Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Emma and Kevin’s love story is a beautiful reminder that love knows no limits. At 44, both celebrating their second marriage, they wanted a wedding that was elegant, personal, and truly reflective of their journey. South Farm, with its stunning outdoor setting, provided the perfect backdrop for their lavender-themed outdoor celebration. Despite Emma’s challenges as a bride with a PEG tube, she embraced the day with grace, proving that love can shine through any circumstance. Surrounded by soft purple hues and their closest loved ones, Emma and Kevin’s wedding was a heartfelt celebration of resilience, romance, and new beginnings. We catch up with Emma to hear all about their journey to the altar and the beautiful day itself…

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“Kevin and I first met at school, and then we lost touch. We were both going through a divorce at the same time and reconnected through Facebook. Our inspiration for our wedding was our relationship. We had both had very traditional weddings with our exes and we wanted to reflect us and our relationship. We wanted lots of fun and laughter, and we wanted our guests to laugh and have fun.”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“South Farm was incredible. We originally wanted to get married abroad, but I had been poorly, leaving me in a wheelchair, so we wanted somewhere that I could use the chair if I needed it, and we wanted to have a mini holiday, too. South Farm gave us 2 nights and all the family stayed. The venue gave us the country (I’m a country girl) farm animals as well as space and the beautiful elegance of the grounds. We also surprised our guests with some fun entertainment. Both our first weddings were very traditional church weddings and we wanted the opposite of that. We wanted fun, silliness, laughter and not tradition. Plus, we dedicated our day to our guests for helping us through the hardest and worst time of our lives (I was in hospital for 3 months).”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“I have a PEG tube in my tummy meaning I can’t eat food and have liquid food through my tube. So access to my tube was very important, plus I didn’t want the tube to be visible and sticking out through my dress. I wanted my dress to be a bit summer garden fairy-like. I tried on several dresses before finding the perfect dress, but it needed a lot of adjustments to allow access to my PEG, so my PEG wasn’t visible as parts of the dress were originally see-through. So lots of fittings and adjustments. My tummy is also very distended and looks like I have a big fat tummy, so this made me feel very self-conscious, but the seamstress was amazing and made my tummy appear as flat as possible. However, on the day, I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t wait to get it off as the boning in the dress began to dig in. My husband and his 5 best men all had matching suits with lilac bow ties, and my husband wore a black bow tie.”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge
Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“Our families knew each other as some of them went to school together, so we faced little challenges around blending families. We live in East Sussex, so most of our family stayed in Cambridge. While we were there, we found out that my husband’s nan was buried just around the corner from the venue, which he didn’t know, so that was a nice surprise. Kev’s family dynamics are interesting, his parents were 15 and 16 when he was born and his mum didn’t know she was pregnant. So he had his mum’s surname as a baby. Then, his mum married, and his stepdad adopted him. Then, later in life, he changed his name to his biological dad’s surname. His mum left him when he was 12, and he hasn’t seen her since, but he does see his mum’s siblings. So Kev had 3 different families at the wedding, but his mum wasn’t there. We both come from very big families who all grew up in the same seaside town. We couldn’t invite everyone so we had to agree on the number of family members each. We couldn’t invite all of our cousins, and this caused a bit of a problem. We justified it by telling everyone that we wanted to thank the people/family and friends who gave us help and support while I was poorly. So we only invited people who were there for us and to whom we wanted to thank. We made it clear that we were dedicating our day to saying thank you to them. We had a table of photos of people who had passed away, and we mentioned our late grandparents in our vows, too.”

 

“We didn’t have any young children at the wedding. The youngest was my stepdaughter, who was 11 at the time, and my Maid of Honour’s daughter was the same age, so they played together. Our wedding was very adult; we had a murder mystery, a casino and a bucking bronco (which was a penis). So the girls were still able to play along with the murder mystery and casino and even had a go on the bucking willy. I also got them activity packs, but I don’t think they had time to complete them.”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“Our main priorities were fun and making our guests feel appreciated. We also planned our wedding together, whereas, at my first wedding, I did everything myself with no help. We led our guests into a false sense of security with a string quartet and elegance. Then, when it came to our vows, we made ninja vows, which meant we wrote each other’s vows. This was brilliant as our vows were very similar, and they got people laughing. Then, after the photos were done, we had a second surprise for our guests. The murder mystery continued through the meal. This was very funny, and all of our guests joined in and had fun. We had a pianist playing Disney tunes in between sittings. After our meal, we got our guests outside and reviewed the bucking bronco (willy), which was hilarious; pretty much everyone had a go. We also had dance lessons and performed a choreographed dance (luckily, I didn’t need the wheelchair). Then we gave our guests the final surprise of a casino in the evening with a band playing. This was great; everyone loved the casino. We still have people talking about our wedding 2 years on. Unfortunately, on the day, I wasn’t able to eat any food, but our guests said the food was amazing. This is my only regret; I wish I could have tried the food.”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

“Our ethical elements (apart from the venue) included wild seeds (for the bees) as favours and a small pot of Cambridge honey. We also used invitations that were impregnated with flower seeds so they could be planted after use. South Farms use all their grown vegetables, herbs and meat in their food. We had rose petals for confetti and a little pony called Jack who handed out all of the rose petals to our guests.”

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge
Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

What was the best part of your wedding day? 

“A difficult question. Ummmm, I think the vows and everyone laughing as they weren’t expecting it. They thought it was going to be a very serious occasion, and we fooled them. From that moment on, our guests didn’t stop laughing.”

 

Do you have any advice for weddings later in life or for second marriages?

“Do what makes you feel happy and what reflects you both as a couple.”

 

And any advice for finding LOVE again?

“Laughter, make sure love is fun.”

 

 

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Credits / Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

Photographer John Woodward @johnwoodwardphotography

Venue South Farm @southfarmweddings / Stylist, Hair and Makeup Makeup By Sam @makeupbysambridal / Florist Flowers Made With Love @flowersmadewithlove2013 / Cake Crosstown Doughnuts @crosstown

IF YOU LOVED THIS SOUTH FARM WEDDING, SAVE IT FOR LATER

Lavender-Themed Outdoor Wedding at South Farm, Cambridge

 

If you loved this South Farm Wedding, you may also like;

Alternative Cambridge Wedding Venues In Cambridgeshire

The Best Foundations For Mature Skin For Your Wedding Make-up

6 Top Facial Treatments for Brides-to-Be

Follow:
0
Share:

End the wedding planning overwhelm and create a wedding that YOU want (not what *they* want)

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get inspo sent to your inbox every Saturday! Also get:

🖤 Free printables, playlists and screen savers

🖤 The Ultimate Wedding Checklist

🖤 A guide to creating an eco wedding

🖤 The latest BOND Bride Magazine

 

 

 

 

You have Successfully Subscribed!