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A Fancy Dress Glastonbury Festival Wedding: Alice & Matt

Kat

July 27, 2012

After dating for four and a half years, Matt proposed to Alice on the long drive home from Glastonbury Festival in 2011. So needless to say, the couple decided they wanted a festival themed wedding... or more specifically a homage to their favourite festival. "It had been an amazing weekend of music, love and cider-fuelled reveling," began the bride. "It was pretty much an unspoken agreement from the off that our wedding would be an homage to Glastonbury. The festival has played a massive part in both our lives and running around in the mud, dressed like loons, dancing until dawn is high on our favourite things to do list. As soon as we'd verbalised the words 'festival', 'camping' and 'fancy dress' the thought occurred that it might be worth a punt asking the Eavis family (who own the land Glastonbury Festival is held on) if they would consider letting us use Worthy Farm. The family are great friends of my parents and scrumptious people. Amazingly they were really excited about the idea and more than happy to help (although they have since decided they don't want to host further weddings - we might have put them off for life...eek!! - that's not their bag). Glastonbury was having a year off so we chose to wed on Saturday 23rd June, a date which anyone who knows anything about Glastonbury will know understand to be highly significant!"
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Colourful Californian Ranch Wedding: Jamie & Chris

Kat

July 26, 2012

This colourful ranch wedding winged it's way to me all the way from sunny California. Held at The Holland Ranch, San Luis Obispo, with all the guests staying at the nearby Madonna Inn, the day was one of colour, fun and a rockin' good time! "Our inspiration was to make our wedding as fun as possible and as uniquely 'us'", Jamie, the bride, told me. "We knew we wanted to do it in San Luis Obispo because it's our favorite little town on the coast and would be a destination wedding for our families who live out of town and our friends who live in LA. The Madonna Inn is a special hotel for us and we stay there a few times a year. It's so fun and funky. And we love that every room was different, we knew it would be a fun part of the experience for our guests. As soon as we found the Holland Ranch and saw all the neon signs and taxidermy on the walls of the party barn, we knew it was our place. Plus, it had the gorgeous mountain-backdrop and cool archway for the ceremony. We loved the idea of having our big day all in one location. And the barn was the perfect back-drop for the party! More than anything, we wanted our guests to have fun and from what we've heard, they did!"
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A Rustic French Countryside Wedding: Natalie & Oliver

Kat

July 26, 2012

Natalie & Oliver were married in France, at Oliver's parents home in L’Isle En Dodon. The British couple live in The States but made the trip to France to marry surrounded by their friends and family. "The French countryside and beautiful barn were our main inspiration and did a lot of the hard work for us!" explained the pair. "The family setting and DIY approach gave the wedding a really personal touch, which we would never have been able to achieve in a more traditional venue, and gave the wedding an incredibly unique feel. So many people contributed to making the wedding as amazing as it was – it really was a family affair and those invites, certainly a labour of love!"
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A Californian Ranch Wedding: Natalie & Dave

Kat

July 24, 2012

The ranch location of Natalie & Dave's wedding helped to set their theme. With crafty DIY details creating a rustic charm, this wedding was one with a real relaxed vibe. The Californian sunshine probably helped as well! "I am not sure what to call our theme really," began the bride, "because it was outdoors we used berlap, wildflowers and wine barrels which gave it that country feel. But I also liked adding lace, pearls and hanging lights to give it a more elegant look."
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A Woodland Ceremony & A Pirate Themed Party: Jenny & Gary

Kat

July 18, 2012

I love love love Shell de Mar's wedding photography. Every single image is bright and fun and vibrant. They just make me feel so happy. I don't know what it is... It's probably a little to do with the amazing way she captures colour but more likely than not it's a lot to do with the firecracker behind the lens. Shell is a cute as hell force to be reckoned with. She's also one of my best friends and so it's always an honour to share her work on my blog. Today's installment of sunshine comes in the form of Jenny & Gary's woodland ceremony, hillside portraits and pirate themed reception. "Our ceremony was held at Wittenham Clumps (i.e. up a hill!), just next to the reception venue", Jenny told me. "When we came to see the barn as a potential reception venue we fell in love with the view, the fresh air, abundance of wild flowers and birdsong (sounds cheesy but it truly was idyllic) and just had to have the wedding there. Amazingly the sun shone on the day, although it had been raining for weeks before and after. We were bloody lucky! The only down side was there was no license so we had to have a small civil ceremony the week before (no great burden really – having an intimate day was also wonderful)."
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A Maryland Farm Wedding: Jamie & McKenzie

Kat

July 6, 2012

Too gorgeous for words...like literally. I just stared and stared at these amazing photos for (what seemed like) hours before I found the words to start writing this article. There really is something utterly breathtaking about this wedding and Lydia Jane's images that captured it. I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you today so please forgive my gushing... Jamie & McKenzie were married at home. They love their lifestyle on their farm, living alongside the sheep and chickens, so a homespun wedding was really the only option. The couple have a hugely supportive family who all helped out to make the wedding what it was.
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An Upcycled Ceremony in the Park: Julian & Carolyn

Kat

May 18, 2012

Some of you may recognise Julian & Carolyn as I featured their 'registration of marriage ceremony', a Malaysian tradition, way back in December 2010! Well since then, the couple have been planning the rest of their wedding celebration - an outdoor party held at Kiara Jungle Park in Kuala Lumpur. "For the ceremony itself, we wanted a really cute/funny entrance," Carolyn began. "Our first ideas was to have a few of our friends ride in with their Harley's and then my Dad & I would zip right in with a Vespa and cute 'beep, beep'! Unfortunately (well, fortunately on hindsight) the Vespa we borrowed was giving us some problems, so we didn't go on with the plan... but my friends still came with 4 white Harley's and so I hopped onto to the back and that was my grand entrance!"
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A Handmade Florida Wedding : Mike & Melissa

Kat

May 1, 2012

Working in the music industry it was important to Mike & Melissa that their wedding suited their lifestyle and sensibilities and 1903 Hontoon, a vacation property in Deland Florida, turned out to be the perfect place. "Mike is a local musician and recently I have decided to leave my job and become his manager!" began the bride. "We have been together for almost 4 years now and over the next two we will be setting up our lives to hit the road indefinitely until we find the best place to live! We are too hot here in Florida and always long to be in the mountains. We changed our wedding date 3 times just so that we could have it at this venue, because as far as Florida goes it was pretty hard to find a place that really spoke of who we are. We chose 1903 Hontoon, a vacation property that used to be an old boat & motor repair shot. It has an awesome feel to it. Our wedding is hardcore DIY & hand made - from 1,000 paper cranes to the tablecloths to the bridesmaid dresses and jewelry. I'm extremely crafty so I have been a non-stop force of productivity in creating everything I possibly can for this day. With that being said it is REALLY important to us to have our wedding captured because every detail is so dear to our hearts! The two of us never imagined that we would get married but, love eventually finds you and before we left for our travels it was important to us to share this bond and experience with our families."
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A Picnic Wedding: Alex & Denise

Kat

April 23, 2012

The inspiration for Alex & Denise's Brighton wedding was for it to be "just like a big picnic". They used local suppliers (including the caterers who used local produce and supplied locally produced champagne) where possible and DIY'ed the rest! "Our inspiration was for it to be like a big picnic - although without having to sit on the floor!" Denise told me. "I found mini picnic baskets that were used as the centrepiece on each table. These were filled with chutney, pickles and breadsticks. We wanted the wedding to be really relaxed – I've always disliked formal situations. I also wanted there to be lots of colour. For the meal we had a blanket set up on the floor for any children that got bored of the adults. We also did a play area with a wigwam, dress up box and colouring books. Although on the day they mainly opted for running around the field like lunatics."
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A Private Residence Wedding: Ruby & Emmanuel

Kat

April 20, 2012

Ruby & Emmanuel's sweet wedding took place on a private residence in Adelaide. The bride wore a 1930s vintage wedding gown with a vintage headpiece. Even her bridesmaids wore vintage dresses. The couple locally sourced things where they could including the food their served and the flowers the used to decorate the marquee. The bride's sister made all their stationery and paper goods. The wedding was a really personal and intimate affair. "Our focus was really just on our family," the bride explained. "We handcrafted our wedding with, of course, some true vintage touches."
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An Alabama Cave Wedding: Melissa & Greg

Kat

April 10, 2012

Yes you did read that correctly - Melissa & Greg got married in a cave (and instantly went into my 'coolest ever wedding venue' mental checklist). "Greg and I picked up the love of spelunking (caving) during our 4 ½ year relationship and wanted to show our families what we found so beautiful about underground," Melissa explained when I asked them about their unusual choice. "The ceremony felt very romantic; low lighting, candles everywhere, glowing stalactites and the silhouettes of the people who love us the most. My stepfather Mark became ordained and performed our ceremony. It was very special to have him be such a huge part of my wedding since my father refused to attend for his own personal reasons. One of the more emotional moments of the day was when I danced with my stepfather. I hate crying but there was no holding back my ugly crying face! Greg walked me down the aisle, which was a perfect way to begin our marriage. I was much less nervous than I would have been otherwise. We broke a few traditions that I used to think were important, but now I understand exactly what a wedding is all about; it’s about man and wife and everything else is too insignificant to worry about."
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A Country Vintage, Festival Inspired Wedding: Nichola & Jay

Kat

April 2, 2012

I'm loving the fact that the gorgeous country vintage/ festival-inspired wedding of Nichola & Jay is brightening up Monday morning on my blog! Talk about heading into a brand new week with some gusto! The August wedding was held at New House Organic Farm in Derbyshire. The farm is not a wedding venue (the couple were legally married at the resister office after their handfasting ceremony in the field) but they chose it to host their celebration here because it's a place that's very special to them. Their theme was chosen to not only compliment the farm setting, but because they love Glastonbury music festival - they met there and were engaged there (not in the same year!)
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An Eco & Animal Friendly Wedding: Danny & Sandy

Kat

February 28, 2012

Being animal lovers, and with the bride's Mother running an animal rescue sanctuary (where the couple actually met!) an eco and aminal friendly wedding was perfect for Danny & Sandy. The bride explained, "We wanted everything to be eco-friendly and cozy! We stuck to bamboo plates and wooden utensils, and decorated with hay bales with burlap on top for seats, a bonfire, and mason jars with teelight candles hung in trees and lights draped throughout my backyard."
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A DIY Country Wedding: Jacob & Sarah

Kat

February 22, 2012

Jacob & Sarah had a DIY country wedding at Harmony Museum, PA. "Together with our community of friends, we pretty much made everything on our own because we wanted our wedding day to represent who we are," Sarah told me. "Having the wedding ceremony and reception take place in a non traditional atmosphere also helped to sort of describe where we were coming from, a subculture scene of punk music and tattoos. One of the most important things that we wanted to come from our wedding day was to have a celebration with the people who we love the most. We have a very close group of friends that we respect and hold close and we wanted them to feel like it wasn't just 'Jake and Sarah's Day' but rather a party for all of us. Immediately after the ceremony, which was fairly short, there was just a big party."
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