Ever thought of making your own wedding venue for your own wedding day? Luke & Abi did! Most Bride and Grooms will spend a few hours researching places to get married and choosing their favourite but this couple and their family spent months turning a family member’s overgrown walled garden into their very own wedding venue! Luke & Abi work as wedding videographers so they’ve gone to their fair share of weddings and knew what they wanted for their own wedding. I was so impressed with their vision and their commitment to making their day the best it could be. At the bottom of this page I’ve put up some pictures of before and after so you can see what they did to make their own venue. I’ve also asked Abi to share about her experience of doing it all! We all know that the place can make a wedding great but the people are what makes a wedding even greater so onto the people! Luke is the youngest Groom I’ve ever worked for (19) and he also gave the best present to his Bride that I’ve seen. He made a video of himself in a beautiful setting with lovely music recounting their story together and the reasons he loved Abi. He put it onto a flash drive that Abi plugged into her phone. Wow- so many tears! A really special part of the day was when Abi’s Father (Geoff) walked her down the aisle then switched positions and led the service. Geoff is a Minister at Faversham Baptist Church (where Luke and Abi had their ceremony). Geoff had also written the music for Abi to come down the aisle to. Onto the reception at Great Grovehurst Farm in Sittingbourne. I couldn’t believe it when I entered the walled garden and saw the grass that Luke, Abi and their family had laid, the decorations they’d made and the marquee that they’d help look so pretty. Everything looked stunning! My favourite part of the day was in the evening as the dance floor got going and the boys tried to do human pyramids outside with Luke ending up on the grass! Luke and Abi just had the best day and the photos really show two young people very much in love and really full of joy. Have a look through my favourite images and then see how Luke and Abi made their own venue beneath.
Abi emailed me once she’d send the photos to say “Olly, we can’t even begin to describe how excited we were when the photos arrived! As soon as we got engaged, I told Luke we were having you as our photographer or we wouldn’t be getting married!!! So much so that we chose our wedding date based on when you were free! I first saw your work a few years ago and instantly fell in love – and we certainly were not disappointed when it came to our own photos. I don’t think we could have trusted anyone else to capture our day and the day just wouldn’t have been the same without you and Jayne. You were an honoury member of the “bride squad” for the morning and all day it was a pleasure to have you both around. You both felt more like friends and guests than suppliers. The photos arrived on 11th July – England v Croatia AND Luke’s Mum’s birthday! We watched the slideshow the moment Luke got home from work (making us late for the birthday dinner but SO worth it). I absolutely balled my eyes out – the photos show the day exactly as I remember it and so so so much more. We made sure both sets of parents saw it the same day as we just couldn’t wait for them to see it! One in half time and one after the game – it definitely cheered everyone up! Your work is outstanding and we feel so lucky to have these incredible treasures to keep forever. Out of all the photos there’s not a single one which isn’t amazing! I don’t know how many times we said “wow” when looking through them all!!! Thank you again for being your amazing self, we honestly couldn’t be happier! Mr & Mrs Scarfe”
Before the Venue was given a Make-over
I asked Abi about why they wanted to make their own venue. She said “When we got engaged we had both imagined we’d find a nice venue somewhere locally, have a nice fancy 4 course sit down meal and have the day arranged by someone from the venue. However once we started looking we realised this wasn’t “us” at all. At our engagement party Jason (Luke’s Mum’s Cousin) said we could us his garden for the reception. We genuinely thought he was kidding because we’d seen the garden and it was in no fit state for anything, let alone a wedding! But the more we thought about it, the more we liked the fact that we could have a really lovely relaxed day and have the freedom to do whatever we wanted! I can’t imagine what our parents thought when we first showed them the garden, but no one stopped us. A lot of people worked VERY hard to get the garden and the whole grounds to how they looked on our wedding day. From clearing out weeds to levelling the ground to laying turf to making paths, everything was done by the family. The garden gate and benches were even made/refurbished by Luke’s great uncle! It was a lot of hard work and we are extremely grateful to all those who helped out. It was absolutely amazing to see the place all set up on the day and busy with everyone we know and love – a huge contrast to the mass of weeds we had our first “venue site visit” in! To be honest, it really sums it all up for us – our wedding was always about the people we love and we didn’t need some fancy “official wedding venue” for that.”
After the Venue was given a Make-over
