March 2013 | Ideal Bride Magazine
Real Wedding
Real Wedding
Festival of Love: Jess & Dave
It was at the student union of Liverpool University in 2000, that Jess (32) met Dave (31); leading to a romance that would result in Dave proposing at the top of St Paul’s. Jess accepted Dave’s proposal and the couple began planning their dream wedding. They set a budget of 15k, got to work on their guest list of 200 people and began organising their hen and stag do’s; Jess enjoyed mackerel fishing in the Witterings with the girls, whilst Dave attended the festival of fire in Valencia.


"There was no doubt in their minds as to what the theme of the wedding would be, they knew they wanted an outdoor wedding with a floral, hippy feel, incorporating all the psychedelic colours of the sixties, and could not think of a setting more perfect than Dave’s parents garden in Wiltshire, Jess says “We both love camping, so thought it only fitting that our wedding day reflected this with our ‘wedstock’ theme. Our only concern was the weather!"


After spending the night with her twin sister in a converted pig sty, the next morning Jess made her way to a local registry office; where her and Dave expressed their love and said their vows. They then made the journey to ‘their own garden ceremony amongst the flowers’ in a vintage open top Austin Healy, on arrival they began celebrating with their guests Jess says "The great thing about our wedding was getting to see all of our guests, I wouldn’t change anything about my wedding, the best piece of advice i can give to bride’s is to go with whatever you have your heart set on; it will always work out in the end!"
The Brides Outfit
"I found a gorgeous vintage dress from Etsy which my mum altered, making the dress feel like it was made for me. Attaching flowers from primark with a glue gun, to the shoes I had bought from the Debenhams sale added a personal touch and reflected my theme. The bridesmaids dresses were also handmade by my mum and emanated the sixties theme."


The Entertainment
We enjoyed our rustic feast of pints of prawns, spit roast organic lamb from the field next door, the children were catered for by Gobble Gobble. Our feast was completed with old school ice lollies, such as fabs, zooms and twisters. We kept the rustic theme with our cake, which was all cheese from a local cheese shop. We partied the night away with the fantastic Commodore-64 who played amazing dance floor fillers and were truly talented singers
The First Dance
We fully intended to choreograph our first dance, but with all the planning of the wedding it was something we never got round to doing so we improvised on the day!. The song we chose for our first dance was ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough’ by Marvin Gaye
The most memorable part of our day was all of our guests being there to share it with us. Everyone wore a mish mash of wedding gear heels, raincoats, jumpers and wellies! Best of all our loved ones were there to help us celebrate with champagne and making it the best day ever. I wouldn’t change a single thing about my wedding day.
The Budget | £15,000 |
The Location | Dave’s parents garden in Wiltshire |
No. of guests | 200 |
The Honeymoon | A one month trip to Vietnam |
Ideal Bride Magazine brings you real brides, real weddings & real stories. Delving into every detail of our featured brides weddings. So if your a past, present or future bride and are interested in featuring your wedding and would like more information, get in contact at brides@idealbridemagazine.co.uk
All images & video courtesy of Petticoat Pictures
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