Mary and Jez met five years ago at the gym where Mary was working, then on a night out in town they recognised each other and started chatting. Living in a fairly small town meant they would see each other quite often – very convenient! We caught up with Mary to hear about their beautiful barn wedding and epic month long honeymoon adventure.
How did you get engaged?
Jez took me away to the Cotswolds for a nice weekend – we went on a big walk through the countryside and half way through he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was so lovely and I didn’t have any idea.
Ah, that’s so lovely! Did you have ideas about the kind of wedding you wanted?
We wanted to have a laid back wedding that everyone could enjoy without it being too formal and traditional. We planned an April barn wedding at Shustoke Farm Barns in Warwickshire with 125 guests. Shustoke Farm Barns was amazing from the moment we set foot in the door – I would recommend the venue to anyone looking for a barn type wedding – the staff were fantastic and the barn itself was just beautiful!
The cake was a ‘cheese’ cake with different cheeses and we had two caterpillar cakes – bride and groom! The weather turned out absolutely perfect – warm and sunny. We had worried about it raining as it was mid April but it was better then than in August. Jez did pretty much no planning at all which suited me as I got my own way!
What was your first dance?
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud. We booked a band called The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – they had played at a family friends’ wedding and we’d heard so many good reviews we decided to just book them. They did an acoustic set in the daytime during the drinks and canapés and then a full set in the evening – they were fantastic.
Can you describe your favourite part of the day?
Walking down the aisle to my future husband seeing all of my friends and family in one room just for us. The whole day was just perfect – no one can prepare you for the feeling of love not only for your husband but all of your family and friends on that day… it was just amazing!
Why did you decide to use Patchwork rather than a traditional gift list?
We had looked at a few options but Patchwork caught our eye due to the look and the ease of using it for both us and our guests. It also worked out very well price-wise. It was amazing to know everyone had put in to make our honeymoon perfect!
What did you ask guests to contribute towards?
We wanted to invite our friends and families to fund activities and trips on our honeymoon as we were going away for a month. It was such a lovely feeling knowing that people had been so kind and generous to help us do everything that we wanted to on a trip of a lifetime. We had donations from people ranging from £10 towards cocktails on the beach in Vietnam to £75 towards seaplane transfer in the Maldives, and £40 towards the Atlantis water park in Dubai. So much generosity from guests and even people that couldn’t make the wedding.
Our guests thought that it was brilliant – rather than getting just money in a card or a gift that we didn’t need or want and they thought that it looked great! They were able to scroll through and pick something to fit within their price range and feel like they had given us something we would remember.
Would you recommend your trip to other honeymooners?
Well our honeymoon was just fab! We were able to travel to a few different destinations but still keep an element of honeymoon – I would always say to see as many places as you can and with a timeframe of a month we put in just enough stops. I would recommend to anyone looking for a similar trip that the destinations were fabulous but also ordered perfectly – starting off in real luxury in Dubai, then more of a ‘travel’ vibe to Vietnam where we spent 2 weeks – then back to luxury for Kuala Lumpur and the Maldives which was just the most stunningly beautiful place I have ever been!
It was a perfect way to start off our married life by having no cares and just enjoying being together in amazing places. If I could go back to anywhere it would be the Maldives. We stayed at LUX* South Ari Atoll in a water villa with our own private pool. I have never been treated so well by staff of a hotel and obviously the room, scenery and atmosphere was just incredible.
Wow! Thank you so much Mary and Jez for sharing your patchwork story and honeymoon adventure with us.
If this has inspired you to make your own patchwork, find out how here – you can customise one of our readymade patchworks or create one from scratch.
Here are some star suppliers that made their day amazing:
Photography: Ben Fones
Venue: Shustoke Farm Barns
Flowers: Michelle at W M Wheat
Band: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Band