Wedding Week – Flowers and Food

As soon as Rob and I decided we’d quite like to get married, there was one thing we both knew – it wouldn’t be a formal affair. As a couple, we’re pretty relaxed and laidback (although I have my drama queen moments) and a structured day wouldn’t have been very ‘us’. We wanted our day to be carefree and fun, and there were two things that represented our vision perfectly – the flowers and the food.

I adore flowers, but I don’t know much about them. I’m not into flower arranging or colour coordination or big displays – I just love beautiful blooms. I wanted our wedding flowers to look as natural as possible, no intricate displays or diamanté accessories.

I posted about my wedding planning here on the blog and mentioned my search for a suitable florist. A few days later, I got an email from Rebecca, who told me her lovely mum Rachel ran a flower growing company called Hollow Meadows, and might be able to help. I visited Rachel at her farm in Sheffield and instantly fell in love with her relaxed, ‘English Country Garden’ style. Rachel described exactly what I wanted in one sentence – ‘like you ran your hand through wild flowers and grabbed a bunch’.

Rachel was my absolute superstar on the day before the wedding – she and my mum spent hours arranging gorgeous wild flowers into beautiful bouquets, buttonholes and bunches. Everything was tied with loose ribbons and placed into mismatched jugs to create the undone look I’d always imagined. Every petal was perfect. If you’re getting married in Yorkshire, I insist you speak to Rachel at Hollow Meadows immediately.

Ok, shall we talk food? Prepare yourself – there may be drooling.

Another thing we were set on from the very start of the wedding was the style of the food. Neither Rob nor I could picture ourselves sitting down to eat a 3-course meal – it didn’t work with our outdoor venue or vintage theme and we just weren’t keen on the formality of it all. So it was finger food all the way!

Our wedding catering was provided by the absolutely fabulous Silver Apples. Sarah and Kate are a true dream team, based in Manchester. As soon as I saw their gorgeously decadent vintage afternoon teas, I knew they’d create just the spread to suit our tea party style.

We went for the Afternoon Tea menu but completely customised it to suit our tastes – cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, mini sausage rolls and steak pies, freshly baked scones and pea and feta tarts were served to the tables along with other tiny treats, followed by the most spectacular cake table ever…

Brownies, macarons and sponges, oh my! The girls also concocted a refreshing Gin Fizz to welcome our guests, served in adorable milk bottles with the blogger’s favourite – a stripy straw. How very Instagrammable.

Alongside our amazing helpers for the day, Silver Apples served up an absolute feast and kept everyone fed and watered all day long. They topped up tea pots and whisked away empty plates despite it being a tight squeeze in the marquee – total troopers and a service I’ll be calling on again, for sure.

If I’m honest, the wedding cake was pretty far down my list of priorities. I was adamant I didn’t want a ‘traditional’ cake, so after a bit of Pinterest research I decided a cheese cake was the way to go. Then I got swept up in other planning things and promptly forgot about the cake. Luckily my mum and grandma were on hand to take over…

The sourced cheese rounds in a range of flavours, including an incredible heart-shaped Brie for the top tier. My mum scoured TK Maxx for wicker baskets and collected berries and flowers from the garden. She arranged and decorated the whole thing on the morning of the wedding, sitting fresh figs around the cheese and topping it all off with some adorable bunting. It was one of the highlights of the whole day.

Of course, they didn’t stop there – just as I was adamant I didn’t want a traditional wedding cake, my grandma was adamant I would have one. Months before the wedding, she baked a classic fruit cake and fed it with brandy until a few days before. Then she iced and decorated it, even including this amazing VW camper ribbon in the same colour as our actual wedding car. Bowled over (and that’s not a cricket pun).

The food was such a huge success – it was bountiful, delicious and had that picnic-style I wanted so much. Looking at these photos makes me want to eat it all over again!

Wedding Week continues tomorrow when I’ll share snaps from our evening celebrations. 
All photography by Phil Drinkwater.