Home Made Rustic Foodie Garden Party Wedding - Whimsical...

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Fancy seeing what happens when a fun loving, foodie, happy couple tie the knot?

WWW readers Karolina and Ashley married back in August, with a Church ceremony they held their marquee reception in a pretty pub garden. Of course food was top of the agenda, with southern style cuisine which sounded mouth watering followed by ice cream dessert. If you are hungry don't read about their honeymoon hehe!

Karolina donned a pretty lace dress with delicate flower crown, Ashley wore a blazer teamed with a bowtie while the bridesmaids looked fabulous in cream mismatched frocks. So much style.

Huge thanks goes to the amazing Mckinley-Rodgers Photography for sharing these photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | 20th August 2013. It started off badly and we were having a day out and got stuck in horrific traffic on the m25 so we ended up going home and we needed to walk the dog so we went to Aldenham country park it was a really lovely evening with the sun setting in a beautiful surrounding by the lake. I had absolutely no idea and when I turned around he was on one knee and asked - "so will you then" as I was screaming and telling him off for winding me up! It wasn't a wind up and it was so perfect. Little had I known he was carrying the ring for 2 weeks waiting for the perfect moment.

THE VISION | Homemade rustic garden party trying to create the perfect way to describe us! Love, food, fun!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Stressful but we had a wonderful girl called Lucy to help us. She was fantastic - she helped us on the day and organising all the necessary bits and making sure the day ran smoothly. I also had the best help making decorations from all my friends and family.

BUDGET | We managed to do the wedding at about £15k but there wasn't really a set guideline although we did try to keep it under £10k but we had wonderful help from our parents and with the costs of things in London it proved difficult.

THE VENUE | church - St. John the Baptist in Aldenham, which is set in a pretty village and the reception was at a local pub, The Round Bush. We had a massive marquee but made sure we used all the garden area for the dance floor so it was mainly all outside the weather was perfect.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was a one off piece I found at a local bridal shop that was selling vintage one off pieces and sample stock. I wore my mothers jewellery and we made the veil a week before the wedding using some British tulle. My shoes were Roland Cartier from Debenhams. We also had flower crowns which were made for us using fresh flowers.

FINDING THE DRESS | It was stressful as I was trying to find an unusual dress but all the bridal shops had the same things and I didn't want to spend fortunes as the dress for me wasn't the most important. I wanted to feel comfortable so when I found the dress it was much larger, so I had it altered by a few seamstresses and by the end after a long process of stress it was finally finished a week to go.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Ashley wore a blazer and bow tie from Hackett and trousers from Diesel. We wanted to make it look comfy and country. None of those tails and top hats for us as its not our style at all. We got braces for the guys from Etsy. Our groomsmen wore Topman suit jackets with chinos. we wanted everyone to look different so they all had different suits to make them look individual.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had 1 Corinthians 4-8 and traditional church hymns. We wanted to keep the ceremony traditional as the rest of the wedding and reception certainly wasn't. Our vicar Daniel McCarthy was brilliant he even gave us gifts during the ceremony. Our lovely dog Bauer the boxer was also allowed to join us in the church which made it ever more special. we had a friend DJ at the reception with a playlist created by Ashley. Our first dance was Songbird by Fleetwood Mac. It was difficult to choose a song we both liked and as we were driving home one day we were listening to Fleetwood Mac and the song came on and we both liked it so it was the one.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | MOH- Emma and bridesmaids Nicola, Lauren and Kirsty. They all wore dresses from Asos and they chose what they wanted to wear as I wanted them to all feel themselves and comfortable they wore cream dresses and had gyp flowers and beautiful fresh flower crowns. I wanted it to be very relaxed and mismatched so they could be individuals.

THE FLOWERS | My beautiful aunt Denise Eagell did our flowers and they were amazing. I gave her my idea and when they showed up on the day I was overwhelmed and so excited at how amazing they were, she made them so perfect. I had a huge bunch of wild flowers and my fav alstroemeria and the bridesmaids had gyp! The boys had button holes made with hessian cones and gypsophila and Ashley had alstroemeria too. We had a lady called Andrea do our flower crowns too. They were beautiful.

THE CAKE | We had a three tier cake made by the lovely duo EmmaBelle cakes, fruitcake, Victoria sponge and chocolate fudge all coated with white chocolate ganache. Yummy. it was decorated with raffia and flowers topped with a small bunting saying mr and mrs, it was placed perfectly in front of some barrels and bunting.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We had the pleasure of spending the day with the best couple ever Pen and Cam McKinley-Rodgers!! They were so amazing and everyone said how lovely they were. They blended into the background and captured the day so perfectly and we couldn't be happier. I wanted to make sure that I had amazing photographs so this is why we chose them.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We had home made decorated jars and bows and bunting and everything you could imagine at a garden party. We had candles everywhere. We had an external catering company who specialise in southern style cuisine so we had ribs, brisket, wings, Mac n cheese, salads etc and pulled pork buns in the evening. We are massive foodies so we planned our wedding around food. Our table names were animal life stages of cows, pigs and chickens. (I lost the bet) I wanted herbs as our table names but Ashley won on this occasion. Our table plan was put onto an old door that we painted and decorated with flowers. We made our own wedding favours and that was homemade toffee popcorn in little bags. They went down so well I had guests asking me for the recipe.

We also hired an ice cream van which was so amazing so we had that as our dessert. Ashley and I got to have a go at making one and it is much harder than you think. We had a friend make our guest book for us it was hearts made from card and then collected and placed in a really lovely pattern and put into a frame so we can look at it all day! eBay came in handy too, I bought a lot of things from there.

THE HONEYMOON | This was a foodies paradise, Italy!! We flew to Bologna and did a food experience tour with a brilliant guy called Alessandro and we learnt about how parmigiano Regianno, balsamic vinegar DOP (the real stuff they call black gold) and prosciutto is made it was a whole day of eating finished with a 7 course feast high in the mountains of Modena. We then went to Florence and ate and drank like mad, we visited Rome and saw all the sights and dined with the locals and ate gelato everyday!! Then we drove down to the Amalfi Coast for the last few days and took a boat trip to Capri it was so beautiful. It's safe to say we came back at least a stone heavier. Was the best holiday ever and we can't wait to go back! This was a wonderful gift from my mum and step dad.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Just seeing everyone enjoying themselves and the food! Ashley chose the playlist himself as our friend DJ'd and so every song was brilliant and everyone was dancing! One of the groomsmen surprised us with a Biggie rap straight after the first dance and got everyone up to dance it was brilliant. I also really enjoyed getting ready in the morning with my mum and grandma and the bridesmaids. I got to the church in a pink mini with my dad which was fun and emotional and walked down the aisle with him meeting Ashley and Bauer at the other end! As we were trying to keep things low in cost we were planning on going back home after the wedding and my MOH and her husband surprised us with a night at the Hilton Watford so we were so happy! Speeches were amazing and my husband gave the best speech ever. And he hates public speaking I was so happy.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Just relax! The most important thing is that at the end of that aisle is the person you want to marry so there's no need to be nervous. I was actually surprised at how calm I was seeing as I was stressed out throughout the main process. You realise how much you love each other even more! And to be honest if they can put up with the stress of you planning the wedding then they will stick with you forever xxx

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographers | Mckinley-Rodgers

Film | Story Catchers

Cake | EmmaBelle Cakes

Flowers | Denise Eagell

Catering | Bunch of Swines Catering

Capri marquee | Out is in ltd

Guestbook | Jane Alexander For the Luv of [email protected]

Wedding planner/co-ordinator (most organised person I've ever met) | Lucy Atkinson

Ice cream van | Tonino Ice Cream

Flower crowns | Flower Lounge Stanmore- 020 8954 7711

Crockery/cutlery | Cousins Hire