I don't really need to do this because I already have a wedding board on Pinterest to obsess over, but quite frankly I love any excuse to obsess over wedding details right now!

My wedding is on the 6th November 2013. We actually got married at a registry office on the 17th October of this year. It was a very casual ceremony with only two witnesses, and we all wore casual clothes and then went to Nandos afterwards (keeping it classy). Our wedding in November will be our real celebration. The wedding itself will be relatively cheaply done compared to the average wedding, but I am hoping that it will be unique and personal and spectacular. Both me and OH are designers at heart, and when we met at university two years ago we were both studying design courses. I quit my course in favour of a teaching degree as I was pregnant unexpectedly and wanted a career with more security than I would have with a job in the fashion and art world. My OH carried on and is now a graphic designer, and as he gets to design full time I have completely taken over the wedding planning and it is designed and hand made to within an inch of it's life

We have no real theme or colour scheme, only things that we love. Hopefully, there will be a lot of quirk, but it will still be classy and beautiful.

This is our venue: www.northcadburycourt.com

I chose it because it is self catering, which saves us so much money and allows the creativity with food and drink that I wanted. We are also getting it incredibly cheaply (for less than £3k) because we have chosen a midweek winter wedding. The venue has 21 rooms, which are all breathtaking, and we are charging guests £100 for a double room for two nights, and four meals, bringing the cost down to about £1k for the venue alone, leaving food, furniture hire, and little extras.

My dress is Kristene by Claire Pettibone (Claire Pettibone Kristene UPDATE I got my dress!) which I bought second hand for a fraction of the price.

As we are already married, we are asking BIL to be the registrar at the ceremony, as of course it doesn't need to be legal. This will be very casual and personal to us. My little sister, who trained as a singer, is going to sing in Italian before and after the ceremony.

We are not having a wedding car as see no need. We are also not having a DJ or band as we can't afford it. Instead we are putting out our own vinyl player and collection of records, and inviting guests to chose their own music and keep the party going themselves. We also cannot afford a professional photographer, but I am hoping to get in touch with the local university and ask if any photography students are interested in return for a small fee and reference. If not we will rely on friends and family!

I have been waiting for you to do one of these!
Your venue is beautiful! I love it!
Can't wait to hear everything else

Thanks lovely!

A few details I have planned:

- There is a large open fireplace in the ballroom. I am going to put little vintage ottomans and rugs around it, and have trays of crumpets and marshmallows, along with vintage toasting forks for people to toast their own snacks.
- I am getting a victorian dark metal bath tub and placing it in front of one of the huge georgian windows in the ballroom and filling it with ice and bottles of white wine. There isn't a fridge large enough and no bar so I had to be a bit creative here. We will also have smaller coolers dotted around the reception with single glasses of wine, as well as beer and cider.
- For our seating plan, I have bought a very large rusty metal tray and am painting it like a chess board (except with more squares) and placing chess pieces on the board in the same order as they sit in the room itself (we are having two long tables). The chess pieces are all vintage and mismatched as I sourced them second hand, and I have used a saw to cut a slit in the top to hold a place card.
- We are not having bridesmaids or ushers as I don't like the idea for some reason?! Don't know why. Everyone we have invited is special to us, as we are having only 40 guests. We are trying to involve everyone as much as possible in the day to make it personal to us.

I will post a bit more later, tea time!

ETA: A link to my wedding pinterest, with EVERYTHING on it http://pinterest.com/ketchupsandwich/w-e-d/

Amazing!! I can't wait to read more!!

Your ideas are fantastic. And your venue.......amazing!

I had a similar idea about photographers. I wasn't going to have one at all and just have my family take pictures.
Then I decided I did want someone and as we have the Winchester School of Art here we have plenty of budding artists and photographers. I thought I could see if anyone was willing to do it for us to use as part of their course/portfolio for the future.

Then I realised all the students would still be away on Xmas leave and maybe no one would turn up on the day. I was really panicking about it!
So I have found a fantastic local girl who is a graduate from the Art School. She is a budding photographer and has done a couple of weddings but mostly works with babies and children (a good selling point for me!). So have gone with her for a very reduced fee.

So glad you have started a journal I love your ideas. Your day sounds like its going to be so relaxed and fun!! I'm following you on pinterest now too

Okay so you guys have seen my dress, this is the rest of my outfit!

These are my shoes. Actually not vintage (sob) but they look it, and are much nicer IRL. I have added these shoe clips from the 1930's to them to make them more personal and add a vintage touch.





My accessories are all mismatched but still 'go' when they are all together with my dress. I like it this way, I feel like it adds some quirkiness to the dress and shows my personality. Plus it will be a late afternoon and evening wedding in November mostly lit by candle light so I think the antiqued jewellery will work really well.

This is my necklace. It was handmade and is actually two eucalyptus pods dipped in gold, I love that! Anyway I have lengthened the chain so it sits about an inch lower than on the photograph, which goes really well with the shape of my dress.



My earrings and bracelet are both vintage. They are absolutely tiny IRL, not nearly as chunky as in the photos.





My hair is quite difficult to explain, I am having a bit of a mix between both of these styles. Sorry, I know that's hard to picture! I love the wispiness of the second style, it is very me, but obviously I want to keep it elegant for my wedding day.





I am also having one of these two sets of hair accessories. I can't decide!





I am also considering having a few sprigs of dried lavender or some other dried flower in my hair, not 100% sure though.

Also having my wellingtons on standby incase I want to go out in to the grounds (it is November!) and am either going to bring a warm shawl or thick knitted cardigan for the evening when everything is more casual. I am not one for fur stoles or posh shrugs. Oh and these are my wedding socks, because it is not comfortable sitting by the fire toasting marshmallows in heels Winter socks is actually insisted upon in our dress code...



So that's it for how I'll be dressed. I know it is definitely not everyone's style but it is so very me and I think it suits the style of our day.

I love it!! Where are the shoe clips from? I'm looking for some similar o yours or my wedding day
Your jewellry is all gorgeous too. I think I could quite happily clone your day and just put me and my OH and our guests in it and be very happy

Thank you! They are from Etsy, all of my jewellery and hair accessories are actually xD It's brilliant for cheap vintage finds.

Haha you say that but I am planning for it to be quite weird and wonderful. I know it isn't everyone's thing as I have read a billion wedding magazines and not seem anything similar in any of them. Worries me a bit that it will be a disaster but hopefully it works and everyone loves it!

Everything is stunning! Just running out the door so will write more later.

But just wanted to say........I need those shoes my life.........they are gorgeous!!

Sorry I know I am spamming the board here but it's fun to actually be able to tell people my wedding plans!

Favours:

We have our venue from Tuesday lunch time til Thursday evening and most guests are staying over. Our wedding will be the Wednesday afternoon. We have invited guests for tea and pizza on the Tuesday night, a very casual thing, with everyone likely tired from travelling and so we will all just be sat in the living room sharing some pizza and drinking warm drinks. In the rooms of the guests staying, and handed out on arrival to the guests not staying (these guests are still invited for pizza and tea the evening before the wedding), I have put a wedding box. It will basically be like this, but I am going to attach a fork to each box on the exterior. Inside the box will be a slice of cake, some biscuits (because they will be tired and hungry from travelling), a handwritten note to each of our 50 guests saying what they mean to us and thanking them for coming, information about the venue and area, and timetable of the wedding day. Oh and the confetti! I think I am going to do the dried lavender idea and just put a sprig in each box with a note about it being to throw at the end of the ceremony. It will be presented like this:


The box will be based on this:


Children will have a similar box, except without a fork (there will be a cupcake instead of cake), and with an animal like this, complete with moving body parts, on the lid of the box.



Inside the children's box there will be a flag to wave during the ceremony, a small pot of 'magic dust' (glitter), a cupcake, bubbles, and a special invitation to the playroom (yes there is a play room ). There will also be a helium balloon attached to each box with a velvet ribbon. We are only having about four children attending, all around 2 years old.

For our place settings (which we debated not doing, but I want guests to meet new people and I think a table plan makes this work) we are using shells with the names painted inside like this:



We are inviting guests to keep these as a momento so they act as a favour, but as the real favours we are giving each guest something individual to wear (paper hat, bowler hat, headdress, mask...). Each will be unique and classy, not comical. Some examples:





They will either be placed on the plate or on the back of chairs, depending on how they look better.