Wedding Venue: Lyveden New Bield near Oundle http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-lyvedennewbield
Photographer – Crash Taylor http://www.crashtaylor.com
Catering: We had a hog roast and BBQ from Trendall in Oundle
Jeweller: Monsoon/Accessorise - I wanted vintage but couldn’t find anything I liked!
Wedding Cake: A metre high summer fruit pavlova made by Katie at Couture Cakes - www.couturecakes.co.uk
Hair: and make-up by my good friend Sarah Jane Green of Teresa Fairminer Associates www.teresafairminer.com
Reception Venue: Lyveden New Bield - we hired a marquee from the Posh Tent Company www.theposhtentcompany.co.uk
Wedding Dress: Was made for me by Rachel Lamb because I couldn’t find anything I liked ready made - www.rachellambdesign.co.uk
Florist: My friend Simone Pickering of Miss Pickering of Stamford - because she does the best vintage country flowers in the world
Transportation: A morris minor convertible driven by my dad - we needed a self drive wedding car because we both get terribly car sick! http://www.selfdriveclassics.co.uk/index.html
We asked the couple to answer a few questions so you can get an insight into their day and why it was so special, and maybe pick up a few tips along the way 
1. What Rebecca loves most about Tim…
His hugs and his reassuring logic which brings me back down to earth.
2. What Tim loves most about Rebecca…
Everything.
3. How did the proposal happen?
After eight years of waiting I was completely stunned when Tim took me to my favourite restaurant for my birthday and proposed. I was rendered momentarily speechless - which for those who know me would never have seemed possible.
4. How did you choose the wedding venue?
I’ve always wanted to get married outside, somewhere beautiful that has some history. I searched on the internet for stately homes and country hotels with nice gardens but nothing was right. Then I tried the National Trust website and came across Lyveden. We went to see it on a cold rainy day and loved it even though it was dark and wet. It has a fantastic atmosphere and loads of great backdrops. We knew it would be great for photos and it was something different - the perfect setting for our humanist outdoor ceremony.
5. The best moment of the day…
Other than the I dos - the best moment was everyone shouting for more when the DJ played the last song. No one would leave the dance floor - that’s when I knew everyone had had a great time and they didn’t want our wedding to end. We had one more track - Thriller - to end the night.
6. The story of the dress…
I knew I wanted lace - but it needed to be very English looking lace not French or Spanish like most of the ones in the shops. I knew I didn’t want strapless, that I wanted a v-neckline, a nipped in waist and an a-line skirt with a bit of a train. I tried on dress after dress and none of them were right - they were too French, too big, too sparkly, too Flamenco and just not me. When I tried on a sample dress in Rachel’s showroom in the fabric my dress was made from I knew it was perfect - and unlike other wedding dress designers who can be really snotty about changing their “design” she was happy to make me anything and sketched the perfect picture from my description. Having a dress made is nerve-wracking because you see how much work goes into it without knowing if you’re definitely going to like it in the end - but I loved my dress.
7. How did you choose your photographer?
A friend had seen Crash Taylor’s website and once I’d seen it we got in touch asap to book him up fast. We loved his dramatic images which we knew would suit our venue and we loved the idea of the engagement shoot too.
8. What personal touches did you include in your wedding?
Lots - I wanted our wedding to be about us and not just a generic wedding. Our humanist ceremony included our childhood stories, details of how we met and readings by close friends. We wrote our own vows - which were really special. My mum, sister and I made pretty much everything for the wedding from the bunting, tablecloths and pillows to the homemade cakes and scones. Tim hand stamped all of our place cards and we created a gallery of old picture frames filled with black and white pictures of us growing up and with all our friends and family. Each of our out of town guests got a goody bag when they arrived at their hotel full of nibbles, sweets and bottles of water to make them feel at home. I also kept a blog of the planning process and we had a wedding website which got our guests involved from the outset - http://becomingmrsjones.blogspot.com/ and http://www.beckandtim.com
9. What happened that wasn’t planned?
I’m a bit of a control freak so things ran pretty smoothly. Some of the candles didn’t get lit but I was having such a great time that I didn’t care. Our guests drank our welcome drinks dry in 30 minutes - so I’d definitely get more booze in from the start if I did it again! Oh and one of our ushers locked his car keys in his boot along with the video cameras for the wedding - which was a shame, but it was great fodder for the grooms speech.
10. Where did you choose for the honeymoon?
We went to Cape Town, on Safari and then to Zanzibar and it was amazing.
11. What advice would you give couples planning their own weddings?
Have a marquee wedding - they have a beautiful atmosphere that’s relaxed and intimate at the same time. Get great food, lots to drink and music that everyone will love. Make sure your bar is in the same room as the dancing - so many people came up to me to say that they’d never seen so many men on the dance floor and that was because we made it hard for them to escape the music. We chose to get married at 4pm rather than lunch time - it meant the day was shorter, but it also meant that our guests didn’t have the dead time between the ceremony and the evening reception for just hanging around - it worked really well. Enjoy yourself - it can be hard to let go when you’ve been planning something for months/years (29 in my case!) - and I was a nervous wreck before I walked up the aisle - but from then on it was brilliant. A few bits didn’t get done but no one but me (and mum) really knew about it so no one noticed. People are there to see you happily married - so smile and enjoy yourselves.
Thank you to Rebecca and Tim for sharing their wonderful day with Bridal Soup, and thank you to Crash Taylor for the brilliant images.
http://www.crashtaylor.com/
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