Jenny Packham’s Eden For a DIY and Vintage Inpsired, Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon…

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"I don’t know how to put our inspiration into words. The main thing for us is that our wedding was all about everything and everyone we loved. We wanted it to be a mish mash of vintage and DIY but to keep it beautiful and not too contrived…"

 

Hello beautiful people!  Happy Monday morning to you 😉 You had a good weekend?  Did the sun shine for you? Hoping this finds you well and rested anyway and that you got chance to catch up with my two Sunday posts here and here.

This is an ace-gorgeous wedding. Full stop. I kind of want to kiss photographer Lisa Devine all over for submitting it {thank you so much Lisa!!}.  The detail is out of this world and the bride has the fabulous effortless cool kind of vibe.

Gemma and Ian tied the knot on 3rd June this year with a humanist hand-fasting ceremony held at Buckland House in Devon…

"We married over the bank holiday weekend of June 2012 in Devon. It’s difficult to accurately capture or contain the magic of that weekend. That said, the short version is this: it was amazingly awesome!

 Neither of us are religious so we decided to have a humanist ceremony. Buckland House is a licensed wedding venue, so we had a civil ceremony on the Friday evening by candlelight which was followed by a larger Humanist service on the Sunday…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Lisa Devine

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

 "Because my wedding dress had so much dimension, I kept the rest of my look simple.   I bought the Flo and Percy Maryann headpiece, some emerald earrings from Etsy and Ian gave me a beautiful charm story bracelet on the day.

My dress was the Eden design by Jenny Packham.  I went to the Jenny Packham store on Elizabeth Street in London and fell in love with her dresses as most girls do. I then tried to get it out of my head because of the cost. I tried on a lot of wedding dresses throughout my search, but I couldn’t get the vision of Eden out of my head. It was the perfect non-wedding dress that I had always wanted. I loved the intricate beadwork and the gorgeous little sleeves…it just felt very me.   I also love that it evokes the Great Gatsby, 1920's feel which I love…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"Having a humanist ceremony meant that we could write all of our own vows and add a personal touch on the service – we had our guests singing ‘All you need is love’ which set the perfect tone. At first, I was a bit worried whether people would sing along but it was brilliant ending to the ceremony and everyone belted it out.

We had four of our lovely friends do readings (because I'm a book nerd like tath) and our guests all tied ribbons together for the hand-tying element in which our parents did the blessing of the hands. We really enjoyed the hand-fasting ceremony and the symbolism of being tied together for life.  We now have the ribbons as a beautiful reminder of the promises we made to each other.  Aaron our friend-come-celebrant pasted his speech into the Celtic Fairy tales book which he used during the ceremony and now sits on our bookshelf pride of place…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We were so lucky to be able to utilise not only our own crafting skills but those of our friends and family. The community that rallied around our wedding was truly amazing. My mum and sister in law made all the hundreds of metres of bunting, we used fabric from old t-shirts/tablecloths – taking scraps of fabric from all our generations. Friends made the BBQ from an oil drum and window blackboards and cake stands made from wood. We picked sloes in October and my dad made sloe gin and sloe vodka which we used in the cocktail hour.

It was a fun experience and I give lots of credit to my lovely husband for this. He was so involved in all the planning elements. Weirdly he was particularly keen on the wine purchasing in France.
Who ‘gave you away’

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We had originally planned to marry in the meadow by the lake, but as the day approached the weather was being a little ‘British’ and being foolish (or optimistic) we hadn’t really sorted a wet weather plan. So 8pm the night before we decided we kinda needed to decide where were getting married.

We used the barn at Buckland House and Ian and the Groomsmen were incredible, armed with bunting and fairy lights they decorated the barn all evening. Ian made me promise not to see it until the next day and I’m so glad I didn’t because seeing it was pretty overwhelming.

It was beautiful and all the flowers bought a bit of the meadow into the barn!" 

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"What made the wedding special to us was the DIY element. The crafts were fun (and so worth it). These included: hand-made invitations, handmade order of ceremony using paper from eco-craft, confetti packages, bunting, cranes, napkins, signs, ring book, and a million other wonderful things that we’ve already completely forgotten about.

We had a strict budget so we had to get creative…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"Ian and his best men decided not to go with morning suits. In keeping with our relaxed approach for the tone of the day they all wore chinos, blue canvas pumps and blue blazers and mauve socks. Trying to avoid matchy matchy – we didn't realise that we had managed to co-ordinate the socks/hearts and bowties quite so well but they looked great together. They all wore beautiful bespoke, vintage bow-ties hand made by our friend Laura McName.

They were amazing and got so many comments – our wedding inspired her to start her own business in creating bow-ties. You can find her beautiful creations at Knotty By Nature…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We used J W Blooms who provided buckets of wild flowers for us which we then put into enamel jugs and vases in the morning. My only request was peonies, larkspur and mint and lavender for my bouquet. Me and the bridesmaids made up our bouquets that morning. It was perfect – wild and a little bit unruly.

We’d been collecting jam jars for months before so had lot of little vases of flowers dotted around and in enamel pitchers. The flowers were beautiful and because we couldn’t have the ceremony outside, they bought a bit of the meadow into the barn! Doing it ourselves saved us a lot of money…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"Team awesome consisted of my three bridesmaids, my twin sister, Aimee, my niece, Chantelle and Ians sister, Louise. Ian had three bestmen, Craig, James and Tom and Kris and Aaron the master of ceremony and celebrant. Team Awesome were absolutely incredible – we will be forever grateful to these amazing people who made it possible for us to just be…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"I so did not intend to do a whole bunch of sewing because I’m terrible at it, but in the end I did a whole bunch of sewing!  I had hundreds of yards of fabric lying around! And I’m not exaggerating when I say I used it all! We also used the leftover fabric to tie each person’s cutlery together. Maybe, if we had a theme at all for our wedding day, it was 'leftover fabric'.

Ian and I made handmade fabric hearts for everyone to wear – it was brilliant to see a sea of hearts everywhere. We also gave out kazoos in the ceremony which people took home as a reminder of the day…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We spent about sixteen months planning, mostly so we’d have the time to save enough money for our little shindig. We knew from the start that we wanted a really casual and fun wedding with good food, good music and good people. Basically we wanted to throw a fun and extremely meaningful little party and call it a wedding.

My parents always threw big family get togethers in the summer, a mish-mash of tables and tablecloths, everyone barefoot, and everyone bringing food together and eating under apple trees. I just wanted to reinvent that idea. The weather didn't exactly play ball on the Sunday but we ended up with festival-esque shindig with pretty lights and barefeet inspired by All you need is love, wild flowers, gypsy living, books and music…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

All you need is love wedding sign

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We met ten years ago in our hometown in the summer in a bar and Ian nicknamed me and my sister the ‘gypsy travellers’ because we wore hundreds of bangles up their arms. I was going to university in Bristol and it wasn’t until November that year, that we met again. Since then we went to University in Bristol, moved to Brighton and bought a flat. 

Ian proposed in a green gypsy caravan in the middle of a fairy-lit garden in Suffolk – nine years after we met…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"Ian and many of his friends are all musicians so music was always going to be a huge influence in the wedding. There are three memorable moments that really stand out and that is

Heart singing 'All you need is love' in the ceremony and seeing Ian’s grandparents giggling into Kazoos like children and seeing everyone swaying along.
Heart After dinner, during cocktail hour we sang around the piano to songs like your song, Elton John, Tender, Blur, and Go your Own way by Fleetwood Mc.
Heart The best men speeches have to be mentioned because they were epic. They broke into song during their speeches and had everyone up dancing around the tables. It was a complete surprise and just brilliantly hilarious!"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"These are the types of details that matter in the great Petri dish of weddings and they’re not even really details: they’re moments. The moments that make you catch your breath or tickle you enough to keep you smiling all night long…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"I discovered our photographer Lisa Devine from a wedding blog feature and loved her style instantly. I’m pretty obsessed with photography so it was super important to me to have a great photographer.

Lisa put everyone at ease and was like an invited guest at our wedding who just happened to take awesome photos. She has a way of capturing every heartfelt moment. All of our guests commented on her.

What I really loved is she seemed genuinely excited by it all; the final shots speak for themselves and now we have lots of beautiful photos for our nest…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...


"We searched all over the UK for a venue – after researching and visiting some very unimpressive (and expensive!) wedding venues we decided to search for party houses and struck gold with Buckland House. It was the perfect mix of beautiful faded grandeur building, a beautiful lake and acres and acres of land in Devon.

We live in Brighton so it certainly made planning everything more difficult, but we were sold, we didn’t need to look at anything else. It slept 35 people so it could accommodate all our family and close friends and there were no restrictions on when the music had to stop so the freedom to choose when our wedding ended and what caterers to use was perfect. Suzanne, the owner, left us to our own devices and relaxed which was exactly what we wanted…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Oh how I adore that divine Maryann headpiece by Flo and Percy below. Is it not utterly gorgeous?  {I have a rather large soft-spot for Flo and Percy, having worn a cuff and headpiece of theirs on my own wedding day – two pieces I absolutely treasure and will be passing on to my daughters}…

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"Summer, Ian's niece was a Flowergirl and Maisie and jack, my nephew and niece were the balloon bearers, directing guests to the barn carrying 3 ft balloons…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We had a few meetings with a humanist celebrant but in the end we asked a close friend who has known us from when we first met, Aaron to do the ceremony for us and he did an amazing job. The ceremony was full of laughter and tears…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We had Gatsby inspired touches with my 1920’s vintage inspired dress, confetti made from books, 1920s book names on doors…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We really deliberated over the first dance. We ended up doing a short dance to Chuck Berry, You Never Can Tell and then when we had exhausted all of our unrehearsed moves we re-acted (attempted at least!) to Fatboy slims -Praise You with Team Awesome…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

"We had had a drunken rehearsal late on Friday night after our civil ceremony which was just hilarious and we convinced ourselves that we would have another but we totally forgot.

The dance on the day was not seamless, a little wonky and a bit shabby but we wouldn’t have done it any differently. When we saw the photos, we just cracked up to the point that it hurt. Definitely worth it.…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Words of Wedded Wisdom… 

"We have some great memories of the weekend, getting married in a beautifully decorated barn, singing around the piano, the speeches and celebrating with some wonderful people. I REALLY wish we’d had an event manager on the day – with so much going on, it would have been nice to leave it to someone else.

We also DIY’ed alot. It can be really easy to bite off more than you can chew though so my advice would be to decide on a cohesive theme early on. And start early! Anything you can do well in advance is great…"

Jenny Packham Eden For a Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon...

Have you ever seen a wedding like it? So very beautiful, fun, bright, inspiring, heart-warming, colourful, personal, real and amazing! I know us wedding bloggers swoon over stuff lots but this really is an adorable day.

I would just love for you to leave some kind words for Gemma and Ian in the comments box below. Are any of my readers planning a humanist and or hand-fasting wedding? What about Devon – any more devon brides? Which is your favourite aspect of this wedding?

See lots more here lovelies; DIY weddings, Humanist ceremonies, Hand-fasting ceremonies and Jenny Packham.

Now, pop by at lunch time for some 'lunch time love' and again at 2pm for another set of stylish nuptials.

I love Mondays 🙂

Much love all,

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Lisa Devine
Venue – Buckland House, Devon
Brides dress – Eden by Jenny Packham
Brides headpiece – Flo and Percy Maryann headband
Brides shoes – coral peep toe shoes from Aldo
Brides accessories – earrings from Etsy + charm story bracelet, a gift from the groom
Groom – chinos, blue canvas pumps and blue blazers and mauve socks
Gent's Bow Ties – Knotty By Nature
Bridesmaids – chose their own dresses
Florist – J W Blooms
Cake – The Bride's Sister
Celebrant – A frend
Hair and make-up Artist – Nicola Petit
Catering Company – Piglet cottage

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

33 thoughts on “Jenny Packham’s Eden For a DIY and Vintage Inpsired, Humanist Hand-Fasting Ceremony in Devon…

  1. “Balloon bearers”
    Unashamedly steals idea
    This wedding reminds me of those incredible, almost unattainable US weddings you read about on Green Wedding Shoes and the like. Just perfection.

  2. But it is completely attainable and was relatively low budget, the bride and groom poured their very best efforts into DIY and crafting for their big day, despite the bride admitting she’s not the best ‘sewer’. Just goes to show eh, what a bit of effort can pull off! 🙂
    xXx

  3. Thanks Lizz,
    I hope photographer Lisa Devine {how much cooler a name could you have for a wedding photographer?} see’s this comment as I love her work too 🙂
    xXx

  4. We are excitedly planning our wedding at the moment and are adamant it will be a day that is ‘us’…this lovely couple have achieved that and much more, I don’t even know them and you can see from the photos that their wedding day so just so ‘them’. Thank you so much for sharing, every photo made me smile!

  5. Well I hope your wedding is just as fabulous as this one Carly – no doubt it will be – so much to be inspired by right here 🙂
    Thanks for your lovely words xXx

  6. Yes, an absolutely stunningly beautiful, relaxed and ultimately FUN wedding. Everything I’m aspiring to for next May! Swap the singing round the piano for toasting s’mores round the campfire… and it’s pretty much my perfect day! Thanks for sharing Anabel xx

  7. I was super excited when I saw this post this morning. What a gorgeous wedding! I love all the little personal touches. Gemma looks really stunning – Eden in Ivory is my wedding dress too. She is the 1st dress I tried on and I cant wait to wear her later this year!! xxx

  8. Wow! What lovely comments!
    Thank you so much for being so kind about my work.
    Gemma & Ian are a pretty special couple and I’m so glad they asked me to capture their amazing wedding.
    And thanks Annabel for featuring it 🙂
    Muchos love, Lisa Devine (and yes that’s my real name!)
    xxx

  9. Awww, thanks Dee, I am super excited about this wedding even now, the day after I posted it!! I want every one of my readers to see it, it’s an absolute gem 😉 xXx

  10. Such a beautiful wedding! and such beautiful photography!
    Gemma, is your friend still making bow ties as I pressed the link and nothing came up. Im trying to source a particular colour of bowtie for my forthcoming wedding and would love to have a chat with her! xx

  11. I just ADORE this wedding!
    It is so inspiring, honest, authentic, and looks lie you had the best time. Congratulations to you both!

  12. Hi Michelle
    Many thanks for your comment – Laura is indeed still making bowties – I think the blog went up a lot quicker than she had time to make the website live. However, her email address is
    [email protected] if you want to have a chat with her about bespoke bowties. She turned these around for us in super quick time – highly recommended!
    Gem x

  13. Beautiful wedding! Do you by chance know if the bride is interested in selling her Eden dress? I would love to wear it for our July wedding. I would appreciate any help with getting in touch with the bride!
    Kind Regards,
    Lindsey
    [email protected]

  14. Hi Lindsey…I’ve sent on your details to the bride. Not sure if You have already sorted out a dress yet!
    Lisa (the photographer!) x

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