Bohemian Wedding in East Sussex by Chris Fishleigh Photograpy

I have a beautiful wedding for you today, and what makes it more special is that the whole thing took place in the family garden, including the ceremony. With a relaxed, meadow theme this bohemian wedding is full of beautiful details and some gorgeous photography courtesy of Chris Fishleigh Photograpy. Hollie and Matthew are a stunning couple and I am totally in love with Holly’s Rembo Styling dress, complete with her flower crown she looks absolutely beautiful! As for the choccywoccydoodah cake, wow! Another masterpiece from them! I just love this wedding, the ceremony under the tree is so special and the rest of the wedding follows the relaxed chilled out vibe, just perfect!

‘Our wedding was absolutely the best day. A day we will truly cherish for the rest of our lives’

Hollie & Matthew were married on the 10th August, under a tree in their garden, Crowborough, East Sussex. ‘Having looked at a number of beautiful locations in Sussex, we didn’t find anywhere that we loved as much as we did the garden! Having it at home also allowed us to create our dream wedding on our budget. We had 135 guests and it took us a full year to plan’.

How they met
We met through a mutual friend in London in the summer of 2008 and have been together ever since! We’ve lived in Canada, New Zealand and are now back in London ready for the next chapter!

The proposal
Matt arranged a surprise holiday for me in Chamonix (we’re both great lovers of the mountains). After the 4th day, we decided to go on a hike to the beautiful blue lakes. After a hot (it was about 35 degrees) and challenging walk we reached the lake where Matt proposed with champagne! We have the entire proposal caught on camera as Matt set up his camera on time lapse.

How did you spend your budget?
As we got married at home, we didn’t have to pay a venue hire charge and so were able to spend the money elsewhere. Our first purchase was an incredible 3 tiered choccywoccydoodah cake! I am lucky enough to come from an incredibly musical family and therefore enlisted the help of my dad’s ukulele band and my brother’s band as the entertainment. My granddad made beautiful sign posts, Matt designed all the wedding stationary and my mum (who keeps bees in the garden), helped us with wedding favours!

How did you choose your photographer?
Choosing a wedding photographer was extremely important yet incredibly easy for us! We were passed Chris Fishleigh’s details and instantly we knew we wanted him to take our photos. Chris has an incredible ability to capture the emotion of the day without using posed shots. He has a beautiful photography style that Matt and I LOVE.

The dress
My dress was a Rembo Styling dress accessorised with a charm bracelet I was given as a child as well as a beautiful sapphire bracelet belonging to my mum. I wore a simple gold heard pendant and a flower crown on my hair.

The suit and bridesmaids
Matt wore a Burberry Prorsum suit with Church’s shoes (he wanted to be dressed in British brands to sit in with the English garden/meadow theme) and the bridesmaids wore full length, champagne coloured dresses from Coast

Theme or colour scheme
We wanted to create a meadow / garden / natural themed wedding

Decoration
Since we were trying to keep the wedding feeling as natural as possible, we tried to do the same with our decorations. We used ivy and hydrangea in the tents, natural foliage outside and hung some paper lanterns from the oak free. Since the wedding was very family focused, my dad decorated his tractor! We also made huge sofas for guests to sit outside on out of hay bales.

Flowers
Veronica, Alchemilla, Love in the mist, Sweet peas, a few spray roses and a selection of foliage and herbs such as eucalyptus, rosemary, fern and Ivy

Buy or DIY your Stationery?
All stationery was designed by Matt

Personal or handmade touches
We made all the decorations ourselves! All napkins were personalised with everyone’s name. The table numbers were made from a fallen tree and painted by myself and Matt. The bottles used in the middle of the table to hold the flowers were dug up from the garden. We provided wedding day ‘I-Spy’ for the kids with disposable cameras. The signs were made by my granddad, my grandpa was our (very popular) master of ceremonies.

Food
Canapés, then for main we had prime Scottish beef, and a vegetarian option of with a spicy root, lentil and tomato tagine. For dessert we had heart shaped all-butter shortbreads layered with chantilly cream and strawberries.

Wedding cake
An enormous 3 tiered ginger and white chocolate cake

Entertainment
A 3 piece Dixie jazz band as I walked down the aisle and as the canapés were served. After dinner my dad’s ukulele band and my brother’s band played!

Special moments or highlights
There were so many highlights! Walking down the make-shift aisle (my dad mowed an aisle for us to walk down) with my dad, seeing Matt under the tree with all of our friends and family. Having confetti thrown all over us, getting up on stage and playing our favourite song (Tiny Dancer by Elton John) on the ukulele just to made a few!

Biggest surprise
The biggest surprise was seeing everyone we knew under one tree! It was a very emotional experience!

Advice for other couples
The absolute best advice is to just enjoy it! Everyone says it to you but it’s so important! Take it all in, enjoy everyone being there for you! For those in the early stages of planning, I would say stick to your budget, research DIY ideas (as often they’re cheaper and they look more special on the day) and try as many cake samples as you can!