Hazel and Dan’s backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details
Samantha

Today’s wonderful backyard family wedding is full of colour, smiles, love and laughter – a perfect wedding recipe.
Hazel and Dan were married October 2015 in an intimate humanist ceremony in their backyard surrounded by their family and friends. Followed with a parade through Arthur Street in Edinburgh they continued their celebrations at their local community hall with child-friendly entertainment and a celidh.
The moments and details of their day were beautifully captured by one of our talented directory member Solen Photography, and to tell us a bit more about it all is lovely bride Hazel…
A relaxed, informal morning
We all got ready together at the flat and helped each other with our hair and makeup. My bridesmaids and I had had a fun day shopping for outfits together, they are all from high street stores. I didn’t need them to match, just something that they enjoyed wearing. My mum made my headband. I especially liked our gold shoes, which I have worn several times since. Some of my friends from work made beautiful bouquets of flowers for us. The lads had all decided to hire kilts and looked great.
A backyard family wedding
We got married in the tiny garden of our flat in Edinburgh. We were looking for somewhere that had an intimate feel and was special to us, and where better than in the home we’ve made together? We weren’t sure how the weather would be and thought we might need to do it in our tiny living room (which gave us the excuse to buy new curtains).
In the end it was a gorgeous day and it was standing room only in our little garden for the beautiful humanist ceremony conducted by Fiona Flanagan. Our neighbours made homemade decorations for the tree outside and we toasted the ceremony in vintage glasses that were collected from local charity shops. There wasn’t a ‘big entrance’ or an aisle, we just welcomed guests when they arrived, it was very relaxed.
Creating a fun, child-friendly wedding
We were mostly inspired by other wonderful weddings and parties we’ve been invited to over the years. We particularly like the ones where everyone gets involved and feels a part of it. We also have lots of friends with children and it was important to us that they were included and had a fun day.
A parade through town to the reception
After the ceremony we walked to a community centre for our reception where we had ordered the biggest takeaway delivery ever – curry to feed 160 people. It’s a lovely walk through the park and one of the younger guests brought his scooter, which created a fun photo opportunity. The curry was made by the good folk at Punjabi Junction – a Social Enterprise Community Café in Leith – and everyone said it was delicious. There was a ceilidh of course.
An evening of entertainment provided by friends
We asked that instead of gifts people could volunteer to bring a cake or some baking. We ended up with a banquet table full of delicious goodies. Craft materials were supplied for each table to create their own table decoration and there were prizes for the best – it became quite competitive!
Several of our friends sang or played music- both during the ceremony and at the reception. The brilliant band Sprog Rock did an amazing gig before dinner and got all the children (and lots of the grown ups) singing (and rapping) along.
Don’t worry, everyone will have a good time
I was glad that I made time to spend with guests in the days before or after, especially those who travelled to be there. We were so busy on the day that it was hard to really catch up with everyone.
I was so keen to make the planning fun and not get stressed, but there were still moments of feeling overwhelmed by it all. I think that if I could have just realised everyone was going to have a good time, if I believed that to be true (because of course they are, these are amazing people who you have invited because you love them) then it would have been easier.
Post wedding you will be able to remember the details, like what people were wearing and all the little moments during the ceremony, through your photos. So I think it’s worth investing in a good photographer. We loved Solen’s pictures.
Thank you so much to Hazel and Dan for sharing their wedding day with us and to Solen Photography for providing the beautiful images of it.
{ Details }
Photographer: Solen Photography
Reception Venue: Nelson Hall Community Centre
Brides Dress: Monsoon
Brides Shoes: Clarks
Brides headpiece: Handmade my mother of bride
Grooms Outfit: Slanj Kilts
Flowers: Friend
Wedding Food: Punjabi Junction
Entertainment: Sprog Rock
Categories: Real Weddings
Tags: autumn wedding > back garden wedding > backyard wedding > child-friendly > DIY wedding > featuring our businesses > handfasting ceremony > outdoor ceremony > Scottish wedding > solen photography