A Classic Brympton House Wedding with a Funfair

Fern and James’ wedding is beautifully classic but with a fun twist, and these picture by Martin Dabek capture the day perfectly. The couple had a traditional church wedding ceremony at Sherborne Abbey followed by a reception at the beautiful Brympton House.

The delicate ivory, pink, mauve and lavender work in harmony to create a wonderfully pretty colour palette that brings the wedding to life. Stunning bridal bouquets and floral arrangements in these pretty colours complemented the stunning lavender bridesmaid dresses perfectly.

Fern chose a stunning Caroline Castigliano wedding dress (eventually) in a fit and flare silhouette that was perfect for their classic wedding. Everything about the styling of this wedding is elegant and charming.

To mix up the classic element, Fern and James threw a funfair party in the magnificent grounds of Brympton House. Carousel rides, fairground games, an ice cream parlour and even fire-eaters… yep, fire eaters! Just look how much fun they had at their wedding…

A Fun Twist

“I would describe our Brympton House wedding as a traditional, classic wedding but with a fun twist. We chose an ivory and lavender colour scheme, with contemporary elegance in the dress designs and wedding cake styles, and fun elements of a funfair with carousel, stalls, fire dancers, crepe and ice cream stand, firepit and photo booth.

“When we first discussed our ideas and wedding budget we agreed that investing in a good professional photographer was key. We came across Martin Dabek’s fantastic portfolio and immediately knew it was the style of wedding photography we wanted. Also, Martin was really excited about our ideas and could not wait to capture pictures of our Sherborne Abbey ceremony.”

Over 100 Dresses

“I found it hard to narrow down the style of wedding dress I wanted as I liked so many; in the end I tried over 100 dresses on. But my mum and I then visited the Caroline Castigliano store in Knightsbridge, where the sales assistant picked out a gown that I wouldn’t have chosen myself. When I walked out in it my mum had a tear in her eye.

“It was an ivory satin fit and flare gown, which we accessorised with different trains, veils and belts to create the day and evening looks I wanted. It had a very long train which I switched to a lighter tulle train for the evening. I also wore a simple, one layer cathedral length veil, crystal embellished belt, a bespoke hairpiece and a garter, which had a blue bow I borrowed from my mum’s garter.

“I had a large bridal party, which although costly was definitely worth it as it was fun to have everyone involved. My adult bridesmaids wore full length BIBA dresses in lavender, and I added V V Rouleaux lace to provide modesty in between the deep v neckline of the dresses. This lace was also used to bind the bridal bouquets.

“My flower girls wore silk ivory dresses from Monsoon, with some V V Rouleaux ribbon added to the dresses to tie the colour into the adult gowns. I also bought ivory cardigans for the flower girls and ivory shrugs for the adults in case they were cold.”

Ivory Florals and Iron Details

“Our florals were mainly ivory flowers with foliage. My aunt kindly provided all the bridal bouquets, buttonholes and the evening floral displays, and the Sherborne Abbey florists provided the pedestals. My bridesmaids had flowers tucked in the back of their hair, and the flower girls wore gypsophila headbands and carried gypsophila pom-pom wands. The rest of the flowers were ivory, pink, mauve and lavender, and included memory lane roses, gypsophila, wax flower and eucalyptus.

“Brympton House wedding venue is stunning so it didn’t need lots of styling, but we still wanted to add a few touches to make our wedding day unique to us. We used wrought iron birdcages, a large wrought iron gate decorated with flowers as our table plan, and wrought iron tall floral stands for table centrepieces. The tables also had glass bon-bon jars of pink champagne truffles for our guests, and we used lots of cut glass tea lights. Pillar candles with sprigs of flowers lined the venue’s staircase, and fairy lights and hanging tea light baubles added lighting.”

Our Own Monogram

“Cartalia created our wedding invites which included our own monogram. James and I made our on the day stationery (menus, table plans, name places, signs etc.) as we already had our own lavender coloured monogram, but we would definitely recommend buying wedding stationary. It took ages to make perfect looking stationery and we ended up spending a lot on quality paper, ink cartridges, special small hole punches and bespoke coloured ribbon.

“We bought funfair tickets as drinks vouchers so every guest could have free drinks at the evening reception, and created kids party packs with fun activities, food, toys and bibs to occupy them during the meal.

“Our wedding cake was a five tiered clean line ivory iced cake with a petal ruffle bottom layer and a white open flower offset on the top tier. The monogram used throughout the stationery was also iced in white on the second tier. The flavours included Lemon and Blueberry, Lime and Coconut, Salted Caramel Chocolate and Carrot Cake.”

Listen to Your Gut Feeling

“If we were to give our advice to other couples it would be to get everything in writing before you book your wedding venue, listen to your gut feeling, listen to recommendations of suppliers/ideas from others, and consider hiring an independent wedding planner. We brought Lucy Manville into our planning process fairly late, but she helped resolve any issues and was a fantastic person to have coordinating and organising everything on the day. I’m certain the day would not have run half as well if she wasn’t there.”