Nic & Jim’s Vintage Summer Fete

Nic and Jim’s wedding was very much a personal affair, shared with close friends and family.

Pulling together all their arts and craft skills, Nic and Jim designed their perfect wedding exactly how they wanted it.

Over to Nic to tell you more…

“We got married at Mayfield hall in Middle Mayfield, Ashbourne. It is a beautiful venue that suited us as a couple and the wedding that we wanted perfectly. We loved the fact that parts of it were nearly falling down and looked so rustic but elegant at the same time.

Jim and I love all things vintage and shabby chic. I am a lover of crafts and making anything with hearts and anything pretty so it quickly became our theme.

The venue, decorations even my dress all fitted in to the style of ‘vintage and shabby chic’. Everything came together so well after months of planning and preparation.

Ah the dress! I wish I could put it on everyday! The dress was a really big decision for me because I have always been so image conscious being bigger than the average sized girl. I was terrified to go and try on dresses because of my hips looking big. In fact I couldn’t have been more wrong about the whole experience.

I found a beautiful boutique shop called ‘The wedding house’ in Alvaston, Derby. From the moment I walked in I was made to feel comfortable and welcomed. The dresses were all gorgeous. I tried a few that I was keen on, but it was Abi, the owner who had listened to my ideas and recommended a dress for me.

I thought it was nice so I tried it on. The moment I had it on I knew I never wanted to take it off again. It really was the one. People say you just know and I did. It was a gorgeous vintage looking dress with off the shoulder straps. I had it adapted to have a sweetheart neckline. The detailed pattern in the dress was a dotty effect which was beautiful.

The detailed pattern in the dress was a dotty effect which was beautiful. It is actually quite hard to describe because I had seen nothing like it before. I had a band around my waist which pulled me in and my hips were hidden under lots of layers. Looking back it was nothing like the dress I thought I would go for, but I fell in love with it in an instant.

We were very lucky that we have friends that are in the wedding industry. Our photographers HBA knew us well and helped to create our vintage look photos.

One of my favourite parts was Polly’s parlour– a vintage revamped VW van which was an ice cream parlour serving ice cream on the lawn after the ceremony. It was delicious, everyone enjoyed it but it just added perfectly to the vintage feel of the day.

My best friend and her husband run ‘The Poppy Trading Company’ a vintage furniture hire company, and so we had mix and match chairs and tables to make the basis of our interior work. We collected hundreds of vintage china tea cups, saucers and plates for the wedding breakfast. Everything was mix and match and we loved that!

It took some of our family a while to get used to the idea but when it was all put together it looked amazing. Being a primary school teacher I am quite a craft person and I love making things. I made hundreds of metres of bunting to go around the hall, marquee and outside in the gardens, and made all of the table decorations, table plan and signs. I loved coming home and making another little decoration. We do have a three bedroomed house, but in the planning stages two rooms became “The Wedding Room.”

I think making it all ourselves made it so much more personal and the wedding reflected us as a couple.

Looking back there are so many things we still talk about now, but honestly, we wouldn’t have changed a thing because the wedding was all about us.

Sometimes I think so many weddings are wonderful but people worry to much about what others think or what they think it should be like. In our case we did everything in the way we wanted and that’s why we have no regrets.

It helps that Jim and I had the same vision and we have a really similar style but as long as you work together, and stay true to yourselves you can’t go wrong. Pleasing the aunty that you haven’t seen in 3 years shouldn’t be your priority.

There are always going to be things that may go wrong or not quite as planned but go with it… things happen for a reason and sometimes they work out better!

Most of all enjoy the planning and the day. As everyone says it goes so quickly and it really does. I would love to be able to plan it all again and to experience it all again, but the best moment is when you see it all together and you can sit back and think…Wow we did this.”

Images by HBA Photography