Becky & Mike

Becky and Mike's relaxed and bohemian big day is essentially a massive party in the middle of the Welsh hills - there's great food and gin aplenty! Exactly how we like our weddings. These two love going on adventures in their camper van, so it made total sense that the camper would play a big part in their wedding day. It makes the perfect place for cosy couple shots, and it took the pair and photographer Jo Greenfield into the rolling green countryside for even more gorgeous images. Bride Becky rocks sandals and separates for style and comfort reasons - a bride after our own hearts. And Mike looks totally dapper in his military uniform, steering the colour palette towards rich burgundies which I LOVE.

The Bride

Becky the Bride: Being an Interior Designer, my outfit was the last on my list. I was adamant I didn't want to spend a lot on it, but being 6ft tall and leaving it to the last minute left me with very little options...so I took to Ebay! I managed to find an extra long skirt for £100 on Ebay and then (after a lot of online shopping and returning) I settled on a sequined crop top that I found in the sale in Zara! Being tall, I wanted to wear flats, so I finished my outfIt with a pair of sandals from ASOS.

The Bridesmaids

I had a whopping seven bridesmaids, all of whom are very different shapes and sizes and one was pregnant at the time of the wedding so whatever I chose had to be flexible and suit everyone. My bridesmaids being comfortable and confident was my main priority, I didn't mind what they wore (within reason), as long as they felt happy. We eventually settled on a skirt and top combo. The skirt (ASOS) had an elasticated waist and fit and flattered all of them. I then gave them free rein to buy whatever white top they wanted. I loved the idea of a relaxed, boho, mismatch vibe - I think it worked really well. My pregnant bridesmaid, Christie, wore a grey maternity dress from Boohoo, it matched the ASOS skirts perfectly. The girls all wore a selection of grey shoes and silver jewellery.

The Groom

Mike is in the Army so he wore No1 Dress, as did the Guards of Honour. He also had two ushers, one in the Royal Marines and one the Army, they wore No2 Dress. This saved us a lot of money and they looked fantastic! The Army is a massive part of our lives, I'm very proud of Mike and it was important to me that he wore his uniform. I chose maroon and dusky pink flowers for my headdress and for the button holes to match Mikes maroon beret.

The Venue

I was brought up in the Brecon Beacons, moved to Cardiff (where I met Mike) to go to University and have been moving around with the Army ever since, so I was adamant that I wanted to get married back home in the beautiful hills of the Black Mountains. We found Caerhyn Farm, three adorable little barns, remotely nestled in the village of Llangadog - where I attended primary school many years ago and we fell in love. The Venue is a blank canvas, they allowed us to completely transform it into the bohemian, relaxed paradise that we had envisaged! The three barns sat in a way that created a perfect courtyard to accommodate our hay bales, Persian rugs, floor cushions and fire pit. One barn housed the bar and the band/dance floor, another was where we sat down for our wedding breakfast and the third was beautifully converted into accommod'tion for up to 10 guests!

The Decor

Mike and I own a VW T3 Syncro adventure camper, it is a part of our family and we love nothing more than travelling Europe in it. Although we live quite a cosmopolitan lifestyle with real-life jobs, we're hippies at heart. Our aim was to combine our bohemian, traveller lifestyle with the other side of our life which is heavily influenced by the military. Our main priority was to ensure our guests were relaxed and comfortable, we did this with floor cushions, Persian rugs, relaxed bench seating and hay bales all scattered around a fire pit with marshmallows to roast and buckets of ice full of bottles of beer at an arms reach. Flowers were also quite a large part of the concept, I didn't want any structured floral displays or anything too formal, so the random rustic containers full of wild flowers and greenery dotted around did the job perfectly! Our florist was actually a local gardener, 90% of our flowers were grown in her garden, at the foot of the mountain of Llyn y F'n - right next to our church. In the dining barn, it was kept very simple with greenery running down the long trestle tables, church candles dotted along throughout and a large feature macrame wall hanging behind the top table.

The Food & Music

Food and music were the two things that we really wanted to get right. We both love live music so a band was a must, it took us a long time to find a band that we both liked but we eventually settled on Rocked Up, a cover band from Swansea. They were absolutely amazing, well worth the money. Choosing a caterer was more than just about the food, as we spend a lot of time on the road in the van so we cook most of our food on a BBQ! BBQing is one of Mike's passions, not just for the food but the entire experience of alfresco cooking and eating, he spent a lot of his childhood in Cyprus where BBQing is the norm - so it has always been in his blood. This love of BBQ food and 'cooking outside' was the reason we chose Vudu Food as our caterers. They brought a huge and I mean HUGE smoker with them and smoked a couple of lambs from my parents small holding. The smoker took up a corner of the courtyard along with their quirkily branded 'smoke shack' where they laid out masses of Moroccan salads and crusty bread. We wanted to emphasise the informal feel of our wedding, so we chose disposable palm leaf plates and wooden cutlery to eat with and asked our guests to collect their meal from the smoke shack in a very festival/street food fashion. This definitely ensured the atmosphere amongst our guests was really chilled and relaxed. Mike and I have a slight obsession with Mexican food - so Taco's were always going to be on our menu somewhere! As an evening snack the tacos were entertainment in themselves as everyone queued up and helped themselves to the mountains of vegan four bean chilli, deep fried Cajun prawns, shredded Cajun chicken and ground beef before finishing it off with an array of toppings! The caterers were very much a part of the party, plonked amongst it all with their kitchen sizzling away and smoker wafting out delicious aroma's of smoking meat though our dancing and chatting guests in the courtyard.

The Photographer

Mike is a keen photographer, so finding the perfect photographer was probably the biggest challenge of the wedding...we were beginning to give up hope until Jo came along! We were adamant that we wanted a creative, fun, story teller with impeccable camera skills to document our day. Jo ticked all of these boxes and didn't fail to dis'ppoint - the photos turned out amazingly, she managed to capture so much emotion and the entire atmosphere of the day without us even knowing she was there most of the time. Jo has a natural eye for design and became my own personal stylist on the day - she made sure everything looked perfect, from flowers to hair, decor to bridesmaids, she was always on hand to ensure everything was always photo ready. I genuinely wouldn't have made it through the day without her!