Retro Feel Colourful Castle Wedding | Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

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Gemma and James wanted a vintage garden party feel to their day with an Australian twist. They opted to hold their wedding at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, with a marquee reception.

Gemma chose a fun and flirty dress by Ivy & Aster with mint coloured shoes and birdcage veil while James went for a traditional kilt. The bridesmaids looked pretty in floral dresses and with white bouquets.

I just love the retro feel to their decor, from the fun bright blooms to the kitsch coconut cake. Fantastic.

Thanks so much to the lovely Eleanor Jane for sharing her photographs with us today.

The Vision for the Day.... Vintage Garden Party with an Australian twist.

The Planning Process... The planning process wasn't really structured at all, we had to plan a lot from Australia but luckily we had family in the UK to do lots for us. We had two years to plan for the big day and when you have a theme it makes it a lot easier to plan around. Before anything though, the venue!

The Venue... We picked Ludlow Castle as it is located in James' home town and only 40 minutes for Gemma's Family and it's a beautiful venue. We could imagine how our photographs would look and that is what sealed it for us.

Groom's Attire... As James has Scottish heritage he wanted to wear a kilt, he had a McFarlane Dress tartan kilt specially made for him by totally tartan kiltmakers & kilt hire in loch Lomond, Scotland.

The Cake... My amazingly talented Mum made my wedding cake. It was vanilla sponge with lemon icing and raspberry jam and coconut on top. It was delicious and looked just how I wanted. The cake topper was from Pokeberry Patch on Etsy. Mary makes personalised animal cake toppers. For ours she took a sample of McFarlane Tartan so the male cat was wearing a kilt and your names and the date of your wedding are printed on the base of the topper.

James' mum made 90 meters of Bunting for the marquee and it looked really amazing. It tied everything together perfectly. My mum and sisters collected vintage tea cups and vases from fairs and charity shops for the tables and we filled some of the tea cups with wax to make candles. We had a candy buffet for the ladies wedding favours and the men had a bottle of locally brewed Ludlow Gold beer. We tried to incorporate as much local produce in the day as possible. We also had pots of flowers that my mum and grandma grew especially for the day and they were beautiful, they helped to extend the theme to the outside of the marquee into the garden. We also had a vintage ice cream bike supplied by Barnabys Ice Cream which looked amazing in the marquee all day and then even better when everyone got their ice cream.

On our flight back to Australia we had 3 days stop over in Dubai. It was short but an amazing place to visit. We took a month off from work to be home for that time over the wedding so couldn't take a long honeymoon.

Memorable Moments... Seeing all the faces we hadn't seen in so long, that was such a special element of the day, it was like a massive reunion.The whole day was one big memorable moment.

Advice for Other Couples... Make the day as much about you as possible. Make things if you can to add a personal touch. Recruit lots of help from family and friends, they enjoy being a part of your day as much as you enjoy the help. Don't feel trapped by tradition, do things your way. If on a budget, use as much of that as you can for the photographer as those images are the memories you will have forever.

Photography | Eleanor Jane Wedding Photography

Beer | The Ludlow Brewing Company

Kilt | Totally Tartan Kilt Makers

Etsy - www.etsy.com

Venue | Ludlow Castle

Catering | Jennys Catering

BHLDN - www.bhldn.com

Marquee | Garden Marquees Ltd.

Bar | Tipples Mobile Bars Ltd

Wine | Tanners Wine Merchants

Flowers | Paul's Flowers, Church Stretton, 07989 539027

Ice Cream | Barnabys on Wheels Ice Cream