21

Nov

2018

Erin and Mark’s Bright and Beautiful ‘More is More and Less is a Bore’ Woodland Wedding by Ideal Imaging

Today we head back to the glorious summer for this fabulous laid-back, full of fun, Woodland wedding. Erin and Mark are an amazing couple, so full of love and life and a huge sense of fun. They chose a super laid-back day, full of children’s games, DIY details, bright colours and a sprinkling of fairy dust. From Erin’s custom-made dress, to her home-made crocheted bouquet, the friendship bracelets as favours, charming outdoor ceremony and woodland walk with tipi reception, everything about this wedding is chilled out, relaxed and full of amazing energy. What a wonderful day. Big thanks to Ideal Imaging for the photos.

A whimsical woodland wedding celebrating all things that bring an immense sense of joy. The perfect opportunity to be free spirited and relax

Erin and Mark were married on 25th August 2018 at the Woodland at Wasing Park, Aldermaston in Berkshire. ‘The set up they had at the venue suited us perfectly. The idea of toasting marshmallows on the fire pit, glamping in-between the tall trees and just enjoying the open space enchanted us. Nowhere else felt right after viewing Wasing Park. We had 90ish guests and it took 18 months to plan.’

How they met
Through a friend on a mismatched double date, nearly 5 years ago.

Tell me about the proposal
I had always told Mark that I wanted a photographer taking sneaky photos of us when he asked me to marry him. So he bought a disposable camera for both of my children and prepped them before we went on a frosty dog walk. Halfway round the walk, at a beautiful lake in a forest he proposed! The kids filled up their cameras with all sorts of photos (there is lots of our car) and there are a few dark and creepy photos of just after the proposal. We still showed them off with pride though.

How did you allocate your budget?
This was a bit of a mess to be honest! I kinda went a bit YOLO.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
Photography, Venue and Dress were the main splurges and we saved on food and Marks outfit!

How did you choose your photographer?
We saw Alistair’s albums at a few of the venues we viewed and he really captured the points we wanted in such a beautiful way. The packages were really good and allowed us to have amazing coverage.

The dress
My dress was a bespoke creation from Nortier Shallow. Accessories – Flutterby beautiful. Shoes- Converse

The suit and bridesmaids 
The jacket was Harris tweed from ebay and everything else was primark! My daughter was in a dress made by my mum (Chris)

Theme or colour scheme?
“More is more and less is a bore.” And all the colours!

Flowers
My mum crocheted my bouquet with flowers that signified various family members and my dad grew dahlias for colourful decoration.

Decoration
There was string lights, dahlias and some amazing little wooden people called nins from Little Whispers. Around one of the wooden structures we used string lights with polaroid photos of various selfies taken in our relationship, this was really effective.

Food
We had a picnic lunch and a bbq dinner. I had made flapjacks as a pudding, we kept it simple as there were quite a few food allergies to be catered for.

Wedding cake
The cutting cake was a vegan, nut free and gluten free sponge with flower petals in the frosting and there was 100 cupcakes that were chocolate milkshake, strawberry milkshake, lemon meringue and rainbow glitter

Entertainment
Mark’s dad’s Jazz band played a great set followed by My sister, Anna’s band, she even got my son singing a sea shanty. There was a disco in the evening. We had a kids tent with things to keep them actively occupied.

Personal touches

  • We made each others wedding rings on an experience day which Mark got me as a Christmas present. It was such a great day making the rings, we were able to get hands on and add even more sentiment to the symbols of our commitment.
  • We wrote our own vows, this is something I really wanted. The words provided in the legal vows just didn’t quite hit exactly what I wanted to say. We had had a great deal of challenges throughout our relationship and especially on the lead up to the wedding so it became more important that we made personal promises to each other.  I managed to use several Disney quotes and he promised to listen to my rants, so it wasn’t all serious!
  • We had a choreographed first dance routine to All The Small Things- Blink 182 which was really fun. We had learned this routine over 4 lessons so the outcome (especially after a few drinks) was very impressive.
  • My wedding dress was a bespoke dress which combined a variety of ideas that I loved. The best part of the dress is the lining which was made from my Grandads shirt as he had passed away earlier in the year. I will always be grateful to Nortier Shallow for creating such a special wedding dress for me.

Advice for other couples
Always remember its your wedding, don’t feel pressured by anyone to compromise your decisions.

  • Special moments 
    Seeing the boys cycle in while I was getting ready was such a great sight. Mark looked confident and happy, its such a good look on him.
  • We both loved hearing the personal vows. Mark is a man of few words so hearing what he values from our relationship was so special. The kids had written a reading for Mark which was so heartfelt it made Mark cry.
  • Spending time with the people who had supported us in our relationship was a real treat. There were so many friendly faces wishing us well it was great to see our community come together. Unfortunately my Grandmother and Aunt couldn’t make it, but they still celebrated up in Newcastle. Seeing a picture of my Nan in her best outfit, enjoying a meal in celebration was so touching. We cannot thank our guests enough for helping bring joy to our day.
  • The glamping was a great end to the day, it was reassuring knowing that we didn’t have far to stumble.

Biggest surprise 
How easy it was to enjoy the day. At 10am there was nothing more I could do to set up, so we just enjoyed every second instead. The wedding high lasted a while and was refuelled when we saw our amazing photographs and with every kind comment from people who attended or have seen images of the wedding.

 

 

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