A Collaboration of Friends and Family for a Pretty and Homemade Youth Hostel Wedding

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I just love a wedding which has the love and talents of the bride and groom and all their loved ones just poured into every fibre of the day- today’s lovely DIY celebration is a wonderful example.

Friends made the cake, did the flowers, made the rings and even led the ceremony – I’m genuinely taken aback by the sheer amount of love and creativity, but most of all I just love the massive smiles on every single photo, from start to finish.  Meet Deborah, an A&E nurse, and Niel, an electrician, who married on the 10th of September 2016 at Clun Mill YHA in beautiful Shropshire, surrounded by their talented friends and family.

Let’s begin with a little film of the day – both this film and the photographs below were produced by Lisa Webb Photography




“We are regular users of YHA accommodation and they have some amazing buildings around the country, such as The Mill in Clun. It’s a fabulous building in a fabulous location- a 400 year old restored water mill with much of the old machinery in place and panoramic views looking out to the Shropshire hills. It’s not a wedding venue as such but is available to hire exclusively so we hired the whole place for the weekend. Guests stayed in the dorms and camped in the surrounding grounds.”

Images by Lisa Webb Photography

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“We just wanted to have a day that reflected us, was relaxed and fun for everyone. We are not religious and so chose to have a humanist ceremony and we have a friend who is a civil celebrant so asked her to marry us which was quite special. We loved the fact that our wedding was a creation of all of our friends.  The flowers, rings, cake, decorations, service, music and food were all created by our nearest and dearest.  That was magical.”Unbelievably, Deborah’s beautiful beaded gown was purchased in the Debenhams sale for less than £80!  I adore the beading and the 1920’s feel.

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“A friend pointed this dress out to me online but I actually wasn’t that fussed about it at first as I had looked at so many and was becoming a bit blurry eyed.  When I tried it on it was perfect, needed no adjustments and looked great.  It looked really expensive, I still cant believe it cost so little.”

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Deborah wore a pair of shoes by our Little Book for Brides MemberRachel Simpson, while for jewellery she opted for a bracelet borrowed from bridesmaid Jo and rings borrowed from bridesmaid and jeweller Eimear Conyard, who also made Deborah’s earrings for her as a wedding gift.

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“My friend Danielle Beckett is a professional make-up artist and she kindly offered to do my wedding make- up as a gift.  I had a practice run with her before the wedding as she knew I was a little nervous.  She listened to what I wanted and did a really light natural look which suited the day perfectly.”

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Deborah was accompanied down the aisle by her brother to ‘Stand By Me’ by Ben E King, laughing all the way.

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“Our friend Samantha tailored our wedding script around us and our story.  It took months for her to prepare and was just perfect. We each had a questionnaire to complete before the wedding asking several questions about us, how we met, what marriage meant to us etc and we didn’t hear each other’s answers until the day.”

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“Niel took weeks to write his vows while I wrote mine the night before but the words just fell onto the page quite easily- I just wrote down exactly how I felt about him and why I wanted to marry him.”

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Deborah’s friend Toni read an extract from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which finishes:

Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

This was so fitting as the ceremony took place outside under a beautiful tree.

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Niel looked very smart in a blue three-piece suit by Ted Baker while the couple’s four year old son looked very cool in a suit from eBay, a bow tie from John Lewis and a pair of new trainers.

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Deborah and Niel’s two year old daughter looked gorgeous in a dress from Marks and Spencer.

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The rings were made by bridesmaid and talented jeweller Toni Mayner.

“My bridesmaid Jo spent all evening the night before decorating the hostel with bunting and lights. She worked so hard and put her heart into creating a beautiful space that we loved.  We had a marquee outside that was decorated with bunting and coloured lanterns and the area around the hostel was decorated by friends who hung white lanterns from the tree and made an aisle through the tents with ribbon and flowers.  Most of our decorations were from our friends weddings; it was nice to bring their day to ours.”

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“We both said our favourite part of the day was the service.  It was exactly what we wanted and we really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed getting ready in the morning with my friends.  We had great fun.”

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“I had four of my closest friends as bridesmaids who are very different women in their own right.  I just wanted them around when I was getting ready; it wasn’t important to me that they wore any particular colour or matching dresses so I told them they could wear whatever they wanted.”

“They coordinated themselves over a few months and ended up looking great together.”

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“Our friend and neighbour John made our bouquets and button holes (including flowers and cuttings from our garden) as a gift to us. We were blown away.  The flowers were so beautiful I took them on honeymoon and enjoyed them for a whole week.”

“The table flowers were supplied and created by more talented friends of ours as another gift.  Miranda and Jill arrived from Lincolnshire with buckets of amazing flowers that they grow in their garden. They spent hours arranging them into jars they had decorated and jugs we had collected from charity shops. They have a business growing British flowers, designing gardens and carrying out Thai yoga massage from a log cabin in their amazing garden which they also open to the public.”

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“Our cake was made as a gift by our friend Sandria and I bought the cake topper from eBay.  We borrowed a cake stand from friends who had married the previous year and Sandria also provided lots of beautiful china plates for the afternoon tea.”

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Catering came in the form of a delicious afternoon tea provided by Fresh and Lush and supplemented by cakes provided by guests.  Everyone sat where they chose on picnic benches and in the evening, everyone ate pizza made in a wood fired oven on site by the Pizza Peddlers. It sounds like my idea of food heaven.

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For entertainment, a friend DJ’d using vinyl and the local pub provided a bar that was set up in a bike shed next to the hostel.

“We had music playing after the wedding from a playlist we had spent a year compiling.  The theme was ‘love’ and everyone contributed a few tunes.”

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Go with what you want and feels right and don’t give in to the pressure of what others think a wedding should be.  There are lots of details that people spend lots of time and money on that guests don’t need or care about.”

We created what everyone described as a relaxed wedding, but it was hard work organising it all.  Take offers of help and use the talent around you.  I’m a big second hand shopper so we saved heaps by using other people’s things and looking in charity shops.”

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I can’t believe the number of talented friends Niel and Deborah are lucky enough to have!  Thank you both so much- what a wonderful wedding weekend.  Is homemade style your thing too?  See here for lots of other lovely DIY weddings.

Much love,

S x

Credits & Thanks

Shona Raffle-Edwards

Shona Raffle-EdwardsView all Shona's articles

Shona is a wedding admiring bookworm with a love of the countryside, flowers and all things organisational who is currently based in sunny Yorkshire with her husband and beloved cat

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