Roxanne and Joe

The Proposal

It was Christmas Day 2018, we were both chilling out and opening presents in the morning. There was a huge box in the living room and I was nervous to open it, because I hadn’t asked for anything and was worried about what it was. As I opened it, balloons started to fly out and one read ‘marry me?’

The Vision

I’d never given a wedding much thought previously, but a few months prior to being engaged I saw an advert for The Boundary on Facebook and thought “If I get married this would be nice!” I liked the rustic/vintage/festival kind of vibe and the idea of having a big BBQ and partying outside. We never wanted to pay through the nose for an elaborate venue that wouldn’t let me hire who/what I wanted, or use my own decorations, the most important thing to us was being with everyone and enjoying the day, which was made possible as soon as I showed Charlotte and Annabel some ideas, so it was super easy to stick to our vision.

The Planning

I’m naturally very organised, but what made me less anxious was knowing I was working with someone MORE organised and thorough than myself (Annabel), so if I was ever stressed I knew I could rely on her for help. We got married within 8-9 months, now days that might be considered quite quick, so the only stresses I had were getting things for the date, but everything came together and we were really lucky. We’re quite relaxed and low maintenance, so we did wing most of it; I ordered bridesmaid dresses from Silkfred in the end because I struggled to find the colour I really wanted, who knew there were about 50 different variations of burgundy. I didn’t need to go to any fayres, if I couldn’t find something I knew Annabel or Charlotte would. I originally used Pinterest for some inspiration, which really helped! The food was also really important to us and, considering we had so many vegans, veggies, and specific dietary requirements to cater for, it was really easy to plan and people are still talking about how good it was! I would love to do the wedding all over again, but as a guest so I could spend more time eating!

The Budget

I always knew there would be things I’d want to do myself to save money, such as table decorations, name cards and favours (although we opted for charity favours in the end). We never wanted to have our reception somewhere that would add on more money as soon as we mentioned the word “wedding” 

Bearing in mind how much food and drink we had over the space of eight-nine hours (we had around 150 guests in total) we paid £2,500 for the bar (which we expected and like I said, considering we had so many guests and we were there all day, this could have been way worse, and would have been way worse elsewhere). We wanted our money to go on the most important things and for us, our main priority was food and drink, we wanted people to enjoy it, have a selection and have enough without it costing us a ridiculous amount. I can confidently say that we wouldn’t have got the standard of food for the value we did anywhere else. We also set money aside for extras such as a pizza van and ice-cream truck (really keeping in with that BBQ/festival vibe), we had so many options and nothing was wasted. We booked quite a lot of things at the beginning of the year and were lucky enough to get a discount on some, everything else (besides outfits) I ordered off eBay, Hobbycraft and Amazon and made myself! 

The Venue

We said our vows at Priory Park and had some drinks before moving onto The Boundary. We’re not religious, so we didn’t like the idea of getting married in a church and we had too many guests to fit in other venues, so Prittlewell Priory was our best bet, and it was minutes away from our reception. Our guests travelled on a double decker bus for the journey, which looked great pulling up to the reception!

The Dress & Accessories

I only went to one dress shop; I tried on a few dresses that I’d seen online and some styles that I thought would suit me, until one was suggested for me and I loved it as soon as I put it on. I had some other appointments booked, but knew I wouldn’t feel the same in any others so I ended up cancelling them. I didn’t want to be too tall or uncomfortable on the day, so I just ordered my shoes from Dune and took some flip flops for backup, which I definitely needed for the dancing times!  

The Grooms Attire

Joe went to more places than I did for his outfit! We ended up going to Anthony Formalwear, which was recommended by one of our friends who’d recently got married. The suits looked amazing and they suggested Joe have a different coloured waistcoat to make him stand out; the fit was perfect and all the boys looked amazing. Luckily the ties matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly and I even had our dog a harness made which matched Joe’s suit as he was popping down for a photo.

The Music

My auntie had a birthday party the same year I met Joe and she had an amazing DJ! I knew I wanted him as soon as we started planning, so that was easy! I’d also made a four hour playlist on Spotify for our reception dinner, but my dad had secretly been in contact with The Boundary and booked a steal band for the day as a surprise! It was amazing and all the kids got to have a go on the steel drums! I’ll never forget it, it was the best touch and so much fun! Our first dance was to James Bay’s cover of “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys, which was special to us as we’d seen him in concert. We were a little bit nervous about dancing in front of so many people, so we only danced for half of the song and then got everyone else to join in; I wanted the song after to be Luther Vandross “Never Too Much” to really get the party started.

The Beautiful Bridesmaids

My bridesmaids were so supportive and helpful, especially my best friend who’d JUST had a baby! My other friend and sister-in-law work in London full-time so I just wanted to make the dress trying easier and comfortable for everyone, hence why ordering the BM dresses online was just so much better for us. I measured the lengths myself and got the them taken up at The Dressmaker in Leigh (super easy process). They arranged the best hen for me, which I really appreciate as they only had a couple of months to sort something out, and they secretly decorated my house before the big day! One made temporary tattoos of myself, joe and our dog.

The Flowers

The flowers were one of my favourite things about the wedding! I wanted that vintage/rustic look and my mum found The Flower Stores in Eastwood which was just around the corner to me. Again, such great value for money, the bouquets were stunning and we also ordered button holes, corsages for the mums, a top table piece (which was also used at our signing), 10 log slices for the centre pieces and balloons...all for about £300! I don’t know too much about flowers, we mainly discussed colours, but oh my god they were beautiful! I did NOT throw my bouquet. Joe had also arranged for a bigger version of my bouquet to be delivered to the house on the day, which had the sweetest note inside! I’ve kept, and pressed, some of my flowers and they’re in a memory box.

The Cake

We were gifted our cake! I’m lucky enough to know and work will the most talented cake maker (Chocolate Lilly). We wanted a simple naked cake and opted for a three tiered sponge with different jams in each tier. It looked amazing, but tasted even better! The nicest thing was watching two of my colleagues cutting up and serving the cake for all of our guests later in the evening!

Your Photographer

We found Tom (The Humble Photography) by chance online. After looking through his website we decided to book a candid package, which captures natural moments of the day but you still get the main professional group shots. I personally thought this was best  option for us, as Joe cannot pose and always manages to have his eyes closed when someone takes a planned picture of him.

The Details & Decor

Mainly eBay, Amazon and Hobbycraft ! One night I got drunk and ordered a load of random foil balloons for our little selfie booth section... when they arrived I didn’t realise how big they’d be! I’d ordered the most random things, like a watermelon, cactus and popcorn box! Luckily these went down a storm with the kids and it kept them entertained all night, which was an absolute godsend as we’d got married on the windiest day of the year and our bouncy castle had to be cancelled for safety reasons. I was nervous about the kids being entertained (there was about 20 of them), so these little touches, plus a massive field to run around was a perfect! The wisteria around the venue was provided by The Boundary, every thing else I’d bought or made and just dropped it off the day before with instructions. Annabel and Charlotte made my balloon arch and set everything out exactly how’d we’d planned (and we had a lot of stuff).

The Honeymoon

We flew to Bali on Christmas Day and travelled around to four different areas. We love to explore and always seem to pick destinations where we can visit some animals (we saw a lot of elephants and monkeys)! We had such an amazing time, even during the wet season and I’m glad we got to experience it, especially given the current travel situation right now.

Memorable Moments

Joe telling me how beautiful I looked when I met him down the aisle. My dad’s speech. Everyone loving the food and telling me how much fun they were having. The kids running around, having the best time. Dancing ALL night (especially with Joe) The doughnuts! Our dog, Ronnie, coming down for a photo.

Advice for other couples

Do what you want and don’t listen to anyone else during your planning process, don’t get into debt trying to make things more elaborate than they need to be. Don’t worry about impressing other people and remember to spend time with each other on the day. Most importantly, enjoy it and don’t get so drunk that you forget to eat the amazing pizza from the van that you hired.

Any advice for couples looking to book the boundary

Do it! It’s so easy, reasonable and it’s the perfect blank canvas! You can make it your own, add extras and know that you will have the BEST party which everyone will remember! Even if you’re not a DIY bride/groom just book it for the food, you can get help with everything/anything else that you want!

The Suppliers

The Flower Stores
Piperoni Pizza Co 
The Humble Photography Co
The Memory Booth
Luxury Flower Wall Hire
Roll Out The Bunting Vintage Ice Cream Van
DJ Nev
Anthony Formal Wear
Chocolate Lilly
Ensign Bus Company