Ross and Lisa's Afternoon Tea Wedding on a Crocodile Farm

Today’s wedding, photographed by David Glover Photography, has the feel of an old-fashioned English village fete; marrying the bride’s love of vintage with the couple’s desire to have a relaxed, child friendly day. Lisa and Ross got married in a Yurt on a farm in rural Cambridgeshire, surrounded by their children and all their loved ones.

We asked Lisa how she met her lovely husband, and how he popped the important question: “We had mutual friends, and had known of each other for about 15 years, but never met. Ross was best man at the mutual friends’ wedding and I remember saying that I thought he was quite nice!”

“We still didn’t speak there though. It wasn’t until the friends 30th, in Prague about six months later, that we spoke and it was pretty much love at first (ok, second!) sight!”

“[The Proposal happened on] Christmas Day morning! We were up at the crack of dawn and in bed with our 3 children while they opened their stockings and he told the children there was a special present for Mummy!”

Lisa went to great efforts to make the day about family and fun, with face painting for the kids, a candy tent, garden games and even traditional fete games! Their gorgeous three children (also bridesmaids and pageboy) were at the forefront of their minds in the wedding planning process. “Because we have three children, and most of our friends have kids too, we knew that the traditional hotel setting was maybe a bit formal for what we were hoping for. We both loved the idea of a village fete style with traditional games and a laid back style. And because I’m a sucker for an afternoon tea that had to be incorporated too! The look of the day was quite fete-y – there was bunting, scones and games galore!”

“We got married at a crocodile farm! Johnsons of Old Hurst is a working farm with a farm shop and they also have a few crocodiles. It has a gorgeous tea room and a great children’s play area; it’s somewhere we’ve visited a lot with the children and we always loved it.”

“We wanted something that bit different to a standard marquee so when we found the Grand Pavilion tent from Funky Monkey Tents, we fell in love with it! It’s a round tent with a beautiful wooden structure, and it looked spectacular covered in the metres and metres of bunting!”

We adore Lisa’s 1950s style dress and veil! So feminine and glamourous, yet suits their laidback wedding completely. Did Lisa know it was the dress for her instantly? “I knew the style I wanted. I’m not a slim girl, so I knew that the 1950s style suited my figure. Fortunately I totally adore that look anyway. I tried on one dress and quite liked it, but I thought for peace of mind, I would contact another bridal shop [Shades of White] and told them what I was after. They had one tea-length 50s style dress in, which I googled and fell in love with! It was more beautiful in real life than I hoped!”

There are so many elements of this wedding that we are in love with. So what were the bride and groom’s favourite memories? “There were so many highlights! We both remember sitting at the table, watching as the afternoon teas were brought in and watching people’s reactions to the delicious looking food. We toasted each other with a Bellini, saying “this is exactly how we hoped it would be!”

“[Also] Dancing barefoot with our children, playing the fete games, and we also got to go into the crocodile enclosure to have a photograph taken. That was a highlight looking back, although at the time it was a tad scary!”

And does Lisa have any advice for couples currently planning their big day? “We found having a general idea of what we wanted helped. But we also found that having an open mind was just as helpful! We added a lot of things along the way that initially we wouldn’t have thought of.”

Looking at the pictures of Ross and Lisa’s wedding, you get a real feel of a fun-filled, family day. There are personal touches everywhere, showing how much heart and soul went into the planning of this wedding, from the oodles of homemade bunting, the sweetie bar for the kiddies, and those amazing, custom-made fete games!

Katie xx

Lisa is now one half of flower-and-cake duo Buns and Roses along with her business partner Katie who is a regular contributor to Bicycle Made for Two (and submitted this wonderful wedding write-up). Read our interview with Katie on the blog last week and have a look at some of the other weddings that the pair have contributed their lovely style towards. Kirsty xx