Ali and James' Quintessential English Country Garden Wedding

Join us as we celebrate the breathtakingly beautiful English Country Garden wedding of Ali & James. Ali's profession as an events planner shines through in every single glorious detail of this stunning marquee wedding. Held in the bride's family home in Somerset, her Little Black Book of exceptional wedding suppliers delivered an unforgettable wedding weekend, including a stunning embroidered veil, an amazing sail-tent wedding marquee and a late-night delivery of McDonalds under life-sized golden arches on the dance floor.

Read on as Ali relives their day, highlights her amazing suppliers and shares their favourite wedding presents from their beautifully curated wedding list.

Coming to the Showroom was one of the highlights of our entire wedding planning process! Arriving to a glass of Nyetimber whilst walking around a beautifully presented “home”, we wanted to move in! It was so valuable for us to be able to see presents in person and have amazing advice from our wedding list advisor. It really gave us confidence that we were building a wedding list with meaning and that we were making informed decisions about presents we would love for years to come.

My sister used The Wedding Present Company, and after seeing all of my sister's wedding gifts we knew we had to use The Wedding Present Company! No other gift list company came close!

We loved all the brands, but our favourites were Penny Morrison, Costa Nova, Klimchi, Pooky, OKA.

In December 2020, before a covid Christmas, James and I went down to Cornwall, escaping London. We were at The Pig in Harlyn Bay for James's birthday and I thought we were checking out after a walk and lunch, but little did I know... We went for a walk along the cliffs to Big Guns Cove, where James got down on one knee, it was amazing! We then headed back to the hotel, where we enjoyed Bloody Marys and a few bottles of Champagne! We stayed in one of their log cabins, which was so beautiful and cosy.

Honouring the English spring countryside underpinned all our decisions when it came to the wedding. Having both grown up in the countryside we wanted our wedding to be bursting with local, seasonal flowers and we wanted to throw a long weekend of celebrations with all our friends and family. There were pinks, greens and lots of colours and personal details that made our day really special to us and our guests.

I have been a party and wedding planner for the last ten years so I was in my element to finally plan my (our!) own wedding! I have worked with lots of amazing suppliers over the years and I felt really honoured to be able to work with many of them for our wedding.

In beautiful Somerset, where I grew up. The local Church where our ceremony was held overlooked an Apple Orchard where we had our drinks reception. Guests were greeted by The Stables playing in the background, bubbles flowing and canapés catered by Perdie Nelson. The orchard led onto a field where a Sail Tent marquee was set for dinner and dancing. We were blessed with abundant sunshine and blue skies.

Guests could walk from the church to drinks and dinner. James and I left the church in a Vintage MG of his dads.

We focused on the English Countryside and the beautiful flowers you find in the garden at that time of year. We worked with a lovely Somerset based florist, Sula and Oliver of Nice Bunch, who grew all our flowers locally - their flower farm is 15 minutes from where we got married. I LOVE flowers so this was a big feature of the wedding; having a meadow of flowers run down the aisle and a large 15ft floral arch at the church, the tables in the marquee were filled with foxgloves, sweet peas, peonies, English roses and spring foliage.

We used Folly Hire and Virginia's Vintage Hire for furniture in the marquee. Atelier Emmanuel, a good friend from London, created the wedding bouquets and the gorgeous sweet pea-filled trees over our top table.

Candle Flair taper candles gave the tables some wonderful height and the bespoke Bag & Bones neon sign above our bar meant you really couldn't miss it (not that we doubted our friends and family's ability to find a bar!)

My wedding dress was bespoke, made by Venetia Flint. I wore green Manolo Blahnik shoes. My earrings were from Lily and Roo. For the outfit change, I chose Retrofete.

The bridesmaids were all in Pink City Prints. I wanted to find something the girls would wear again so went less traditional.

Our flower girl wore Little Yolke and our page boy wore Amelia Brennan.

We wanted everyone to have a delicious and memorable meal. My younger sister is a chef so she put us in touch with a friend of hers, Perdie Nelson, to cater our dream wedding menu.

Starter: Burratina, Grilled Peaches, Tomato Consommé, Olive Loaf Foccacia with Whipped Sun Dried Tomato Butter

Main Course: Sausage Ragu Pappadelle with a Black Olive Crumb and Parsley and Chive, served with a crisp Green Salad.

Pudding: We had lots of sharing puddings which included Summer Berry Pavlova, Caramelised White Chocolate Rhubarb Fool with Stem Ginger Crumble and Elderflower Syrup and Dark Chocolate Mousse with Candied Pecans and Raspberries!

Our late night snack has gone down in history with our guests - Chicken Nuggets and Cheeseburgers from McDonalds - served under giant Golden Arches made by Invisible Blue, that were carried across the dancefloor! It was an amazing way to end the night.

We continued the celebrations on Sunday with a DJ, Pizza Van, Bloody Mary’s, Rosé and a Crisp Bar!

Harley and Susie from Barker Evans were our amazing photographers. I met them on some of my first events over 10 years ago and knew they would one day shoot our wedding. They are so lovely, full of energy, and you have such a laugh with them! Our videographer was a great friend of ours Leo Lightfoot, who we highly recommend, he’s a joy to have around and we loved the footage he captured!

The drinks reception was held at The Stables. Our DJ was Charlie Weaver, and Matt Davies played the saxophone.

Enjoy it, we had the best weekend of our lives, it really does go so fast! Take in every moment throughout the day. Have someone you trust to manage the day so you can completely relax and have fun (we had one of my amazing colleagues from Lillingston)! One small piece of advice would be to have lots of waiting staff so you feel like your guests are being well looked after. At the end of the day, do what you want to do, not what you think you should do. Try and get as much done as early as you can in the process, enjoy the planning and most importantly have fun!

Gift List: The Wedding Present Company, Photographer: Barker Evans, Catering: Perdie Nelson, English Sparkling Wine: Nyetimber, Cocktails: Black Lines, Bridal Fashion: Bespoke Venetia Flint, Manolo Blahnik, Lily and Roo and Retrofete, Groom's Fashion: Favourbrook, Ferragamo, Bespoke Bear Brooksbank, Lobb, Gigi & Olive, Florist: Nice Bunch and Atelier Emmanuel, Marquee: Sail Tent, Furniture Hire & Decor: Folly Hire, Virginia's Vintage Hire and Bag & Bones, Invisible Blue, Music: The Stables, Charlie Weaver and Matt Davies, Hair & Make Up: Sarah Yeo, Bridesmaids, Flower Girl & Page Boy: Pink City Prints, Little Yolke, Amelia Brennan, Stationery: Leeming Brothers and Megan Riera , On The Day Planning: , Videographer: Leo Lightfoot