A Handmade and Lovely, Nature Inspired Wedding

Every once in a while, a wedding comes along that is so deliciously individual and I marvel at the creativity of such a couple (and their willing family and friends). The bride is Jessica, a wedding dress designer for Wold Couture and her groom is Lewis, a marketing manager in a brewery. The couple wanted to get married outside on the 4th of June 2016 and were very fortunate to be able to put a marquee up in Jessica’s parents’ veg plot in Binbrook, Lincolnshire.

The footpath between the beds made a natural aisle for their beautiful ceremony, conducted by their friend Kit. Holding the wedding in this way gave them complete freedom to do everything as they wanted. Jessica and Lewis did almost everything themselves, they even made the food. I’m always delighted to see that Tony of Photography 34 has captured a wedding and these images are perfect in every way, you get a real feel for the joy of the day.

“My 1930’s style emerald antique gold ring was the catalyst for many aspects of the day. The colour played a big part (Lewis’ suit was the same green) but I also wanted the dresses to have a certain 1930’s glamour to them. As the wedding was always intended to be outside we wanted to ensure the interior of the marquee brought the outside in just in case we were rained inside.”

Photography by Photography 34

This very talented bride is the woman behind Wold Couture so naturally she designed her own dress.

“I designed the dress for myself, with much deliberation and alterations as I went. I tried a few styles initially and was surprised to find that it was the drop-waist that I felt most comfortable in. I also fell in love with a polka dot tulle that I just had to have for my dress. Most of the dresses I design incorporate lace of some kind but I found this was not my personal style at all and opted instead for appliqued satin leaves falling down the dress to incorporate that feeling of being in nature.”“Tony at Photography 34 was amazing. Our decision to hire a photographer was last minute as we were concerned about the expense but it was worth every penny. We hardly knew he was about but every shot is beautiful and there are so many to choose from. Lewis stayed at our house down the road, they walked up with the dog and looked so cool in a shot Tony took of them all walking together.”

“We did the flowers ourselves, sourced from a local market and various shops for specific blooms. The buttonholes were yellow proteas especially for Lewis as they are one of his favourites.”

“For the rest of the flowers we kept to greens, whites, yellows and purples as these colours had naturally appeared throughout the rest of our wedding. Friends and family banded together to create the bouquets/etc. as I oversaw the process.”

She added a floral crown, made the day before with flowers from the local market. Jessica wanted to feel like herself on her wedding day so she did her own makeup, wore the shoes she wore to her prom 10 years ago and her usual Stella by Stella Mc Cartney perfume, which Lewis associates with his new wife.

“The bracelets I wore made up my something old (a bracelet given to me by my grandparents when I was a child), something new (a bracelet given to me that morning by my bridesmaids), something borrowed (a silver bangle my mum wears most days) and something blue (a bracelet with a pale blue stone given to me by one of my bridesmaids on her wedding day).”

Jessica also designed the bridesmaids Wold Couture dresses, all a little different for each of the ladies, with flat shoes were recommended so they wouldn’t sink into the grass.

They all had flowers in their hair which had been prepared the day before thanks to some willing helpers. As a gift to each bridesmaid, Jess gave them each a knotted bracelet for helping them to tie the knot.

“My dad walked me down our veg plot aisle with live musicians serenading us with ‘Time after Time’ (I tell myself that I’m so lucky to be loving you) – it was their suggestion but actually was perfect.”

 

“We had an amazing singer and guitarist (friends of the family) playing before and after the ceremony. We then set up speakers and played a playlist of songs the guests had requested when they RSVP’d.”

“We met at secondary school where we were close friends but grew apart as we left for college and then university in different cities. After a few years we got back in touch and were close friends again for a while until we fell in love.”

“Lewis proposed on my birthday morning at the bottom of our garden that he had decorated with silver stars and sunflowers, my favourite flower. My birthday party then became my surprise engagement party.”

“Lewis’ suit was from Topman as we fell in love with the green. His bow tie was from Etsy as were his shoes which I added purple laces to as a surprise.”

“One of our close friends performed the ceremony. We had married legally a few weeks earlier so on the day we could do everything exactly as we wished. The beautiful archway we married beneath was made by my father and decorated by him on the morning of the wedding and still stands. My parents also surprised us with bride and groom scarecrows – a little worse for wear now but also still standing.”

“We wrote our own vows which were preceded by our friend saying a few words of his own before asking us to say our vows to each other. I cried through most of it.”

“When we wrote them I wanted to include an extract from the Philip Pullman ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. I didn’t include this in full but we knew what it meant to each other.”

I will love you forever; whatever happens.
Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead,
I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again…
…I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment.
And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart.
Every atom of me and every atom of you…
…We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and in trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams…
…And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight.

“Both of our rings are from Etsy as we wanted something a little different. My ring follows the shape of my engagement ring whereas Lewis’ has grasses engraved onto the surface.”

“I designed all the stationery myself, the invitations were hand painted but the rest of the stationery was a little easier! We gave mini bottles of homemade limoncello as favours which went down very well indeed.”

“We did all the food ourselves (with so much help from family and friends) as we couldn’t settle on what we wanted in order to keep the relaxed vibe. The food was mainly vegetarian and served on each table for guests to help themselves”

“I will be forever thankful to those that helped out with making the food as I rather underestimated how long it would all take to make so it was quite a stressful experience in the end.”

“Our cake was made by Lewis’ sister and her husband who is a head chef so we knew it would be good! It was a naked tiered lemon cake decorated with fresh flowers. We chose a lemon cake as it felt refreshing for a summers day.”

“Our first dance was to Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Funny Little Frog’. It’s a song we’ve always loved and just thought it would be a great song to dance to – we literally leapt onto the dance floor! The music accidentally went on shuffle after this but by twist of fate Baggy Trousers came on and EVERYONE got involved.”

“The dancing, the drinking, the speeches, everything was all so incredible but the best moment beyond doubt is the moment Kit pronounced us man and wife. It may sound soppy but it was a beautiful moment when we fell into each others arms.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Know that something will go wrong, but the day can still be perfect all the same. We had a near fatal chicken poisoning but still a beautiful day!

If we could have hired more people to do some of the things we did ourselves it would certainly have been a calmer experience but in truth we got exactly what we wanted and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Massive thanks to Jessica and Lewis for sharing your day with us. Thanks also to Tony of Photography 34, these images are a joy to see. More of Tony’s wonderful work can be seen here.

Love Caoimhe xx