Your Wedding Your Way!
Well now …… I do pretty much get excited at most of my wedding enquiries as the couples I seem to attract are interested in having weddings that really reflect their relationships, lifestyle and interests and are very much individual and personal to the couple, often with a certain amount of creative elements made by the couple and their friends and family.
……………. This wedding enquiry had a little extra layer of excitement for me!
Folklore, Masks and Meadows
When the lovely S & D made contact, S explained how they both had a love for the South West of England and particularly visiting ruins, stone circles and ancient sites. D had proposed at Stone Henge on Boxing Day, so Wiltshire in particular was a very special place for them and explains why they were over the moon to find the Beautiful meadow venue that is Church Farm – even if it meant S having to take lots of hey-fever meds to keep her sneezing at bay (which was quite amusing during the group photos Teehehehe). And on seeing the venue in person I could totally see how this location suited them so perfectly. Even down to the structures made of willow ….. which of course I had to use for some of their photos as they suited their ‘inspiration’ so perfectly.
The thing I was most excited about were the masks S told me about – they paid for and downloaded templates from Wintercroft which they printed, folded and decorated themselves – and WOW the detail they went to! If you couldn’t already tell – Wickerman was an influence for the decoration of the masks and other wedding decor too.
They didn’t want to use plastic masks and the Wintercroft website encourages you to recycle card by making their masks, this eco aspect really appealed to S&D and was a large part of why they chose these masks.
They had some polaroid cameras for their guests to use so they wanted a range of masks for guests to play with – but as soon as they mentioned about the masks I jumped on asking if they wanted to use for the bridal party photos which of course they absolutely wanted to and I was SO pleased!! I’ve wanted a bridal party to wear makes for so long ….. and in fact I keep meaning to buy some of my own to use as props at weddings but of course I never remember to! So this totally added to my extra excitement. I think the group photo of them, both wearing and holding the masks are my favourite images from the day – because they are SO different from anything I’ve shot before AND because the masks are FREAKING awesome!!
The Venue – Church Farm
Church Farm is essentially a meadow venue that you put your own stamp on. It’s beautifully secluded, surrounded by trees. The meadow is kept long by the owners but has mown paths running through and around the field to a central mown area where you can have your choice of structure – from a marquee to a Tipi, Dome or tent. This kind of blank canvas venue also means you can have whatever caterer and food your heart desires – perfect for food vans!
There is a really cute little house for prep with a gorgeous little walled garden full of flowers and a couple of secluded adjoining fields where your guests could camp and some extra little features that make great spots for photos – including the willow structures. It’s location means the field gets bathed in a lovely golden sunlight in the evening – if you are lucky enough to have sun – which is every photographers perfect light for portraits 😉
DIY Eco decoration
S&D created ALL of the decoration for their wedding including their cake. They used lots of hops for their ceremony arch and to decorate inside the marquee which looked fab and obviously will compost down once finished with. They had corn dollies (which were about the only things S didn’t make), wooden table names, leaves for place names and more hops mixed with lavender and ears of corn on the tables too.
S also made her and her bridesmaids ‘bouquets’ and head dresses both of which were incredible and both made from lavender and ears of corn – long lasting and eventually compostable too!
Their cake/s were topped with elderflowers and totally edible – yum!
Everything used to decorate this wedding is either re useable, recyclable or compostable – such an achievement!
Suppliers:
Venue – Church Farm Living
Marquee – Vintage Marquees
Masks – Made by my bride with templates from Wintercroft
Edible flowers from – Greens of Devon
Hops – The hop shop, Kent.
Corn Dolls – The Wheat Weaver on Etsy