Some weddings just resonate with you.
They are all emotional, heartfelt and full of love and I go home every single weekend knowing I was part of something special, but there some moments from some weddings that stick with you long after they’re over.
The memory of Rob and Rosie standing under a tree in the garden of Rosie’s family home, while their friends sung Postcards From Italy will be one of my resounding memories from my weddings this summer. It was beautiful and I haven’t been able to stop humming the song ever since.
I love weddings that are really personal to the couple and you don’t get much more personal and intimate than marrying under a tree in the house you grew up in. Here’s what Rob and Rosie had to say about their wedding day:
“After first noticing each other at school but losing contact over university, we were reunited at a mutual friend’s book club where Rosie refused to read the books but reliably turned up for the free meals. Inspired by her uninformed literary commentary Rob launched a campaign to win her heart.
On the morning of an epic cycling adventure from London to Brighton, Rosie noticed Rob was behaving very weirdly when he woke up an hour before her, a situation not seen before or since. When she noticed a small square object protruding from his lycra she managed to put two and two together.
Upon making it to the top of Ditchling Beacon (in one attempt!) Rosie was rewarded with a ring, Rob was rewarded with hysterical laughter and Rosie’s friends were rewarded with a snapchat photo of the rock with the caption “totes engageballs”. Truly a fairytale story.
Scroll down to the bottom to read more!
The venue itself was an easy choice. Rosie’s mum’s garden had hosted several family weddings, across several generations over the years. The other location was more difficult. Rosie is a committed atheist whilst Rob is a committed agnostic anglican (i.e. non-committal). Rob wanted to get married in a church, but Rosie didn’t. Eventually Rosie compromised and we got married in an (almost) empty church! But to make up for it we held a second ceremony in the garden to read out our own vows in front of all our friends and family.
Rob loves to look smart since he never gets to in his normal day to day life. He therefore elected to get married in a morning suit (moss bros) with a jazzy off-cuts waistcoat (SirPlus) but then get changed before dinner into a blue three piece lounge suit (the Cad and the Dandy) which his brother gave him as a wedding gift. To complete the look: blue shoes.
The many bridesmaids, aka flower things, all wore beautiful white dresses with colourful sashes matching the sweet-pea flower theme. The dresses were Mathilda by Nicki Macfaland, who lives in the same village.
Rosie wore Willow Dress by Alice Temperley – a long, 1920s-esq dress embellished with pearls, which she managed to pick up in a sample sale 6 months beforehand, and ivory shoes from LK Bennett.
Our florist was Rob’s aunt, ably supported by Megan Jackson, a local florist. She (Rob’s Aunt) worked tirelessly for days to create beautiful table centre pieces in jam jars and milk bottles. The theme was Rosie’s choosing, sweet pea’s, with a few antique peach roses for the bride and groom.
However, the really impressive flowers were in the garden, which Rosie’s mum worked tirelessly for months to bring on. She was eventually dead heading roses with nail scissors.
The church ceremony was quick and not too dirty – we asked Rob’s father to read John 4: 7-12 which roughly translates as God = Love which helped Rosie overcome her objections to a church wedding.
What was really the most special moments of our lives was a short garden ceremony with all our guests. A family friend introduced us, Rob’s mother read “captain corelli’s mandolin”, three of our mutual friends performed a love song based on “postcards from italy” by beruit. We then read our own vows together with tears rolling down our cheeks under a maple tree. Not a dry eye in the house.
Laura was just incredible and surprising from the moment we first contacted her. She was so professional as well as creative and original, start to finish. Her online presence is enormous, a lot of our planning and idea’s were derived from her blog posts, and her questions and suggestions about how we should run our day were all spot on (she obviously had much more experience than us!).
We decided to have an engagement shoot to help overcome Rosie’s natural camera shyness, and were so glad we did. Getting to know Laura a bit better and seeing her fun arty “style” was such fun for us as well, and when we got the photo’s we were blown away.
On the day, we really didn’t now Laura or Alice were there for most of the time, with the exception of the excellent crowd domination needed to get the “all the guests” shot. We then got to sneak off with her for half an hour for a quick couple shoot as the sun was setting, a time we now treasure since its the only moment it was just us.
We had a live band (Vintage Roots) who played two amazing 45 minute sets. The dance floor was packed and the music not too wedding musicy. The fun then really kicked off when our friend took over as a dj and played on to the very small hours. At1.30am we switched to a silent disco, much to the relief of Rosie’s Mum. Our first dance was Avichi – Wake Me Up. We didn’t want a soppy one and liked how there was clearly a moment when everyone else needed to hit the dance floor!
And finally, Rob and Rosie’s advice for couples who are planning their wedding:
If you can get married somewhere special to you, do it. The garden was just big enough, but it made the whole day feel personal to us. It was a lot more work an probably not any cheaper than going to a commercial wedding venue, but we definitely wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
The Credits: Megan Jackson Flowers // Alice Temperley // Cad And The Dandy // Niki MacFarlane // Foxy Ladies Catering // Butcherland Lamb Roasts // All The Kit // Vintage Roots // Honey Bells // World Inspired Tents
Wiltshire Wedding Photography by Laura at Babb Photo
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