I chose to feature this wedding (photographed by Jack Ladenburg) on my blog, for a number of reasons:
* firstly the relaxed 1930′s village fete vibe – it looks great fun with all the games and activities (and I know you all love a bit of vintage wedding inspiration),
* secondly that it was in Hereford (which is a small little town on the border of Wales where I grew up and its not often you hear about Hereford) and
* finally because it goes to show that with a mix of love and good friends you can have a fabulous wedding well within your budget. I really like the way that Cerian and Jack got all their friends and family involved in helping out on their special day and from the sound of things they didn’t break the bank either. There are some really lovely DIY ideas here so thanks to Cerian for talking me through the day… The wedding was just outside Hereford (where Jack, the groom, grew up) in a secluded village hall with a large green behind it – the couple chose this venue as they wanted somewhere with both indoor and outdoor space. They decorated the hall and the green with swathes of muslin, ribbons, ivy, homemade bunting and hay bales (borrowed from the local farmer). They bought a load of small tables and standard lamps to give the hall the 1930′s feel, and even made the table cloths themselves.
The 1930′s theme was partly inspired by Cerian’s desire to wear a 1930′s dress – she knew she wanted something vintage and found the 1930′s fashions flattering and romantic. She also knew that she didn’t necessarily want a white ‘wedding’ dress to get married in. After scouring vintage shops and fashion fairs, Cerian found her dress at ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ in Alfie’s Antiques Market in Marylebone, which apparently has an amazing selection of American vintage fashions from the 1900′s onwards. Cerian’s mum styled her hair and she did her make up herself. The hairpiece was bought online from Harriet Head, who provides beautiful fascinators and hats to order (she even matched the colour of the feathers to the dress from a sample of similar coloured fabric). The bride already had the swans down stole but had never had an opportunity to wear it.
The groom’s and best man’s outfit were hired from the National Theatre’s costume store, which according to Cerian has a fantastic range of outfits and knowledgeable staff that are happy to help you to put something together.
“We chose the 1930′s village fete theme for a number of reasons. It is a period we both love – extremely stylish but with a sense of fun. We wanted to have games and stalls to keep our guests entertained throughout the day and we asked our friends and families to man the stalls as we wanted everyone to get to know each other and talk to people they might not know. Each guest had a time slot and no one was on a stall for more than 20 minutes; we think it worked really well as a way to get everyone together. We asked our guests in advance if they were willing to do this and they were great about it, most people wanted to get involved. We also had a knobbly knees contest, a soap carving competition (which got rather competitive!) and a cake competition – which also provided tea later in the day. We had planned to have a few races (sack race, three legged race, egg and spoon race, etc) but these were rained off in the traditional manner. The stalls were very traditional and included a coconut shy, tin can alley, guess the sweets in the jar, lucky dip, smack-the-rat, ten-pin bowling and a fortune teller. As each guest arrived they received a small packet of ‘pocket money’, which were old threepenny bits that we bought from ebay, as we felt it was important that these was some kind of transaction made for each stall or game but we didn’t want our guests to be paying actual cash from their own pockets.”
“We particularly wanted a relaxed and informal wedding and were keen to make sure our guests felt at ease throughout the day. We didn’t want any ‘staff’ or outside people involved in the wedding and therefore the only people we had at the venue who weren’t guests were the caterers. We didn’t want a sit-down meal so a local fish and chip shop came and cooked fresh fish and chips on site”. I love these last 3 photos – the kids in their outfits are so cute and that last one must be the knobbly knees competition!

Wedding photographer, Jack Ladenburg, told me “Jack and Cerian’s wedding was wonderful to photograph. They’d clearly worked hard to make it totally unique and special to them. All the guests threw themselves into the spirit of the vintage village fete theme and the whole day had a real sense of fun which I wanted to reflect in the photos. The best moment for me was when, with all their friends gathered round, they released a paper lantern into the air – it was a magical moment to photograph.” Do make sure that you check out his site, Jack Ladenburg.
What do you think? Is this the sort of relaxed wedding that you would like to have? If you are looking for some inspiration click here for other 1930′s weddings, or for DIY ideas on LMW.