Livvy in Sassi Holford for her Intimate Marquee Wedding at the Family Farm in Somerset

Primary teachers, Livvy and Seb tied the knot on 14th August 2021 in the garden of Livvy’s family farm in Somerset.

This charming and elegant black tie wedding took inspiration from the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Livvy wore a gown by Sassi Holford which she found at Sassi’s Taunton Branch and her maids wore Maids to Measure. Both fashion brands are Love My Dress recommended suppliers and you will find them and more wonderful suppliers listed in our wedding directory.

These beautiful images were captured by fine art wedding photographer, Liz Baker. Enjoy!

Bridal Beauty

Our hair was by Alyson Aplin. She is a close family friend and has been a part of all of our family weddings. Alyson did an amazing job of eight people’s hair on the day and kept so calm even when time was against us. She created a beautiful vintage hairstyle that stayed in all day. The bridesmaids had various updos.

Our makeup was by Tracey Gidley who is a local makeup artist. She listened to exactly what I wanted and created a beautiful look. She was really calm and friendly on the morning and I would definitely recommend her.

I loved the fitted aspect of the silk bodice and the long sleeves which teemed with layers of light tulle. Seb always said I would have a dress that ‘swished’ and he was bang on. I loved how the dress moved and it looked beautiful in some of our sunset shots. It was a real moment when I had put everything on, looked in the mirror and realised I was actually getting married.

With help from Kristine at Sassi Holford Taunton, I settled on a single teer soft tulle veil from The Couture Veil It went well with the headpiece and had a vintage feel to it.

Shoes & Accessories

My shoes were Rainbow Club Morgan Satin Court Shoes, Ivory, fromJohn Lewis.

I found my headpiece online at Rachel Chaprunne. I have always loved the 1920s and 30s so knew I wanted a nod to this era within the wedding. This was reflected in my headpiece and it was beautifully made and comfortable to wear. Rachel responded to my emails really quickly and created a simple, vintage headpiece which came beautifully presented and was lovely to wear.

I wanted to keep everything simple as the dress was so beautifully simple so I didn’t wear many accessories accept for an emerald ring gifted to me by my Grandmother.

The Groom

Seb sore a black tuxedo waistcoat from Suit Supply, a dinner shirt from M&S and black monk shoes from Dune. Seb also wore a Hugo Boss watch that I bought him for his 30th birthday and his grandad’s cufflinks.

Seb had his classic mini trailered down for the wedding day which we used to travel from the church back to the reception. I went to the church in a classic Rolls Royce that was owned by a family friend.

Flowers

The flowers were very personal to us and we felt fortunate that they were arranged by family. Flowers were arranged by our mums, Rachel and Joanne, and my cousin Julie and friend Sarah. I have always loved the 1920’s and 1930’s so there was a nod to this through feathers and pampas grass.

Julie and Sarah created beautiful bouquets, table decorations and silver trumpet vases. Julie incorporated pink hydrangeas from my Gran’s garden and we chose dark red and purple blooms including black baccara roses and antirrhinums. My love of bygone eras was reflected in the palm leaves, pampas grass and white peacock feathers.

Both of our mums created beautiful church flowers and milk churns using wild flowers found in the hedgerows and the flowers above. Seb also made wooden planters which were planted up by Rachel and contained beautiful trailing plants.

Photography

We chose Liz Baker to photograph our wedding, because of the fine art style of her photography and her use of film. We loved the quality of the film photos she takes and the lightness of her photos. Liz was very approachable and helpful when making decisions about our wedding, especially with the changes that Covid brought. I would definitely recommend her.

The quality and style of the photos we have from the day are beautiful and we will really treasure them.

How They Met

We first met whilst studying in London. At the time, I travelled up every week to London from Somerset and Seb travelled down from Hertfordshire. We laughed all week on a course and just became good friends. We both knew we would see each other again. In the months that followed, we met up in London as often as possible and often just walked around chatting. It has become a really special place for us.

After two years, we got engaged. Seb had planned a day out in London. St Paul’s Cathedral has always been a special place to us. We walked around and up to the Whispering Gallery. We then made our way to the Dome at the top. When it was just the two of us up there, Seb proposed. It was a special moment with just the two of us in such a special location.

We loved having a small, intimate wedding as it allowed us to spend time with all of our guests. Everyone seemed happy, relaxed and it felt really special, even magical at times. Planning a garden wedding was a risk though, as the weather can be so unpredictable but as it turned out the weather was beautiful. People spent a lot of time outside in the sunshine and shaded by the apple trees.

On the Sunday, we held another get together in the marquee and garden for those family members who did not attend on the Saturday. We held a third small garden party back at our house in Hertfordshire for those friends that did not travel down to Somerset. Unfortunately Covid made it impossible for some of my friends to travel from abroad to the wedding which was a sad part of the preparations.

Bridesmaids

Choosing bridesmaids dresses was difficult as we couldn’t get together due to Covid so relied a lot on online retailers. I am really grateful to the girls who were really understanding and all looked beautiful in Maids to Measure ‘Charlotte’ in floaty cream soda.

Our three nieces were flower girls and wore ‘Matilda’ and ‘Betsy’ from UK Flowergirl Boutique, in ivory. This company were incredibly efficient and the dresses were high quality and reasonably priced. Our three nephews were page boys and wore shirts, braces and shorts from Next.

Reception

We chose this venue as it shared many happy memories for me growing up and also provided that small, intimate family wedding setting that we wanted.

We wanted light everywhere so the garden was full of fairy lights, lanterns and candles especially in the apple trees. We had a clear roof marquee supplied by Abbas Marquees, who were incredible. I cannot recommend James and his team highly enough. They were so flexible with the changes and care so much about giving you the day you want.

We would highly recommend Kit and Kee Catering; the food was amazing and the team who catered for us were fun, kind and helpful. Our cake was made by Katrina Martin of Sweet Pea Bakes. Katrina was amazing and gave us lots of brilliant ideas. She was really flexible and efficient in setting everything up. We decided on a 3 tier cake consisting of layers of lemon and blackberry, bakewell and chocolate, hazelnut sponge. Katrina decorated it with gold leaf and iced roses along with roses made by my aunt Helen. We would highly recommend Katrina. The cakes were delicious and beautifully decorated.

Our wedding invites, orders of service and menus were created by my good friend Leanne Madge. These were then printed by Ken at Dragonfly Digital who was reasonable, efficient and accommodating. We would highly recommend him. Our wooden table names were made by Seb’s friend Trudie.

Our wedding favours were kindly created by Seb’s mum. She took cuttings from our spider plant to provide a gift for each of our guests.

Evening & Dancing

Due to the small size of the wedding, our original band Soul Solutions were unable to perform. The band were amazing though and so kind. We would highly recommend them.  Last minute we found a DJ recommended by a friend who was great.

Our first dance was to Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys. We chose this song as on our ‘Would Have Been Wedding Day’ our family and friends shared a video with us they had created with all our family and friends singing along to it.