Whimsical Woodland Fairytale Wedding

Whimsical Woodland Fairytale Wedding

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We are finishing the week with a BANG. I try not to be biased, but oh my how I adore this wedding...

WWW readers Charlie and Andrew tied the knot on the 24 th May 2014 at Kingston Country Courtyard, Dorset. They had a vision of a whimsical fairytale woodland wedding, incorporating Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

There were the loveliest details, from woodland inspired table centrepieces to toadstools, pom poms and fairy lights. The florals were all kinds of beautiful and that cake!

Charlie wore a vintage wedding dress with lush flower crown and romantic veil while Andrew went for a velvet jacket and green bow tie. Be sure to devour every single image.

Huge thanks goes to the utterly amazing Lisa Dawn Photography for sharing her photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | After a week in Singapore, we flew to Bali. We spent three days in Ubud before driving to Seminyak on the coast. Unfortunately the first evening we started to feel ill and both went down (horrifically) with salmonella poisoning. We decided there and then that if we can get through food poisoning together we can get through anything.

By the third day we were still feeling a bit ropey but Andy was adamant we should go out for dinner. After some persuasion I agreed to go. We pulled up in a taxi at an extremely fancy hotel. At this point I should have guessed, (we had been together for 7 and half years) but with us having food poisoning I just didn't think he would have planned all of this.

We had this romantic Balinese dinner for two, under this traditional straw gazebo which was lit by hundreds of tea light candles. It was so romantic and surreal.

Andy said he had a surprise for me and told me to close my eyes. He then placed a Christian Louboutin shoebox into my lap! He was down on one knee and looking very nervous. I don't remember what he said I was too excited about the shoes! And then Andy put the shoes on my feet like Cinderella!

Apparently all I kept repeating was "how are they [the shoes] even here!" Of course the shoes had arrived in style after being flown over to the hotel in Bali from London. Obviously nothing ever runs smoothly and the shoes got held up at Bali customs and were only released the day before the proposal (even though he had posted them over 2 months before). Andy had to pay a £280 release fee! Poor Andy had a really stressful time, what with us being ill and then the shoes not turning up.

Proposing with a pair of shoes isn't the most traditional way but I am such a shoe lover, Andy said it seemed like the right way to do it. When we got back off holiday we went to the little town of Battle near Hastings where there is the cutest little antique jewellery shop called Friar House. We decided on a 1930s diamond ring, which is the most beautiful ring I ever saw. In the evening we went for dinner in Brighton and it truly was one of the most special days of my life.

THE VISION | A whimsical, woodland fairytale wedding, with lots of personal touches, lots of family and friends, lots of great food and drink, and great live music.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We had 1 year and 9 months to plan. To be honest we weren't in any mad rush to get married but my gosh those 21 months flew by! We were paying for this wedding ourselves so we had a lot of saving to do as well. I literally threw myself into wedding research straight away. I was half way through a novel when Andy proposed and the day after I just closed the book and started researching weddings instead! I may have become a little obsessed with wedding blogs and magazines. I have no idea what I would have done without Pinterest. I looked and found inspiration everywhere. I also went to wedding fayres and it was at the Brides Wedding Show I found my invitation supplier, Eagle Eyed Bride. I had so many ideas it was over whelming! I did draw up spreadsheets and a critical path to keep on track of everything. I also knew I wanted to keep a record of all the planning, so I took photos of EVERYTHING. This also helped in the planning as it's so manic you do forget things. Unfortunately my phone got stolen and I lost a lot of my pictures - tip: make sure you back up!

BUDGET | We didn't have a strict budget but whatever budget we did have in mind we blew it.... To this day we don't know the exact figure; we are too scared to tot it all up!

THE VENUE | We researched every wedding venue in Dorset and some in Hampshire and visited 16 of them. Believe or not we weren't even going to visit Kingston Country Courtyard as we didn't think it was what we wanted! But as soon as we saw it we knew it was the one. We picked Kingston as it was in a proper little English village, had amazing views of the Purbecks (great for photos), accommodation for guests, a barn, space for a marquee and a garden full of beautiful trees and flowers. It was big enough to hold over 100 guests but small enough so it felt intimate. They also allowed you to choose any food or drinks you wanted, and we could decorate it however we wanted - no wedding planners, no rules, just a lovely venue to make our own. Best of all we were able to start setting up the venue two days before which is an absolute must if you want lots of details.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I went to 12 shops from Pronovias and Kate Halfpenny to Morgan Davies and smaller boutiques. I tried on 50 plus dresses from amazing designers like Ellie Saab, Inbal Dror, Jenny Packham and Temperley, costing anything up to £7,000. But I just couldn't find what I wanted. I just didn't get that ooooooh feeling that I normally get. I knew I wanted a pretty dress with lace on it, a long train and it had to be fitted at my waist. The most important aspect was that I wanted to look like Snow White. I was panicking as it was only four months to go, at this point I had been looking for a year and a half and I still didn't have anything to wear! One Saturday I was at Molly's Den Vintage Warehouse looking for wedding props and I stumbled across a rail of vintage wedding dresses. There amongst the clutter was my dress! I threw it on over my clothes and it fitted like a glove, honestly like it was made just for me. Unbelievably the dress cost me £30 and we named her Snow as she was pure white. Although she was beautiful to begin with I did alter her to make her exactly what I wanted. The dress originally had MASSIVE long balloon sleeves (very 1970s), so with the help of a dressmaker we made them into little puff sleeves and then we removed the back. The original trim was removed and replaced with a delicate lace (I had to have lace somewhere). My veil was made for me from the most delicate white tulle. I think this really shows you don't have to spend a lot to find the perfect dress.

I also bought a 1950's vintage dress from a Vintage Shop for the evening; which again was an absolute bargain. It was completely different to my day dress. It was champagne in colour, had lots of sparkly detail and came to just below my knee. The arms were lacy and it has masses of tulle underneath the skirt which looked so cute when I spun around. Changing for the evening was the best thing I did. I wanted to be able to run about, dance and have fun in the evening and a shorter hemline allowed me to do this. And it also showed off my shoes!

I kept my accessories simple as I wanted to wear a flower wreath. As a surprise, Andy bought me some sparkly diamond earrings to wear, which I opened on the morning of the wedding.

Obviously I had the shoes that Andy proposed with but the weather has been really miserable in the days before the wedding and I knew wearing them would make my precious engagement shoes dirty and muddy, so I used them as a decoration instead! I had bought another pair of shoes for the day and a pair for the evening both from Jimmy Choo so I wore them instead. I told you I like shoes... a lot!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Even though we knew we the weather could be really hot at the end of May I had always imagined Andy would wear blue velvet. It is my absolute favourite thing. My mum wore blue suede shoes on her wedding day and so it felt special. We found the perfect suit in Ted Baker, but nothing runs smoothly. We didn't buy it straight away (mistake) and then it went into the sale and they didn't have the size we needed! We had our friend running around London trying to find the jacket and waistcoat for us. Someone had put the last jacket in the size we needed on hold in the Ted Baker store and our friend was trying everything she could think of to let the sales assistant let her buy it! She said she was flirting SO hard, but he was really stubborn! Luckily after a month of stress we tracked the jacket and waistcoat down. So many different stores had our number to call us if the jacket turned up. We were really surprised how helpful some people could be, particularly at Selfridges. People seem to understand how important weddings are!

The groomsman wore blue check shirts from Jaeger and the trousers, shoes and braces were all from Topman. We wanted to keep them casual. Also not having jackets saved us a lot of money! All the bow ties were ordered online at Mrs Bowtie which has the most fantastic selection.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Neither of us is particularly serious. We wanted the readings to be funny and light hearted. We choose "I like You" by Sandol Stoddard Warburg as our first reading which is about two friends who are trying to put into words why they like to be together. Our second reading "A Lovely Love Story" by Edward Monkton is about two dinosaurs. The words really summed us up, so there were a lot of laughs! My sister, who was reading, used two dinosaur soft toys to illustrate the characters which was just so lovely. The dinosaurs now have pride of place on our sofa at home.

I walked down the aisle to Dunford's Fancy by The Waterboys, it's such a sweet and happy Irish jig which we had played by Jack on guitar and Benny on the fiddle. I didn't want anything too soppy as I knew I would be in tears before I reached Andy!

We signed the register to Somewhere over the Rainbow as The Wizard of Oz is my favourite film and then Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel as I'm 7 months older than Andy and he likes to remind me of this.

We walked out to Kaliope House which is an up tempo Irish jig. It's actually played in an episode of Sex and the City and this is my absolute favourite television series so we had to get that in!

Our first dance was to Harvest Moon by Neil Young played by 'The Brightside Band' in the evening, they were unbelievably fantastic. I remember feeling extremely happy at this point, all my nerves had gone and it was a lovely moment between me and my new hubby.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My Maid of Honour was my oldest school friend who I met when we were just four years old, and my lovely bridesmaids were my niece and my two other best friends. I was naughty as I didn't ask them to be my maids until 6 months after I got engaged! I made them all wait! I made hangers for their dresses with their names printed on them, and hung a tag on them simply saying "for your bridesmaid dress". I put the hangers in big pink boxes tied with ribbon and took it round their houses when they were not in and left them on their beds! What a fun surprise to come home to!

Looking for bridesmaid dresses was definitely one of the hardest parts. We had a group Whatsapp message set up and we would post pictures of dresses but the girls are different shapes and had different styles so there were a lot of disagreements! I originally suggested they wore different colours and styles but that made finding the dresses even harder as none of the dresses they liked all worked together as a group. I just wanted them to be happy and in a dress they loved, but I had told them they had to look like Fairies. We finally found these gorgeous cream lace dresses from BHS, and we put a floral belt around the waist from Phase Eight. The shoes were Jenny Packham. I felt so proud of them on the day, they looked absolutely beautiful, just like flower fairies.

THE FLOWERS | Jessie at The Poundbury Florist was amazing. She instantly got my theme of Fairytale Woodland and I trusted her. I wanted the flowers to look like they had been picked from woodland so I had an informal rustic, hand tied bouquet. We had a fantastic consultation where we picked out flowers and colours together. We chose creamy-lemon peonies, blue forget-me-nots, purple lilac, 'Ilse' peach pink spray roses, viburnum snowball , cream-yellow stocks, gypsophila, mint, lavender and a little treefern. The bridesmaid's bouquets were smaller versions of mine. The bridesmaids had gypsophila head circlets. My Maid of Honour also wore a gypsophila and forget-me-not wristlet and my head circlet was gypsophila with peach hypericum berries and spray roses. I used the same lace from my dress on my head circlet as the tie. The groomsman simply had a little gypsophila buttonhole and Andy's was a mixture of all the flowers which looked stunning against his blue jacket and green bowtie.

For the venue and tables we asked for tall woodland creations - lots of moss, pretty flowers and toadstools. The result was amazing. The table centres were knolls of moss with lots of different colour flowers and toadstools peeking out. The branches were Manzanita and had bird and butterflies clipped onto them. It all looked so effective and interesting. The time, effort and pure devotion spent to achieve that detail is astounding; my expectations were blown out of the water.

THE CAKE | I love cooking and baking therefore the cake was very important to us. I thought when else can you have a massive cake?! I knew exactly what I wanted - lots of colour and detail and it had to have that "Give me a piece NOW" look about it. We helped design the cake with Nicci at the Angel Cake Company. Nicci was really excited and to see a supplier so excited really made us even more excited! The cake was lemon drizzle, red velvet and a rich fruity carrot cake - yum. The topper was two birds starting to build their love nest. The cake had a base of flowers and moss, provided by our florist. My mouth actually fell open when I saw the cake for the first time. It was better than I could have imagined! I used to see all these ridiculous cakes on Pinterest and honestly ours was more ridiculous. The Angel Cake Company team are absolute cake professionals. I didn't want to cut it, it was just way too beautiful.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We wanted two photographers so they could capture all angles and elements of the day and nothing would be missed. We didn't want stiff formal photos just photos that documented the day and showed all the guests having fun. I thought finding a photographer would be hard but after viewing Lisa and Scott's photo's of other weddings on their website I knew that they were what we wanted (I am never that decisive). After meeting with them for coffee, we knew they were the ones; they were so friendly and professional and their photos were just beautiful. Our package also came with an engagement shoot which was one of the best things we did. It really helps you to understand what photos work for you and it doesn't feel like a trial run on the wedding day. We were so much more relaxed with them too. On our big day Lisa and Scott were amazing, the photos were incredible. I don't even know how they managed to capture every little detail.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | I probably spent more on details and decorations than I will openly admit to. We also made a lot of bits ourselves too. It really does take a long time being crafty though, I gave myself RSI from using a pair of scissors too much! My absolute fail safe was TK Maxx, they have so many unusual items. I am also lucky that I'm a Buyer for Gifts and Stationery, which includes the wedding range, so I did manage to use a lot of free samples which saved me a lot of money.

We wanted the barn where the ceremony took place to be romantic and to look like a woodland. We hired a fairy light canopy which created the look of twinkling stars, it also made the room more intimate as there wasn't this massive empty space above our heads. We hired trees 10 x trees from The Poundbury Garden Centre and we bought moss from our florist and collected wooden logs to create little woodland areas of interest and to line the aisle. We saved glass jars (don't underestimate how long it takes to clean them!) to put tealights in and we bought ferns and other flowers to create the look of the woodland floor. We also bought toadstool garden ornaments and squirrels too. The flower arches were hired from The Poundbury Garden Centre. This created a lovely vocal point from which the bridesmaids and I entered the barn.

We created little Order of Ceremony sheets for each guest (so much cheaper than buying them). Our personal stamp was from notonthehighstreet.com which has so many great items you can personalise. The confetti cones were made from floral paper and we bought dried petals from the Shropshire petal company. I tried drying petals myself but that didn't end well. We also made huge initial letters from MDF and wool. I bought a Diptyque Candle which was lit for the first time just before the ceremony. The plan is to light the candle every year on our anniversary.

We wanted the bar to look fun and completely different to the barn, so we hung bunting and pom poms in bright colours and we had a sweet table and guest table in there too with places to put gifts and cards. We had a basket full of flip flops for the ladies achy feet and I put a basket of cosmetic bits in the ladies toilet too. We also made our own wedding badges, which were such a hit with the guests. I've heard guests recycling these for other weddings they have been too! Honestly make your own badges it's so easy and so much cheaper than buying them online and you can tailor them to be personal to you.

We had a marquee for the wedding breakfast. The table names were written on little chalk boards under a glass dome. We wrote the table plan on a big mirror (a nod to the mirror in Snow White). The place names were made from Kraft card and cut into the shape of a squirrel. I've always known at weddings how hard it is to get people to write in a guest book and someone always forgets, so we placed a 'love note' at each place setting and a pencil. This way every guest wrote us a note. The rustic menus were created by Tris Tolliday, and I made bingo cards for a game after dinner. We gave Hedgehog Food as wedding favours as we have a hedgehog that visits us every night and now most of our guests do too! The table in the marquee had all things fairytale; the rose in the large dome was a nod to Beauty and the Beast, the shoes to Cinderella and the genie lamp to Aladdin. The bunting was cut by the groom and sewn together by our mums and a friend. I also had a big desk bell which I rang when we wanted the guests to be quiet it was such a success and so much more fun than a tap on a glass!

One of my bridesmaids made me signs to wave about during the speeches. She also made my 3 year nephew a sign saying "here comes the bride" but it was in the shape of a lolly pop, which he licked and made all the ink run!

We gave children goodie bags at their place settings which included crayons, stickers and little toys. In the garden we created a kids area, with tents, balloons and games. It kept them all occupied! We made a funny sign saying "unclaimed children will be sold to the circus". I am happy to report no children were left.

For the evening we had a photo booth, which was a massive success. All photos were stuck into a photo album by the booth attendants and guests wrote messages next to their funny photos, most of which were suitably rude! This was a nice contrast to the 'love notes' in the day.

THE HONEYMOON | We didn't leave for honeymoon until 3 days after the wedding which gave us enough time to get organised. It seemed just as manic after the wedding as it was before! We spent 3 nights at the Al Maha Desert Resort in Dubai recovering, and then 4 nights at The Address Downtown in Dubai which has the best views of the Burj Khalifa. Lastly we spent a week on the island of Desroches in Seychelles. These were the 2 most fantastic weeks of our lives and the most perfect way to celebrate (and rest!).

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | I messed up my vowels - twice! I was so nervous! But it actually made everyone laugh. We had it filmed and when we watch it back, I cringe!!! Instead of saying "I know not of any reason why", I said "I no no no.... errr I don't know?" Whenever I talk to any guest about the wedding they tease me about this!

Seeing Andy waiting nervously for me, my dad getting upset when he saw me, seeing the cake and flowers for the first time, getting covered in confetti, our first dance, seeing the bridesmaids all dressed up, peeking through the curtains watching guests arrive. So many moments to cherish. It really is a day full of memorable moments.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | There is so much choice out there. You have to be decisive. Even down to the last details, someone needs to decide on that! I literally spent weeks researching and thinking about how I wanted the napkins folded (slightly over the top), but when you are stressed the little things do seem big, so just make a decision and stick to it. Don't go looking on Pinterest or comparing your ideas to other weddings or you will just end up going round in circles. Also I thought I had such a long time to plan but it goes so quick and by the time I made some decisions the suppliers had been booked up!

If you are having a wedding where you are setting everything up yourself, a good tip is to think like a supplier and get as many functional details as possible - I even drew a grid of where all the plug sockets were in the venue.

If you have a marquee make sure any bunting or pom poms are put up at the same time the marquee is erected as the ceilings are too high to put them up yourself. I made this mistake with my pom poms!

My last piece of advice is making sure you keep the room tidy on the morning of the wedding. We literally had stuff chucked everywhere; bras hung up on the bed, mugs of tea, bags of nibbles - it was like an assault course and you can see this in the background of some of the photos! Whoops. I'm not sure how Lisa managed to avoid most of it!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Lisa Dawn Photography

Venue | Kingston Country Courtyard

Flowers | The Poundbury Florist

Cake | Angel Cake Company

Trees | The Poundbury Garden Centre

Band | The Brightside Band

Band | Jack Daniels and Benny

Tristram Tolliday

Bow Tie | Mrs Bowtie

Molly's Den

Film | Plato Video

Marquee | Western Marquees

Engagement Ring | Friar House

Wow wow wow. I don't think there is anything not to love about this wedding.

Thanks so so much to Charlie and Andrew for sharing their amazing wedding story with us XOXO Lou

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