We’re headed to East Sussex for the gorgeous home made countryside wedding of WWW readers Joselyn and Joseph this morning. The couple chose to tie the knot on the 9th of July 2016 at Lewes Castle, thanks to it’s beautiful outdoor setting and spectacular views. They then headed to High Hurstwood Village Hall in the sweetest Morris Minor to continue the celebrations. They decorated the hall beautifully using personal, crafty touches, which included bunting and pillow hearts.
The pastel colour scheme of pinks and purples ran through the lush florals perfectly and they worked really well with the botanical stationery and rustic décor choices. Joselyn chose to wear a romantic flowing gown by Amanda Wyatt teamed with cute Charlotte Mills shoes. Joseph meanwhile was suited and booted in a blue suit by Next teamed with classic brogues, didn’t they look gorgeous?
Thanks so much to Sara Reeve for sharing these delightful images with us.
THE PROPOSAL | Joe can never surprise me or keep secrets from me, I always know when he’s got something on his mind. However this is the one time, when it mattered, that he managed it. It was the 12th of July 2014, we were living in Barcelona at the time, it was our 4 year anniversary so I planned for us to go to a beautiful coastal town for the weekend to celebrate, we were staying in a hotel on the beach and I booked a seafood restaurant for a late lunch. After lunch we got changed and went for a walk, the sun was setting. Joe really wanted to walk up to the castle he’d seen earlier at the top of the hill and I was happy to, however when we got there the gates were locked. He seemed really disappointed, I thought it was strange, I hadn’t realised he was that interested in Castles. I suggested we walk down to the beach to watch the sun set instead. We sat on the beach talking, the sun set and a red moon came out. Joe suggested we walk up to the sea, as we reached the sea I turned to face him and found him down on one knee holding a ring. It was a ring that I had pointed out a few weeks ago at an antiques market, it was beautiful vintage floral design with diamonds with a rose gold band. I was more surprised than I ever have been in my life, I was so happy, I couldn’t breathe, I dropped down to sit on the sand so we were on the same level and said yes. Then there was a cheer from a bar, which I thought was us but actually a goal had just been scored in the World Cup Final! Afterwards I called my mum, who already knew as he’d asked her permission. We spent the weekend in the sun celebrating.
THE VISION | Summer of love, we met in the summer and spent 2 years living in Barcelona in the sunshine so wanted to represent this in our wedding. We had a lot of fresh colourful flowers, the stationery was floral, we also had haybales/picnic area to mirror our first date.
THE VENUE | Our ceremony venue was Lewes Castle. There’s a beautiful English garden at the bottom, you then climb the many stone steps to the secluded ceremony garden, half of it is protected by the castle’s stone walls but then it crumbles away, revealing a beautiful view over the Lewes countryside towards the sea. The ceremony took place under a stone arch, guests sat on chairs and picnic blankets. We had 2 beautiful vases of flowers at the front.
High Hurstwood Village Hall.
THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES |The dress was from Ozone. The designer was Amanda Wyatt.
The bodice of the dress was lace with tiny pearl detail on it, it had see through lace straps and back, with buttons going down. The skirt was floaty and plain. I felt beautiful and comfortable, which was important for me, it was very light.
I wore pearl earrings which were a gift from my mum (my something old), my great grandmothers wedding ring (something borrowed). I wore the most beautiful shoes by Charlotte Mills, white leather peep toes with a sparkly silver heal and heart on the front, she puts a sixpence in each shoe and I asked that mine had my mums year of birth on to make it extra special, on the sole is written the poem – ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in her shoe’.
GROOM’S ATTIRE | He wore a blue suit and waistcoat from Next. His tie was handmade by a friend. He wore brown brogues from Clarkes. He looked perfect, I just wanted to be by his side.
THE READINGS & MUSIC | The bridesmaids walked down the aisle to Ellie Goulding, How long will I love you. I walked down the aisle to Nina Simone, Here comes the sun. Reaching Joe, when I got close to him I couldn’t hold it together any more, I started crying and gave him a huge hug. It was such an important moment for us and we were both so happy.
We had a band The Dirty Divine, which we hired through Band Boutique.
Our first song was ‘Marry you’ by Bruno Mars, we chose this as it’s always a song we’d listen to and sing, on our engagement weekend we’d been singing it just before Joe proposed.
BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 9 Bridesmaids and 1 Flower girl.
The morning of the wedding the bridesmaids wore floral, silk dressing gowns, which I got from Etsy.
The flower girl wore a floaty white dress from Next. The bridesmaids wore pale pink summer dresses from ASOS, they were a classic cut and very pretty. I wanted them all to feel comfortable and fit in with the Summer theme, I also didn’t want a dress with too much detail as there were so many of them!
THE FLOWERS | All flowers were provided by Gunns in Brighton. They provided flowers from mine and the bridesmaids hair, we have a mix of white and purple sweet peas and gypsophila. The button holes were made of a rose, lavender and some eucalyptus. My bouquet was made up of peonies, sweet peas, lavender, nigella, a couple of other English garden flowers and eucalyptus.
THE CAKE | We had a chocolate cake and a strawberry and almond cake, all in white icing with purple, pink and yellow icing flowers – very simple and summery. These were made by a friends mum who makes professional cakes – Benedetta A’s Cakes.
We also had a vegan cake, blueberry and pear, with wildflowers as decoration, made by Daisy Moos.
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Sara Reeve.
THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We decorated the venue with white curtains, festoon fairy lights across the wooden barn beams, sparkly table cloths for the head tables, and white sashes for the limewash chairs – all from BowsHire.
Not Your Average I do – were amazing, they provided kilner drinks dispensers for the pimms, mason jar glasses, hay bales, lawn games, vintage ladders which we decorated with jars of flowers and ribbons and log slices for the centre pieces.
We had mint to be, mints form Etsy and a seed packet of Basil on the tables.
We also had dried wildflower petals on the tables, which we also used as confetti at the ceremony.
Otherwise all our decorations were all home made – bunting, pillow hearts hanging from each chair, made by the mother of the bride.
THE HONEYMOON | We booked everything directly. We went to Italy and stayed at the beautiful Villa Di Piazzano, a dream honeymoon hotel, in the middle of the Tuscan countryside. We stayed there for 6 nights, we then went to Rome and stayed Hotel Santa Maria, which had courtyards full of orange trees and sun terraces, such a retreat in the busy city, we stayed there for 3 nights.
We visited a vineyard, did a wine tour and had lunch there. We went to Lake Trasimeno, which is stunning and walked around the old town. We visited Sienna for the day. In Rome we went on a fantastic food tour. We also visited the Colosseum and did a tour there.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS | In the morning being surrounded by my closest friends and my mum giving me my something borrowed, my great grandmas wedding ring, seeing Joe as I walked down the aisle, the sun came out as I was walking down to the song ‘here comes the sun’, the speeches, so much effort went into all of them and you could feel the love in the room.
ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It’s never too early to start planning and booking! I started early and really felt it helped me have a less stressful experience. Our wedding really was all about us and our life together and how we wanted to celebrate it, so go with your heart on decisions, take into consideration other peoples opinions but make your wedding about the two of you. Really consider if you need something, there’s no point breaking the bank if it’s not necessary, save that money for the honeymoon! A lot of decoration for our wedding was home made, which made the day really personal. You’ll be surprised how happy friends and family are to get out their creative side. Also make sure during the process you and your fiancé take time out together, to focus on each other rather than the wedding, even a long walk on a Sunday helped us.
Because of all of the above, I think our wedding was so personal, everyone we loved was involved and felt part of the day.
If I had to do anything differently I would make sure that more than one person has a list of all the suppliers contact numbers, as the vintage bus nearly didn’t turn up to pick up the guests from Lewes Castle. My mum had the number and had gone ahead to the reception venue, but there was no signal there!
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Photography | Sara Reeve
Ceremony venue | Lewes Castle
Reception venue | High Hurstwood Village Hall
Dress | Ozone
Tie | Knot and Blade
Hog Roast | Mr Delicious
Hire | BowsHire & Not Your Average I Do
Confetti | Shropshire Petals
Flowers | Gunns Florist
Cake | Benedetta A’s Cakes & Daisy Moos
Band | The Dirty Divine
Favours | Wildflower Favours
Ahhh so romantic!
Thanks so very much to Joselyn and Joseph for sharing their gorgeous nuptials with us xo Lou
