Mat & Anna didn’t have a huge budget for their November wedding, but that didn’t mean they did things by half! Oh no, this thrifty couple made as much as they possibly could themselves and managed to pull their gorgeous wedding off for just £5000. Oh and they also planned the entire thing in under four months! Wonder-couple or what!?!?
The ceremony was held at Shrewsbury Castle – yes you read that right, an actual castle – and their reception was at the picture perfect Mytton and Mermaid Hotel. “The Mytton was a great venue as it was close to Shrewsbury but with a real country house feel and the layout works really well for a group of people”, began Anna. “There was an enclosed courtyard where we could sit and have drinks, a disco/reception room off one side and the room we ate our meal in off to the other side. The bar was close by with a big open fire and more seating. We particularly appreciated how relaxed they were about our big day and that they let us do things that were a bit more quirky.”
“Once we knew our date was in November we wanted to look for an alternative to an autumnal or Halloween type colour scheme”, she continued. “I really like the imagery and bright colours of Mexican sugar skulls. The Mexican Day of the Dead holiday also falls at the start of November, so we decided to use some of this imagery on our stationary and to introduce some other small Mexican influences like the Piñata’s, chillies and cacti. I also wanted some vintage influences in the wedding with my dress having quite a vintage look. We covered this with the bus, the table decor and some other small touches. In terms of colours the deep purple of the silk anemones was the main reference point. The bridesmaids wore black and purple and the boys wore black lounge suits with purple knitted skinny ties and matching flowers.”
This wedding was full of DIY details a-plenty including the cakes, the flowers and the stationery. “I made 96 cupcakes and our traditional wedding cake was made by a family friend”, Anna explained. “Early on in the planning I had decided I wanted to make cupcakes to save some money and just to see what we could whip up! After a few test runs we ended up with chocolate, vanilla, carrot, lemon and poppy seed and gluten free pear and almond cupcakes. We made almost all of them the day before the wedding and iced them at midnight when I should have been getting some beauty sleep! I don’t know if I would recommend this to others but I was so proud of the results when I saw them at the reception. I actually don’t think it saved us much money in the long run once I purchased the extra equipment and all the ingredients and decorations such as sugar flowers and edible sequins!”
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