Hampshire Wedding

Ben and Gemma,s Hampshire Wedding and Celebrations!

What was so lovely about this Hampshire wedding, was how involved the whole family and friends were in all the preparations from mowing the field to growing the flowers, from making decorations to cooking the food, everyone lent a hand.

Ben and Gemma got married Friday 12th^th July at Winchester Registry Office in their beautiful Basing Room. https://www.hants.gov.uk/birthsdeathsandceremonies/findregisteroffices/winchester

It was an intimate ceremony with just 12 close friends and family. They enjoyed a wedding breakfast at the Chesil Rectory in Winchester and then spent a relaxing evening at Lainston House Hotel, whilst family retuned to Medstead to complete the wedding celebration preparations.

Hands on Decorations, all made by the wedding party!

Mother of the Bride, Jo, made the bouquet and button-holes as well as larger displays with flowers bought from Dutch Masters, https://dutchmastersltd.co.uk/  the wholesale flower company in Twyford, Winchester, that meant a 4.30am start to get the best flowers in that day.

A lot of flowers were grown from seed including sweet peas, cornflowers and cosmos.  Aunty Gill grew lots of stunning mixed geranium and lobelia pots which were dotted all around the marquees which really brightened up the whole field.

1000 different coloured paper Origami Cranes were individually folded by Ben’s sister Kate and strung up with copper wire inside the Hexagon Marquee, this made a beautiful backdrop for the dance floor! The idea stemmed from a Japanese tradition where brides would fold 1000 cranes thought to bring a lifetime of good luck. In Japan, the crane represents good fortune and longevity and they are referred to as the birds of happiness. “ It was a challenge hanging them all up and took three of them about half a day, but the end result was worth it!”

The bunting was all hand made ahead of the wedding at a sewing party held by the bride, it was certainly productive!  And fairy lights were strung up between the two marquees and amongst the trees, which looked gorgeous.

The mother of the bride up-cycled jam jars with Hessian and twine which were used as vases and tealight holders throughout the marquees. Large dream catchers were made by the Groom’s sister, using hula hoops and ribbon and tied to the sycamore tree.

Ben made signs from scraps of leftover wood, the couple had recently converted a campervan which they stayed in after the celebrations, camping alongside family and friends, the campsite along with the fire pits dotted around sealed the overall festival feel of their wedding.

A day of festival celebrations,

On Saturday the celebrations begun with a personalised hand fasting ceremony led by Ben’s Aunty Sue. This was written by Gemma, making promises, which were represented by different coloured ribbons, placed over their hands. This is a Celtic tradition and fitted in with the Celtic theme.

Exotic tastes, delivered locally!!

The bride and groom wanted to serve food at their Hampshire Wedding that was little different from the traditional wedding meal but obviously it needed to appeal to everyone and have the option to suit vegetarians, vegans and coeliacs.  They decided on an Indian Street food buffet, not only because they both love it, but also because Ben and his family lived in Mumbai for 2 years when he was a child.

The Mother of the Groom (Chris) used to run a professional catering company and together with the help of Jo Elwin http://www.joelwinfinefoods.com/ and her team at Jo Elwin’s Finest Foods, they prepped and cooked a huge range of Indian salads, stuffed peppers and barbequed tandoori chicken. Medstead’s local, Maria’s ice cream van popped round after the village fete which was a huge hit with the kids and adults alike!

David and Abi at Madda Events http://maddaevents.co.uk/ provided the horsebox bar for this Hampshire Wedding, which served drinks and cocktails throughout the day and evening. David planned everything so that there was the perfect variety and quantity of drinks to keep the drinks flowing through the celebrations. The horse box just looked great in the field and fitted the theme well. They also used a local brewery in Four Marks, Triple FFF, for the ale. https://www.triplefff.com/

Entertainment for all!

Taiko drumming took place during the afternoon.  Taiko is a Japanese art form and the word literally means drum in Japanese.  It’s a combination of movement, performance, rhythms and melodies. Gemma played Taiko in Exeter whilst living in Devon. Gemma says “it is completely addictive and so much fun and seemed perfectly fitting for the celebration of a wedding”  as you can see the bride couldn’t resist joining in.

The bride is half Irish so although this was a Hampshire Wedding they felt it was fitting to incorporate Celtic traditions but also wanted their guests to mix up and meet new people and a Ceilidh seemed the perfect way to do that.

Ceilidh Tree http://www.ceilidhtree.co.uk/ceilidh-weddings.shtml provided the evening entertainment. “They were absolutely fantastic, Louise, the caller, was great fun, she got everybody up and dancing.” Louise also doubled up as DJ to ensure the dancing continued into the night.   

Ben and Gemma thought it would be fun to have some fete/family games available for young and old! They made and set up the games themselves and they included :-

Giant pass the pigs, Jenga, Tin-can alley, Hoopla, Hook a duck (in the fields water trough!) and Space Hopper races.

Finally, the evening ended with a spectacular fireworks finale organised by the father of the bride. Fireworks supplied by Epic Fireworks based in Sheffield. https://epicfireworks.com/

To ensure every moment of the their special days were not forgotten Ben and Gemma booked Jenny Owens https://www.jennyowensphotography.com/ as the  photographer for the ceremony in Winchester, “We were really impressed with how she captured our day, it was a pleasure to have her with us and she really knew the venue well.” On the Saturday they were lucky enough to have plenty of family and friends who were only too happy to snap away all day!

This was the first time we had provided both the Capri and the Hexagon at one event! We feel the result was amazing and were really pleased to play a part in making Ben and Gemma’s dreams come true.