. We are so grateful for her and her father’s kindness and hospitality. It was a pleasure to stay at their bed and breakfast.
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
Tom: light grey suit
Mailys: A boho wedding dress with a twist
Dress or suit shop name + review
Wed2b dress bought on stillwhite
Florist name + review
I picked flowers from my garden and was happy to have something I grew
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
There was a fair bit of DIY. I made the table decorations with painted tree branches and flowers. Every guest had a hand made reusable glass with their names on it.
Wedding readings?
We had our vows for each other and then the bridesmaids’ and best men’s speeches. We wanted to have all the speeches early so people could relax and enjoy the rest of the wedding.
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
A waltz from Howl’s moving castle
Weddings can be hilarious, they can be beautiful, they can be a rollercoaster of emotion. They’re always out-of-this-world incredible!
Chris and Paula’s day is bursting with every emotion you can imagine: the love and joy in this alternative Yorkshire wedding is off the scale.
As ever with our faves York Place Studios, this wedding is all about people, connections, emotions and keeping it real. The happy couple are brilliant: bride Paula rocks two amazing outfits and owns the phrase ‘best day ever’ – this is crazy, amazing and epic. Loads more on our instagram! Enjoy!
From London wedding photographers York Place Studios.
“Paula and Chris had a truly rock n’ roll outdoor wedding that fitted our mantra and approach perfectly. You never knew what was going to happen next in a day character-filled, energetic, wonderfully chaotic, funny and truly heartfelt. Bubble gun fights, cornfield antics, pink feather duster limbo dancing to a cardboard cut out of Noel Gallagher … there was always plenty to shoot with people just being people with an abundance of personality; just the way we like it.” ~ York Place Studios
An authentic, emotional and alternative wedding in Yorkshire, with York Place Studios
An authentic, emotional and alternative wedding in Yorkshire, with York Place Studios
London documentary wedding photographers York Place Studios and York Place Films are members of English Wedding
Wedding photography: www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk
Studio photography: https://kaleid.me/
The jury’s out on whether this is a festival-style wedding, or a festival with a wedding in it. Because this amazing pair’s festival game is strong! All the love for GORGEOUS couple Jamie & Luke for celebrating their way. This wedding / festival rocks its socks off, and we’re all in for the party of the decade!
Our beautiful bride and groom had the look, taste and sound of a real mini festival, with fire dancers (keep scrolling – they’re at the end!) and bands and musicians playing full sets before the DJ took over late in the evening.
Wedding photographer’s website
Wedding photographer review
Amie was great and listened to all ideas that we had. She made the day really enjoyable!
Your best moment or memory
Walking down the aisle surrounded by so many friends and family (lock down rules for outside weddings had only been lifted 2 weeks prior.) A friend was marrying us and another friend sang Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
Our confetti was hand dyed rice that was passed out to all our guests. We had a children’s tent with 2 childminders in to help entertain the children. We also had 2 different food vans to give the wedding feel!
Our Fire Dancers were amazing – they were from House of Bonita Entertainment
Venue name + review
We hired 3 teepee style tents from Elite Tents. They were amazing and they were so helpful when the wedding got postponed due to Covid. Wedding was held in Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire, on my parents land.
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
My dress was by the designer Lillian West and bought from Elia Pearl in Rugby. Suits were hired for the groom and best man.
Dress or suit shop name + review
Ellia Pearl in rugby, just an amazing shop they made me feel comfortable and made the choice very easy!
Florist name + review
The Wild Bee and Me – Sarah Sutton – She was incredible, listened to exactly what I wanted and the flowers were just beautiful
Cake maker name + review
wildflower cakes bakery – Dawn Cunnington – The cake had white icing on the outside and inside had different coloured layers all with different flavoured sponge but was just right and was perfect
Music
Music – As it was a festival themed wedding we had Phil Poole sing us down the aisle and did a second set. James Currey did 2 45 min sets. Steve Faulkner did 2 30 min sets! And we finished it off with the amazing DJ Fitz Samuel who was joined for a while by a saxophone player from light it up
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Love someone by Lukas Graham
Wedding planner name + review
Hayley Knight – a colleague of my dads that saved the day and saved me from getting too stressed out
Hair + makeup name + review
I did the make up Jade Elizabeth did my hair I was so so amazed she did exactly what I asked which wasn’t the easiest!
Today’s wedding is just bursting with joy, and colour, and playfulness, and love. And what more could you ever wish for? Gorgeous couple Georgina and Ben were married at Crown Lodge and chose Kent wedding photographer Benjamin Toms to capture their day. Keep reading for brilliant reviews and recommendations for their favourite local wedding suppliers, along with all the fabulous photos from this stunning Kent wedding.
Wedding photographer’s website
Benjamin Toms – https://benjamintomsphotography.co.uk/
Wedding photographer review
We had the most perfect, fun-filled day and Ben’s photos captured the essence of the guests, venue, atmosphere and day so perfectly. We’ve had so many wonderful comments from our friends and family about how professional both Ben and James (his assistant) were on the day and how well they blended into the background (shown by some of the great action shots!). We’re absolutely chuffed with the finished photos and will cherish them forever. Cannot recommend Ben more (and James, his assistant). Both were so calm and relaxed on the day and fit right in with everyone else. The photos are BRILLIANT!
Your best moment or memory
We had so many special moments – it’s hard to choose one. The most recommended advice we had from everyone leading up to the wedding was make sure you have a sneaky 5-10 minutes to yourselves after the ceremony where you can just have a mini chat and take in the day together. We found we had some perfect moments to chat when we were doing our couples photos, but also managed to catch each other a few more times throughout the day. These little moments are what we’ll really cherish.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
We were quite traditional with most aspects of the wedding day. We opted for a round top table rather than a straight one which we preferred as it felt like we were part of the party with the guests rather than everyone looking at us!
Our friend Pete played guitar leading up to the ceremony / during, and him and my sister sang the song Ben proposed to me with just before we signed the register which was wonderful!
Rather than a traditional guest book we purchased a blank jenga block and got guests to sign a block each, as we thought we could end up with lots of various books laying around after the wedding (photo albums, guest books, scrapbooks, etc.). We’ve now varnished this and have it to play on games nights with a few drinks.
Videographer name + review
We’re super lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderfully talented friends and family. As both of us studied Film at university, one of our good friends came along and filmed the day for us, and as Ben edits he put together a beautiful 10 minute video with all our favourite snippets from the day.
Venue name + review
Our venue was the wonderful Crown Lodge in Wye. Stephanie (the venue manager) and her team were absolutely fantastic. In the lead up to the wedding Stephanie was always on hand either via phone or email and answered every question (no matter how trivial it felt). We had a meeting in person 6 months before and another one a few weeks leading up the wedding to make sure we had everything in place. Stephanie also helped us get the ceremony sorted and organised through Kent weddings so the officiant could do our ceremony from the garden area of the venue. On the day the team were all super smiley and friendly, our guests all complimented how wonderful they were too. Cannot stress how much we loved this venue, it was absolutely perfect for us and the best views over Kent for some amazing photographs too.
Russell and his team at Kitchen of Kent were brilliant – they worked so well with the Crown Lodge team for a seamless day and experience for us and our guests. The food was phenomenal – so many of the guests spoke to us about this on the day and after. We wanted to go for something a little different to the traditional three course meal – as Ben and I both cook paella for our friends this seemed like a no brainer (and the Kitchen of Kent ones are to die for!). We had a taster included in our package which we did together a year before the wedding – a lovely day out with so many yummy dishes to try and get us excited. We also had a selection of pizzas in the evening which Russell cooked on a trailer round the back of the venue which were delicious.
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
Georgina got her bridal gown from an independent shop in Tenterden – Vicki’s Bridal Boutique. Sisters Hannah and Megan run the shop and are both super knowledgable and friendly, with a relaxed approach. The boutique is gorgeous and the dresses, veils and accessories are all beautiful. It was a wonderful experience and great to have the whole place to yourself and your guests. I went once for a browse and tried a couple on, and a second time where I found my dress!
Ben bought his suit (and the best man / ushers / FOB) from Moss Bros. Kevin and his team at the Ashford Outlet branch have helped Ben and his family out with suits for weddings in the past and are fantastic. They were gone for several hours and each were properly measured and taken care of. The suits were a gorgeous colour and the colours matched the bridesmaid dresses so well (a happy accident!).
Florist name + review
Our flowers have a wonderful story. Georgina’s Dad is an avid gardener and grew a massive selection of them for us, that we cut the day before the wedding and mixed in with a few of the ‘pick your own’ buckets from Blooming Green. Two days before the wedding we went with a few family friends and picked our own flowers, which was a nice day out with everyone in the lead up to the big day. The day before the wedding we had a trusty team of helpers, including the mother of the bride and her best friends to arrange the flowers. These then went into a variety of glass jars that we’d spent months leading up to the wedding decorating with hessian / lace material and dotted them all over the venue. Blooming Green put together the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids using a selection of the flowers we’d picked the day before – they were gorgeous and smelled all minty and divine!
Cake maker name + review
Our cake was made by Ben’s talented sister, Hannah. It was a delicious lemon cake with lemon icing and decorated with citrus fruits. Safe to say, we froze a few portions to have once we were back from Italy, as well as taking some on our honeymoon!
Stationery maker’s name + review
We made all our stationery ourselves – Ben drew the pictures for our invitations, and table decorations using photographs of our wedding rings as the centre of each object. We both studied Film at university and now work in film, so wanted to incorporate this slightly into our wedding by choosing our favourite films as the table names. We also custom made little stamps to seal our invitations and thank you cards!
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
We’re super fortunate to be surrounded by many crafty people and enjoy craft projects ourselves. We made loads of different things for the wedding day, including a lifesize kerplunk and donut wall for the venue, all the wedding stationery, table decorations and little games quizzes – one of our favourites that’s done a few rounds post wedding is our ‘Guest Who’ which had a selection of the guests on. Ben’s Mum also hand painted a selection of pebbles for a few sets of a ‘Tic-Tac-Toe’ table game, we decorated over 100 jars for the flower decoration around the venue, made pallets to show the order of the day and display a selection of ‘family tree’ photos which included all of our family and extended family on their wedding days.
Wedding readings?
We had two wedding readings – one that we pulled together using loads of our favourite film quotes about love that Ben’s sister, Emily, read. Our second reading was written for us by our talented friends, Harry and Grace, and they read it out together – it was absolutely fantastic, and we loved how much this reflected our friendship with them both over the years.
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Our first dance was ‘As Time Goes By’ from the film Casablanca. This was our first date together so the song from the film is very special to us.
Hair + makeup name + review
Georgina, the MOB and the bridesmaids all hair their hair and makeup done the morning of the wedding at the bride’s parents house. Makeup by Lydia Rae Makeup and hair by Jeanette Felstead. Georgina had trials with Lydia and Jeanette in the lead up to the wedding – I was after something natural for both my hair and makeup as i’m not someone that wears a lot of makeup. Lydia was super friendly and talked through each stage of the trial and products to help me with a natural style which I loved! Same for the hair – Jeanette tried two different styles in my trial as I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go hair up or down. I bought along a clip and a few other accessories I was playing with too so we could try multiple options. On the morning of the big day they were both super relaxed and blended right in with the morning!
We honestly have some of the most incredible locations for weddings here in the UK – and the new laws brought in last month allowing couples to tie the knot outside, although still only on premises with a wedding license, give even greater opportunities for stunning wedding backdrops. Adam & Abbie chose to tie the knot at Sandy Cove Hotel in North Devon, and we’re ever so grateful to the happy couple for telling us a little about their amazing day.
All images by Devon wedding photographers Younger Photography
Wedding photographer’s website
https://www.youngerphotography.com/
How did you choose your photographer?
Through a family friend
Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!
Very pleased. They were brilliant throughout the planning/ day. Good communication and both very professional. Captured every moment throughout our day.
Weddings at Sandy Cove
What’s your fondest memory of your wedding?
Finally seeing it all come together after all the planning and stress.
Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?
I would definitely recommend having a videographer. It’s another brilliant way to capture your day. We had Ashley Moran, he was amazing!!
Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Sandy Cove Hotel. Staff were amazing and very helpful. Stunning location, couldn’t fault anything about it.
Did you love wearing your outfits? How was your shopping experience, was it fun to find your wedding gear?
Yeah felt amazing. Suits were very easy to find and from the first shop we visited. My wedding dress, I knew straight away. So pretty successful easy finds.
Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness
Yes we did from the area we were getting married. Very happy with Ridds Florist. Great communication and exactly what we expected.
As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Mrs Smudgers Kitchen in Barnstaple. It’s was amazing!!!
Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves
We made hangover kits for everyone and Hampers for the rooms. To help with hangovers. It was an brilliant idea and everyone loved it.
What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?
Latch by Sam Smith. We used to listen to it when we first met.
Favourite wedding suppliers
https://www.youngerphotography.com
https://www.sandycove-hotel.co.uk
https://www.briddflorist.co.uk
https://www.mrssmudgerskitchen.co.uk
Unique designs by Tina
The Wedding Company Plympton
Jessica Faye Bridal Hair
Hannah May Make-up artist.
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove
Weddings at Sandy Cove