India & Conor’s day is beautiful because it has the BEST people. It’s a rainbow of joy and celebration, literally when it comes to the bridal party! The happy couple are adorable, and their little girl is super cute.

At English Wedding we believe with all our hearts that your wedding – if you choose to have one – should reflect you as a couple, and other than that – a wedding can be ANYTHING you’d like it to be. Conor & India prove that with this beauty of an alternative wedding, and we ADORE them for it.

Images are by lovely Dorset wedding photographer Nathan at Libra Photographic, who gets a fantastic recommendation from the happy couple!

Wedding photographer’s website

Nathan Eames – Libra Photographic (covers weddings in Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, and more!) https://libraphotographic.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

Very friendly and approachable, put everyone at ease and took many fantastic photos. Managed to get a smile in every picture from our overwhelmed 2 year-old. You wouldn’t know she spent half the time in tears. Can’t recommend him enough.

Your best moment or memory

Our 3 year old nephew’s impromptu moment singing his very own “we’re best friends” song into the microphone for everyone

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

We did a handfasting ceremony, where each of our parents tied the rope around our hands once and said a few words. It was a great way to involve those close to us and make it special.

Videographer name + review

Josh Jackson https://brightsky.film/ Friendly and flexible around our day, created multiple excellent videos of different parts of the day (ceremony, speeches, and short clip)

Venue name + review

Ashley Wood Farm Stunning scenery and a large space with great indoor and outdoor areas set in the beautiful Cranborne Chase. Friendly owners and had few restrictions to allow us the freedom to tailor the setting to our own vision.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

India wore a fishtail dress with a cape and butterfly brooches. Conor wore a navy suit and ivory waist jacket.

Dress or suit shop name + review

CG Boutique in Amesbury Very friendly girls who helped India to try on lots of different styles to find the perfect dress. Recommended a good seamstress for adjustments.

Florist name + review

Coombe Bissett Blooms
Has a ‘pick your own flowers’ option so India picked out a range of flowers for the bouquets, button holes, and table displays. Family helped out putting it all together beforehand.

Cake maker name + review

India made her own cake. Highly recommended.

Stationery maker’s name + review

We made our own invites.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

We had the homemade cake, as well as a dessert buffet. Flower arrangements were all homemade. We decorated the venue ourselves. We also made a red post-box for collecting small gifts, cards, etc.

Wedding readings?

We had our respective parents say a few personal words during the handfasting ceremony but no specific readings.

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Halestorm – Here’s To Us

Food & drink

The food at our wedding was excellent, supplied by Game and Flames, including wild pigeon, venison, and boar, with flame-cooked butternut squash, and roasted vegetables. The wine was all delicious Scottish fruit wines supplied by Cairn O’Mohr Fruit Wines, and we also had some local Lyme Bay Banquet mead as well as Lindisfarne dark mead.

The post Conor & India’s beautiful and brilliantly inclusive Ashley wood wedding, with Libra Photographic appeared first on English Wedding.

Chris and Paula’s day is bursting with every emotion you can imagine: the love and joy in this alternative Yorkshire wedding is off the scale.

As ever with our faves York Place Studios, this wedding is all about people, connections, emotions and keeping it real. The happy couple are brilliant: bride Paula rocks two amazing outfits and owns the phrase ‘best day ever’ – this is crazy, amazing and epic. Loads more on our instagram! Enjoy!

From London wedding photographers York Place Studios.

“Paula and Chris had a truly rock n’ roll outdoor wedding that fitted our mantra and approach perfectly. You never knew what was going to happen next in a day character-filled, energetic, wonderfully chaotic, funny and truly heartfelt. Bubble gun fights, cornfield antics, pink feather duster limbo dancing to a cardboard cut out of Noel Gallagher … there was always plenty to shoot with people just being people with an abundance of personality; just the way we like it.” ~ York Place Studios

An authentic, emotional and alternative wedding in Yorkshire, with York Place Studios

The post Chris and Paula’s rock n roll wedding in Yorkshire, with York Place Studios appeared first on English Wedding.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://andyandszerdi.com

Wedding photographer review

I truly believe Szerdi is the best photographer ever. ABSOLUTE STAR! From start to finish our expectations were exceeded in all ways! Szerdi is so lovely, she made us feel comfortable and we had so much fun with her too! She went above and beyond in capturing the special moments of our day and “got us” from the moment we met. She also made us look like movie stars! She captured the vibe, energy and love we felt on the day and we never felt like we were awkward posing and enjoyed every minute! All our friends and family commented on how great she was on the day and were so impressed with the pictures!

Your best moment or memory

Getting married and celebrating with our loved ones in Hackney where we have both grown up and live together! Proper east end knees up!

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

Pit stop for a cheeky pint in pub on the park, one of our local haunts, after getting wed at hackney town hall! We were driven there in our mate’s black cab and were served by our favourite barman Luca! We got to celebrate and absorb that we had just got married with our closest family before heading to the reception lunch at Martello Hall. Szerdi captured some amazing wedding shots over London Fields, our local green space! Everythwere we went on our wedding day had meaning to us both and we now have all the memories in pictures forever!

Venue name + review

Hackney Town Hall – amazing, classic, art deco vibes. Perfect from a small registry office reception with our nearest and dearest.

Pub on the Park– our local pub, wholesome and fun!

Martello Hall– lunch meal with family and friends and then evening party! Perfect venue for us, stripped back and vintage style, quirky and cool, urban vibes and fabulous staff.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

My dress was made fabulous by Teresa at Polka Bridal

I had 2 dresses as I decided to get a white one last minute! I wore this in the day and it was a classic 1950’s inspired, off the shoulder dress and birdcage veil. I also rocked a leopard print fur outside Hackney Town Hall, I am obsessed with the print. In the evening I wore a beaded flapper style dress and dances the night away on it!

I bought my white dress in a generic wedding shop David’s Bridal, but was actually disappointed with the service and alteration advice. I took it to Teresa at Polka.Bridal and she transformed the dress (and me)! I would not recommend David’s Bridal at all.

Dress 2 – Karen Millen. Fantastic quality and perfect fit.

Ben wore a blue three-piece suit with a vintage feel with a gold tie pin. He hired his suit from Moss Bros and felt like an absolute boss. He looked very dapper.

Florist name + review

My friend Lyndsay used a local florist called Just Beautiful Flowers arranged all the flowers in the home made vases on the day! My bouquet was beautiful! https://instagram.com/justbeautifulflowers

Cake maker name + review

My amazing friends Lyndsay also sourced the cake from a local cake maker named Lisa who is a full time Nurse (like me) but bakes as a hobby.

Stationery maker’s name + review

Lyndsay Lewis, superstar friend

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

My maid of honour Lyndsay is so creative! She designed and printed table names and seating arrangement on vintage craft paper with a gold border. She helped with so much and knows me so well… she was a wedding star for sure, sourcing the cake and flowers and arranging the flowers which she then decorated and arranged with the help of my other great formed Nikki on the day! Let’s not forget the DIY dress up sun glasses for evening fun too! I also got transfer tattoos made to match our light of “til Death Do Us Party”

Wedding readings?

Father of the bride John – emosh. Sister of groom, Sarah – a cockney poem. Best man Terry – sentimental and funny. My cousins, Abi and Jess- sang a witty and funny song about me and Ben to the tune of Britney Spears, Hit Me Baby One More time. Went down a storm!

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Motown and 80s playlist, no 1st dance. We danced in the rain outside for some Pics with Szerdi! Some of our favourite shots!

Wedding planner name + review

We planned our wedding ourselves in 3 months! Eeek! We focused on the essentials and everything else was a bonus! The most important thing was us getting married being together. Beauty of a London wedding and the venue Martello Hall had all we needed to throw a great celebration.

Hair + makeup name + review

Lipstick and Curls- Nicci was amazing, she understood the “Marilyn esc” look I was going for. I felt a million dollars!

The post Becky & Ben’s amazing Hackney wedding, with Szerdi Nagy Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

The main advice we got on the run up to the day which we would like to share was that the day goes by so fast and to make time to spend alone together. We are so glad we did this, we have some gorgeous memories of sneaking off together for a drink and to admire the sea view.

Wedding photographer’s website

Alexa Poppe: https://www.alexapoppeweddingphotography.com/

Wedding photographer review

Alexa is wonderful- she understood the relaxed vibe we wanted for the day and made the most of all the amazing scenery around us. She is great fun to be around and made us feel really at ease. We have memories to treasure forever that she captured wonderfully.

Your best moment or memory

We have so many wonderful memories of the day but the one we both share as a favourite moment is the first time we saw each other. There are so many nerves and so much excitement on the day building up to that moment that it can feel a little overwhelming but as soon as we saw one another everything and every one else just melted away. It was so special to make eye contact and just see the relief and feel the happiness and emotion in us both and we knew in that moment that the whole day would just be perfect and it was! The whole ceremony was something we had felt nervous about and it ended up feeling so special and personalised to us.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

We kept our wedding really small and intimate which we are so pleased about. We got to spend so much more time with the people closest to us. This meant we chose no bridesmaids or a best man because everyone there was really special. We also chose to write our own vows which felt so emotional and personal. So many of our guests commented on how special it was to hear personal vows. We took our whole wedding party to a really amazing beach, called Broadsands. The only way to get there is through some woodland and down 200 steps which the venue was initially surprised we wanted to do. We know our guests and we knew everyone would be up for it. This made our wedding unique and memorable for us all and created such variation for our photos. It is a truly magical place that we associate now with our day and will continue to visit for many years to come.

Venue name + review

Sandy Cove Hotel, Berrynarbor

The venue on the day was brilliant, everything ran smoothly and the setting is second to none. It was exactly as we wanted it to be. However, we didn’t have the best experience on the run up to the wedding as we were passed between so many members of staff which resulted in multiple repeat conversations. We also had several challenges about being vegetarian and were made to feel a burden to the staff.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Bride- I adored my dress! I wanted something that still felt bridal but that wasn’t too OTT as we wanted a fairly casual and relaxed day. It had a big split which allowed me to run into the sea and take on all those steps and it had layers of different lace on top of silk. I dreamt of eyelash and chantilly lace and I found it in one dress. I also wore an oversized denim jacket personalised with ‘Mrs Ashton’ and pearls to match the pearls on my dress. My veil was the monet veil by grace loves lace. The Groom- the suit matched the day wonderfully. It was a sandy coloured suit with a waistcoat and trousers that rolled up easily for paddling. We had a really warm day in September and we both felt comfortable and special in our outfits. Guilty pleasure- we both rocked crocs on the day!

Dress or suit shop name + review

Grace loves lace- song gown
Hugo Boss suit

Florist name + review

Pampas by post- dried flowers. Sammy was wonderful- we met her just once to discuss our ideas and for her to show us the variations of dried flowers. I sent her some Pinterest photos and she created everything perfectly based on those. The arch pieces were stunning and so easy to drive from Manchester to Devon and looked amazing! My bridal bouquet was stunning, I had a vision of a dried protea which not many people have and Sammy sourced the perfect one. We couldn’t have been happier and what makes dried flowers so wonderful is we’ve kept so many of them and gifted others to our families.

Cake maker name + review

Bibble Bakes – Gorgeous cakes both visually and to taste! We also had vegan cupcakes to go alongside our main cake and which also went down very well! Our orca cake toppers matched the beautiful shell decorations perfectly- it was so personal and reflected our favourite adventure together to Canada which everyone commented on.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

All of the place setting cards were designed by myself using an Etsy template, including the illustrations. I really wanted everything to be sea themed as it’s my favourite place to be. My mum made the place setting board to attach them to, as well as the welcome sign which was beautiful. She included shell paintings which made them even more bespoke and special and lots of people had a photo with the sign. For place settings we also decided to be a bit different and print our own in the style of Polaroid photos- we chose our favourite photo of us with that person to display for their seat. This also went down really well as everyone enjoyed looking at each others photos and they were a good conversation starter.

Wedding readings?

My best friend of honour read a vow by Wendy Cope

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Paolo Nutini- loving you performed by Sam Dowden who is a brilliant local guitarist and singer in north Devon. We went from Paolo to wheatus- teenage dirtbag to Dr Dre! The great thing about a small guest list was we could choose music we knew all of our guests loved to make everyone feel comfortable and involved!

Hair + makeup name + review

Natalie Nichols for hair who was amazing! She gave me so much advice for extensions to have more volume and thickness in my braids. She also had suggestions for hair accessories which worked perfectly for what I wanted. She was a really calming influence on the day for everyone and my bridal party were also really pleased with their hair. Loved her company and couldn’t have been happier with the end result. Stacey Louise MUA – Stacey gave great advice as the whole wedding party weren’t overly confident on make up and she made everyone feel beautiful. Stacey also gave me advice on the run up the wedding on skin care to make sure my make up application was as perfect as possible. They both arrived on time and got us all ready with time to spare!

The post Sophie & Carl’s beautiful, alternative Berrynarbor wedding, with Alexa Poppe Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Our beautiful bride and groom had the look, taste and sound of a real mini festival, with fire dancers (keep scrolling – they’re at the end!) and bands and musicians playing full sets before the DJ took over late in the evening.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.amieseal.com

Wedding photographer review

Amie was great and listened to all ideas that we had. She made the day really enjoyable!

Your best moment or memory

Walking down the aisle surrounded by so many friends and family (lock down rules for outside weddings had only been lifted 2 weeks prior.) A friend was marrying us and another friend sang Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

Our confetti was hand dyed rice that was passed out to all our guests. We had a children’s tent with 2 childminders in to help entertain the children. We also had 2 different food vans to give the wedding feel!
Our Fire Dancers were amazing – they were from House of Bonita Entertainment

Venue name + review

We hired 3 teepee style tents from Elite Tents. They were amazing and they were so helpful when the wedding got postponed due to Covid. Wedding was held in Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire, on my parents land.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

My dress was by the designer Lillian West and bought from Elia Pearl in Rugby. Suits were hired for the groom and best man.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Ellia Pearl in rugby, just an amazing shop they made me feel comfortable and made the choice very easy!

Florist name + review

The Wild Bee and Me – Sarah Sutton – She was incredible, listened to exactly what I wanted and the flowers were just beautiful

Cake maker name + review

wildflower cakes bakery – Dawn Cunnington – The cake had white icing on the outside and inside had different coloured layers all with different flavoured sponge but was just right and was perfect

Music

Music – As it was a festival themed wedding we had Phil Poole sing us down the aisle and did a second set. James Currey did 2 45 min sets. Steve Faulkner did 2 30 min sets! And we finished it off with the amazing DJ Fitz Samuel who was joined for a while by a saxophone player from light it up

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Love someone by Lukas Graham

Wedding planner name + review

Hayley Knight – a colleague of my dads that saved the day and saved me from getting too stressed out

Hair + makeup name + review

I did the make up Jade Elizabeth did my hair I was so so amazed she did exactly what I asked which wasn’t the easiest!

The post Jamie & Luke’s amazing festival wedding, with Amie Seal Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Wedding photographer’s website

Hannah Hall Photography https://hannahhallphotography.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

Hannah was absolutely incredible! Not only was she an epic photographer that delivered the most gorgeous shots, she was a lifeline navigating pandemic planning and was so helpful on the day helping us make the most of every little moment.

Your best moment or memory

Honestly the whole day was just a blur of laughter and love! I do have a soft spot for our ring exchange, when we discovered Kris’s ring was actually a bit too small and I had to force it on in front of everyone

Venue name + review

Hothorpe hall woodlands We were so happy to find our dream venue at the woodlands. Finding an outdoor, woodland ceremony space that also had a proper bar and kitchens and toilets (!!!) was just perfect for us, it meant we managed to have a DIY aesthetic without actually having to do any of the logistical work!

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

My dress was a beautiful long sleeved beaded number from Eliza Jane Howell. I bought my dress during lockdown so I actually only managed to try on one and thankfully it was perfect! It was definitely an odd experience trying on my wedding dress for the first time in my bedroom on my own! Kris tried on so many more suits in every colour available and landed on a nice neutral sandy colour which made the bright Liberty accessories pop.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Dress was a sample via still white, a perfect opportunity to own my dream dress in budget!

Cake maker name + review

I was very lucky that my best friend and maid of honour is an incredible baker and she made our cake and all our evening goodies for us

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

We DIY’d as much as possible, I designed all of our stationery myself and roped in bridesmaids for everything from bunting stringing to place card making

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Our first dance was Kiss Me by six pence none the richer and we had an indie disco DJ that played all the throwbacks from our teenage years

Hair + makeup name + review

I was again very very lucky to have very talented hair stylist and makeup artist friends who did absolutely everything for me!

The post Sophie & Kris’s amazing woodland wedding, with Hannah Hall Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

I’d like to think this wedding is at the heart of everything you’ll see on English Wedding. It’s full of fun and character, loaded up sky high with hearty chuckles and must have been the BEST day for everyone who was there.

Bride and groom Gemma & John share a brilliant sense of humour, and there are plenty of photos here which will make you laugh out loud. Their wedding was sent in by our good friends, London wedding photographers York Place Studios. It really shows how essential it is to ‘click’ with your wedding photographers… whether that’s over a shared sense of humour, love of Monty Python or anything else that makes you grin!

Gemma’s gorgeous; John her perfect partner and you can see their love and laughter just bursts from the screen. There’s every bit of wedding magic here: the stunning dress and fabulous suit, the beautiful bouquet, the lovely venue full of fairy lights… and that’s just for starters. The props and signage are utter genius, the entire day just looks incredible. Often I’ll try to pick out a favourite ‘bit’ of a wedding we feature here, but (dead parrots, spam and eggs notwithstanding) I can’t choose which moments I love best, and I can’t stop scrolling and laughing at John and Gemma’s uniquely wonderful day!

Huge thanks to Dom & Liam at York Place Studios for sharing this gem of a wedding with us today. You can (and we recommend you do!) find out more about their documentary wedding photography style over at https://www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk.

Oh, and if you’re looking for wedding table centrepiece ideas, do consider the classic dead parrot, won’t you?!

The post John & Gemma’s glorious, laugh-out-loud Sussex wedding with York Place Studios appeared first on English Wedding.

“We’re not big fans of the wedding hype. Covid had a lot of negative impact on the wedding industry, but one good thing was enabling people to shrug off convention and not get caught up in spending money for the sake of it. Love and fun are all that matter! There is such unnecessary pressure on couples to have the ‘perfect day’. Our advice would be to pick a couple of things that are really important to you, and focus on those. For us it was fun, friends, food, and dancing. Don’t do anything for anyone else: no one cares if there aren’t favours on the table, you don’t need to hand write everyone’s place name, or get fancy paper invites. Don’t invite people just to be polite. Don’t do it because your mum/best friend/Aunty thinks you should. Ask yourself, “will I remember this in 20 years time?” If the answer is no, then smile and let it go. It’s very liberating!”

Kent wedding photographer’s website

https://benjamintomsphotography.co.uk/

How did you choose your photographer?

We wanted relaxed, informal and fun photos, and Ben’s past wedding pics were just like that. We had a quick chat over the phone and booked him straight away.

Were you pleased with your Kent wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

Yes, we adore our pics. Ben and his assistant really captured the celebration and love of our wedding day.

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

https://www.wagtailproductions.co.uk/alternative-wedding-video

We wanted a video to capture the speeches, guests and dancing so we didn’t forget all those details, and to share it with people who couldn’t attend. Ayla makes the most beautiful and unique wedding videos, and she was so easy to work with.

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

We wanted to get married somewhere that was relevant to us; somewhere we’d visit and enjoy for years to come. Luckily we live in Margate, so we decided to get married on the beach. We walk past the spot pretty much every day and it’s made our hometown feel even more like home. We had the wedding day across three venues, and guests paraded between them waving sticks with ribbons on as the kids bashed tambourines. It was brilliant.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

I got an off the rack dress from Free People for £200 and then a spangly jumpsuit from Rosa Bloom for the after party. I couldn’t bring myself to spend silly money on a white dress I’d never wear again, so these were both perfect. So comfy, fun and easy to wear https://www.rosabloom.com/

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

Posy Patou created the most incredible floral headdress from paper flowers, with each flower carrying a special meaning for us https://www.posypatou.com/ It’s something I will wear to every party from now on! I loved the idea of paper flowers over fresh, as they’re more sustainable and last forever. The headpiece was so elegant, and much better than being lumbered with a bunch of flowers in my hand!

Did you hire a wedding planner?

Camille was the most incredible wedding planner. She helped us plan the day, think through logistics and imagine what we wanted it to look like. On the day, she prepped the beach and decorated the evening space with incredible paper art. We loved working with her and she filled our day with joy, love – and no stress! https://www.instagram.com/posy_patou_weddings/

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

At Last, by Etta James. We had the most incredible Kent wedding band. They were relaxed, professional and had everyone dancing all night. We trawled the internet for a decent band who weren’t too cheesy, but who played the kind of music we love – and Double Bass Dan exceeded all expectations https://www.doublebassdan.com

Favourite wedding suppliers

https://benjamintomsphotography.co.uk/
https://www.wagtailproductions.co.uk/alternative-wedding-video
https://www.rosabloom.com/
https://www.posypatou.com/

https://rebeccabrownmakeupartist.co.uk hair and make up
https://www.doublebassdan.com/ the most incredible wedding band
https://jessicaleahcatering.com/ a mind blowing, family-style sharing feast from Kent wedding caterer Jessica Leah
https://carouselcreche.co.uk/ wedding creche is genius. The kids and parents both have fun!

The post A day full of love! Lisa & Duncan’s beach wedding in Kent, with Benjamin Toms Photography appeared first on English Wedding.