A Church Ceremony And Relaxed At-Home Reception In Oxfordshire
Susannah Pattenden, 41, married Andrew Winterbourne, 53, at The Abbey Church of St Peter & St Paul, Dorchester, followed by a reception at their home in the village of Childrey, both in Oxfordshire, on 5th May 2018. She says:
Our overall vision for the day was to host a relaxed garden-party wedding. But we wanted the church service too. So, we decided to have a wedding of two halves! We started with a formal ceremony at Dorchester Abbey, which is where I grew up. It meant a lot to me to get married in the Abbey there, and I was able to get ready in my parents' home opposite. In the evening, Andrew and I hosted a very laid-back reception at our home in Childrey. The Tipis for this were actually our biggest extravagance, as we hired three from Buffalo Tipi, who arranged them into a triangle shape. This created a separate area for the stage and dance floor, and our guest seating was arranged on trestle tables around central fire pits. We loved the intimate atmosphere they engendered, too, which is why we chose them over a traditional white marquee. They were absolutely worth the expense.
I actually combined two wedding dresses into one to wear on the day. I bought them both from Bridal Reloved in Wallingford, a lovely shop that sells ex-sample and pre-owned gowns. Initially, I fell in love with an Alice Temperley design, with spotted ivory lace, silk-embroidered flowers and Russian braid detail. I loved its detailing and had tried on a few Temperley Bridal dresses elsewhere and liked the slightly bohemian vibe. But when I went back after adjustments had been made, I found it slightly too revealing. Lee, who runs the shop, had endless patience and spent the next few hours assisting me as I tried on more gowns. I eventually found an A-line, ivory silk Blush by Hayley Paige gown, my only misgiving being that it was quite low-cut and had no sleeves, which I didn’t want for the church service. So I came up with the idea of combining the two! Amanda, the seamstress at Bridal Reloved in Wallingford, worked miracles, removing the lining of the Temperley dress and adjusting its neckline, so that I now had an overdress which worked beautifully with the Hayley Paige underneath. This also gave me the option of wearing the second gown by itself, which I did at our evening reception. Both dresses were ex-sample, had never been worn before and were adjusted to fit me perfectly, so I practically had a custom gown – and for an amazing price.
My bridesmaids wore a 1930s-style green silk and white lace dress from Nancymac. Their jewellery sets came from Accessorize, while their shoes were by Jones. It took a lot of searching to find their outfits because I wanted a particular shade of green and a grown-up style. I just happened to chance upon the Nancymac website and thought the dresses were perfect. Their green wraps were found on eBay. My mother and sister then had to make the flower girls' dresses because we couldn’t find any in the right style or colour to match. These were spring green with a dotted lace overlay to match my dress and veil. Their cardigans came from John Lewis and their ivory pump shoes were found on Amazon.
I really wanted a very natural country theme for our flower arrangements in soft greens, creams and whites to match the flowers you'd find in the countryside in May. I also wanted our central motif to be the classically bridal Lily of the Valley. The Abbey itself has in-house team of flower arrangers, led by the talented Sandie Griffith. She sourced beautiful seasonal flowers for us and my mum and sister even helped putting them together. The rest were sourced from Green & Gorgeous, an Oxfordshire flower farm. They have a Buckets & Bouquets service, where florists arrange the bridal party flowers, but you are then given buckets of flowers to decorate the reception venue yourself. Our neighbour, Ali Hepburn, collected glass jars and bottles and used these to create arrangements for the Tipi. A really cold Spring meant it was touch and go whether we would have many flowers at all for our wedding but, luckily, things bloomed just in time!
Photography by Mark Lord
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The bride's bouquet was made up by in-house florists at Green & Gorgeous, using Lily of the Valley, lilac, ranunculus, sweet peas, choisya and whitebeam foliage
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Susannah with her father before they headed across the road to Dorchester Abbey
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Susannah said her adult bridesmaids' dresses were the hardest thing to find, as she was looking for a very specific shade of green. Eventually, she found this gorgeous style on nancymac.co.uk. Her mother and sister made the flower girls' dresses to match
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Lily of the Valley and whitebeam foliage made up the groomsmen's buttonholes
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Andrew's sons were his groomsmen on the day
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The Abbey Church of St Peter & St Paul is famed for it's stunning stained-glass windows
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The Abbey's in-house florists put together the ceremony's arrangements of in-season flowers. This included foxgloves, stocks, roses, Solomon’s seal, eucalyptus, delphiniums, peonies, freesia, lisianthus, larkspur, antirrhinum, hydrangea, aquilegia and alchamila
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The bride's niece and god-daughter, the children of her adult bridesmaids (her sister and best friend), were her flower girls
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Andrew gets his first glimpse of Susannah coming down the aisle!
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Websites such as Pinterest and mychurchwedding.org helped the couple choose their hymns and readings for the ceremony
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The four-tiered cake was made by a friend of the couple, Elliott Payne. It consisted of lemon and elderflower sponge with lemon curd and elderflower buttercream, blueberry and lemon sponge with blueberry conserve and lemon buttercream, pistachio and white chocolate sponge with a white chocolate buttercream and a gluten-free orange and almond layer with Grand Mariner and orange buttercream. Choisya flowers were wrapped around it for decoration
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A little guest enjoying the good weather!
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The groomsmen hired their suits from Suits Newbury. They wore a navy-blue lounge suits with green-tweed waistcoats underneath
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The couple with their matchmakers! Susannah and Andrew were introduced by their friends Beth and Gemma (who also used to work together)
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Susannah with her sister and mother. The mother of the bride looked very glamourous in a matching dress and coat by Out of Xile, which she bought at Olivia May in Oxford. Her hat is a Nigel Rayment design and was bought from Louise Claire Millinery in Wallingford. Her sparkly bag came from Accessorize
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The newlyweds! Susannah wore a locket, earrings and bracelet by Victoria Walker, who handmakes kinetic jewellery – pr jewellery that has moving parts. The poppy on her necklace is made in the shape of a poppy head which opens to reveal gold poppy flower with diamond centre
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Susannah's veil is a family heirloom. It once belonged to her great-grandmother and is made from Victorian Limerick lace with embroidered flowers
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The couple borrowed a vintage American Jeep from their friend to transport them from the church to the reception
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The stunning Oxfordshire countryside provides a backdrop for post-ceremony photos
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Susie actually wore an Alice Temperley dress over a Hayley Paige design. She bought it from Bridal Reloved in Wallingford and had it altered by one of the shop's seamstresses. They removed the lining and altered the neckline, so that she could wear it over a slightly more revealing Blush by Hayley Paige gown (also bought from Bridal Reloved) for the church ceremony
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The bride took off the Temperley overdress before the reception, so that she could show off the Blush by Hayley Paige gown there!
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Another DIY touch: chalk pen and a mirror the couple already owned served as the table plan
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Three Tipis arranged in a triangle by Buffalo Tipi made up the reception venue at home
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Susannah said she loved the intimate atmosphere inside them
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Solomon’s seal, ranunculus, choisya, viburnum, Lily of the Valley and sweet peas were used in the reception's arrangements, which were put together by the couple's friend and neighbour
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The couple's dog, Pip, getting into the spirit of the day!
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Firepits and blankets kept guests warm in the garden. The fleece blankets were just £1.50 each from IKEA
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Andrew's eldest sons were also his best men. And they gave a very cheeky – and very funny – speech, which included calling their new step-mother a 'crazy cat lady' (Susannah is a vet and owns a much-loved ginger cat – though the eldest also said he was pleased to have another 'ginger' in the family)!
