Funfair Farm DIY Red & White Wedding

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Ready for a totally fun and exciting wedding? Well here goes...

Kelly and Ben were married on the 3rd May 2014, holding their reception at Fen Farm. They were inspired by their first date and decided on a funfair theme for their wedding, which was all kinds of epic.

With a red and white colour scheme they had a carousel, popcorn bar, letter lights and quirky home made décor. Ekkk!

Kelly looked beautiful in her gorgeous Romantica of Devon gown, Ben donned a statement bow tie and the girls were pretty in red dresses. I wish I were a guest at this wedding.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Kathryn Edwards for sharing her photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | Ben recreated the cinema date when he asked me to be his girlfriend back in 2008. He transformed a small hall into a cinema with black drapes, a huge screen, spotlights in the ceiling and of course, popcorn. He fooled me into thinking we were stopping by to help move some tables before going for a meal. To my surprise, he'd invited our best friends to this mini cinema and we watched the same film we watched about five and a half years ago - Son of Ranbow. At the end of the film, he brought me in front of the screen and he proposed.

THE VISION | Following Ben's creative proposal, we decided to recreate our first date at the funfair, but with a more vintage touch. We wanted the day to be as relaxed and informal as possible for everyone and most importantly, for us all to have lots of fun.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We're both very creative and practical people (Ben is especially, as he works for a production company for live events) and so we knew we wanted to do a DIY wedding. As soon as we had the vision for a vintage funfair wedding, we seemed to know the style and atmosphere we wanted. We went for traditional funfair colours of red and white and once we had that chosen, the rest seemed to be a really natural process based on that - pinterest also helped to start with. We wanted to get married on the same day that Ben had asked me to be his girlfriend six years ago, so we had a fairly short engagement of only six months. Despite this, Ben and I were really keen to make the whole planning process really exciting and fun, with the least amount of stress and stubbornness - and it turns out, it really is possible!

BUDGET | We wanted to set ourselves a fairly modest budget and we managed to do most of it all around the £10,000 mark including the church, venue, three-course meal, hog roast, a carousel and all our decoration and other bits!

THE VENUE | We found a newly advertised venue called Fen Farm in our hometown of Lincoln. It's a working farm with a building for any party. We really wanted a venue with outside space for a carousel and we love the countryside; having cows and crops in the fields around the venue and being able to see Lincoln cathedral in the distant were unique selling points that we couldn't resist. It was great value for money and the venue had beautiful and modern on-site accommodation to host some of our wedding party.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was an elegant and understated Romantica of Devon dress with a delicate lace jacket for the wedding ceremony . I got it from Pretty Panache in Lincoln. A really nostalgic touch was having the seamstress put the lace edging of my Mum's own wedding veil onto my new one from Pretty Panache.

FINDING THE DRESS | I left the dress finding till quite late in the day but because I'm not fussy and I like to keep it simple, I found it a very enjoyable experience! As soon as I put it on, it felt right, and it happened to be my birthday that day! It had a long trail that I fell in love with and I altered the empire band for a pearl and lace detail to make it more unique.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Ben hired a charcoal grey full suit and waistcoat from Perfection tailors in Lincoln. The most important choice was the designer black and white stripy bow tie from Mrs Bow Tie. And he really wanted braces and stripy socks too.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We chose to have a traditional church wedding at the church I (Kelly) was christened in but we were more familiar with modern worship songs. For a nice mix between traditional and modern, we asked two good friends to play guitar and violin for the worship and the music for signing the register. For the reception, we had a lovely duet called Dan and Jess (Warble Entertainment) and they also sang (and especially rehearsed) for our first dance Jack Johnson's Better Together.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My bridesmaids are my best friends from Loughborough University. We chose simple but classic red dresses from Lipsy, and they looked absolutely stunning! They all looked like they'd walked out of a Special K advert.

THE FLOWERS | Following the red and white theme, we chose red and white roses mixed with wild flowers for the bouquets, the corsages and the table decorations, and all the grooms men had white roses for their buttonholes. Local florist, Julia, provided these from In Bloom.

THE CAKE | Another good friend has a cake making business, P.S Cakes, and she worked with us to design our cake. We had two tiers of Victoria sponge and the top tier of fruitcake with white icing, red and white bunting and a big red ribbon. We had our cake toppers personally created from an eBay seller.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Getting the photographer right was really important to us. If you're going to spend a lot of time and effort creating your DIY dream wedding, you need someone to capture it properly. Kathryn Edwards from Nottingham is a fantastic photographer, she's really friendly and her style is really relaxed and natural so she really documented the day and captured all the fun of the funfair with her stunning photographs!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Obviously the carousel was the main attraction but we put a lot of effort into creating the decoration around it. With old wooden crates, Ben made a Popcorn Stall, a Candyfloss Stall and a Kissing Booth. We created a themed totem poll, as well as our very own metallic fairground lights of the letters B&K. Against the backdrop of Fen Farm's fields, hay bales and cows really created the perfect countryside fairground. I haven't even mentioned inside but Ben and Peachy Events Services provided loads of help with a star cloth backdrop, a small stage, a dance floor, speakers and lighting for inside and outside the venue. The tables were all named after traditional fairground rides and we provided delicious home made vanilla fudge favours for everyone. For even more fun, we had red and white balloons, photo frames and silly props around all the tables.

THE HONEYMOON | We wanted a week away with some sun and relaxation, good food, wine and culture. We booked a week away in a spa hotel in Lake Garda, Italy. It was lovely and quiet after the buzz of the wedding weekend, beautifully picturesque to try out our new camera and sunny enough to get a tan. It was just what we needed, we even managed to fit in a visit to a theme park for a bit more excitement - we're both theme park fans!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | There were so many for us all but if we really had to slim it down it would have to be at the reception. We had a fantastic band and DJ and so many people were on the dance floor. When the last ride on the carousel was announced over the mic, the door of the venue which was opened up wide allowed this flood of people to race towards the carousel and get on for the last ride! Ben picked me up over his shoulders and carried me to the galloping horses where together we spun round and round with all our closest friends as others watched and waved as they waited for their last go. It was really emotional and very special.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Have a vision for your wedding day and keep coming back to what is most important to you for your wedding day. A lot of people will want to be involved, and that's really kind, but make sure you don't lose sight of what you wanted for the whole day. I also think keeping it simpler is often more effective and creative than doing too much! P.S We had a beautiful first dance by our fab musicians, but we hadn't really practised dancing for a whole song in front of everybody! Thankfully we pulled the awkwardness off, but seriously, do think about it!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue and Accommodation | Fen Farm

Sound and Lighting | Peachy Events Services

Cake | P.S Cakes

Photographer | Kathryn Edwards

Wedding Video filmed and produced | Emma Baggott - Our wedding video link - www.vimeo.com/95585841

Carousel | Rides 4 Hire

Car | Classic Wedding Cars Lincoln

Dress and Veil | Pretty Panache

Groomsmen Suits | Perfection Bridal and Menswear

Designer Bow Ties | Mrs Bow Tie

Hair Stylist | Decadence Hair Design