Tom & Jennifer’s Super Relaxed DIY Garden Wedding

Where did you get married/why did you choose the venue: We chose to get married at Chilham Church, a beautiful village church which was ideal as it was local to the grooms Mothers home where we held the reception. Being a summer wedding we wanted all the feels of an English summer country wedding – with a little alpine twist as we met working as ski reps in the French Alpes. We used soft pastel colours, peach, cornflower blue and yellow.

We hired a stunning petal marquee from Maypole Marquees in Canterbury. It was a beautiful traditional marque with added detail that sat perfectly on the lawn in the grounds of the grooms Mother’s home. With temperatures in the 30’s on the day, having all the sides open from morning till night meant it never got too hot and the wonderful gardens could be enjoyed all day long.

Which flowers did you choose? I knew what I wanted for my for my bridal bouquet from all my Pinterest research! After showing images to Charlotte at Lotty’s Flowers she created a beautiful hand tied bouquet, pale blue hydrangea, peach avalanche Rose, spray roses in cream and correl. Pale yellow roses and a little freesia in white. We chose bouquets of gypsophila for the bridesmaids. Groomsmen all had a peach rose and the groom had extra foliage and some pale blue delphinium.

Which style was the dress ? The dress was a very classic ivory strapless a-line gown by Christina Castelino. It was an ex-runway dress from a Bridal Reloved shop in Dorset. Worn with a lace bolero to match the lace detail on the dress, made in house by a local dress maker. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one. I loved how timeless it looked and it was so comfy to wear and move around in. The best bit was the beautiful silk satin organza skirt that really ‘swished’ when I walked, which felt magical.

How did you have your hair/make up ? I wanted to my makeup quite natural as I’m not one for wearing lots of makeup. Emma really listened to what I wanted, she used bronze on my eyes to give a soft smokey look and a soft pink on my lips to enhance my lips natural colour. Hair on the other hand, I love hair! I wanted my hair to be loosely up and off my shoulders, one due to the chance of hot weather and two as my hair is fine so having it up meant it would stay in place for the whole day and I wouldn’t have to worry about it falling out. The braid added texture and looked perfect in place with some flower stems to tie in with my bouquet. Karlie styled my hair just how I wanted it and it really did stay in place all day long!

Which colour did the groomsmen/bridesmaid wear? Our bridesmaids wore pastel salmon pink Debut multi-way dresses, lovely to have the choice of different ways to wear them. The groomsmen all wore royal blue three piece suits from Slaters Menswear with salmon pink bowties and tanned brogues.

How did you feel the day went as a whole? We always knew we wanted a relaxed marquee garden party reception, this however meant we needed to plan every aspect of our day ourselves and source all suppliers from scratch, from the toilets to the teaspoons! Luckily Kent has an abundance of wedding suppliers and after a lot of research we were so impressed with what booked. All our suppliers were so helpful in communicating plans with us and our other suppliers, so the day went off without a hitch. Our caterer was incredibly helpful with not just an amazing menu tailored to our taste but also in planning all hire for dressing the marquee to staffing the bar late into the evening.

Our wedding day really was the best day of our lives and we couldn’t have hoped for a more perfect day. Everyone was so relaxed and happy, helped by the most perfect summer weather that we were so fortunate to have. The classic mini photobooth left us with a fabulous collection of ridiculous photographs. The band ‘The Lion Men’ were the perfect folk pop style and had everyone on the dance floor all night long (even when they were packing up!) Our custom cake topper (by the amazing Gemma at Totally toppers) of us on top of a mountain cake (created by the wonderful ladies at Mama Feelgoods) really was the icing on the cake! Driving away from the church as Mr & Mrs, just the two of us was so wonderful. And the hours spent scouring guests social media profiles for photos for their ski passes was time well spent. Dogs in bowties. Oh and the shot ski.. has to be mentioned but should probably never see the light of day again!