Libby & Jack: A Summer Garden Wedding at Voewood

We loved the unique look of Voewood and its history. We could also spend the weekend with close friends and family, which played a big part in keeping our day running smoothly and giving us as much time as possible to enjoy Voewood.

My dress was the first one I tried on at La Nova Bridal. It was one of their in-house designs, and I loved the jacquard material, which matched our floral theme! I’m not a big heels person, so I chose to wear Converse. However, I wanted to add a special touch, so I had them embroidered with special details to remember our day. I decided to wear family jewellery for sentimental value because it all went together!

My makeup by Kirstie Barton was peachy and glowing. My makeup artist worked with me to create a natural but elegant look that kept me feeling light during the hot day. My hairdresser, who has known me since I was a teenager, knew exactly what we needed: light curls and a half-up, half-down look to complement the dress style.

We took some time choosing my husband’s suit. We considered forest green or burgundy but ultimately chose a pale blue Hugo Boss suit that matched the other colours in our wedding and would be nice and light on a hot day. He chose a navy floral tie and a grey waistcoat and, on the day, added a family pocket watch to complete the look.

Our bridesmaids and groomsmen picked their dresses and suits; my bridesmaids chose different dresses that matched the summery vibe, and the groomsmen picked cream three- styles of blue-piece suits with pale blue floral patterned ties to match the groom.

When we found the venue, I put together a mood board to gather ideas. We wanted a light summer party wedding using the great outdoor space. We chose pale blue to base much of the design around the tableware, signage, and small details. We also wanted to add silver and disco balls to make it feel like a party! As my mum was our florist, we were able to make flowers a major part of the decor. Given our brilliant outdoor space, we rented some garden games from a local village fair. They entertained our guests and made for great photos!

We found a couple of fonts online and used them to design our invitations, signage, and menus to keep everything cohesive. We chose Smoke and Wildwood to help organise everything leading up to the wedding and on the weekend itself. They saw our vision and sourced everything we needed for our ceremony, meal, and party.

My mum was our florist, working with English Peonies. We chose various colourful pastel flowers with lots of foliage. They spent days putting together all the arrangements, and it looked better than imagined. They also thought very hard about how we could move the arrangements around throughout the day, planning our aisle arrangements to be transferred to the main hall for the meal.

We decided all the food on the day would be vegetarian, as we are both vegetarians and wanted to be able to eat everything! We decided we could have canapés with drinks, and for the main meal, we went for a grazing board-style meal with lots of bread, cheese, and salads. We then had our wedding cake for dessert, a three-tiered square cake with a white artistic floral design and some real flowers. The bottom was chocolate, and the top two were lemon and elderflower.

We thought everyone would get hungry in the evening, so we had a chip van come and serve loaded chip buckets. After some drinks, they went down very well.

We love photos, so we know that this was important for us to have lots of pictures to remember the day and capture aspects that we wouldn’t have seen! We wanted light and relaxed photos, and after looking through social media, we found By Emma Olivia, whose gorgeous images matched our wedding aesthetic perfectly. Luckily, she was available. She also offered the option of having a second photographer on the day we chose to go ahead, as we wanted as many photos as possible. Looking at our finished wedding album together was amazing.

So hard to choose one part of the day between getting ready, the ceremony, the meal or the after-party. However, I would have to say once the ceremony had finished and, it was all official, and we had greeted everyone at the reception, we were ready to sit down! We chose to have a sweetheart table with just two of us, and we got to listen to a couple of unexpected speeches, chat with each other, and see all our closest friends and family having a great time. Plus, we got to enjoy some fantastic food and drinks.

I would highly recommend someone who can help organise the day if you’re able. I felt calm and peaceful knowing they answered any questions and fully understood what we wanted. Enjoy it as much as you can because it goes so quickly, so try to plan in as many moments as possible where you can just spend time together to take it all in.