DIY Village Hall Fete Wedding | Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

DIY Village Hall Fete Wedding | Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

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Just wait until you read today's proposal story, it is really rather epic. I too am a huge Mumford and Sons fan just like Nicola and am really rather jealous of the proposal that Damian planned for her. Be sure to read about it in all it's glory at the end of the feature.

WWW readers Damian and Nicola married on the 31st May 2014 at Chilham Village Hall in Kent. They wanted to create a relaxed village fete feel wedding day, with guests bringing along cakes, lovely home made touches and fun games.

Nicola arranged the pretty Gypsophila bouquets herself, there were also paper book hearts on the tables, bunting, pom poms, hessian table cloths and a good old tombola. Brilliant.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Rebecca Douglas for providing these images today.

THE PROPOSAL | most amazing proposal ever, Nicola (me) is a massive Mumford and sons fan who happened to be playing a one off gig on 31/05/12 in Folkestone - after queueing from 0600 in the morning we got tickets about a month beforehand - unbeknownst to me this is when Damian started planning our engagement, he tried contact their management to no avail but the manager at the Leas Cliff hall was very helpful - I knew nothing about anything until the Leas Cliff hall contacted me the day before the gig to say I have been specially selected for the VIP experience, early entry to avoid queueing - champagne, canapes and a tour of the venue - then I range Damian - obviously very excited he played dumb and said it was probably spam, so we went along to the venue on the 31 st to be whisked to the front of the queue given a tour then ending on the balcony at the rear of the stage overlooking the English channel to be greeted by champagne on ice and Damian on one knee - amazing - then the manager went and got Marcus and Ted from the band and we had our photos taken with them and then got to take position at the front and centre of the stage before everyone else came in - and had a song dedicated to us.

THE VISION | We wanted a really relaxed, village/vintage fete theme to the wedding with games, cake table where guest bring their own cakes, live band, we also didn't really want an evening reception starting at 20;00 - so our ceremony was at 1400 for close friends and family and then our reception started at 1500

THE PLANNING PROCESS | was pretty simple once we found our venue, we both put our input and ideas forward and did a lot of internet shopping, my mum was fantastic with making everything from 150 meters of bunting, 27 tables clothes and fabric buttons holes and favours. We also made many early starts to Sunday bootfairs collecting crockery and vintage pieces.

BUDGET | £12000, we had hoped for a smaller costs but things ran out of control a bit!

THE VENUE | Chilham Village hall, Chilham, Near Canterbury Kent.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was made to measure via eBay from Shanghi for the grand sum of £95 including delivery - again my mum made some alterations to it to make it that little bit special, she also made my fabric corsage and shawl and my bag was from a lucky find from a bootfair.

FINDING THE DRESS | I went to several bridal boutique but I couldn't face the prices that they wanted for them so after a lot of re-search online I settled on one from eBay.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Crisp white high collared shirt, tweed trousers and waistcoat, and vintage sleeve garters.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | No readings, aisle music was 'Not with Haste' by Mumford and Sons and the signing of the register to 'Hearts on Fire' by Passenger.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Victoria and aine in bespoke dresses by Abigails Wardrobe.

THE FLOWERS | Done by me - just bouquets of Gypsophila.

THE CAKE | Made by a colleague at works wife - Sam Simpson, we also had a cake table where guest bought home made cakes for the pudding after the hog roast - in kind of a bake sale style.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The lovely Rebecca Douglas.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Tressel tables supplied by the venue, lighting was festooned by the lighting engineer from the Leas Cliff Hall, bar and bar décor supplied by Chambers Bar in Folkestone, bunting sweets for the tables, sugar mice, jam jars of candles and off cuts of Gypsophila, paper hearts cut from old books, wooden knives and forks, vintage mixed plates for the cakes.

THE HONEYMOON | 3 days in Singapore and 10 days in Bali.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Damian crying in the ceremony, great band (Gentlemen of Few), Damian's Nan heckling his speech, dancing storm trooper, beetroot cocktails, toasted marsh mellows and chip van.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Stick to what you want to do - don't be swayed by other peoples opinions or advice - stay true to what you want to achieve - and don't forget to breathe.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Chilham village hall

Photography | Rebecca Douglas

Hog Roast | Alkham Valley Hog Roast

Band | Gentlemen Of Few

Bar | Chambers bar

Fish and Chips | The village chippy

Such a wonderful fun filled wedding day.

Thanks so much to Damian and Nicola for sharing their brilliant wedding story with us today XOXO Lou

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