There's tonnes of fantastic wedding inspiration in this gorgeous spring wedding. Ruth and Mark chose an on-trend jewel colour palette of navy blue, hot pink and purple for their wedding theme, and carried it through all their wedding details. The bridesmaids' dresses, the flowers, the cake - even the DIY'd table stationery, all match perfectly. It's the wedding planner effect without a wedding planner!! DIY brides will find Ruth's efforts hugely inspiring - she even made her own FIVE tier wedding cake - and it couldn't look more professional if it tried. With favours made my Ruth's brother-in-law, marquee-style letters made by her Dad, and a ring-pillow made my her mum, this really was a family project. Enjoy the gorgeous pictures by Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan. I love the modern-style portrait shots!
We chose Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan as our wedding photographers. They stood out to us on our search. They totally “got” what we wanted from our photographs which was informal and relaxed. Also your wedding photographer is with you most of the day, so I think it is important to get on with them, and we really did!
I came across a navy blue, pink and purple look, and I loved the contrast of the colours together. It looked very modern, and I was keen for our wedding to feel modern as well as classic.
We used L’Amour flowers in Kingston Park. L'Amour is a small independent company so the owner was very open to ideas, and this was important to me. I love flowers and am constantly in the garden so I knew exactly what I wanted. I choose freesias, as my Mum had them at her wedding, and added white hydrangeas. We decorated the chairs in the wedding ceremony with pink hydrangeas as well.
We celebrated our wedding at Wynyard Hall in Cleveland on 26th May 2013.
We loved Wynyard Hall because it was beautiful enough inside that if the weather was rainy or cold, it wouldn't be a bad thing to be stuck inside. On the other hand, if the weather was nice {which it was!}, then they had beautiful grounds, and plenty of nice areas for people to relax outside.
We had lots of DIY projects! We made the confetti cones and jam-jar lanterns. We were getting people to collect jam jars for two years before our wedding! I wanted them all different shapes and sizes, and decorated them with hearts, pearls and diamante.
I designed our own wedding stationary {we wanted it to look modern and sleek}, my Dad made a big 'MR & MRS' sign, my Mum made flowers for the table plan and our wedding ring cushion and the table plan was made on a mirror from our house. We also put together our own photo booth with props borrowed from friends and a polaroid camera. This was also our guest book so guests took a photo and stuck it in the book. This was the best part of the wedding as we got to sit the next day and look and read through it all and it was so special.
I had a great deal of trouble finding wedding favours, as they are all very expensive. A few months before our wedding day, my brother-in-law offered to make some gluten-free cookies. I thought this was a great idea, and as many favours get forgotten or left, an edible favour seemed perfect. I decorated them using the same style of home-made stationary that we had made for our invitations.
I made our wedding cake. It was gluten-free as was the wedding meal and the favours. I was diagnosed with Celiacs disease two years ago, and I’ve found it very difficult to be 'different', and constantly having to ask if foods are gluten free, so this was very important to me. I decorated it with the same flowers that I had in the centre pieces.
I did enjoy planning our wedding, but after years of thinking about it, I didn’t actually start 'doing' many of my plans till 6-12 months beforehand. I was very busy with work at the time, so it meant that it actually became very rushed and stressful - so I wish I had started earlier.
My advice to brides would be to give yourself plenty of time to decide what you want, and plenty of time to enjoy planning. Don't worry about the little details. I did, but on the day it really doesn't matter as much as you think. You are getting married to the one that you love, and your family and friends are there to support you, and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
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We chose Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan as our wedding photographers. They stood out to us on our search. They totally “got” what we wanted from our photographs which was informal and relaxed. Also your wedding photographer is with you most of the day, so I think it is important to get on with them, and we really did!
I came across a navy blue, pink and purple look, and I loved the contrast of the colours together. It looked very modern, and I was keen for our wedding to feel modern as well as classic.
We used L’Amour flowers in Kingston Park. L'Amour is a small independent company so the owner was very open to ideas, and this was important to me. I love flowers and am constantly in the garden so I knew exactly what I wanted. I choose freesias, as my Mum had them at her wedding, and added white hydrangeas. We decorated the chairs in the wedding ceremony with pink hydrangeas as well.
We celebrated our wedding at Wynyard Hall in Cleveland on 26th May 2013.
We loved Wynyard Hall because it was beautiful enough inside that if the weather was rainy or cold, it wouldn't be a bad thing to be stuck inside. On the other hand, if the weather was nice {which it was!}, then they had beautiful grounds, and plenty of nice areas for people to relax outside.
We had lots of DIY projects! We made the confetti cones and jam-jar lanterns. We were getting people to collect jam jars for two years before our wedding! I wanted them all different shapes and sizes, and decorated them with hearts, pearls and diamante.
I designed our own wedding stationary {we wanted it to look modern and sleek}, my Dad made a big 'MR & MRS' sign, my Mum made flowers for the table plan and our wedding ring cushion and the table plan was made on a mirror from our house. We also put together our own photo booth with props borrowed from friends and a polaroid camera. This was also our guest book so guests took a photo and stuck it in the book. This was the best part of the wedding as we got to sit the next day and look and read through it all and it was so special.
I had a great deal of trouble finding wedding favours, as they are all very expensive. A few months before our wedding day, my brother-in-law offered to make some gluten-free cookies. I thought this was a great idea, and as many favours get forgotten or left, an edible favour seemed perfect. I decorated them using the same style of home-made stationary that we had made for our invitations.
I made our wedding cake. It was gluten-free as was the wedding meal and the favours. I was diagnosed with Celiacs disease two years ago, and I’ve found it very difficult to be 'different', and constantly having to ask if foods are gluten free, so this was very important to me. I decorated it with the same flowers that I had in the centre pieces.
I did enjoy planning our wedding, but after years of thinking about it, I didn’t actually start 'doing' many of my plans till 6-12 months beforehand. I was very busy with work at the time, so it meant that it actually became very rushed and stressful - so I wish I had started earlier.
My advice to brides would be to give yourself plenty of time to decide what you want, and plenty of time to enjoy planning. Don't worry about the little details. I did, but on the day it really doesn't matter as much as you think. You are getting married to the one that you love, and your family and friends are there to support you, and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
