Simple weddings are often the best, and for Feng & David, doing something low-key and ethical was important. So they had a super tiny civil ceremony with only their closest friends and family in attendance, and hosted the reception at their own house! Yes, Feng put on an apron and served all the food herself!
“Our wedding budget was £1500, but we went over this with our photographer and our rings”, began the bride. “Our rings were pretty expensive as they were custom made using fair-trade gold, recycled gold & conflict-free gems by Amanda Li Hope. We were married at Oxford Registry Office and our reception was in our tiny house in East Oxford.”
“To decorate the house we scoured the markets, car boot sales and charity shops, and raided my parent’s hoard of strange wooden objects”, Feng continued. “I made paper pompoms out of retro dress making patterns and flowers from David’s ‘Physics World’ Magazines – combining the two things that we both do. One of our best finds was a 50p Readers Digest atlas on which we printed all of our invites & turned into paper flowers. Although David didn’t take part in the DIY, he let me cut up his physics magazines and was a constant source of support and sage advice. He came back one day surprised that I’d painted chevrons all over the dining room wall! I was addicted to reading wedding blogs (especially Rock n Roll Bride) as a source of inspiration.”
“We wanted our wedding to be about us and avoid the cliché identikit wedding style”, she continued. “So rather than have a bride & groom sit on a throne, we enjoyed being very hands on preparing everything in advance to the day, and even up to the last minute when guests started arriving.”
“I bought my dress from Annie’s Vintage in London – it was a gorgeous long evening dress in a heavy cream silk, but unfortunately was a tiny bit too short and slightly moth eaten in places. I happily cut it in two and sewed it back together again, creating a knee length dress and making sleeves from the excess fabric. I made my own fascinator & hair pins after months of fruitless searching. I’ve never dabbled in millinery but I thought it looked OK! The hair accessories worked well with the textured & dishevelled hairstyle that Rose Wallace created. I also got ready at her amazingly retro flat and she was brilliant at keeping my pre-wedding nerves at bay.”
“I’m an ethical fashion designer, and it was really important that this wedding was in keeping with this ethos. The outfits were chosen to have a life beyond the wedding day. Vintage and upcycling was a key theme, as was using fair trade products, organic and sustainable materials. Lucky for us, there’s a great fair-trade shop in Oxford.”
“We loved having such an intimate wedding, where we spent a decent amount of time talking to all our guests”, Feng concluded. “Transforming our living room into a reception venue was a fun challenge. Seeing it all come together on the day was very exciting, and knowing that guests were enjoying our wedding made us happy. We enjoyed having our portraits taken in local places, such as the grocery store, hardware store, and outside the artist studios where I work. It was a bit strange at first, especially having to kiss & cuddle in public, but we got used to it!”
So beautiful. Thank you to Feng & david for letting us in on their special day and thanks to the fan-bloomin-tastic photographer Laura McCluskey for sharing her photo gold.
