Because Your Love Calms My Brambles! A Real DIY Wedding In Derbyshire – Emma & Tim

Posted on: 08/07/2012

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Are you having a lovely Sunday Brides Up North (despite the relentless Summer rain)? 

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I’ll be pretending it’s a proper English Summer later with strawberries and cream as I cheer on Andrew Murray in the Wimbledon final.  Come on Andy!

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Whether Murray brings it home or not, my spirits are so very lifted by today’s beautiful DIY real wedding, sent to me by Jonathan Stead Photography and today’s beautiful vintage loving bride Emma.  This sunny day of homemade loveliness is such a joy, I hope it brings some sparkle to your Sunday too.  

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Emma says:  Tim asked me to marry him in July 2011, at Porthmeor Cove, Cornwall (on a cliff edge at sunset).  We got married on 26th May 2012 at a lovely church at Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire & our reception was in a marque at my parents’ farm.

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We love the Peak District & thought the church was perfect – stunning & intimate. I’m very family orientated and thought having the marque at my parents’ farm would give the wedding a relaxed feel – somewhere that people could really let their hair down!

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I love vintage and collect 50’s, 60’s and 70’s pieces. I wanted this to be reflected in our wedding but also wanted it to feel rustic & farm-like at the same time! We had a lot of flower power (arranged by myself and my mother in law) – tons of daisies, sunflowers, hydrangea, cornflowers arranged with wispy foliage, popped into jam jars, beer bottles or wrapped in raffia.

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It was a real family effort – I made the bunting (made from vintage fabric & old shirts) & mural (‘Because Your Love Calms My Brambles’) my mum made the table cloths, my mother in law helped me make the poms poms (or ‘bloody poms poms’ as we ended up calling them!) & the canapés for the drinks reception, my grandma made her special tiffin and my father in law made sign posts (t’car park, t’wedding, t’toilet).

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The colour themes were cream, blue, purple with splashes of yellow.

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My dress was upcycled from my Mother in Law’s dress from 1968. I loved the crochet lace but the fabric on the bottom of the dress was too badly stained to use. She let me cut up the dress and make a whole new design – I designed it and my Auntie made it (what she does for a living). I truly loved wearing it – I loved the ‘hood’ drape on the back. She also made me a hair piece/bird cage veil to match. Shoes wise, I wore light purple suede low heeled slippers from ASOS. 

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The bridesmaid dresses were purple, knee length, floaty dresses from Monsoon and nude coloured heels.

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I had a mixed bouquet of daisies, white roses, purple veronica, blue delphinium & lavender and the bridesmaids had pomanders of daisies.  The buttonholes were lavender, white roses & daisies.  These were done by my lovely friend Jill, at Plantology Floral Creations in Sheffield

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I travelled in a 1970’s Rolls Royce from Fairytale Wedding Cars – I loved the blue roof. The driver was fabulous!

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My very favourite part of the day was seeing Tim’s face as I walked down the aisle… a little tear in his eye! Oooh… and the drum and bass after midnight!

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Almost everything was handmade by me or a family member – from the invitations, to the marquee flowers, the bunting & signage. It was hard work but made it so special! I also borrowed a polaroid camera from a friend and bought some black and white film – I made a washing line so that people could peg up ‘snaps of [their] beautiful selves’. In addition to these, there were LOTS of children at the wedding (I come from a huge family) so I raided Poundland for games, things to make & fancy dress items – they went down a treat!

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Our marquee was from High Peak Marquees – fantastic company – they were enthusiastic, friendly and very hardworking. They were the only company could find who would build scaffolding to even out the field, and dealt with the problem with a smile!

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Food wise, we hired PJ Taste caterers – again, amazing energy and enthusiasm – genuinely felt like they wanted to be there and the food was delicious. We choose to have a hot buffet – a triple spit roast (locally sourced & organic) with lots of home made breads and yummy salads. For dessert there was a choice of chocolate torte or summer fruit pudding…mmm.

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My friend Abby is very creative & kindly made the cake as our wedding present – I sent her a few ideas for cakes but let her surprise me on the day! I was very pleased with the results… a lovely 3 three tier fruit cake decorated with handcrafted daisies.

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We had a local young folk band for the drinks reception (Captives of the Carousel), followed by a DJ (Plastic Disco, Sheffield) in the evening (playing mixture of motown, pop, indie and drum & bass!). 

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After the wedding we honeymooned in Berlin. 

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’!

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Congratulations Emma & Tim!

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Have you just said “I do!”? Get in touch to share your big day on the wedding blog!

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Jonathan Stead Photography

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