Home is where the heart is: Abigail and Tom’s colourful rustic wedding

For Abigail, all of life’s major milestones have happened in the one place – including meeting future husband, Tom.

“To set the scene – Wimpole Hall is not only where I and many of my family members have worked over the years, but is also right next to where I have lived and grown-up,” she says of the National Trust property in Cambridgeshire.

“In the grounds, there is also a tiny church where I was christened, so all in all, Wimpole Hall is very special to me. It seems only fitting that Tom and I then happened to meet (and fall in love) there.”

Tom naturally popped the question on the grounds of Wimpole Hall and when it came to choosing a venue for their colourful rustic wedding, the tiny church at Wimpole was the only place that seemed right.

The couple wed on May 17, 2019 surrounded by 120 friends and family, continuing the celebrations in a marquee in their garden at home.

“We wanted to make it very personal to us as a couple as well as try and include as many family special memories as possible,” Abi says of the colourful rustic wedding.

“Our wedding was filled with DIY personal touches and colour everywhere. Lanterns in the marquee, dog and horses at the wedding and personal touches made it a very special day.”

Photos courtesy of Andy Davison.

Abi’s lace-embellished gown was sourced from The Tailor’s Cat.

“We spent the first few months working alongside each other when we finally plucked up the courage to go on a date,” Abi says of her and Tom’s first meeting. “When Tom proposed he took me for a walk in the grounds of Wimpole Hall (where we met), when he suddenly got down on one knee, as the sun went down on the top of a large hill. It was totally perfect, just us, a beautiful view and the dog.”

“Rather than knowing exactly what we wanted for our wedding, we just knew we wanted it to be really bright, colourful, fun and full of laughter – with no guest being cold, hungry, lost or bored,” the bride says of their colourful rustic wedding.

“We wanted the food to follow our relaxed style and big appetites but as farming families, the source of the food was also a big part of our decision, so we picked a sharing style platters made up of locally produced, beautiful, yummy, colourful food,” Abi says.

Colourful socks were hidden gems under the men’s classic three-piece suits.

The couple took a unique approach to the seating arrangements: “We wanted to make sure we spent time with the people we see less often. So instead of a top table, we split our close family up and allocated them as ‘hosts’ of each table. We then seated our more distant friends around us, and put our parents’ old friends with them too, so they could catch up,” Abi explains.

“We made 90 per cent of our decorations ourselves out of items we found around the house,” Abi says. “Our table centres were hand cut out of black card and stuck onto bamboo plant canes and stuck into the flower pots. Our table activity was animal finger painting – with guests writing personal messages and funny pictures to turn into a guest book.” The Hanging Lantern Company also helped bring the couple’s vision to life.