Mr + Mrs Lehane
31st August 2019 | New Barton Barns
Instagrams: @_katelehane @jethrolehane | Photos: Grace and Mitch
Tell us about the ceremony...
Jethro and I are Christians so we had our wedding in my home church, Hope Baptist, Plymouth. It was so special to get married where my grandparents met and married, where I met all of my bridesmaids where I met Jethro, and where I met Jesus. We didn’t want to go down the traditional route for readings, this day was a declaration of our commitment to each other but over that it was a declaration that we both love Jesus. So we chose Ephesians 4:1-6 and Luke 15:11-32 from the Bible (NIV).
Funniest moment of the day?
When Jethro said “I do” too early, interrupting the minister and cutting off a key part of the ceremony! He was super embarrassed and it was really funny, but broke any nerves and made the whole congregation laugh. Plus, it got us one of my favourite photos of the day!
How did you meet?
We first met in my home church – the church my grandparents met and married in. Jethro walked in and I said to my friend Alice “he will be mine”, mimicking the Miranda series I was obsessed with at the time! But properly got to know each other through university as we both attended the Christian Union.
Tell us all about the proposal...
Jethro proposed at Stores Hotel on Lake Windermere. I kinda knew something was up – we’d been dating for 5.5 years so it was high time, and he told me to dress nice as he had a surprise for me.. usually I made the plans! I played all of our favourite songs in the car on the way there just in case. We had an amazing cream tea in the hall before taking a ‘spontaneous’ walk by the lake. I thought that if he was going to propose he would have done it before eating so I was very relaxed and didn’t expect it! We found an octagonal stone hut out on a jetty which we went into and he said some wonderful things then popped the question! I of course said yes and after some passers by took our photo we sat on a log and chatted about how he planned everything, asked my dad and how he chose the ring.
Tell us all about your wedding theme...
As a graphic designer I know how easily I can go off colour schemes as my tastes change so for our wedding I wanted to be lead by something different. For me it was all about the vibe and the experience I wanted our guests to have. We chose a reception venue that needed little doing to it as we love the rustic look – we wanted the experience to be warm, welcoming and carefree. For this reason I chose to focus on circles! So the lanterns were round, the bunting in the church was paper circles, the table names were round – something about circles says wholeness to me. I wanted the colours to reflect this: simple, muted and timeless. So the majority of the décor was white, the bridesmaid dresses were a musky blue and the napkins were a musky grey. All elements needed to compliment the venue and the landscape around it.
Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping...
They always say you won’t get the dress you think you will and it was definitely true for me. The dress I bought was the very last one I tried on – I had been to 6 shops already and had even been advised by the shop assistants to stop looking so I didn’t confuse myself! I had seen a dress I liked the day before and I was down to cancel the appointment but fortunately mum made me go ‘just to make sure’. I always knew I wanted a figure hugging dress but thought I would go simple, minimal and strapless. Then I tried on the sleeves! You kinda just know when you’ve found a dress you feel great in – don’t give up until you’ve found a dress you can’t wait to put on again!
Advice for future brides...
The way I approached planning our wedding was to focus on what I wanted our guests to feel and what experiences I wanted them to have. This made every decision so much easier to make! What would bring the most joy/fun/surprise? For example, we were sure we wanted round tables because we wanted a family feel, and a sharing meal because we wanted people to talk to each other and serve each other and feel a part of something. My advice would be to take the focus off how things look and think about how you want the day to feel, this way you know the food you want, the music you want, the dress you want and which venue will be best to give you all of those things!
- First dance: Angel, Jack Johnson
- Song you walked down the aisle to: I Do, Susie Suh
- Ceremony songs: This Is Amazing Grace, Bethel Music / So Will I, Hillsong Worship / Here Is Love, Matt Redman / Be Thou My Vision, Unknown
- Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple: Hey Ya, OutKast
Did you make any Wedding DIYs?
So many! I designed, lettered, printed and handmade the save the dates, invitations and order of services. I designed and painted the order of the day board and the find your seats board, buying the wood from a local timber merchant up the street from my family home. I also made the table names – a friend of a friend who’s a carpenter made me the wooden blocks and I bought the acrylic circles from Ebay, before lettering the names on with a white Posca pen. My mother-in-law made an incredible coconut shy and the front two coconuts had little bride and groom outfits on! She also made a Nepali flag as a backdrop (Jethro was born there) and wedding bunting to decorate the stand with photos from our dating years.
Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?
Anyone who knows Jethro and I knows we’re big foodies – we love eating and gathering with people to eat. We’ve also been to lots of weddings so know what we like – a relaxed atmosphere and the experience of sharing with family. For this reason we knew we wanted an informal, serve yourself style meal that encouraged conversation. As I mentioned before Jethro was born in Nepal and his family lived out there for 11 years on long-term mission with BMS (Baptist Mission Society). The local staple food is Dal Bhat and it is DELICIOUS. It’s what I had when I first went to meet Jethro’s family (perhaps it was a test?) and it’s such a huge part of their family – they’ve even had it on Christmas Day. The Nepalese would laugh as it a simple meal they eat day in day out, not special enough for a wedding! But for us it was perfect. It is also vegan and GF so we thought it would be a simple way to cater for most of our guests. Our caterer Emma and her team from Hire Class were incredible and were so up for the challenge of creating a menu they’d never even heard of – we were convinced no one would do this!
Any surprises on the day?
Something we could never have planned and something we didn’t even think about – the most incredible sunset! Literally never seen anything like it and I’d lived in Plymouth for 22 years! Just such a sweet reminder that you can plan and organize but ultimately the most beautiful things are unplanned and not created by us.
Worst wedding planning moment...
When our hair and make-up got cancelled a month before the wedding… because the stylist was going to uni and quit and no one would cover – we didn’t get any money back or any help. I was in the process of moving out of a shared rental place in Oxford and trying to send stuff to our new place in Manchester whilst trying to organize a wedding in Plymouth! Fortunately we found Dann make-up academy – Carlisha the owner is so so lovely and talented and Jade is incredible and created exactly what I was after with my hair. I’m so glad the whole ordeal happened and I was able to go with Carlisha and Jade as they are amazing and I felt great on the day.
Tell us about your Honeymoon...
So we decided Jethro would organise the honeymoon – to give him something to do whilst I did all things wedding but also as a surprise as he loves travelling and planning trips so it really is his forte. I accidentally found out the location before the honeymoon (due to an email popping up on his phone when we were together!) but didn’t know any of the plans at all which was so fun. We went to Sri Lanka! Such a beautiful country with the nicest people. We travelled about a bit so got a mini plane to the coast first staying at the amazing Karpaha Sands in Kalkuda, highly recommend! We then went onto Sigirya, staying at The Elephant Corridor, then spent one night in Kandy at SWP Eco Lodge, then finally onto Nuwareliya. Sri Lanka is such a crazily diverse country, we went from idyllic beaches, to humid leafy greens, big cities to cooler mountains! 2 weeks is not enough but I’m grateful we got to see all that we did. It was also so great going straight after the wedding to escape and reconnect after the crazy month leading up to our wedding.
Venue: New Barton Barns / Hope Baptist Church
Food: Hire Class Events / Lemon Jelli
Photographer: Grace and Mitch
Videographer: Grace and Mitch
Stationery: Kate Lehane
Florist: Honors Flowers
Cake: Esther Spencer
Décor: Kate Lehane / Amazon / Tyrers Joinery
MUA: DANN MUA
Hair: Jade Levi
Dress: The Wedding Company Plymouth
Shoes: ASOS
Bridesmaids dresses: ASOS
Suits: Empire Outlet - Classic Navy Barleycorn Tweed Jacket
Wedding Rings: House of Solus - Birmingham Jewellery Quarter.
Band/DJ: Salt Water Soul
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