Happy Monday Peeps!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend despite the rain, rain and more rain!

We have an awesome wedding to share with you today which will hopefully blow away those autumn blues.

Josie and Nick married on the 16th June 2012 in a local Church in Kent followed by their reception in Nick’s parents back garden. They had what they described as a glamping picnic wedding-fest with a touch of the mad hatters tea party….and a bit of vintage…………and maybe a touch of Lovecraft-y steampunkness too!!

Almost every element of their wedding was either made by them or by their family and friends which just makes their wedding that extra bit special for them. From a powerpuff girls T-Shirt to a wedding day full of rock n roll, platform shoes, pink hair, blue hair, jumping and a hell of a lot of laughing!

Over to Josie and Nick….

A Beer garden, Powerpuff and Tattooed Engagement Rings….

We first me in the beer garden of the local alternative pub. He was with his friends, who I knew but somehow had never bumped into him before. He was kind and sweet and wearing a Powerpuff Girls T-Shirt without any intended irony. I was besotted in record time.

We always get asked how he popped the question by friends and family. They’re surprised to learn there was no romantic gesture and no gift. Just me asking him if he would marry me one Sunday morning before we got up. About 3 months later we walked into town and got each other’s initials tattooed on our ring fingers as engagement/wedding rings.

Rock n Roll Inspiration and Latex Clothing….

We’re lucky enough to have quite a rock n roll lifestyle in general! Both myself and Nick run a latex clothing company as our day job (Mico Couture www.micocouture.com) so are always travelling around the UK to various festivals to trade. Being in business you really learn to do lots of weird and wonderful things yourself- only a small percentage of running the thing is actually making the items! This ethos sort of bled into the wedding although I think we were fairly unconscious of it. We always know what we do and do not want, do and do not like so for us it was very easy to just strike things off the list without hesitation!

Long Distance Planning, DIY and Team Work….

Our wedding was planned long distance- we had to drive 250 miles to Kent the week before the wedding and do 80% of the work and projects that week! We took the seats out of the back of the (quite large) car and piled stuff to the roof. We still had to leave things behind! If you have to travel with your wedding stuff I would definitely say pick small but effective items- bunting, food flags, fancy tablecloths. You will save yourself a lot of stress trying to cram picnic baskets, fruit crates and wedding dresses in your car!

We were very lucky in that the night before the wedding most of our guests were there- either visiting or staying over. They really rallied around for us! We had groups of people throughout the house finishing favours, filling the picnic baskets, making coleslaw- even a group outside in the pitch black darkness putting up extra bunting! Our wedding would never have been finished without their help. People will often say to you ‘if there is anything I can do to help…’. Take all the help you can! Do not be afraid to delegate to friends and family. If you can get a big group of friends to do a small job each for you in no time at all you will have saved yourselves days of work.

Glamping, Baking and 1 Trillion Emails….

We were very much on a budget! We were so lucky to be able to utilise not only our own crafting skills but those of our friends and family. Between us cakes were baked and bunting was sewn (by what seemed like the mile!). All the food was made by ourselves and our family in the run up to the big day (except for two of the cakes…shhh!). The glamping element was one of the first things we decided on as our best friends actually own the bell tents. There was lots of last minute jobs and the whole wedding was organised via a serious of approximately 1 trillion emails as we live 250 miles away from the venue in Staple! Nick grew up there but moved north for his uni days, his family are still in the house he grew up in. It really was special to have the reception there.

Words of Advice….

We DIY’ed everything. It’s really easy to bite off more than you can chew. I would say decide on a cohesive theme early on. Select projects you know you can complete both skill wise and in the time you have. Start early! Anything you can do well in advance is great.

The Line Up Photography Credit: Rebecca Douglas Photography
Ceremony Venue: Church of St James the Great, Staple, Kent.
Reception Venue: The back garden of Nicks parents house.
Bride’s Dress: Vintage La Sposa gown with petticoat and bloomers by Vilicious
Bride’s Shoes:  Antaina
Groom’s Outfit: Moss Bros hired suit with Mico Couture custom latex Ruche Cravat and Swear Shoes
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Monsoon Outlet
Cake: Wedding cake cupcakes handmade as a gift for us by our uber talented sister in law.
Flowers: Nicks dad, who used to be a florist!
Hair: A cacophony of La Riche directions (Josie- carnation and flamingo pink) and Manic Panic (Nick- shocking blue). We get asked about hair dye a lot!
Reception Decor/Props: A selection of DIY things, cute bits from bargain shops and things borrowed from our house!  

Thank you so much to Josie and Nick for sharing their wedding with us – loving the two handmade ornaments of the both of you!

We will be featuring some music recommended by Josie and Nick in today’s Independent Love Song so make sure you come back this ‘arvo – you don’t want to miss it!!

Big Love

Festival Brides xxx