Sarah and David’s ‘From Sheffield to Wales With Love’ DIY Yurt Wedding by Alexandra Wallace 

I do love it when I feature weddings where I know the suppliers not just on a professional level but a personal level as well. Today’s couple Sarah and David are from Sheffield but chose to get married in Wales as they spent so many holidays together there. The Sheffield connection meant they used lots of local suppliers, many of which I am happily familiar with. For her dress Sarah chose to use Melvyn & Reynaldo of Vyn Johns who create the most exquisite gowns, pure style and quality, they really did do a wonderful job. As for the rest of the wedding, so many elements of it were DIY, including the yurt, yes the yurt! I think this is the first time in my 10 years of blogging that a couple have built their own yurt (that they now hire out for weddings and events!) The whole wedding is laid back, chilled and totally unique to Sarah and David. Big thanks to Alexandra Wallace  for the images.

A truly Magical manifestation of love, collaboration and smiles. But also incredibly exhausting!

Sarah and David were married on 16^th September 2018 at Llÿn Peninsula on the North Wales coast Bach Wen Holiday Farm & Cottages. ‘We are drawn to that part of Wales and have been having holidays there almost every year since we met 9 years ago. We had approx 130 guests and it took about a year to plan as we built our yurt within that time.’

How they met 
We met at a small local festival in Sheffield called Sharrow Festival, 9 years ago

The proposal
He did pull out all the stops to be honest. I was 6 months pregnant with our 2^nd child, we were on holiday in Austria and he proposed whilst trotting up a snowy, tree lined track on a horse drawn sledge. Our little 3yrd old daughter was witness, it was very magical.

How did you allocate your budget?
It was quite simple. The yurt came first, which took up most of the budget, then in honesty, we had to do everything else as cheaply as possible! I suppose a couple of things were still without compromise such as the photographer and the food. I was clear from the start that I didn’t want to be responsible for any of the catering in a field in Wales.
So we made sure we had enough to cover that, the celebrant and the flowers, then the rest we begged, stole or borrowed to make it happen! We made as much as we could ourselves and thought creatively about things such as seating. The lighting for the yurt however, was an investment as we have now gone into business hiring our 47ft wonder!

How did you choose your photographer?
As an ex-photographer I was confident in the style I wanted. I knew literally from the start that I wanted Alexandra Wallace as I have worked with her previously and know her personally to be a naturally talented photographer & lovely person. And she has helped to give us such a special collection of memories from the day. We have been a bit speechless at their beauty.

The dress
Dress by Melvyn & Reynaldo of Vyn Johns who are utterly skilled professionals and have incredible vision. Shoes were from Rainbow Club available in John Lewis. I just wore ferns in my hair as my accessories!

The suit and bridesmaids
Dave’s suit was a blazor from TK MAXX and hand made linen trousers by a local tailor in Sheffield. The bridesmaids skirts I co-ordinated having them hand made and ordered from Etsy from a French lady based  in London called LaumetLondon

Theme or colour scheme
No specific theme as the yurt and location spoke for themselves with all the natural textures & colours from the wood we mildly contrasted & complimented in equal measure.

Flowers 
We are lucky to have some extraordinarily talented friends so I knew I could relay on the incredible floral design from my friend who has a business called Orchis Floral deisgn

Decoration
The flowers, some woven hoops, hay bails, lots of disco balls and even more twinkles!! ‘My mum somehow pulled out all the stops and hand crafted these stunning woven hoops on copper pipes which we hung in the yurt. We lit them with fairy lights and hung them against the wooden trellis which worked perfectly

Food 
A little stroke of genuis for nibbles was a load of miniature pasties, which went down a treat. Then the main meal was a Moroccan inspired feast mezze type thing, with an aubergine bake in the middle and hand made flatbreads.

Wedding cake
We didn’t have one. We made some brownies for a little sweet bite, but no one really ate them!

Entertainment
An amazing band called The 20ft squid Blues band, and a line up of DJ’s thanks to our talented crew of chums.

Who supplied the stationery?
Orange Pippin Helen is based in Sheffield at Hagglers Corner, where she hand painted an exquisite watercolour landscape of the Welsh coast where we held our wedding.

Personal touches
Another friend built us a fire sculpture on the beach which was lit as the sunset and was the perfect transition from day to night.  The end of the ceremony involved the whole lot of us doing a conga around the yurt which set a fun tone to the day! Then the band playing whilst the sunset on the beach with cocktails provided by us.

Special moments 
The ceremony was very personal and moving especially as it was our friend who married us and included our children in the proceedings and a conga at the end. It was utterly perfect from start to finish, the whole thing was incredible and magical.

Advice for other couples
Let someone else do the catering. Golden rule. Get a child minder if possible!!

Biggest surprise 
The amount of booze we provided which was inhaled so quickly!! Then the weather which literally changed from howling gale force winds the night before to 1 hour before the ceremony the clouds parting and glorious warm rays joined us for the rest of the wedding!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Venue & Catering: Bach Wen.
•  47ft Yurt – www.loveyurts.events
• Dress: Vyn Johns
• Bridesmaids skirts: LaumetLondon
• Flowers: Orchis Floral Design
• Photographer: www.alexandrawallaceweddings.co.uk
• Band: 20ft Squid Blues band
• Stationary: Orange Pippin

For more information on Alex’s work go to

www.alexandrawallaceweddings.co.uk / [email protected] / 07464931917 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

I’m Alex and I’m a commercial freelance photographer based in Sheffield. Adopting a documentary approach, my work portrays images that are natural, raw and contemporary. I work to no set formula – every wedding is unique. I adapt to the environment using the atmosphere of the wedding to create original and picturesque images. When Im not shooting weddings, my work mainly focuses on lifestyle and food photography. (www.alexandrawallace.co.uk)