Hi everyone
I couldnt wait to share this utterly beautiful wedding with you - my perfect COB wedding in every single way. It's been such a priviledge to have been allowed to share this with you care of the wonderful Emily & Paul of
Clervaux Weddings and
Gorgeous Green Living.
If you're mindful of being kind to the environment, as we all should be, and want to step away from the tinsel and tiaras of a traditional wedding then put down your pens and pads. This eco wedding is so lovely and true to the sentiments and values of this fab couple and one that rings true to me too. Over to you Emily....
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| From The Wellis With Love! |
I'd always dreamed of getting married in the Yorkshire countryside but didn't think it was possible. Then someone suggested we look into humanist wedding ceremonies which would allow us greater freedom which we did and then opted for. It meant we could get married on the farm, which doesn't currently have a wedding liscence and we could do it outside and in our own way. I've never wanted a "big white wedding" and didn't really uderstand why everyone seemed to follow a template to celebrate their committment and relationship when all couples are different... we wanted something that would reflect us and that's exactly what we had! We did the legal bit in short ceremony at Harrogate registry office a couple of days before - we didn't exchange rings or wear wedding outfits.
The flowers used to decorate the venue were grown on the farm or my mum's allotment. I had a bouquet for me and my two bridesmaids and button holes for Paul (the groom) and his two best men - they were all English grown, non hot house, seasonal flowers and created by The Greenhouse Florist in Ripon, North Yorkshire. We didn't have a huge wedding party, we wanted it really simple.
I made all the decorations myself including bunting and jam jar lanterns and vases. I also had a crafty hen do - where my hens all contributed to a patchwork wall hanging with our names on and the date of our wedding, it also contains little bits of my wedding dress, my mum's and my auntie's weddings dresses - one to cherish forever!
I got my vintage, 1950s dress from eBay and a friend of mine made a few adjustments to make it 'me' - all in all it cost me less than £250 and I still to this day have not seen a dress I would rather have worn. I didn't actually step foot in a bridal shop at all!
Just 30 people attended our humanist ceremony in a wooden shelter in woodland next to a stream, they perched on log seats. Amazingly the weather stayed dry, although there were some threatening clouds and just as we said our promises the sun came out and shone into the shelter - it was perfect! We did exchange rings at our ceremony and we wrote our own promises.
We were then joined by a further 60 guests from 7pm and enjoyed a BBQ which included sausages and burgers that Paul and I had made with the chef a couple of days previously. We didn't have a sit down meal, favours or speeches. In the bar area, housed in a small marquess, the seats and tables were hay bales lent to us by a friend and in the dining room we stuck with the rustic wooden chair and tables... not a white table cloth or top table in sight!
We did have a prof. photographer as he's Paul's uncle but we also set up a gazebo with props and frames and polaroid cameras - some of the best photos came from there!
I think my greatest triumph was feeling like we did, in the main, do it our way, although we did have to make some compromises to please family members. I think my advice for other COBs would be to decide what really matters to you and on those issues, stick to your guns, but be flexible elsewhere - for the traditionalists amongst us weddings that are a bit different can be hard to get their heads round!
How much fun does this wedding look! While I'm off to dig out my wellies from the cellar, check out Emily's eco wedding website. If only I hadn't already booked my venue - humpf! BUT, what Emily's story has taught me is that even with the bricks and mortar building playing host to our wedding, we're right still not having the top table, a man with a loud voice shouting for us to skip into the room and a round of speeches that risk bringing me out in a nervous rash!
and follow Emily's updates on twitter @G_GreenLiving
.tiff)
