Laid Back & Elegant Autumnal Wedding

WWW readers Laura and Edd are joining us today with their stunning Garthmyl Hall wedding, which held in Shropshire on the 2nd November 2019. Their day was beautifully Autumnal, think golden sunlight and fresh burgundy florals. Wow!

I really love their flowers, especially Laura’s amazing bouquet adorned with ribbons. I think Laura and Edd both looked really stylish too with their on trend outfits, not to mention the sparkly bridesmaid dresses, which worked so well with Laura’s blush gown.

The music and food were important to them and together with their nearest and dearest, they really crafted a loving and happy day. It’s also fab to hear that they found their amazing photographer Sasha Weddings on WWW, I am so grateful to be sharing these magical images with you! Enjoy.

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The Proposal

Every Christmas we take a trip to London together. For Christmas 2017 Edd had booked us a surprise posh hotel stay at the Bloomsbury. I still didn’t think anything was happening when we were both lying on the bed watching The Hobbit in our complimentary dressing gowns by 7pm. I said I’d better get up and start getting ready for dinner, when Edd grabbed my hand and asked me to marry him. We had drinks in the hotel bar to celebrate together and called our families, then walked to Sketch for dinner, which Edd had booked as a surprise. And of course, we had to go to Liberty to buy a Christmas dec the next day to commemorate the trip!

The Vision

We wanted a weekend that looked great, felt FUN and was basically a huge party that involved all our family and friends. We had two things that were super important to the both of us: the music and the food. And for me, I’d throw the flowers into that too!

The Planning Process

I don’t know what it was, but I really felt a lot of pressure when we started planning. But then I remembered that if the worst comes to the worst, we had a beautiful venue booked where we’d be having a party with our favourite people, so the small stuff didn’t matter as much.

We found a lot of our suppliers through the venue and use recommendations a lot. We nailed the venue, food, photographer and music early so whatever came after was a bonus!

My sisters and mum helped me a lot with the extra details like the s’mores favours and sparkler send off and a lot of our friends got stuck in too which was amazing.

The Venue

My mum first found Garthmyl Hall online after a search for venues in Shropshire. We called up the amazing Julia who answered whilst she was on holiday! That just shows the kind of person she is and her work ethic. From the moment we saw the hall we were desperate to book. It was perfect for what we wanted from the weekend, and the team there are unbelievable. The décor is stunning, so it meant we had to do the bare minimum in terms of dressing it, and the onsite accommodation is next level. All our guests were blown away. We kept saying to them in the lead up, ‘Just WAIT until you see it!’. Our wedding planner Polly made me feel so comfortable with everything and took a lot of pressure off. We could truly do anything we wanted with the venue. Now it’s all over I miss the team a lot!

Your Outfits & Accessories

I was dreading finding my dress. I warned the lovely sales lady at David’s Bridal that usually when I try things on in the dressing room I end up crying and going to buy a Gregg’s afterwards. I expected to visit hundreds of dress shops for months on end. But – would you believe it – this dress was the first one I tried on! I knew I wanted sleeves, and although I originally pictured myself in something more vintage with lace, this dress was perfect for the day and for me. My best friend said, ‘it’s like you, if you were a dress!’. The pink underlay went perfectly with my rose gold engagement ring, and when we added the veil with rose gold, tear-drop beads, it all came together.

I wore a headpiece from Tilly Thomas Lux which really was a treat for myself and it all came together for a sort of romantical, boho vibe.

Edd was always going to wear something classic and he decided on a tweed, three-piece, Donegal tweed suit in brown. The groomsmen and our Dads wore a grey version of the same Donegal tweed. It meant Edd looked a little bit special for the day which was nice.

They all finished off the look with burgundy bow ties (even our dog, Buzz, had one!) with matching pocket squares and brown brogues. Edd’s parents bought him a pocket watch for his 30th birthday that finished off his look nicely. That and the massive moustache he grew for the wedding which I couldn’t convince him to trim!

The Readings & Music

The readings and music were so important to us!

As a long time book and poetry lover I was on the hunt for the perfect readings that weren’t too soppy but that really meant what being married meant for us.

My sisters read an extract form Dolly Alderton’s ‘Everything I know about love’ and Edd’s brother read Wendy Cope’s ‘The Orange’ which is such a simple but beautiful poem.

I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Silver Springs’ which is one of our favourite songs together. Then during the signing of the register, the acoustic duo sung TRex’s ‘Cosmic Dancer’ and ‘The Girl’ by City and Colour.

We walked out to The Pogues ‘I love you till the end’.

We first found our evening band in a pub in Shropshire where during a song I screamed at the guitarist, ‘DO YOU DO WEDDINGS?’, which thankfully they did! We booked Call of the Kraken and I can’t tell you how many people have said they’re going to book them for their own wedding! There were amazing.

Beauty

Once I saw Elin’s work, I could tell she was the only person I wanted to do my hair on the day! I wanted to look different to my normal self, more special, but without looking too ‘done’. Elin’s boho looks on her Instagram were amazing and after the trial I felt so excited about the whole look. She suggested I wear my hair up to lift it off the dress which was really valuable advice.

Helena did our makeup which was lovely and natural but also made us look next level! How she got it to stay on all night with all the dancing I don’t know!

Your Photographer

We found Sasha on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings! She photographed a wedding in Dorset which we loved. The images were soft and hazy with a real behind the scenes, candid feel. We wanted to keep posed pictures to an absolute minimum and were excited to see the wedding through her eyes. One of my favourite pictures from the whole day is where my Dad is reaching out to me, and you can see me reaching for his hand in the reflection of the mirror.

Once Sasha was finished for the night, the photobooth guys came out which was such a laugh. The booth itself was really inconspicuous and fit with the feel of our wedding so well. A lot of the props found their way onto the dance floor by the end of the night!

Bridesmaids

My amazing bridesmaids wore taupey-pink coloured dresses with sequins on the upper half. The colour complimented the pink hue of my dress so nicely looking back. All were different styles in the same colour, and they all chose the one they wanted to wear. I wouldn’t have minded if they all liked the same style – it just worked out they liked different! The flower girl’s dress was from Monsoon and went so well with the other dresses but was a bit younger and super fun and sparkly. I wanted them to feel amazing. They all wore their hair in a boho up do which looked so pretty on them all.

The Flowers

The incredible Edwina at Dusky Blooms made all my wedding flower dreams come true – and then some! She transformed the day. I couldn’t stop staring at my bouquet. The flowers were wild and autumnal and deeply coloured yet soft and beautiful at the same time. She absolutely nailed it. I wanted as much greenery as we could get, and the floral chandelier really stole the show at our wedding breakfast.

The Cake

One of the first things we had for the wedding was our cake topper that my Mum ordered for us all the way from New York! It was by Ann Wood and I just love it. We’ve always had a thing for flamingos, so it was a great way to represent us. We found a lot of our suppliers through Garthmyl Hall, and that’s where we found Sharon who made our cake.

The tiers were flavoured as Sicilian lemon, raspberry and white chocolate and finally mango and passionfruit, all covered in a layer of white chocolate ganache. It was amazing. Sharon finished it off with gold leaf and some fresh flowers from our florist.

The Details & Décor

As big lovers of gin, we collected gin bottles to use on the dinner tables in the months leading up to the wedding, and I think it worked out so nicely in the end. We had a few pieces from an event hire company and they did these amazing bottles filled with water and pieces of greenery which I love so much. The décor was minimal but what we did have really added to the overall feel of the weekend and truly added something.

The Honeymoon

When we met (on Bumble!) the first thing we spoke about was Edd’s recent trip to California. I had been before and we both agreed it was our favourite place. So we had to go back there for our honeymoon, and being November, we kept to the south so it was lovely and warm. We had the best two weeks full of great food, craft beer and a bit of Disneyland of course. It was great to get away after all the madness, and kept us in the newly wed bubble for a little bit longer.

Memorable Moments

The whole weekend was just the best. From playing cat bingo the night before, to a group of our guests getting ready while watching the rugby World Cup on a projector screen, to being able to have our two furry friends join us on the day. The venue really allowed us to enjoy a weekend with everyone important to us, in a fun, laid back environment.

Saying that, Call of the Kraken are a stand out for us both – and many of our guests have since said the same! We ditched the first dance and cake cutting and went straight into the live band once evening guests arrived. It was amazing. It was like everyone was at their favourite band’s gig, nobody held back! My dress was over my shoulder and Edd’s dickie bow was around his head! There’s even video evidence of my sister belting out the lyrics to ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ with a goblet of gin in her hand. So we can relive that moment forever!

Advice For Other Couples

Pick and choose what you want to do with the day. You don’t need to do something just because it’s tradition. Some people looked at us like we were crazy when we said we were having lasagne and chips for our wedding breakfast, but they all loved it on the day. It really did take a whole team of family and friends to make the wedding what it was, and it meant a lot to us to include them as much as we could. It’s true what they say though – it goes by in a flash so soak up every minute and let the small stuff go.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Super gorgeous! I do love an Autumn wedding.

Laura and Edd thank you both so very much for sharing your wedding story with us xo Lou