Real Weddings Archives - Page 3 of 8 - The Natural Wedding Company

Blog: Real Weddings

Charlie

Hanna and Guy’s storybook inspired spring garden wedding with a marching band and humanist blessing beneath a tree

Charlie

Today’s wedding is just making me long for those lush spring days when the English countryside is covered in cow parsley and buttercups. Hanna and Guy were inspired by childhood storybook’s and fairytales, with fun details dotted throughout their wedding, which took place in a beautiful family garden.

We adore this kind of wedding, with its down-to-earth feel, involvement by family and friends, and those magical moments – in this case a marching band leading the bride and groom through a field of cow parsley (see below). This wedding was beautifully captured by our friend Joanna Ornowska of Images for Life, one of our TNWC Recommended Suppliers. Over to Hanna to tell you more about her whimsical storybook garden wedding…

A back garden wedding inspired by childhood stories

I liked the idea of having a wedding that was as tailored to our personalities and values as possible, and so the idea of using a venue that was licensed for civil ceremonies and had already hosted countless big days was immediately dismissed. Instead, we decided to have a humanist blessing in Guy’s mum’s glorious two-acre back garden, which is somewhat incongruously hidden away behind a suburban bungalow in rural Cambridgeshire.

We’re both passionate about traditional children’s stories and so we chose to follow a loose ‘storybook’ theme, transforming the garden into a magical fairytale land that we jokingly called ‘Ermine Island’.

Samantha

Hannah and Gregg’s modern folk wedding at an English manor house with an elegant two piece wedding dress

Samantha

Today’s couple Hannah and Gregg are so effortlessly cool and their beautiful modern folk wedding perfectly reflects this. Their stunningly simple style truly allows the emotion and enjoyment of all involved to shine through from the brides’s two piece and flower crown to the radiant smiles beaming across everyone’s faces.

Not only do the photos of their day showcase that it really isn’t always the little decor details that count but they are testament to the importance of finding yourself a brilliant photographer. Hannah and Gregg’s big day was shot by one of our recommended suppliers, the lovely Oxi Photography. Oxana has a real talent for perfectly capturing the essence and emotion of people, which on your wedding day when you are surrounded by all your loved ones, is one of the most important things.

We will now pass you over to the bride Hannah to share with you the finer details about their big day…

Charlie

Bree and Mitch’s rustic backyard wedding on the coast of Australia with a blush pink wedding dress by Grace Loves Lace

Charlie

Today’s beautiful rustic backyard wedding comes to us all the way from sunny Australia and is a lovely example of how to have a laid back and affordable wedding. Bree and Mitch were high school sweethearts and planned a wedding around their memories of warm evenings sat together in Bree’s parents back garden.

From Bree’s unconventional blush pink Grace Loves Lace wedding dress to rustic handmade details and makeshift bar, this wedding is both beautiful and full of love, but without a huge financial cost. They even had some weather issues, but not – if you’re planning a summer wedding in England – in the way that you’d imagine!

Over to Bree to tell us more about their wedding…

Charlie

A romantic Flower Fairy inspired wedding with gypsophila flower crown and woodland themed wedding reception

Charlie

I had another blog feature planned for today, but then I found out it is my colleague Samantha’s fourth wedding anniversary today, and naturally I felt that sharing some snippets from her beautiful wedding was much more appropriate.

Samantha came into my life a couple of years ago when I was looking for someone to become a blog features writer – up until that point it had just been me running The Natural Wedding Company directory and writing the blog. I loved her enthusiasm and obvious love for weddings, I loved that she had become a mum at a similar time to me and had a little boy near in age to my little girl, and I loved that she had been inspired by childhood books The Flower Fairies for her wedding.

Whilst we don’t get to see each other very much because we live at opposite ends of the country, she has become such an important part of my life and the fabric and future of The Natural Wedding Company. So today while she celebrates four years of marriage with her husband Paul, our blog will celebrate that day four years ago when they said their “I do’s”.

Here’s to celebrating true love (these two are truly my idols when it comes to romance – you’ll see what I mean from Paul’s proposal) and to living out our girlhood dreams of being Flower Fairies. Put on a suitable romantic song, turn it up loud and enjoy this sweet celebration of marriage. Over to Samantha for a few snippets from her wedding…

A wedding inspired by The Flower Fairies

I have deep down (ok, not that deep down) always wished to be a flower fairy, therefore wanted to create the feeling of a magical world in the depths of the woods for everyone to enjoy. Luckily Paul didn’t even bat an eyelid when I suggested that we go for a woodland inspired ‘theme’ which would feature giant strawberries.

Charlie

Zoe and Alex’s rustic hippy outdoor wedding with a barefoot bride in a boho wedding dress

Charlie

Oh what a beauty of a wedding this is, with this effortlessly stylish barefoot bride in her boho two-piece wedding “dress” and the outdoor ceremony beneath an archway of weathered branches. I have literally spent hours attempting to whittle down the photos I received for Zoe and Alex’s stunning wedding, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for not doing great at cutting them down, because they are pretty awesome.

A special thanks goes out to Alice at Forage and Blossom, one of our fab recommended suppliers and the florist for Zoe and Alex. All those gorgeous white, pale cream and green bouquets, flower crowns and arrangements – those are her work. Alice is also the one who helped get this beautiful wedding to grace our pages.

Put on some music and find somewhere to get comfy, because Zoe and Alex’s wedding deserves all the time you can give it to soak up a truly special celebration. If you are worrying about all the details you need to “have” to create the wedding of your dreams, I hope that Zoe and Alex will show you that you only need a few carefully selected elements and lots of laughter. Over to Zoe…

Samantha

Tim and Sarah’s autumn barn wedding on a rustic Kent farm with gold pumpkins, twinkly lights and a tweed suit

Samantha

Today’s relaxed autumn barn wedding perfectly showcases the benefits of using seasonal and local produce and suppliers within your big day. I am sure we all love seeing what each new season brings, and it is so lovely to see when a wedding truly embraces the season they fall in.

Tim and Sarah’s wedding does just that, featuring the most stunning dahlias, quirky transport, a fire pit, a groom in tweed, a bride in wellies, and some copper pumpkins – because what autumn wedding wouldn’t be complete without a few for good measure.

Tim and Sarah, 17th October 2015

Tim and Sarah were married on an autumn’s day in the gorgeous barn at The House Meadow at Worsenden Farm surrounded by their friends and family. The whole day was perfectly captured by the wonderful TNWC Recommended Supplier Livvy Hukins Photography. To accompany the beautiful images it would only be fair for us to now pass you over to the beautiful bride Sarah to tell you a little bit more about their big day…

Samantha

Amy and Alex’s colourful, handmade outdoor wedding with a floral wedding dress and relaxed Buddhist tea ceremony

Samantha

Today’s gorgeous wedding has us beaming from ear to ear, it is a incredible explosion of colour, brimming with love, laughter and personal handmade touches. This wedding truly optimises the idea of doing ‘your wedding, your way’ throwing the ‘wedding rule book’ out the window and we just love it.

You will find no big white dress or matching suits here, think floral prints, an outdoor buddhist tea ceremony, a ‘bring a dish’ buffet, and an evening full of family entertainment and you will begin to get the picture.

Alex and Amy, July 2015

Alex and Amy, who met at university, were married on a gloriously sunny day back in July last year. They wanted to create ‘a relaxed day of fun for everyone’ and they most certainly did that.

Our day was about celebrating us as a couple, our two children, our family and friends. We are very fortunate to live in a beautiful valley which was the perfect venue for our wedding.

Charlie

Lizzy and Graeme’s country fete inspired Cheshire wedding with vintage ice cream van and cottage garden flowers

Charlie

To describe this wedding at a country fete inspired wedding is really to do it a disservice, because it is so much more than just that. The bride, Lizzy, told me that her photographers “truly captured the happiness and love felt”, a wish that I imagine most of us have for our wedding day. Lizzy has put into words so many of those feelings we have in the lead up to our wedding day, so if you are a bride-to-be then I encourage you to stop a while and read as well as soak up all the pretty details.

For an overview of this beautiful wedding this slideshow put together by photographers Bohemian Weddings gives you a little of the magic these two shared on their wedding day, and includes lots of extras captures. A lovely alternative to a wedding film, and I get all teary watching it despite not knowing these two…

As a quick aside, you might also notice that we’ve changed up the format of our real weddings a bit, we have crafted a new questionnaire for our couples which we hope gives them more freedom to tell us the story of their wedding in their own words. For this reason I imagine that the appearance of these features will change from wedding to wedding, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it will truly allow the stories to shine through.

Lizzy + Graeme, July 2015

So many of the real weddings I share have extra special meaning to me, and today’s wedding is no exception. I was contacted by Lizzy after her wedding photographer cancelled just 8 weeks before her wedding, asking if I could help. After I emailed all of the wonderful wedding photographers in our directory, Lizzy received over a dozen replies, and from those she fell in love with one couple – Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings. I understand the four of them really connected and I am just so delighted to be now sharing Lizzy and Graeme’s wedding with you. Over to Lizzy…

Charlie

Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding at their idyllic Somerset village

Charlie

This beautiful summer woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding is a delight to share, not only because it’s full of lovely details that will undoubtedly inspire many of our brides, but also because it’s the wedding of one last years TNWC Real Brides, Fern (find all her blog posts here).

Fern and Dominic planned a natural down-to-earth wedding in their home village Montacute in Somerset. This idyllic rural village provided a pretty backdrop against which they celebrated their marriage, and wove into their wedding day some of the things they love most – woodland birds and country garden blooms. Over to Fern to share her wedding day…

Fern + Dominic, August 2015

Our wonderful August wedding was everything that we had hoped for. It was really important to us right from the beginning for our day to be really welcoming, intimate occasion to share with our family. We had a very small wedding party with only one bridesmaid, best man and one usher, but this was right for us. Lots of our guests commented on how much they enjoyed the relaxed family atmosphere.

Charlie

Tamsin and Alex’s relaxed eco-friendly wedding with woodland handfasting ceremony and the best cake ever

Charlie

Eco-friendly wedding with handfasting ceremony

What a beautiful way to welcome in the New Year with this down-to-earth, relaxed eco-friendly wedding of Tamsin and Alex. Captured by the lovely Emma of Emma Stoner Photography (and second shooter Heather Birnie), who can be found featured on the Photography + Film page of our directory, this wedding is bound to inspire you. Plus it has my new all-time-favourite wedding cake and wedding hair!

Tamsin and Alex got married in September at Middle Coombe Farm in Devon, where they fell in love with “it’s wonderful inhabitants and beautiful sprawling woodlands.” Here at TNWC we recently fell for the charms of Middle Coombe Farm and are delighted that you’ll now find them on the directory too.

Over to Tamsin to tell us more…

Middle Coombe Farm for a woodland wedding

“[We wanted] a relaxed and rustic [feel], with lots for everyone to do and an eclectic take on decorations and as eco conscious as I could make it. We chose Middle Coombe Farm after finding out about it’s wonderful inhabitants and beautiful sprawling woods. The accommodation was also spot on, with a place for campers, a campervan, family and close friends and little ones! It advertises itself as an eco venue too so we were very sold!

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