Olivia and Carl's gorgeous English country style Nettlestead wedding

 

 

When we first met Olivia, we were a little intimidated by how cool, trendy and stylish she was, and being a designer herself, we hoped we’d fit the bill.  Anyway both Olivia and Carl and two of the nicest people around...very easy to work with and to get along with and we had a whale of a time.  Their style was relaxed, natural, pretty, romantic and with a strong vintage feel.  Having their wedding and ceremony in the heart of Kent amongst rolling fields and fabulous views, we had to give the flowers a distinctly English feel with hydrangeas, roses, astrantia, astilbe, lisianthus, flowering mint, eucalyptus, bridal gladioli etc.

Nettlestead Church is a lovely intimate old 13^th century church and we didn’t want to overdress it.  We therefore decided on soft tied bunches of flowers on the pews, a single pedestal arrangement at the front of the church, an altar arrangement and a large terracotta pot arrangement in the window nook in the Entrance Porch.  Carl and Olivia added hand made confetti in bushel boxes.  We then added a lovely soft arched arrangement to the lych gate, which we were thrilled and a little surprised to see still in place nearly a week later!

 

Olivia had chosen a fabulous gown and bolero with lots of lace detailing and being petite we didn't want to swamp her with flowers.  Her bouquet was a gorgeous textured and scented hand-tied bouquet designed to look quite “spriggy” and “just-picked”.  It included a range of different roses, hydrangeas, freesias, bouvardia, mint and eucalyptus.  It worked perfectly with her dress and we finished it with a vintage crocheted doily. 

 

 

Olivia’s bridesmaids wore champagne or platinum dresses and we decided to scale down the bridal bouquet to provide smaller hand-tied bouquets with a natural feel to them and a little less colour.  A small posy for her Flower Girl as designed with a simple lace wrist loop to help her carry them.

 

 

 

All the boys flowers tied in perfectly with Carl wearing a gorgeous Carousel Illusion rose as his buttonhole to make him look that little bit more special.  The corsages were also designed to remain soft and pretty but also to tie in with chosen outfits.

 

 

Olivia knew she wanted her marquee reception to have impact, and she desperately wanted a “chill-out zone” in a separate marquee “room”.  She sourced all the furniture herself (with lots of late night driving by Carl to collect her “finds”) and it looked amazing.  We were let loose to dress it with flowers and had a lovely time.

 

For the reception tables, we alternated between candelabra with a range of vases at the base, and mixed selections of jugs, birdcages, vases, pots, teapots, china etc.  A very eclectic vintage look, filled with gorgeous soft flowers and all draped with lace and pearls.  We then added hydrangea florets and rosebuds to the tables to finish the look.

We managed to dress the Indonesian Betjak (which belonged to Olivia’s parents) with sprays of flowers and added flowers to the cake, the bar, the tables, the drawers...if it didn’t move, we dressed it with flowers!  We even provided the birdcage post box....dressed with flowers of course!

 

 

Olivia and Carl provided the finishing touches with throws to keep knees warm, flip flops for tired feet and little Black Forest cakes for  late night munchies.

 

 

 

I know how much hard work, planning and dreaming had gone into Olivia and Carl's wedding.  And the nice thing was that it really reflected their styles and their personalities.  A really personal lovely wedding for a really natural, fun loving lovely couple.