DIY

A DIY Dream: A Real Wedding In Cheshire – Natasha & Kevin

Julia Braime

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Kanashay Photography

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Another extremely beautiful Real Wedding celebration to get Tuesday off to a beautiful start? Ah, go on then.

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Natasha and Kevin’s home spun Cheshire wedding is full of perfect details, little surprises and gorgeous personal touches.  These childhood sweethearts certainly know how to throw a good party!  With beautiful images by Kanashay Photography, let’s join the love birds on their big day…

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Natasha says:  Kev and I are childhood sweethearts, together since our early teens. I was convinced that I would know when he was going to propose, especially after more than 10 years together, but somehow he still managed to surprise me.

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Kev proposed whilst we were on holiday in the South of France in the beautiful town of Carcassonne where he had booked us an amazing little villa to stay in. Kev often arranges lovely treats like this for us to do so I had absolutely no idea what was coming.  A few days into our holiday Kev suggested we went for a walk around a near by chateau. There wasn’t another person on the grounds that day, and I remember thinking what a beautiful and romantic place it was. We strolled around hand in hand, until we reached a picturesque stone staircase overlooking the entire grounds of the chateau, there Kev got down on one knee and with tears in his eyes asked if I would marry him, and after much squeaking, squealing and crying I of course said yes!

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Kanashay Photography.

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Kanashay Photography

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We were married at Peover Golf Club, Cheshire, on Friday 19th October 2012.  The moment that we walked into Peover Golf Club we knew instantly that this was the venue for us. We had already put it on the short list after spying it on the internet, but it was even more beautiful in the flesh and exactly what we wanted. The timber frames, fairy lights and climbing plants give the venue that natural and rustic look we were after, suiting our personalities and taste down to the ground.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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I’m not sure there was a theme as such, we just knew that we wanted lots of natural and rustic elements and some DIY projects. We definitely didn’t want any fuss or bling!

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Our wedding invitations featured a hand painted autumnal tree and bird cage on brown recycled card, decorated with lace and twine. This look, along with my obsession with bunting, pretty much continued throughout the rest of the wedding process.

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We kept almost everything secret from the majority of our friends and family as I wanted them to have some surprises on the day.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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We opted for a sage green colour to fit in the the rustic and natural look. The bridesmaids wore this colour and sage green sashes were tied around we wooden chairs in the venue. We also added some splashes of dusty pink, creams and beige.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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On the day I travelled with my Mum, Dad and three bridesmaids on a fabulous Charabanc bus supplied by Horgans Cars. It wasn’t at all traditional but it was really important to me that we all travelled together and I’m so glad we did. We laughed all the way to the venue, it’s a memory I will always treasure.

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Kanashay Photography

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I got to try on so many wedding dresses in my search for the perfect dress, which I loved! However, I’m one of those girls that had already decided upon the kind of wedding dress I would wear years before. I knew exactly what it was supposed to look like and how it should fit , so I started to feel a little disheartened when with less than 6 months to go I still hadn’t found MY dress. Luckily a friend asked if I would model some bridal wear for a local shop, it was only through doing this that I got talking to the shop owner to whom I described my dream dress and as if my magic she thought she may have the dress for me. One week later my dream dress was ordered. Hooray! I choose a Mori Lee wedding dress by Madeline Gardner, which was supplied by the lovely ladies at Zyra Bridal Wear. They altered and changed the dress so it looked just the way I had hoped.

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I would suggest that any bride who knows what they want, to keep pursuing it. I was told by many bridal boutiques that the type of dress I was looking for would either be unsuitable for my frame or that they didn’t supply what I was looking for. Keep looking you WILL find your dress, and you WILL have that moment when you just know it was meant for you.

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Kanashay Photography

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Our bridesmaids wore sage green silk chiffon dresses from Coast, while the groomsmen wore light grey three piece lounge suits which were purchased from Hightown Menswear, Sandbach.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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I carried a bouquet of white hydrangeas and gypsophila, it looked just the way I wanted- simple and pretty.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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My cousin Sam played his acoustic guitar during the ceremony, which was just beautiful and so touching. We also choose two poems which were read by my bridesmaids and my sister in law Yvonne.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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There are just SO many favourite moments from the day…  the feeling I had as we said our vows and as we were pronounced man and wife was out of this world. Sneaking off for our little photo shoot and getting to spend some quiet time together, and Kev’s speech, it was just beautiful!

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Booking our photographer (Kanashay Photography) was seriously one of the best decisions we made. She was utterly fabulous throughout the day and I think the photographs speak for themselves!

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Our wedding was a real DIY project and we had just 9 months to do it in! We hand painted the tree design on each invitation for our day guests and made each brown paper package to hold their wedding favours.

I also panted a large canvas with a tree, on which our wedding guests were asked to add a green fingerprint to represent a leaf, and sign their name.

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We had a wish tree, that we attached handmade paper flowers, wooden hearts, pearls and buttons buttons to. Our guests then wrote us messages on luggage tags and attached them to the branches.

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We spent lots of time sorting through old pictures of friends and family to place in a specially made photo album entitled ‘a trip down memory lane’, for guests to enjoy.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kev’s mum very kindly sewed yards of beautiful bunting using material sourced from local charity shops, which was hung all over the venue.

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The flowers used to decorate the venue were collected from the local market and arranged the day before the wedding by myself and Kev’s mum. We displayed flowers and candles in various sized jam jars, which were decorated with lace and ribbon.

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My Mum did a wonderful job of making a basket full of pretty confetti cones for our guests to throw.

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Kanashay Photography

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A number of sweet jars, fir cones, acorns, tree bark and tins decorated with hessian, containing flowers were also dotted about the venue. I seemed to tie bows of twine to everything and made hundreds of birdcage labels, but it was all worth it in the end!  Dreamweavers Weddings were invaluable in helping us to create the look we wanted.

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Kanashay Photography

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We opted for a cheese celebration cake as we much prefer cheese to cake. It also fitted in nicely with the rustic feel of the wedding and went down really well with the guests who almost ate the entire thing!

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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We used Olive Tree Catering for our wedding breakfast and evening selection. The food they serve is of such a high standard and completely delicious we simply HAD to have them on our big day.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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For the evening reception we booked the very talented Kurt Davies, who entertained us with two live sets performing songs we had chosen and a disco. The dance floor was NEVER empty!  We also had props available for guests to play about with which lead to some hilarious photos being taken.

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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Kanashay Photography

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We honeymooned in Florence Italy, very soon after the wedding. It was a wonderful place to begin our married life.

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Kanashay Photography

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My top tip for other Brides Up North is that if you want lots of DIY elements at your wedding you need to start asap as it will definitely take longer than think. I would also recommend that you book an excellent photographer (like ours!) and get a video camera to capture the day, as once its all over it’s those are the things you will treasure most – along with your lovely new spouse!

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Kanashay Photography

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HEARTCongratulations Natasha & Kevin! HEART

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  – Images © 2013 Kanashay Photography

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