Matt and Lauren’s ‘Wild and Gorgeous’ DIY Woodland Wedding in Kent by Lawless Rose Photography 

Happy Monday everyone, I do hope you had a good weekend? Did you manage to get up to anything exciting or fun? I managed to escape the house on Saturday for a walk in the countryside with one of my very good friends. It was lovely to get out for a couple of hours child free and have a good walk and a catch up! Saturday night Nik and I had a delicious dine at home meal, something that has come to be a bit of a Saturday night tradition over lockdown! I have never eaten at so many amazing restaurants! Sunday we went for a walk with Nana, picked up some delicious cakes and then back to ours for lunch. Let’s hope that Boris has some good news for us today and gives us some freedom back! So on with today’s wedding and it’s the super cute wedding of Matt and Lauren, who held a DIY woodland wedding in Kent with 100 of their closest friends and family. The whole wedding is full of gorgeous handmade projects, wild flowers, personal detailing and of course the gorgeous couple. Big thanks to Sarah from Lawless Rose Photography for the images.

Matt and Lauren were married on 27th August 2019 at Longton Wood, Maidstone, Kent. ‘We really love the woods and love to go for adventures in the woods near where we live with Matt’s daughter Molly. We chose to get married at Longton Wood as it’s near where we both grew up and near to our families. It also gave us a complete blank canvas to decorate as we wished, party until the early hours and stay overnight with our guests in a campsite. We had 100 guests and it took 9 months to plan.’ 

How they met 
We matched on Tinder when Matt was in Kent visiting family for Christmas, and we have now been together for 5 years.

The proposal
We went for a walk on a beautiful autumnal afternoon in our favourite woods. There’s an area where you can step out of the woods to admire the beautiful view over the rolling countryside. I turned round to talk to Matt to find him holding the most gorgeous ring. The woods have always been our favourite place to be, especially now as it reminds us of so many poignant memories in our lives together.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on the venue and marquee as it was all so perfect for us. We saved by doing as much as possible ourselves

How did you choose your photographer?
Our best man and his wife arranged for Sarah at Lawless Rose Photography to take our wedding photos. She’s known us a long time and known them even longer. It was great to have a familiar face taking the photos and being part of the day and we absolutely love the photos, we got some great shots of our whole bridal party with the smoke grenades Matt had bought too.

The dress 
Little Mistress long white fitted lace dress with 3/4 length sleeves. Tried on other dresses but nothing came close to how I felt in this dress and it was a fraction of the price of some others I tried on. The veil was custom made and covered in gorgeous flowers.

The suit and bridesmaids
In keeping with our casual woodland theme, the groom and groomsmen wore trousers and braces with a white shirt and bow tie. Bridesmaids wore full length pink bridesmaid dresses with homemade floral crowns.

Theme or colour scheme
DIY wedding filled with personal touches; everything was sourced by us or handmade including the flower crowns, table decorations, place settings with each guest’s photo on, evening grazing table, confetti cones, giant wooden letters, vintage furniture, booze bath, etc.

Flowers 
Wild and gorgeous!

Decoration 
Homemade and rustic, in keeping with the woodland theme.

Food
The food was from 3 catering trucks each serving a different type of cuisine: Pizza, Mexican and Chinese food.

Wedding cake
Why be traditional?! A donut wall made for a great wedding cake that everyone could help themselves to!

Entertainment
Giant jenga, table football, woodland swing, hook a duck, bouncy castle, etc. Also fantastic live music from Jordan Marvell in the daytime and Gracie & the boomz in the evening.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
Costa Rica – such a memorable trip, we even saw a mummy turtle laying her eggs on the beach.

Special moments 
Our wedding day was perfect for us. We had a gorgeous natural setting and the day was full of love and laughter.
Matt’s dad acted as celebrant for us since the woods are not licenced for legal wedding ceremonies. It was so special to have him conducting the ceremony for us and great that our friends & family were all close by with a drink in their hands to raise a glass and a cheer as we had our first kiss.

Advice for other couples 
It’s your day, do whatever you want, there are no set rules.

Biggest surprise 
The bridesmaids, Mums and I left the venue the day before the wedding about 4pm after a long day or decorating and organising to head to our cottage for the night. There was still lots to do and I was really anxious about whether it would be done in time for the day.
After the ceremony I was brought to tears to see the marquee and reception area looking exactly how I had dreamed it would look. Matt, his friends and groomsmen had worked well into the night and early in the morning to get it looking perfect. It was the most amazing surprise and I was so grateful.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Venue: Longton Wood
• Photographer: Lawless Rose Photography 
• Videographer: MAC videography
• Dress: Little Mistress
• Wedding shoes: Converse
• Singer: Jordan Marvell
• Band: Gracie & the boomz
• Bridemsaid dresses: ASOS

for more information on Lawless Rose Photography go to

www.lawlessrose.co.uk / 07577493930 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER

I take natural, beautiful, light filled images and always try to make couples and their guests feel completely relaxed. Your photos should be romantic and gorgeous but it’s good to have fun too!