Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
Mr & Mrs Wood
Greg, the groom, was born and bred in Northampton and Katie, the Bride, spent many years living in the coastal town of Christchurch in Dorset, where her family still live.
They wanted a pretty wedding full of pale sage green, lace and a hint of dainty sparkle.
The Venue
Katie & Greg decided to have their wedding in the sunny south, on the Dorset/Hampshire border.
They very quickly discovered the hidden gem that is Sopley Mill on the outskirts of Christchurch, Dorset
It is an 18th century water mill full of natural brick beauty surrounded with water ways and has a magical vibe when the sun shines.
The whole wedding day would take place here surrounded by fields upon fields and the lovely sounds of water filtering underneath the Mill. Without a doubt, this was the venue for them!
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
The Dress
Another special discovery was Gerry at Courtyard Bridal over in Lychett Minster.
Initially nervous at the thought of trying on wedding dresses as a curvy girl , Gerry was on hand to guide Katie through without any pressure.
After routing through so many gorgeous dresses with her mum, Katie picked out a selection of 5 dresses, and fell in love with the second dress she tried on; a Pure Bridal by Romantica Dress called Annabelle with an a line skirt and very delicate embroidery on the bodice and upper part of the skirt. Smiles and tears flowed as she knew it was ‘the one’!
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
The Groom and Groomsmen Attire
The groom wanted a relaxed feel suit so opted for Moss Bros to hire the Moss 1851 Lounge 3 piece Suit in grey with Sage Green tie and pocket square.
As the groomsmen were based in Northampton, Surrey and Christchurch it was a fantastic service to hire from a national company for them all to visit their local store to try them on for fittings.
The groom had purchased his own pale green tie to stand out from the rest. He also chose to wear his dad’s pocket watch.
Brides godfather Dave (affectionately known to Katie as Daddy Dave) did the honour of walking her down the aisle in honour of the bride’s father who has sadly passed away.
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
Colour Scheme/Décor
Since watching the film ‘time travelers wife’ Katie has always loved the pale green colour as a wedding scheme and so they carried this through in the groomsmen ties, bridesmaid and maid of honour dresses, wedding stationery and the brides handmade jars decorated with lace and a delicate brooch that were to hold flowers or candles dotted around the venue.
The mother of the Bride, Julie, filled the venue with flowers from the stunning troughs on the top table to birdcages, jugs and arrangements on the bridge (Peony’s, Miss Piggy and David Austin roses, wax flower blue hydrangea, gyp, Lisianthus and stocks)
A ‘welcome to our wedding’ A-frame greeted guests on arrival, along with white wooden hearts hanging in trees and lawn games for the many children attending. Think shabby chic with a touch of dainty sparkle.
A lot of time was spent in many planning discussions between Katie and her mum Julie from early morning to late night texting/phone calls and sending photos of ideas to each other, to Katie and her wedding club buddy, Natalie, who was also planning her wedding at the same time – giggling from their desk at work looking at all things wedding related before the working day had started.
Flowers
Katie chose to use Emma at Arcade Flowers on Ringwood for the bridal party flowers.
Mother of the bride, Julie, and the bride visited the floristry wholesalers in Southampton and spent hours stripping and conditioning the flowers before Julie set to work on making up the troughs for the top table and a-frame, many birdcages, jugs for the wedding breakfast tables and arrangements for the bridge outside Sopley Mill.
Both Arcade Flowers and Julie used the same selection of flowers- (Peony’s, Miss Piggy and David Austin roses, wax flower blue hydrangea, gyp, Lisianthus and stocks).
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
The Cake
After meeting Emma at Fancie Buns Cakery and eating lots of yummy cake flavours and drinking cups of tea from china, Katie & Greg settled on her design of a three tiered cake with the middle section taller than the top and bottom tier with the flavours being Chocolate Mud, Zesty Lemon and Cheeky Cherry Bakewell. Emma matched the sage green and lace theme for this middle tier and expertly handmade the peonies, roses and blue hydrangea flowers to tie in with the theme of the day, which were delicately placed on top and to the side of one of the tiers. Greg enjoys playing scrabble with friends so the cake was personalised with scrabble letters spelling out the word ‘LOVE’.
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
Ceremony
The second floor of Sopley Mill was classed as the ceremony room. This was a neutral room that was perfect to dress but also allowing the natural beauty of the red brick walls to stand out, giving the room a warm rustic feel.
Lovely lime wood chairs lined the aisle to walk down. No decoration was needed as they fitted the feel of the mill so well.
Sopley Mill allowed the use of their artificial apple blossom trees which sat at the end of each aisle chair, along with a wicker and lace heart. Every other chair had an order of service and a small bag of confetti to throw as the bride and groom walked back up the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s Signed Sealed Delivered song.
A shabby chic painted ladder was added to the room, which held a birdcage, lace jars with gypsophila flowers and a sign to represent the memory of the Bride’s father, Mickey Phillips, who had sadly passed away eight years ago.
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
Wedding Breakfast
This was held on the top floor of the Mill, which had pale green beams in the roof and old varnished solid wood floorboards.
Each table was decorated with a thick slice of oak tree, enamel jugs full of flowers and dotted around the base of the jugs were individual lace jars with tea lights in – handmade by the Bride.
Children had a sweetie jar of old fashion sweets and a Kraft paper bag full of mini toys (dominos, top trumps, cars, colouring sets).
Adult favours were hot chocolate stirrers from The Chocolate Studio in Beaulieu, New Forest.
Entertainment
Sopley Mill have their own hire company, Incabella, and garden games were chosen from them (connect4, quoits, dominos and Jenga).
As there were 20 children attending the wedding, hamper of books, Frisbees, colouring, dollies etc were made.
Jules the entertainer arrived for an hour whilst the speeches happened and he kept the children entertained with animal balloon making and magic tricks.
For the adults, Capture Kiosk arrived for the evening where guests could leave video messages and have photos taken with props.
Menu
Our caterers, Merlin’s, provided a meze for the starters at the wedding breakfast as this is one of Katie & Greg’s favourite food and reminds them of the holidays they have shared as a couple.
They also chose two other favourites; lamb shank for main and Banoffe Pie for dessert.
Photographer
Katie had always enjoyed the style of photographs that Jerry Fenner shoots so he was their immediate choice to capture their special day. He has a natural feel and isn’t too traditional in his style and that was just what they wanted. He captured so many smiles and memories of the day.
Photo Credit: Jerry Fenner Photography
- Wedding dress, veil and bridesmaids dresses: Courtyard Bridal
- Groom and bridal party suits: Moss Bros
- Venue: Sopley Mill
- Wedding Cake: Fancie Buns Cakery
- Florist: Arcade Flowers for bridal party flowers, buttonholes and corsages & My mum, Julie Phillips, for venue flowers
- Make Up: Sarah Woodhouse of Amazing Face
- Hairstylist: Nicola and Shannon at Kinks Salon Christchurch
- Photography: Jerry Fenner
- Wedding Stationery: Knots & Kisses Wedding Stationery– Victorian Garden Range
- Caterers: Merlin’s
- Wedding rings: Wedding Rings by Natalie
- Bar: Barouche
- Children’s entertainer: Jules the Entertainer
- Evening DJ: We Perform
- Photo Booth: Capture Kiosk
- Garden Games: Incabella at Sopley Mill
- Guest accommodation: Sandhill’s Holiday Park Mudeford, The Manor ( we stayed for our wedding night and friends stayed there for a long weekend), Honeysuckle Farm B&B, Meadowbank Holiday Park Christchurch, and the two premier inns in Christchurch
- Bridal cars: Superwed Cars