Wild and natural Welsh wedding

I’m in-love with today’s wedding for its laid-back and relaxed attitude – for me, Rhiannon and Richard seem to have really captured what your wedding day should really be about: love, family, friends, good company and delicious food.

They got married in September 2011 with a beautiful weekend-long wedding held at Fforest, just outside Cardigan in Wales.  Rhiannon and Richard really did their wedding their way – with no photographer, no over-the-top details, just lots of fun and a super relaxed weekend surrounded by their family and friends.

Rhiannon is a freelance journalist who writes about all things green, community, and outdoor travel related, and Richard runs Greentraveller, so it’s not hard to see why their wedding embraced all things natural.

They got married at Mwnt Church, a tiny white building perched on the Welsh coast.  Rhiannon wore a oyster coloured dress from Donna Karan and carried a gorgeous bouquet of cornflowers and herbs.

“My flowers were by Chloe at BareBlooms, who I found through The Natural Wedding Company, and were exactly what I wanted.  They were a mix of wild-looking flowers and herbs.”  The flowers for the buttonholes they picked themselves from the garden at Fforest.

What a stunning place to get married – I love this picture of guests awaiting Rhiannon’s arrival at the church – including the vicar!

These two look so happy together and so effortlessly elegant- from Rhiannon’s stunning dress and wild looking bouquet, to Richard’s deep blue one-button suit and brown lace-ups.

After the wedding ceremony, everyone enjoyed a “fizz” reception and listened old 1930s, 40s and 50s love songs played on a family gramophone.  Their friend Martin offered to DJ and had spent the weeks leading up to the wedding collecting just the right kind of vinyl to play.

Rhiannon’s rings were specially made, her wedding ring made by her friend Alison Macleod, and her engagement ring by Ruth Tomlinson, both artisan jewellers.

The barn where the hog roast was served was decorated with flowers from Fforest’s garden arranged in jam jars and old enamel jugs, and bunting borrowed from a friend who’s made lots for her own wedding.  Rhiannon and Richard had also hosted a big informal curry meal the night before for all their guests who had travelled so far.

Rhiannon and Richard dreamt up a fitting wedding cake made from Welshcakes and seasonal berries.  “Traditional wedding cakes just seemed to much money and we wanted something that would also work as a pudding after the hog roast.  To save money, we decided to go with a Welsh theme – we both have Welsh connections in our family – and ordered flavoured Welshcakes.” 

“Two of my friends then made a ‘wedding cake’ from stacks of Welshcakes topped with seasonal berries and anything they could find in the garden at Fforest, like wild strawberries.  We served them with big bowls of strawberries and jugs of creme fraiche for people to help themselves, which worked really well.”

After the hog roast they had a ceilidh, with everyone lined up to do one huge Orcadian ‘Strip the Willow’ instead of a first dance.  “We didn’t want to have to do an awkward first dance or anything like that, so everyone danced with us.  It was great!  I managed to find a brilliant local band who could play exactly the right kind of music, I knew it would get everyone of all ages dancing, and it did.”

But for Rhiannon, her favourite part of the wedding celebrations was their midnight canoe send off!  “After the dancing we all walked down to the river – we’d hung tealights in jam jars for as much of the path as we could.  With everyone waving us off from the riverbank, we paddled away by canoe.  It was so peaceful and romantic after such a hectic day.”

I personally can’t imagine an anymore romantic way to leave your wedding than that.  It sure beats being driven away by your dad in the family Volvo (that’s how we left our wedding!).  A huge thank you to Rhiannon and Richard for letting me share their beautiful wedding and I wish them all the happiness together for their future.

Update: If you’d like to know in more detail the flowers that went into Rhiannon’s beautiful bouquet have a read here.

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Images: taken by friends
Wedding Ceremony: Mwnt Church
Wedding Venue: Fforest
Wedding Dress: DKNY
Flowers: BareBlooms
Wedding Ring: Alison Macleod
Engagement Ring: Ruth Tomlinson
Welshcakes: Cwmni Cacen Gri