A Country Fete

July 12, 2010 in
Real Weddings
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

Photo by Charlotte Broster

Esther Coombs
EstherCoombs

Esther Coombs is a practicing artist living and working in Hampshire, who believes life is a story and that narrative is best told with drawings. Reusing and recycling is a practice which extends to every aspect of her business: packaging, shipping, printing, manufacture and all 100% British.

http://www.esthercoombs.com/
@esthercoombs

Drew and I met back in 2006 and quickly realised that we were in it for the long haul. However, between moving house once a year, me having several jobs all at once, my art and design work, and Drew working hard, we didn’t really think about making it official until we moved to the country.

Having lived in several big cities over the last decade, including London and Amsterdam, we were trading it all in for more time, peace, space, and an affordable house in the leafy-greenness of Hampshire. Luckily for us, we found everything we wanted in the beautiful village of Micheldever Station and Micheldever near Winchester. Our June wedding was always a DIY, two-part affair — a small ceremony followed by a big party. We were also incredibly lucky to have the day captured by my close friend, and great photographer, Charlotte Broster.

The small ceremony was held in a hotel in the New Forest of Hampshire, where wild ponies roam free and stones are moss-green with lichen. It was just the twelve of us, a gorgeous walled vegetable garden and the lovely manor house. The pretty, light, and modern ceremony room was miraculously transformed by the staff into into a dinner space, which was also used for a surprise dance lesson for our guests later on.

The space didn’t need a great deal of decoration as it was so pretty already, but I added a personal touch with some bunting I made with floral liberty fabrics and pretty antique lace purchased from Etsy seller Originally Yours. I had the florist who made my bouquet send me bunches of our favourite flowers which I put in found glass bottles, tea pots, jelly moulds and champagne glasses around the room. The finishing touch was a scattering of some of the many tissue paper balls a lovely friend had showed me how to make a few months before the wedding.

After our ceremony there were cocktails in the courtyard with photos and hugs all round, then a very special dinner. [pullquote]A table was laid with homemade jam favours, old postcards for guests to write their good wishes on, and our cake.[/pullquote] It was made by a great and talented chef friend, Mike Gray from our local pub The Dove Inn, and was two types of fruit cake (so yummy) topped with little wooden toppers I bought from Etsian Goose Grease. The toppers were the first things I purchased once we got engaged, and I painted them myself.

Drew wore a great suit, complete with cigar pocket and a “Churchill Cut” bow tie by Social Suicide — a very English country gent! My dress was a vintage 1950s number found in a trunk sale from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company. The veil was passed down by Drew’s mother, who customized the comb with 1950s flowers purchased from Etsy seller Paper Tales and old brooches and such from my new father-in-law’s attic. [pullquote]All of my jewellery came from long-forgotten boxes in the attic too — we were so glad he had a clear-out a few months before we wed![/pullquote]

A few days after our small but beautiful ceremony, we decked out the village hall for a wedding reception knees-up that we hoped the village and our families and friends wouldn’t forget. The village we moved to had been such a wonderful and welcoming community. Upon our arrival, we invited a good chunk of our new village to the party. We totaled about 150 guests and did the whole thing on a shoe string, which we’re pretty proud of.

 

[pullquote]We walked to our party which had a loose, 1950s country fête theme with lots of bunting and games, straw bales covered in old tablecloths to sit on and vintage bits wherever we could squeeze them in.[/pullquote] For the party, I opted for some cheap plimsoll shoes and prettied them up with yellow ribbon laces to match the yellow petticoat made by wonderful dress maker Philip Sefton. I bought beautiful bracelets for the maid of honor, my mum and me from London-based Etsian cocokato after seeing them at an open studio we did together at Craft Central. I still wear mine every day! The fascinator I put together for the party was made entirely from vintage finds and materials bought on Etsy (from sellers Squirlgirl, Iris D Veil and Running Threads), including a very special silver leather bird from Lemka’s B-side.

The boys did the classic speeches while standing on straw bales from a local farmer, then we cut two cakes (did I mention I love cake?), one of which was a tower on one of my stands filled with wonderful cupcakes in flavours including rosemary, apple cheesecake, wheat free chocolate orange and cherry from the very talented Georgina Worthington of High Tea of Highgate — my favourite tea shop bar none in North London.

In fact, the favour/cake table was one of my favourite DIY bits of the wedding party. Filled with jam, cakes, cake stands, flowers and bunting, it was everything I was hoping for visually and pretty much all of it was made with the love and help of friends and family. It was so good to make use of the cake stands I make for other people’s homes and special occasions.

Other handmade touches included hundreds of aforementioned tissue paper balls, meters and meters of bunting strung up in the hall and outside, hand-written bar menus made from old cupboard doors, a makeshift photo booth with some of my big drawings as backdrops, more straw bales and a bunch of masks and disposable cameras. A last minute addition I made before the party was a “wedding post box” in traditional bright red. [pullquote]We had guests post notes on vintage postcards we supplied, as we knew we’d never get around to opening a guest book more than once. It worked wonderfully — I have so many beautiful old postcards with lovely wishes on them, which I can’t wait to frame in our new house.[/pullquote]

Drew’s dad is in the meat trade and Drew is a big carnivore, so a local butcher created the best hog roast and BBQ most guests had ever had. The local chef, Mike, cooked up salads and sides in huge volumes, which we served from massive flower pots (much cheaper than serving trays and fitted in nicely with the country styling). An ice cream van dropped by for afters — I love ice cream almost as much as cake and squealed with joy when it drove into the parking lot with its chimes going! Later on, we danced ’til our feet hurt to the fab 1950s swing tunes of Fat 45.

As for some last wedding words: If you’re planning your own, let me tell you, we did this on a relatively small budget in about nine months with many favours and much help from friends and family. I can honestly say that all the hours of tissue paper folding, playlist compiling, dance lesson attending, bunting and jam making, and hunting on Etsy gave us a wedding to remember. When we finished clearing up and stumbled into the local pub the next day, a little worse for wear, the villagers actually gave us a cheer! Now that’s a country knees-up that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

Professional photography by Charlotte Broster. All other photos are courtesy of Esther and Drew’s wedding guests.

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

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