Rebecca and Aaron didn't want a long engagement and started their wedding planning straight away. Thank goodness they did, as a few months later the 'pandemic' restrictions hit and their special day would have been cancelled.
The couple decided to take the DIY approach and it was the most beautiful, personal wedding with many original features and recycled materials.
The Ceremony
The couple held their ceremony at the very beautiful church in Harpenden. The very talented Rebecca made her stunning wedding dress herself. Bridesmaid dress was from Phase Eight and the flower girls dresses were from monsoon. Headbands and shoes from John Lewis and cardigans from Tu at the last minute as they thought it was going to rain. Rebecca dried the roses from Aaron's sister's wedding 2 weeks before to pad out the confetti and used tracing paper to make the cones up. As it was bio- degradable it meant confetti could be thrown at the church. Aaron rebuilt the Land Rover and their Best Man painted the Just Married lettering on the tailgate for them.
The wedding breakfast.
The couple created the table plan themselves from a pallet they had left over from building work being carried out their home and painted it the same colour as the Land Rover. Rebecca spray printed and stencilled the lettering and Aaron bolted the 'chopped tomato' tins to it. Rebecca's mum arranged the gypsophila the day before while the bride wrote out all the names on the pegs and gold number cards which came from Poundland. Rebecca's Mum also found the Free Drink tickets which were glue gunned to the bbq sticks to insert in the oasis. Rebecca said it was a mixture of ideas from Pinterest and just made it work for them on a budget and personal level and great for changing the table plan around at the last minute! Guests took them home too.
The couple also designed the menus and printed them on tracing paper at home putting them in the frames again left over from Aaron's sister's wedding. The best man helped print the other signs. Rebecca painted all the chalk names and table numbers on slates left over from the garage roof! The centre vases were from Wilko and LED lights from Amazon with a sprig of eucalyptus to go in the centre of the flower rings. Flowers were from a St Albans market stall, who gets them from the wholesaler in London. Oasis and flower arranging items were from Whittingtons in Waltham Cross. The gorgeous and very original bicycle wheel decorations were made from old wheels covered in leaves with a central motif of cotton reels and paint brushes on one to represent Rebecca's talents and mechanics tools on the other to represent Aaron. Such a special touch.
The Olive trees were from Costco and are now planted in their family's gardens. The gifts suitcase was saved from Rebecca's Dad's loft which they re-lined with wrapping paper. All the artificial ivy and Wisteria decorations were from Amazon as they realised it was all going to be up high, so no one would touch it or be able to smell the flowers so it seemed the right thing to do. Rebecca tells me it has all been used again since.
It was such a beautiful, personal, DIY, sustainable wedding with many items repurposed, reused or recycled.
