Vintage eco wedding

Such a pretty wedding today! Do I say that every time? But each and every wedding is beautiful, and yet so different and personal to the couple. Colette and Simon got married in August on the Cornish coast (you might recognise their wedding venue from last week’s wedding), with a real vintage-cum-eco feel.

Colette told me that for her and Simon, “it wasn’t too much about the look, rather more about the feel we wanted to create which was, beautiful, relaxed, sustainable, vegan and fun, fun, fun!”

I’ll let you see for yourselves – over to Colette and exquisite photography from Mark Tattersall (TNWC recommended wedding photographer and Colette’s brother-in-law!)…

“We wanted a kind of a mixture between an eco wedding, a vintage themed wedding – 50s style and a handmade really relaxed wedding. This kind of just reflects our favourite kinds of weddings and our personal likes and dislikes. We wanted everyone to be comfortable and to have lots of fun.”

They chose Mount Pleasant Eco Park in Cornwall to have their wedding ceremony and reception: “We just really like the whole ethos of the Mount Pleasant Eco Park, the sustainable buildings on site and their support for sustainable communities.”

“Also the fact that the site is fantastic, amazing, loads of stunning, creative and useable spaces and breathtaking views across the Cornwall Coast. The venue also had a really laid back approach and encouraged a DIY wedding, which really suited us.”

“We set everything up the day before so it was all sorted, apart from the wind blew all the flags down during the night so Si had lots of work in the morning, mending signs and re-driving flag poles!”

“It was also quite hectic on the brides side. Madame Tashy worked a minor miracle getting all of our hair and make up done on time whilst also entertaining babies with her jewellery!!”

Colette wore a vintage 1950s wedding gown that she found after a long search on the internet: “I knew I wanted a 50s dress and that it needed to be original. I must have searched every corner of the internet for around six months before I found it in an Esty shop and I had it shipped from the US. Not very sustainable but I fell in love with it.”

“I just really liked the embroidered tulle, the shape and the pleated tulle details that were really unusual. I’d had my baby girl, Florence, almost a year to the day before we got married, so I couldn’t risk getting a very small dress in my usual size in case I didn’t shed the baby pounds!”

“This dress was perfect cause it was a 30 inch waist…almost unheard of in terms of the tiny waist sizes of most of the original 50s dresses. Anna D’Souza, a dress designer in Truro did a fab job taking it in.”

“I found the accessories during two visits to my favourite vintage jewellery lady at the local flea market!! I don’t even know her name! This was a 50s diamanté flower broach to hold my wrap together and a 30s green cut glass beaded necklace, which was just gorgeous.”

“I found my 50s green diamanté hair combs in another Etsy shop in Canada (so naughty!). The best buy was the faux fur wrap which I’ll admit cost a fiver from eBay! Good old eBay!!”

Colette’s bridesmaids wore vintage style dresses made from mismatched floral vintage fabric:

“The bridesmaids were all in 50s style vintage dresses. My two head bridesmaids and Si’s eldest daughter were in special handmade 50s style dresses lovingly crafted from vintage fabric by Dig For Victory in Brighton. The dresses were all mismatched, floral and plain but all to the colour scheme of mustard, bright greens and purple….They looked amazing!”

When asked what Simon wore for their wedding, Colette decided to ask him: “a hat, a shirt and some trousers!” was the reply she got! “Typical!! I loved his waistcoat and hat and his very cool blue (not) suede boots!”

Colette grew all the flowers for their wedding: “I love gardening and I guess I just fancied the challenge. It was also a lot cheaper! I wanted bright flowers around the colour theme, sustainably sourced and with a slightly informal feel. I did pay for a few extra sunflowers from a local grower so we had enough to do everything, but most of them were grown in my pollytunnel.”

“I had a great day with a good friend of mine, two days before the wedding, going foraging for wild flowers. We struck gold on a disused factory site near Redruth and picked loads of lovely purple buddleia. We then put individual stems into about 150 glass vintage bottles for the table settings and I did all the bouquets. It was very hard work but so worth it!!”

“The ceremony was held on site at Mount Pleasant Eco Park, in their amazing amphitheatre. This is a really high spot on site and the views are stunning! We found a load of jute cushions  so people could sit comfortably if it was a bit damp.”

“We decorated the ceremony structure with lots of flowers and a lovely curtain of paper cranes for luck! I began folding nearly 300 cranes from origami paper about a year before the wedding!”

I think the way Colette and Simon chose to decorate their ceremony space really complements the natural structure.

When Colette first saw Simon at their wedding ceremony, she told me, “I just felt really happy to see him and give him a big hug!! He looked very suave and sexy in his wedding outfit. He’s my best friend and I was just really over the moon to be marrying him.”

“The weather wasn’t brilliant, but it wasn’t bad enough to force us inside luckily! We had a back-up plan for bad weather of getting married in the barn. I think it’s always good to have a backup!”

“We had two readings, one was a quote on love by John Lennon and the other was the passage on love from ‘The Prophet’ by Khalil Gibran. They had real meaning for both of us.”

“We had a few songs to play during the signing of the register…an eclectic mix of Bob Dylan, Iron and Wine and The Smiths to name but a few. We left the ceremony space to ‘Sticking with You’ by The Velvet Underground!”

After their ceremony, Colette, Simon and their baby girl Florence headed to the beach for a few photos and to have some time just the three of them. “We took our little baby, Florence, with us. It was so nice! Gorgeous light.”

They decorated the barn at Mount Pleasant Eco Park with more of those lovely homegrown flowers of Colette’s, along with bunting, ribbons and sheer fabrics.

Don’t you love the tiny extra details like these paper cranes hung from the back of the chairs…

Colette and Simon had two meals for their reception, a buffet for their day guests and a ‘pot luck’ style meal in the evening where guests each brought a dish.

I love the children’s tent!

Any favourite moments from the day? “We loved all of it! There were so many elements which were special, touching, moving and just downright funny!! I loved the Wedding Olympics, it really brought everyone together. I spacehoppered in my wedding dress and Simon split his trousers in his heat!! He had to change into his jeans!! It was so funny watching usually mild mannered relatives turning into competitive athletes! And the kids loved it!!”

 “We had a formal buffet for day guests – this was a completely vegan buffet by Fairfoods of Exeter. They make stunningly tasty vegan food. Everyone was stuffed and happy, even the most ardent of meat eaters. I’ve been a vegan for over 20 years and was always sure that my big day wouldn’t involve any exploitation of animals in any way.”

“The day and evening guests also brought a little vegan dish that we scoffed later on before the band came on, so everyone could have an evening meal. It was a great way to save money and the guests really liked being able to contribute in that way.”

“I’m big into the vintage style and also both of us are really into sustainability. Wildflower seeds which people could plant that would be good for bees, just seemed like a really good way of spreading the love!”

Wedding photographer Mark Tattersall (who also took our wedding photos) is Colette’s brother-in-law: “Well, when you’ve got a nationally renowned wedding photographer for a brother-in-law and his pictures are always amazing, it’s a no brainer to ask him for a favour.”

When I asked what it was like working with him (seems a bit of a silly question in hindsight!), Colette told me: “We really didn’t work with him…he just turned up with his camera and took amazing shots. We didn’t have to do anything!! He’s brilliant! And the results were more than we could have ever hoped for. I’m paying him back now by designing his garden for him!”

A huge thank you to Mark Tattersall for sending this beautiful wedding into my inbox, and to Colette and Simon for sharing their wedding day with us all.

{ Details }

Photography: Mark Tattersall
Venue: Mount Pleasant Eco Park, Cornwall
Wedding Dress: Vintage
Dress Restoration: Anna D’Souza
Handmade Rings: Stedman Fielder Jewellery Studio
Hair: Madame Tashy’s Beauty Boutique
Bridesmaids Dresses: Dig For Victory
Flowers: Homegrown by bride
Catering: Fairfoods