A Picnic Wedding

An intimate, quintessential, luxury, British picnic styled wedding, that Rocks!

For the more foodie couple, who want an intimate, laid-back, quintessentially British, bespoke menu for your wedding, but who don’t just want another traditional afternoon tea, we have the perfect solution, the reinvented picnic.

At Touchays, we understand that a picnic done well should be pure decadent bliss. So, teaming up with Holly, the creative stylist and owner of Locate to Create, we set about deconstructing the British classic picnic and putting it back together to capture the absolute essential elements.

Quintessentially British Picnic Wedding Stationery

Leave your waterproof-backed woollen rug, corkscrew, and plastic beakers at home

We innovatively created a delectable, artistically presented styled shoot masterpiece – A picnic-feast filled with gorgeous eye-popping details, gourmet ‘help-yourself-food’, all deliciously and daintily ‘presented’ and individually wrapped like gorgeous wedding gifts for your guests.

All served with lashings of English Fizz, in the grandest of indoor locations.

So, to enjoy more of this amazing sunny day, we ask that you leave your waterproof-backed woollen rug, corkscrew, and plastic beakers at home. As we introduce you to this gorgeous styled shoot, where only the best ingredients for the perfect picnic wedding will do.

And, be warned you might well be holding back your guests from sitting down for the wedding picnic breakfast too soon!

Phantom 11 Rolls Royce at seen in The Crown

Finding the perfect location for your picnic

Like all the best picnics, if you are going to make it truly memorable and something that will be talked about for years to come, it requires meticulous planning, careful consideration and the perfect location.

With luxury as a pre-requisite, only somewhere totally glam will do. For the styled shoot, Wadhurst Castle was chosen – an incredible, romantic venue with a wonderful, recently converted Victorian Carriage Barn. Surrounded by beautifully restored gardens, its terraces offer amazing views over extensive parkland (140 acres) and the Sussex countryside.

Arriving at your destination wedding venue

For that lavish arrival at the Castle, only a classic British car will do. But, not any car, it simply has to be the best; a beautiful, lovingly restored Phantom 11 Continental Rolls Royce that recently made an appearance in the critically acclaimed series, The Crown, as did Wadhurst Castle itself!

A match made in TV heaven!

Décor, details and colours for the perfect quintessentially English Picnic

Décor, details and colours

Instead of sitting on traditional picnic blankets outside, we ask that you put aside all your preconceived ideas of a picnic, as we set up this gorgeous, banquet, feast inside the Winter Garden Room.

To further elevate the dining experience, we layered details, into the dining experience of vintage objects, dashes of colour to work with your chosen theme, to add a touch of chintz a sprinkling of glamour and that’s what the best picnics are made of!

For the table styling, the, inspired and magic touches included:
– bringing hired garden furniture inside and placing lounge chairs and sofas outside
– using long trestle tables to seat guests, creating an intimate atmosphere
– covering the tables in a beautiful, heavy-on-the-floral-patterned, tablecloth or not as you prefer.

Holly said, “the ideal canvas might be something you find at the back of your grandma’s linen cupboard. The colours and patterns in the cloth instantly draw you in, making you want to explore the delicious wedding breakfast feast.”

– adding bold colour linen napkins, to give that additional pop of colour. This also helps to bring out the colours in the tablecloth all to suit your personal style.
– adding a hint of gingham, (synonymous with picnics), by adorning the hand-scribed Perspex menus with jauntily tied ribbon-bows
– hiring the best vintage mismatched, colourful, Bone China dinner sets. At RMW, oh we love that beautiful hand-painted gold detailing on the rims of the plates! It exudes lux and the rose detail throughout is so romantic!
– add an air of decadence, by hiring in vintage silver cutlery, to tuck into your feast
– mixing in glassware, that includes candlesticks and cut crystal vases, giving an eclectic mix
– adding different shades of tapering candles to add the prettiest of romantic touches to the soiree
– Add in individual scrumptious tarts as favours on the side plates for that instant pop of fruity pink
– Oh and handmade chocolate name ‘cards’
– and at the very heart of the table, three stunning wedding cakes, (replacing the traditional Victoria ‘picnic- sponge cake’), the grandest three-tier in the middle, balanced by 2 two-tier cakes giving, height, structure and impact for that added WOW factor. In addition, the cakes were luxuriously adorned with gold leaf and decorated with the most exquisite vibrant, coloured wild, organic, edible flowers
– adding wild meadow flowers to British ornamental vintage original SylvaC pottery, shell-shaped vases to introduce height, classical styling but adding a modern vibe
– cascading flowers of plush delphiniums and Callistephus Chinensis Mats Do Blue, Hydrangea Verena Blue, Allium Senescens, Sweet Pea Parfum Blue, Rosa Large-Flowered Celeb, Mathiola Pink the stunning Rose Lullaby, ‘lacey’ Ammi Visnaga and pops of Calendula Orange all dramatically arranged ensured the indoor exquisite plants and florals worked in harmony giving that feeling of an English Garden long border, where the table just goes on and on, as does the feast!

Canapes and reception drinks with Music by Dave Brazier Sax

Luxury catering

We believe that what sets the most spectacular weddings apart is about working with a caterer that you can completely entrust to deliver quality fresh, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, exquisitely presented. One who pushes the boundaries to deliver food with panache and who ensures the whole planning process is enjoyable for you, the couple!

So, for that all-important cocktail hour, a carefully curated, self-serve station, of cocktails paired with a tantalising range canapes bar, was created.

It included:
– a non-alcoholic fruit crush mocktail for the children paired with pots of fresh seasonal berries, (on the bottom row of course)!
– a Bloody Mary served on ice, with a secret spicey-Touchays kick paired with Mediterranean chargrilled prawns on skewers
– Gin Martini poured into beautiful cut crystal vintage champagne saucer glasses garnished with queen olives
– mini tankards of beer served with gourmet burger buns, (always a winner).

Whilst cocktails were being enjoyed, a solo saxophonist provided a wonderful mellow, relaxing and smooth musical experience. Then for the perfect intimate, picnic wedding breakfast, (up to 30 guests seated family-style on one long table),

We created a sharing feel of the most special of treats, which included, Gin cured salmon with ribbons of cucumber and radish, lemon oil and edible flowers, individually wrapped chicken and salt beef, hand-tied sandwiches along with beautifully prepared, locally caught lobster.

A feast indeed!

Sweet canapes, perfect for a quintessentially English picnic

Desserts for a picnic

For dessert, we understand that the joy of a picnic has always been choosing from the daintiest array of summer handmade sweet treats. So, we created fresh English fruit jelly and vanilla-infused custard, Alphonso mango and passion fruit cheesecakes, elderflower and lemon possets, the freshest raspberry and white chocolate filled strawberry shells, pink-chocolate strawberries with a dusting of glitter, all served with beautiful hand chosen organic edible flowers.

No quintessential English Picnic is complete without sandwiches

No quintessential English Picnic is complete without sandwiches and please-pass-me dishes

Luxury drinks perfect for a picnic

For a glorious luxury indoor wedding breakfast, lashings of very cold white and rosé wine served, with plenty of English pink fizz to toast! The wines chosen, were all handcrafted, from a boutique family-run, 5-acre, hidden gem of a vineyard in rural Sussex. The emphasis is on low intervention, the wine is bottled on-site and, as a result of all their hard work and dedication, it tastes like summer in a glass!

The look for a perfectly styled quintessentially British wedding

The groom wore an extraordinary English three-piece tweed suit, accessorised with a bright orange bow tie, (also worn by the pageboy), and a pocket square to pull out the vibrant pops of colours in the flowers , napkins and the wedding cakes.

The bride wore an elegant silk dress for the wedding ceremony and feast. Later on she slipped into a relaxed jumpsuit and kaftan, to enable her to stroll around the stunning grounds in the late afternoon sun chatting to friends and family. Her bouquet mirrored the indoor setting and her hair was backcombed for structure, with a Dutch plait to hold in place her evening headband and for the day, a floral crown, that was carefully created to include delicate, dried and naturally dyed, soft Bunny tail grass, (Lanurus ovatus).

The flower girls’ long locks were also braided to echo the bride’s elegant hairdo and their dresses were simply styled to feel relaxed, comfortable and free-spirited, enabling them to have fun into the evening, in the gorgeous walled garden at Wadhurst Castle including perfect pop-up tents.

For absent friends and family

To extend the picnic experience to absent friends and family, gorgeous, fondant iced, individually decorated decadent Cakesicles were sent ‘post-wedding’, along with a personal handwritten note and a framed photograph of the happily married couple.