Festivities at Featherdown Farm

Emma and Glen married at Ringwood Parish Church on the 26th of April this year, with blossom in the churchyard and the christening of their daughter to follow. 

"We met in the south of France at a mutual friends house and we got engaged 6 years later, on Christmas Eve at home in front of the fire with a glass of champers. I had no idea! Best Christmas present."

 "When planning the wedding we firstly worked out a rough budget, booked the church on the date we decided on and the venue.Our style was rustic, relaxed, outdoors, boho and a bit of vintage!"

 "A very dear friend of ours owned a lovely restored barn, on a farm. She was very poorly sadly but said that if we ever got engaged we could have our wedding reception in her barn, and that we did! Sadly she passed away 4 months before the wedding but she would have been very happy that we partied the night away in her lovely barn. The venue was at Featherdown farm, Midgham, Fordingbridge. There are 8 canvas tents in the bluebell woods, they all have 3 double beds in, a lovely oak table and chairs and a cosy log burner! Talk about camping in style! So we booked all of them for our immediate wedding party to follow with our outdoors theme!"

"Yes, we were both involved in the planning. We wanted to plan every little detail which is why we didn't go down the hotel wedding package route. I ,being the bride, planned most of it but everything was checked off by the groom! We did all of the styling ourselves with the help of some lovely people along the way."

Emma wore a silk crepe satin gown layered with silk tulle and Chantilly lace, inspired by the wedding dress of Kate Moss. 

"My experience was a lovely one! The ladies at Calm were welcoming and accommodating from my first visit. I told them my ideas and vision and they helped my decided what style to go for and gave me lots of ideas and inspiration that I may not have thought of without them. Once we decided on a final idea the exciting process of making the gown began! I went in for various fittings along the way and I asked for a few small changes which they very willingly did to make it perfect for me. It was so wonderful having a gown made to measure as it was perfect and fitted me like a glove and was unique to me. I also had a veil made which I absolutely adore. It really finished off the gown and was a real feature. I had a lovely headband made to wear in the evening that was a bit more relaxed. The day I tried on the finished item was a day I will always remember! Calm also made my bridesmaids dresses which were exactly what I had imagined and they all were measured and fitted so the dresses were unique to each of them. They all had the same style with a slight twist to each one. Thank you girls for just being fantastic!"

"Yes-it was all we thought it would be! It was a lot of hard work and preparation creating the look that we wanted. Blood, sweat and a few tears but well worth it."

"The best part of my day was walking down the aisle with my dad in my beautiful gown, looking down at everyone I love. And my first dance with my husband to Tom O'dell's 'Grow old with me'."

"My words of wisdom- be organised, have a clear idea on your theme and trust your own instinct. Oh and don't listen to your mother in law to be!!!!"

We loved being involved in Emma's big day and partying the night away at Featherdown farm! 

All the best to them for the future,

Frances and the Chaotic team x

Calm Amongst the Chaos, 

Arcade of Flowers,

The Good Food Company-

Rebecca Starling. Lovely homemade rustic food. 

Virginias Vintage Hire

 Based in Devon, they supplied all our vintage trestle tables and chairs. Along with chalkboards, terracotta pots, tree lanterns and other vintage accessories. They were fab. 

Classic Crockery Hire

based in West London. They provided us with white and blue enamel wear to serve our food in abs wire bread baskets. Along with vintage cutlery including bond jaded knives (which I specifically asked for!) and serving spoons. They were very officiant and delivered and collected and it didn't even have to go back washed- they do it all! 

Rosie Crocker

professional hair and make-up artist. 

Stationary- Charlotte Blow.

Tee pee tent 

this was a tent that was in a field opposite the barn which all of the children had fun in. I organised games, sweets, cupcakes, individual lunch boxes and a hessian toy sack for each child. And two lovely girls to look after the crazy little ones! The they was supplied by Honeybell Tent Hire. They came along and put it up with lightning and bunting and took it down two days later. 

The Silver Rocketeer

this was a chrome cocktail bar that we hired for our wedding. It looked great and served delicious cocktails to our guests! 

Cinemattag Productions

 they provided all our indoor and outdoor lighting. They delivered it and we had the option for them to put it up but we decided to do it ourselves. 

Fuchsia and Cream Tea!

Sally and Ted tied the knot in September 2012 at the Langtry Manor in the seaside town of Bournemouth surrounded by their children, family and friends. 

 

"We met on the internet! Our first date was at the boathouse in Christchurch in 2009."

"We got engaged two and a half years later. We were on holiday in Turkey and Ted proposed while we were on a romantic dinner on a private boat. The boat stopped below the floodlit rock tombs in Dalyan and he leant over and proposed - I wasn't expecting it, although apparently most of the hotel staff knew what he had planned!"

 "We hadn't intended to get married for a couple of years, but went along to the Bournemouth wedding fair in January/February 2012 and then decided to arrange the wedding for the September of that year. The style and theme evolved once we decided on the venue. We wanted an afternoon tea for closer friends and family and then more of a party in the evening for additional guests." 

 

"We visited a number of  potential hotels and venues in Bournemouth and New Forest areas and realised The Langtry Manor in Bournemouth fitted the bill for us. A very impressive room with stained glass and a gallery for the ceremony, a garden for drinks, the same room changed around for afternoon tea, then a bigger room and garden across the road for the evening 'do'."

"I very much enjoyed having my dress made- although it is a little nerve racking not knowing exactly how it will turn out until quite near the date! I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted but couldn't find anything online or in any stores. When I met Frances and she did some initial sketches I knew I would end up with a fabric and style that suited me. She also helped me with accessories and my daughters bridesmaids dress which worked well as she knew the overall style I was going for." 

Sally's dress was a tea length gown based on our design Ava, however she had angora dupion with embellished tulle overlay in cappuccino. It also had a drop shoulder detail to cover the top of her arms and was one of the reasons she decided to have her dress made as she couldn't find it anywhere else.  



"We did most of the styling ourselves really. We designed the invitations and decided to go with a vintage style afternoon tea and hired in the vintage china. I wanted the china to be a big feature so we had a simple tall flower vase on each table with just three roses in each and I made all the name cards- a serviette tied up with ribbon-not something I ever thought I would be doing! In the evening for the party we had a fantastic singing group and went with a black/pink theme for the chairs, tables and balloons- it all looked great. A BBQ was served and a local ice cream maker provided two previously picked flavours."


"It was marvelous- the weather was good and well- the next day we had a beach hut and about 40 people came down there for the afternoon. It all really did turn out how we planned it."

"The best part of my day was probably the tea and speeches -it was lovely hearing our sons make speeches about us (my son gave me away and both of Teds were best men) and seeing our friends and family looking on."

"My words of wisdom would be don't accept the first quote you get for something- shopping around is very easy online nowadays. Stay calm, and although it can be quite a lot of hard work, enjoy organizing your wedding-it will be fabulous."

We are thrilled that Sally and Ted had the simple, stylish day they had dreamed of, and we wish them all the best for the future.
Frances and the Chaotic team. 
x

Happy Bride

We love to hear back from our brides and find out just how much they loved their dress. Georgia wrote this lovely message to us all and came by this morning with 7 porcelain hearts as a thank you. We all got on so well together and the result was a very happy Lady. We did attend the wedding which was held at a beautiful country church. The path up to the church was lined with little jars that Georgia had given everyone before hand to bring along filled with flowers from their garden or hedgerow.

Georgia's wedding has been recorded on our blog in a previous post including some of the beautiful photographs so please scroll down and take a look!

Frances and the chaotic team.

x