Katie & Oli: A Romantic English Garden Wedding with Sailcloth Marquee

We fell in love with Broadfield Court the minute we saw it – it has so many options to make your wedding your own, which is exactly what we wanted. There is no ‘conveyor belt wedding’ feeling at Broadfield, and every wedding is inspiringly different.

We both grew up in Herefordshire, and knew we wanted to get married outside, so when we saw the woodland area, it was simply perfect. The flexibility is unmatched, and the fact that you can hire it for the whole weekend (or as long as you want) makes it even more perfect. It was my 30th birthday the day after the wedding, so we wanted to continue the celebrations, and for Broadfield to feel like ours for the weekend, which is exactly how it felt.

The location, gardens, house and views are unique, not to mention how incredible Fran and Alex (the owners) are – nothing is too much trouble, and the vibe is incredibly relaxed. The whole package at Broadfield really is something phenomenal; my words don’t do it justice. We also had a sail tent marquee from Boutique Marquees for our reception, which was majestic.

Laura Crockett led our celebrant ceremony. The beauty of having Laura as our celebrant is that she got to know us as a couple and really understood what we were looking for from the get-go. Although we weren’t having a traditional church wedding, we wanted our vows to be quite traditional with a little personal touch. With her, we could adapt parts of the vows and the ceremony as much as we wanted, but as Laura’s a talented writer, little tweaking was required. We had so many comments after our ceremony about how amazing Laura was and how refreshing the ceremony and vows were. I would 100% recommend a celebrant to add a personal touch to your service – with as much or as little personalisation as you wish.

I purchased my dress from The Own Studio in London. They have a beautiful showroom, and you can either pick an ‘off the shelf’ style (they release new ones all the time) or have a completely bespoke dress made. As each dress is handmade in the UK, your dress can be unique even if you pick a premade design, as you can make tweaks to create the dress of your dreams. I would 100% recommend The Own Studio, and it was a truly enjoyable experience from start to finish.

I knew I wanted something minimal and silk, as we were having a black tie wedding outside in August (which would hopefully be warm!). I wanted to feel like me, and being comfortable was a huge priority. As soon as I felt the silk in The Own Studio, the quality to me just stood out above any other dresses I’d tried, not to be a cliché, but I truly felt amazing! I also wanted the ability to have two looks without having to change, so I had an overlay top that I wore during the day and could then remove for the evening – I loved this aspect as it meant I could enjoy the dress for the whole day and wear the top again!

For accessories, I wore my sister’s veil as my ‘something borrowed’, which was really lovely. It was a floor-length veil with a slight sparkle to complement the minimalist style of my dress, and my shoes were the Loeffler Randall Camellia bow-heeled sandal in platinum (another subtle touch of shimmer!). I was indecisive about the taller or smaller heel height for a good few months, but I went for the smaller heel and kept them on all night… no regrets!

With six bridesmaids, it was important to me that each could pick a different style dress. I went for the Maids to Measure bridesmaid dresses in the pink blush colour, with each of my bridesmaids picking their fave! They chose their own shoes and accessories, so they would be comfortable on the day. My gift to them all was a beautiful pair of Grace & Kin earrings, which they all chose to wear.

For hair and makeup, we had Nicola Harrison and Juta Zorubiene. Both are SO talented, and they made me feel amazing; the glow up was unreal. Everyone felt a million dollars.

We had bespoke rings made by a jeweller in Hatton Garden. We got our wedding rings from the same jeweller who made my engagement ring, and he’s been our jeweller for several years in the family, so they have sentimental value. For my something blue, I wore one of my mum’s rings, which my sisters had also both worn on their wedding day, which was so special.

My earrings were my 30th birthday present (my 30th was the day after our wedding!!). They are small diamond hoops with detachable pearls, from Missoma. I now wear them almost every day. I also wore two small gold bracelets, one was my late grandma’s dainty gold chain, which I’ve worn every day for years, and the second was a gift from Oli on the day. It was a beautiful slim Monica Vinader bracelet with a single diamond.

I always knew I wanted a timeless summer garden party wedding, with a soft colour palette, that I would look back on and still love in years to come. Outdoors with lots of green!

As well as the floristry, my dad planted lots of different plants in terracotta pots to decorate around the marquee. This really added to the whimsical garden-party theme and tied the whole look together. We now have these pots in our garden, which will be a forever memory.

Ellie Frances Flowers was our florist; she is unbelievably talented! My flowers were beyond what I could have ever imagined. I knew I wanted greens, creams and peachy tones to complement our summer woodland wedding, but seeing the colours come to life on the day was breathtaking. I always wanted a whimsical look rather than formal, and all I gave Ellie was a brief no longer than a couple of sentences; she exceeded all expectations. Ellie also matched all the table candles to the florals to tie the whole look together, and they smelled absolutely gorgeous!

For our wedding breakfast, we chose A to Zest, and it was absolutely delicious – I don’t think there was a single crumb left in the marquee!

For our evening food, we had a pizza van by Pizza Post. We could both eat pizza all day long, so it was the ideal option to soak up the sheer volume of baby Guinness consumed!

Our cake, a thin three-tier cake with cream butter icing, was made by Cakes by Karen. It was minimalist in style but fit perfectly with the black tie theme, complemented by a couple of our flowers to add some colour. The best part about the cake was tasting all the samples before choosing – each flavour was unreal. We went for red velvet, raspberry & white chocolate and lemon & elderflower. We froze a couple of slices (good hack), but we are sadly coming to the end of our stash.

Our photographer was Antonia Grace Photography, who we 100% recommend in a heartbeat. Toni was so easy on the day; she made us feel super chilled and natural, which is incredibly important. The photos speak for themselves – we were absolutely blown away. Our day was captured perfectly, and I had every confidence this would be the case from seeing all of Toni’s previous work. I came across her on Instagram and knew straight away this was the style of photography we would love to have. We are incredibly lucky she was available!

Our videographer was James Taylor Films; he was also incredible, and we are so happy with our wedding video! He captured every element of the wedding, and when we watch it, we feel like we are reliving the day again with each group of guests. Toni and James (and their respective second photographers) were a match made in supplier heaven.

Just before the ceremony, after the guests arrived in sunshine, it started raining. As I was about to walk down the aisle, the sun came out, and it added to the magic of the woodland ceremony. The sun shone through the trees for the whole ceremony, and it was incredibly special. Some of the best photos are from the pre-, during-, and post-rain showers, and they added to the uniqueness of the whole day. We feel very lucky that the rain stopped just at the right time, making everything extra beautiful. Our friends and family were all in one place, come rain or shine (literally)!

Such a classic reminder, but it’s your wedding (!!), so don’t let the opinions of others stop you from having the day you’ve always dreamt of. There are many people to consider and many decisions to make. Never lose sight of your reason for getting married in the first place, and the happiness of you and your partner is the priority. Planning a wedding can feel overwhelming at times, but with an incredible venue, suppliers, and support network, enjoy every minute of the process!