Bex and Scott had a two day wedding, on 16th and 17th September 2013. They wanted a long celebration so they could get married twice! The first day was the legal ceremony followed by a low-key after party. On day two they went all out with a handfasting ceremony, a tractor ride for the guests and a facepainter!
“We hired Huntstile Farm from Sunday to Wednesday so it turned into a mini break event”, began Bex. “The first wedding day was a small and intimate wedding party (the legal bit!) at Bridgewater Registry office then a causal meal with BYO drinks back at the farm. This allowed us to have the exact wedding we wanted on our second wedding day, which was the big party fun day with all family and friends and Missy Dog (our lemon beagle!)”
“We had a trailer tractor ride, handfasting at the stone circle on the edge of a woodland, rain, mud, wellies and brollies galore. There were rainbows, cream teas, Pimms, face painting and fresh organic home grown food. Many guests stayed on site in rooms or camping, and the kids got to collect the eggs from the chickens ready for breakfast the next morning. The facepainter had so many adults queuing to be painted, even Scott’s gran! Scott being Spiderman and doing his speech was fairly surreal!”
“We wanted a chilled, fun and quirky celebration that was away from the norm to match our personalities”, she continued. “We questioned our religion which was an interesting journey prior to the wedding and chose a pagan / humanist celebration to celebrate the joining of our awesome families and friends out in the elements.”
The bride wore two different outfits for the two days, “For the legal ceremony I wore a simple off white shirt and skirt combo and crocheted waistcoat with head band”, she explained. “It was all from charity shops as I’m a bargain shopper. On the second day I wore a very different combo but I still designed it myself. I was clear that I did not want a white dress, or anything which was available in the shops, I and wanted to fit the elements of the woodland handfasting. We both love alternative clothing and went for a steampunk theme, using autumn colours. Anne Marie Llewellyn helped put my design ideas into practical terms and made my awesome outfit with cuffs, choker, additional lace flowers for myself and the flower girls.”
“We had no flowers and I didn’t want this hassle on the day”, she explained. “Our wedding was on a farm out in the elements with all its awesome plants and trees and I did not feel we needed to introduce any more to this. I personally prefer trees to flowers. Scottie was very clever and patient and made ALL the paper flowers out of his comic books…the bonus is that we now have more space in the basement haha. Since the wedding I have seen many of these flowers which are now in our guests houses…they will last forever.”
“My bridesmaids wore simple plum coloured dresses from House of Fraser (which we bought in the sale) I had three older bridesmaids and they helped me soooo much and I felt very loved. I paid them back by giving them broccoli to carry instead of flowers! It was brilliant…cheap, cheerful and we could eat it afterwards! They took it upon themselves to spray them with glitter!!”
“The flower girls had baskets of petals. The wedding party had homemade leather buttonholes made by Scottie. My bouquet was a homemade jewel version. It was very special to me as I designed and made it which was a test of patience and I also used many key pieces of family jewellery. It is on my bed side table now and will stay special to me forever. It was fairly easy to make and I used my dress sample lace material to add to it!”
“We had an awesome time across these days we felt we smashed it in terms of setting out to have fun and feel relaxed”, she concluded. “We wanted to celebrate our happiness, out in the elements with our nearest and dearest family and friends. We are grateful to all. It’s that simple.”
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- Photography: Paul Willetts Photography
- Venue: Huntstile Farm
- Officiant: Fran Bunce
- Bride's Dress: Anne Marie Llewellyn
- Bride's Shoes: Irregular Choice
- Bridesmaid's Dresses: House of Fraser
- Cake: DIY
- Stationery: DIY
- Band: Snappa
- Facepainter: Spinklesparks