The well-known saying
there’s no place like home
rang true for today’s bride Jenny when she decide the perfect place to stage her wedding reception would be at her parents’ seaside abode.Looking at the images of Jenny and Tim’s big day we can see why. The whole day has a lovely relaxed feel to it as the wedding party enjoyed a traditional church ceremony before taking a leisurely stroll down the road to Jenny’s parent’s house. Here a beautifully decorated marquee and seaside views provided standout setting for the big day celebrations to continue.
We also have to give Jenny’s beautifully detailed Packham gown a mention *swoon*.
With images by Brides Up North Featured Supplier Daniel Lloyd Photography.
jenny says:
We got engaged in August 2013 in Andalucia on the beach. It was midnight and a couple of boats were sailing by, all lit up. I didn’t believe Tim when he first asked – it took him producing a ring from behind his back for me to realise it was real!We decided to get married on 26th July 2014 as it was the same date as my grandparents’ wedding.
We got married at Blundellsands United Reformed Church, a beautiful church around the corner from where we live. We wanted the whole day to feel homely and relaxed and didn’t want people travelling large distances between the ceremony and the venue. We were fortunate to have a beautiful (albeit incomplete) reception venue in my parents’ house overlooking Crosby beach. A marquee was erected in the garden opening out to a beautiful view of the sea.
I wanted a really rustic and relaxed feel to the wedding. Our dream was to be married at home so I knew from the start that it was going to be a marquee wedding. My vision was wild flowers and bunting, a theme that ran throughout the wedding, from the homemade invitations to decorating the marquee.
I didn’t have a particular colour scheme in mind – I focused on the flowers and the bunting and everything fell into place from there!
I always knew I wanted a Jenny Packham dress – her designs are so beautiful. I had a wonderful time trying on as many styles as I could but I knew I had fallen in love with Muscari the moment I tried it on. The dress and veil were from Amy-Louise Bridal in Nantwitch.
Tim wore a navy Prince Edward suit from Moss Bros and the groomsmen wore the same.
The adult bridesmaids wore floor-length lilac dresses from Coast whilst the flower girl wore a Debenhams dress with identical beading to the adult bridesmaid dresses – it was an excellent find!
As the church was only around the corner from the house that we held the reception in, myself and my bridesmaids walked to the church. It was so lovely to have the time to calm our nerves and the well wishes we received from passing drivers were a lovely and memorable surprise!
Our photographer on the day was Dan of Daniel Lloyd Photography. Dan was exactly what we wanted from a photographer – he was unobtrusive and he paid excellent attention to detail managing to capture the happiest moments. We are thrilled with our photographs!
The Flower Barn in Little Crosby Village provided the flowers for our big day. I knew from the moment I met Yvette in her gorgeous little barn that she would be able to provide the relaxed, wild flower look that I hoped for. I opted for gypsophila, freesia and lisianthus arranged loosely with cream roses for my bouquet.
Yvette also provided the flowers for the marquee which were arranged by my mum in mismatched vases and milk bottles to add to the rustic feel. The bridesmaids and our families spent the days leading up to the wedding decorating the marquee with bunting and the chairs with organza. Tim had the less exciting job of fitting a kitchen and doors in the house so that it would be ready to receive guests, a job that took him up to 10pm the night before the wedding!
Tim and I were in disagreement about the wedding favours. Whilst I was keen to treat the guests to local, handmade macarons from the Little Macaron Shop, Tim was leaning towards a more ‘entertaining’ favour which he felt would go well with the real ale and opted for, wait for it, pork scratchings! A compromise was reached where the female guests received the macarons and the male guests the pork scratchings. Both were presented in hand-made boxes decorated with lace.
We chose a plain three tiered cake from Marks & Spencer which was decorated with wild flowers.
The wine was a generous wedding gift from Tim’s Aunt and Uncle who live in Falset, a small town in Catalunya.They brought red wine from Cellar Capçanes, a small cooperative in the Monsant wine region and white from Terra Alta. The day before the wedding, we decanted the wine into bottles which we had personalised to match the wedding invitations and the order of service. Tim’s close friend Bob from Bury Repro printed our wedding invitations and order of service and did a wonderful job.
The cask ale was from Outstanding, a Brewery in Tim’s home town of Bury. Real ale was an important addition to the wedding for Tim and it proved very popular with the guests!
A sailboat was placed at the end of the garden and filled with ice and soft drinks for the children. The ice didn’t last for long in the glorious weather but the children loved it all the same!
Carringtons Caterers provided the food for the wedding breakfast and also the evening food. With the wedding being by the sea, we thought it was fitting to have mini fish and chips instead of a buffet – these also went down really well with our guests!
For entertainment, Tony Crotty played classical guitar in the church and in the garden during the champagne reception. We were both blown away when we heard Tony play the guitar and the lute and knew we had to have him play at our wedding. The evening entertainment was provided by the Trunk Monkeys, a local band from the Wirral. Although we had heard samples of their music on their website, nothing prepared us for how fantastic they were. I’ve lost count of the number of guests who asked for their details!
My favourite part of the day was the first dance with my new husband. Part-way through the song when all of the most important people in our lives joined in with our special moment was the happiest I have ever been.
We spent our honeymoon in a beautiful tree house in France. Each morning we hoisted up our breakfast in a wooden bucket then spent the day wandering around the grounds of the chateau in which the treehouse was built or exploring the pretty villages nearby. It was idyllic.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be don’t fret about the details. No-one is going to notice that you forgot to tie twine around the favour boxes when they are having such a lovely time. It’s all about the bigger picture. Oh and enjoy it – it really does go so quickly!
