A Garden Wedding at Home with Two Ceremonies

Leanne and Nick enjoyed a magnificent wedding with the reception in the garden of their own beautiful home in Romford, Essex. The couple chose the Orangery at Langtons House for their legal wedding ceremony, which was the start of their garden affair.

I love the walled garden Leanne walked through with her maids and her dad on her arm, up to the doors of the orangery where a grinning Nick greeted her. Their ceremony was a small affair with just a few guests, as they then had a second ceremony back at their home.

They hired a huge marquee for the garden, with everything styled by the very talented bride herself. Leanne’s colour palette of soft pinks and white looked amazing against the backdrop of the marquee. The flowers are a real focal point of this wedding, with Leanne’s beautiful bridal bouquet of hydrangea, freesia, astilbe, esperance pearl and eucalyptus the star of the show. It must have smelt divine!

If you’re planning a marquee wedding then take a look at this beautiful styling. Leanne’s choice of black chairs to contrast the white and pink looks so good. She kept the styling simple and pretty, with small pink vases of flowers and candles on the tables, and Chinese fortune cookies as favours.

Leanne wore a pretty ivory wedding dress with scalloped edge keyhole back, and teamed this up with a swanky pair of Jenny Packham shoes. Her bridesmaid dresses are really gorgeous, in muted pink with intricate hand-beaded detail.

Leanne and Nick’s relaxed and informal wedding has a great upbeat vibe. Enjoy pinning your favourite wedding ideas from this country garden wedding, captured by Danielle Smith Photography.

We Just Decided to Do It

“Nick and I met many years ago when we were in our teens. Nick was a friend of my brother and I was in a nightclub when I saw a group of my brother’s friends. I went over to say hi and that’s when I met Nick… the rest is history as they say. We were friends for a while, and being so young didn’t want to commit, but before we knew it we realised we had barely spent a day apart.

“Our engagement wasn’t a big thing as we’d been together for over 10 years, so we had discussed it a few times. We just decided to do it!”

The Real Wedding Ceremony

“We wanted everyone to feel as relaxed and comfortable as they could, but viewing venues and reading the terms and conditions made us realise there are so many rules and restrictions. As we didn’t want someone else’s requirements to dictate our day we decided to hold the wedding at home.

“We had not long moved in to our new home and we were sure that this was going to be our forever home. So, we wanted to make it as personal as possible, including having our actual ceremony with all the people we wanted, and for the officiant to be someone who knew us personally, not just a registrar. This allowed our ceremony to mean so much more. We could also have our dog and two cats who have been we us for 12 years involved, and they loved the food scraps!

“For the legalities of the wedding we booked the Orangery at Langtons House, and were lucky to be the very first couple to marry in there. It was very nice for our legal ceremony, but we kept it short and sweet so we could get back to do what we consider the real wedding ceremony at home.”

Simple Gown

“I needed to pick my dress in a week. I tried a few different shops but came back to The Bridal Shop in Romford. They had by far the best customer service, plus a variety of dress styles to choose from. I’m not a dress wearing person so it was not going to be the most pleasant experience for me, but they really made it easy. I chose a simple gown with an open back and some detailing. I love fancy shoes so bought some Jenny Packham shoes from Debenhams.

“We bought all the suits from Next. They have the best range of styles, colours and sizes, which meant however stressful it was we got there in the end and the boys all looked great. They all wore a white shirt, I bought pink ties to go with the theme and they all had navy socks and brown shoes. I bought pink socks for Nick to be a bit different.

“I struggled to find bridesmaid dresses my two bridesmaids and both mums liked, so when I found the one I was over the moon. They looked fantastic in them. The colour was perfect and so very flattering, and the dress was very comfortable.”

Very Hands-On

“We only gave ourselves six months to prepare. We had lots of help to get the garden in shape and we even built our own toilets. I didn’t want guests who had dressed up to use portaloos, so we converted our garage into proper built-in toilets. There were two toilets with sinks, and men could go through a corridor to two urinals and a toilet and sink. We were very proud of them, and people loved them.

“We are very hands-on DIY kind of people and wanted to do as much as we could ourselves. I like simple and practical. We put up a marquee with crisp white linens and dark chairs to create a contrast. A range of pinks softened everything and added some colour, we used lots of candles, and made our own confetti cones, easels and all the signs. I wanted local flowers with the flower names as the table names, we used fortune cookies as favours (because everyone knows we love Chinese food) as well as mini homemade cocktails (pink of course to match the colour theme).

“We had an open bar with a cocktail flairer, so people could either help themselves or enjoy a specially made cocktail — whatever they wanted. We made the bar ourselves and added some bar lights.

“As there were a few kids and babies we bought some teddies and activity books to keep them entertained. We also bought pink champagne glasses for the top table to add something special and a personalised champagne bucket.”

Everyone on the Dance Floor

“I always fear that you will never know what you are going to get when you book a band, so we were over t”he moon when somebody recommended a local DJ. He was great — I don’t remember leaving the dance floor.

“One of Nick’s favourite songs is Whitney Houston, ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’. I found a great acoustic cover for our first dance which the DJ took straight in to the original version, which got everyone up on the dance floor. It was great.

“The food was great. Big portions and we had great feedback. We went with a Mediterranean sharing platter before offering a choice of chicken or beef, followed by a selection of desserts. In the evening we had a hog roast, some wraps, chicken nuggets, sausages rolls etc, and there was a sweet bar too.”

Home Comforts

“We have lots of memories that will last a lifetime. The best was hearing lots of laughter and the speeches going well — people tend to feel nervous about the speeches but I think being at home helped.

“One of the nicest things was to sit in the living room painting my nails while watching the guests turn up with smiles on their faces and receive the homemade confetti. They had no idea I was watching them.

“My advice to other couples is to try and give yourself more than six months. It comes and goes so quickly and the last minute things can really push you for time.

Don’t be afraid to be Bridezilla either. Decision making is the hardest part, but don’t be afraid to change your mind about details if you have doubts. Some of the last minutes changes are what I was most happy about on the day.”