Tombolas and wedding vows

A slightly delayed post but last year we were lucky enough to be asked to plan the fabulous wedding of Emily and Raymond and we had so much fun. Emily asked us to help her create a quintessential English country fete wedding packed full of all the things we love best. This was one of the best briefs we could have received and I have to say we did get a little bit carried away! There were so many lovely things and details throughout the day that I don't think we could fit them all in one post. We'll give it a good try and apologies in advance if we bore you! The venue was the gorgeous Widcombe Grange in Somerset so we loaded up the car and trundled down the M5. I'm not sure how we got it all in but somehow the china, signs, cake, games, linen and more all made it down. Luckily the sun shone and it was the most fantastic day all round.

I couldn't start the post without a little note about the beautiful bride. Emily looked absolutely stunning in a vintage dress which we absolutely fell in love with. Just so perfect for the day.

There are so many different areas at Widcombe grange that the bride chose to make use of these to give distinct areas for the different parts of the day. The ceremony took place on a beautiful pergola over the lake which was just gorgeous. We decorated this area with simple hydrangea stems tied with ribbons to the posts and of course beautiful bunting.

After the ceremony guests moved on to the lawn area in front of the Tepee Tent where we had a host of traditional games for guests to enjoy including quats, splat the rat, welly wanging and of course a tombola. The Tombola had been kindly loaned by my old first school and bought back lots of memories of school fetes and country dancing. The bride and groom were donating wedding gift money to the Parkinsons society and so Tombola tickets were sold to add to the donation. It was worth it though as the prizes included perfume and benefit makeup. I did try to sneak in the obligatory soap and packet of custard creams but the bride refused! We also had a 'photo booth' with picnic tables and Polaroid cameras for guests to leave their own messages. Just click and peg up on the washing line.

The wedding breakfast took place in the tepee tent which was set out with wooden tables and chairs to create a rustic feel and decorated with reams of bunting, stitched by us. I've never made so much bunting in my life! Each table was decorated with an assortment of jugs and jam jars which we filled with a host of beautiful wild flowers. I was in love with all the beautiful flowers and may have gone a bit overboard with how many I put on each table! To complement these each table was named after one of the flowers and we made cute little flag table names to display in the jars which we covered with pretty papers and hand cross stitched wording. I was really pleased with how these looked and may post a little tutorial for these over the coming weeks as they are fabulous for any event. We also made some pretty tablecloths out of floral fabric and vintage lace to sit in the centre of each table. The bride and myself made a selection of coconut ice and chocolate truffles which were given as favours. To help guide people to their tables we popped a black board on an easel and chalked up everyones names. It all looked very pretty and had a beautiful relaxed feel.

I have to say my absolute favourite element of the day was the cake table, obviously! We thought it would be a fantastic idea to ask guests to get baking and bring their best cakey treat as entry in to the cake competition. It was fantastic and we actually ran out of space as almost every guest bought a cake. Our pretty vintage cake stands and plates soon got filled up. Rather than serve dessert guests were invited to the cake table where they could sample as many as their bellies would allow and then they completed the voting slips to vote for their favourites. We had a host of categories from spongiest sponge cake to cutest cupcake and best decorations. We created the main 3 tier wedding cake to fit in with the theme and decorated it with candy stripes and rosebuds. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take part in the competition! The cakes got demolished as people helped themselves to slices of cakes and a cup of tea served in our vintage china.  We later handed out rosettes to the winners who wore them with pride all evening.

The evening celebrations took place in the barn where we had more bunting (what else!) and a deliciously moreish sweet table for people to nibble at as they took a break from the dancing. Outside were hay bales and fire pits where guests sat toasting marshmallows and chatting until the early hours.

It was a hectic day getting everything set up but we loved every minute and couldn't have wished for a more fun project or lovely couple to work with. They had such a great idea of what they wanted and let us run wild with ideas (minus the soap!)  to help transform their dreams in to a reality.

All that was left to do was perch on a hay bale and toast a marshmallow or two. What a perfect way to end a perfect day.

The beautiful wedding photography is is courtesy of 2M weddings. www.2mweddings.com