Karl and Kate got engaged at Glastonbury Festival in 2011 and so their May wedding was inspired by their favourite event.

They chose the The Shireburn Arms, Lancashire to hold their wedding day, with a focus on home made elements and a party atmosphere. I am head over heels for Kate’s twirly frock by The Couture Company, the floral bridesmaids dresses and Karl looked dapper in a Slaters suit. Such a stylish wedding party!

There were home made details created by the couple and their family and friends. The Glastonbury scene was a triumph and i love the pretty bouquets.

Thanks so much to the amazing Assassynation for sharing her photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… Prior to going to Glastonbury 2011 there had been no previous discussion of getting married but un-be-known to me, Karl was considering proposing but he had no idea when. Glastonbury is a very special place to us both and it would possibly be the perfect location but he wasn’t sure how to do it. We’ve seen people proposing on stage and in the middle of fields before, there even used to be a church where you could get married (not legally of course) but none of this figured in Karl’s thoughts. It was during Coldplay’s performance of our favourite song “Fix You” that Karl thought, “this is the perfect moment”. He proposed and I said YES!!!

The Vision for the Day… We decided we wanted to carry on the Glastonbury theme on the big day and throw in a touch of country fair. It was important to us to have lots of homemade elements, we are both creative people and we wanted to put our own stamp on the day. Anything from the table centres, favours, metres and metres of bunting, outdoor lighting, table decorations, festival lanterns and the table plan were all sourced through family and friends or made by us.

There was also another very important element to the day, our Classic Mini Cooper called Joe! The main vision was to have a relaxed, fun party atmosphere throughout the day and evening.

The Planning Process… Firstly we needed to find somewhere to have the ceremony and reception in one place and that would also allow us to put our own stamp on the venue and make our festival theme a reality. We also needed it to have enough accommodation as we had many guests travelling from all over the country and Europe. The most important things were sourced next – Dress, Photographer, Invites and asking my Bridesmaids. The rest all fell into place over the planning process but it helped having lots of lists, then lists of lists…

Budget… £7,000 – Many elements and ideas for the wedding were crafted by our creative family, friends and of course us so this helped in sticking to the budget.

The Venue… The Shireburn Arms, Hurst Green, Clitheroe. We viewed a handful of venues but as soon as walked into The Shireburn we knew it was the right place. The venue and gardens were perfect for our theme and its location nestled in the Ribble Valley about 30 minutes from Preston made it really handy for us and a lot of our travelling guests.

The Dress + Accessories… This was a no brainer… The Couture Company, Birmingham. The beautiful and talented Joanne Millburn designed my dress. Joanne is Karl’s best mate and was the “Best Lady” too! I knew the style that I wanted, but I was unsure about the finer details. As soon as I had my first consultation with Joanne everything fell into place. I decided on an ivory Thai silk prom style dress with a mocha brown sash with bow detail and buttons at the back. I wore my hair down for the wedding so her amazing team made me a flower hairband to compliment my look. It was perfect! The dress had a full net underskirt with a mocha trim to match, I couldn’t stop twirling all day!

My accessories were a mixture of items that I already owned or had been given to me by friends. My shoes were from M&S, very cute brown low heel court shoes.

Groom’s Attire… Karl had already found the perfect suit for a friend’s wedding, the previous year from Slater’s. This however needed altering as he had got super fit and lost lots of weight. He wore an ivory shirt, red tie and ruby red rose buttonhole to compliment the bridesmaid’ outfits. For the evening he got his dancing shoes on and changed into a pair of Ox Blood Converse All Star and a rather snazzy matching bowtie.

The Readings + Music… No readings just bucket loads of great music!

This was a very important part of our wedding. Karl who is a professional DJ created playlists for the whole day and we selected some of our favourite songs for the ceremony music. I walked down the aisle to Blur – Tender and we skipped up the aisle to ELO – Xanadu. For the pre-ceremony and signing of the register the tracks we chose were. Kinks – Victoria, Blondie – Union City Blue, The Beatles – 8 Days a week, Squeeze – Cool for Cats, Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Young Holt Unlimited – Soulful Strut, Fleetwood Mac – You Make Lovin’ Fun, Stevie Wonder – Hey Love and Elbow – Open Arms.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… They were amazing not just on the day but being there through the planning process and organising an ace hen do! My three friends Julie, Lyn and Jessica looked gorgeous on the day

I wanted them to be comfortable and wear a dress that reflected their own style and personalities. After visiting a local vintage fair we had a flash of inspiration “Floral Tea Dresses.” Perfect! I ordered the fabric online and a local dress maker and designer made them from a pattern I bought.

The Flowers… We decided on spring meadow; hand tied bouquets for me and the bridesmaids. The flower girls had a single white gerbera and the buttonholes were ruby red roses. The flowers for the wedding breakfast tables were small hand tied bunches of spring flowers which were placed in jam jars. The room looked amazing and the bouquets were perfect. We didn’t want anything too fussy and we couldn’t have asked for a better florist than The Secret Garden.

The Cake… Neither of us likes rich fruit cake and we are huge fans of my Mum’s baking so it was a no brainer who would make the cake. My very talented Mum made a beautiful Victoria sponge cake that was topped with look-a-like Lego figures of us and a replica Corgi Mini Cooper Sport exactly the same as our car.

Your Photographer… Assassynation – We were introduced to our photographer by Karl’s Best Lady Joanne. We met Sassy at a wedding fair called EWE2 which she and Joanne co-organise and within minutes of being in her company we felt like we had known her for ages. She instantly got where we were coming from and we knew there and then that we had chosen the right person for the job. Sassy captured the whole day exactly how we wanted from start to finish and we’ve received a huge amount of compliments about the photos. She is wonderful!

The Details + Decor… Our festival theme was carried right through the day and into the evening. My “crafty” Mum made over 70m of homemade bunting which looked superb in the room and she set to work making over 120 jars of homemade jam for the favours. The flowers were arranged in cute jam jars for table decorations along with the centre piece for each table which were stone jars with a table name flag. Each flag had a Glastonbury stage name and of course the Pyramid Stage was the top table.

Karl designed the table plan, menu/name cards for each guest and the initial invites and RSVP’s. They all looked great and made the day so personal knowing that we had created a lot of it from scratch.

We had a pic n mix sweet station, glow stick lanterns, outdoor lights in the trees, and a props table with disposable cameras. We even created a Glastonbury Scene diorama recreating the exact moment that Karl proposed during Coldplay! Complete with Pyramid Stage, jelly baby crowd, Mr Eavis, tents, tipis and of course some cows. Some jelly baby’s may have been eaten during construction….

Keeping with the Glastonbury theme and in particular Michael Eavis one of my Bridesmaids printed out over 60 Eavis masks which were worn en mass for a group photo.

The Honeymoon… We chose to go to London for 4 days on our “Mini Moon” after the wedding. Then we are planning a longer honeymoon to Italy next year.

Memorable Moments… Seeing each other for the first time as I walked down the aisle and realising “THIS IS IT!” It was the start to an amazing day full of happy memories which we will never forget.

Advice for Other Couples… It’s a cliché but soak up every minute of the day as it goes so quickly. Don’t let the planning take over your life – delegate jobs, easier said than done I know! Invest in a good photographer and just enjoy the day.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Venue – http://www.shireburnarmshotel.co.uk/

Dress – http://www.the-couture-company.co.uk/

Photographer – http://assassynation.co.uk/

Bridal shoes – http://www.marksandspencer.com/

Bridesmaid dresses/ shoes – Hand made by Sharon and http://www.clarks.co.uk/

Bridesmaid Dress Fabric – http://www.stitchcraftcreate.co.uk/

Accessories – http://uk.accessorize.com/ , https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Retro-Rehab-Preston/187162151330611 and brides own.

Grooms Suit – http://www.slaters.co.uk/

Grooms Evening Attire – http://www.office.co.uk/ and http://www.topman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=12555&catalogId=33056&geoip=home

Flower Girl Dresses – http://uk.monsoon.co.uk/

Page Boy Suit – http://www.bhs.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=13077&catalogId=34096

Flowers – https://www.facebook.com/secret.garden.preston

Outdoor Lights – http://www.lights4fun.co.uk/

Craft supplies and props – http://www.ebay.co.uk/ and http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/

Sweets – http://store.makro.co.uk/

Hair – Lucy Rigby

Make up – Christine

Nails – Natasha Stefani

Cake, Favours, Bunting – Made by Brides Mum

Design work – Karl Yates

DJ – Our good friend John Hunter

Car – Our beautiful Classic Mini Cooper Sport called Joe!

Oh such a fun day, it looks like their guests had an amazing time. Thanks so much to Karl and Kate for sharing their brilliant wedding with us today XOXO Lou