REAL WEDDING - Elisha & Jonny's Rustic DIY Winter Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic

27th November 2019

Rustic weddings show no sign of going out of style, and this magical winter wedding proves how you can create a timeless style that will endure.

Elisha and Jonny married on December 22nd 2018. Their venue was the beautiful countryside barn venue of Beeston Manor; this family run and owned licenced venue near Preston in Lancashire boasts a sympathetically converted 16th Century barn, complete with oak beams and sandstone walls.

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic The happy couple met when a mutual friend’s band were playing in a pub; Jonny was 15 and Elisha was 16 - both went to see the show and the rest is history! The childhood sweethearts got engaged in Paris by the Seine, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. After an 18 month engagement, they cerebrated their marriage with a day styled in neutrals, acknowledging the rustic setting, with heaps of DIY elements to inspire a creative couple!

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic Hosting your wedding ceremony and reception at the same venue is a great eco wedding tip - and when they also have accommodation for preparations and to house a good number of your guests, like Beeston Manor does, then you get double reduced carbon footprint points!

Check out those Converse shoes; comfort on the day, and wearable long after - perfect! Elisha's accessories were borrowed, which is another sustainability tick!

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic 'Keeping it simple' was a thread with ran through out the celebrations, and is a wonderful reminder to focus on what's really important. They opted for the shortest civil ceremony, in the hope that they could get through it without crying (as you can see, that didn't quite work out!). Elisha's brother gave her away, and her sister was Maid of Honour. The only thing that wasn't pared-back was the "big and fluffy" wedding dress! She knew that Jonny wanted to see her in something big and princess-like, so it was a worthy extravagance!

TOP TIP: "Know the girth of your dress – I knocked over one of the lanterns lining the aisle with my big dress!"

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic In keeping with the minimalist aesthetic, the flowers were kept to just roses, lisianthus and gypsophila, with lovely deep green foliage for contrast.

TOP TIP: "Get someone to remember the details of the day for you. I forgot to throw my bouquet!"

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic When deciding how to style the tables, Elisha looked for inspiration online, and opted for log slices, jam jars, little vintage glass bottles, lanterns and as many tealight holders as the venue would let her have!

There were plenty of DIY décor elements, which helped keep costs down as well as personalising the day even further. Elisha cross stitched all of the place names, stamped all of the menus and the table plan, and put together the favours. They also created the floral centrepieces themselves.

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic Their delicious four tier wedding cake was comprised of alternating vanilla and chocolate sponge. Two layers were fondant iced and two layers were roughly iced in white chocolate ganache. The topper was a Lego bride and groom with bunting.

Rustic DIY Wedding at Beeston Manor, Lancashire, Captured by M&G Photographic So what’s their most important piece of advice for creating and maintaining a strong relationship? It’s both of you against everything, never against each other.