Laura & Alan

Wow Wow Wow! This humanist wedding is ruddy gorgeous!!! I mean obviously any wedding that serves drinks during the ceremony is always going to have us wholly but this mega venue and gorgeous couple serve up an absolute beauty of a wedding, during a storm no less!

It is an alternative wedding dream hit list for you pinners out there, Foliage Filled - tick, Stunning Glasshouse - tick, Boutique Venue Anran in Devon offering a perfect hybrid of Contemporary Meets Rustic, tick tick, Bespoke Bridal Gown, Groom in trainers - you got it, Humanist Ceremony with Corona's a clinking - TICK!

Photographer Kristian Leven was lucky enough to capture the day and we're delighted to share it with you.

Kristian the Photographer: A beautifully styled wedding at Anran, a luxury boutique hotel. The humanist wedding took place in the greenhouse, which was a stunning setting, especially as Storm Brian made an entrance and managed to rain inside the ceremony room! But the crazy weather definitely added to the day, and the atmosphere in the evening was electric. 

The Bride

Laura the Bride: Having never been a dress person or considering myself as feminine or bridal, it was important for me to find something that I felt myself in on the day. After a few failed attempts at bridal boutiques, I was put in touch with a dressmaker via a colleague. When I first met Silke Taylor (best dress maker name ever) I was very drawn to her, she totally understood my vision. It transpired that Silke had been making outfits for the queen for many years so I felt that I was in good hands. I drew a sketch, she drafted a toile and after 2 more sessions, the dress was done. I was so happy with the simplistic, contemporary Grecian result.

I knew I wouldn’t rock a veil but fell in love with the headpieces from Naturae Design choosing a golden wreath headpiece which has a resemblance to my gold wreath wedding band from Laura lee Jewellery

The Groom

Alan can pull anything off and I wanted him to stand out from the textural navy suits from Topman that the best men wore. After an entertaining day out suit shopping, we found success in Reiss with a blueish grey textural weave. He loves to show a bit of ankle so we got quite a bit taken off the length, also to show off his white leather cos sneakers. For the shirts all the men went collarless with skinny tan leather braces and a crisp white pocket square to finish.

The Venue

We genuinely couldn’t have found a venue that meant more to us than Anran. Mike & Edwin have crafted a boutique venue from farm land ruins. Their style & attention to detail was such a strong appeal to me. We really didn’t want a fussy or formal venue, Anran to us, had everything we were looking for, rustic yet contemporary, boutique accommodation on site, antique Asian artefacts including a concrete Buddha, outdoor swimming pool, disco nissan hut but the absolute cherry on top of the cake was the vintage glasshouse. We wanted to do everything on site.

Colour Scheme, Decor and Flowers

We really didn’t feel the need to decorate Anran too much as it already had a lot of the elements we loved. In fact, our stationery design inspiration came from the glasshouse tropical foliage. My best friend and bridesmaid Lindsay had a crafternoon of personal stationery designing and then got everything printed at Printed for ease.

Keeping with the tropical botanicals that the glasshouse already provided us with we sourced foliage bunches from local Michael Dark. Our amazing friend Heather crafted bouquets and long table settings filled with several different types of eucalyptus and fern. We also called in the help of my dad to make chipboard sandwich boards signs with ‘good stuff’ and ‘you’re so cool’ painted on to celebrate favourite songs & movies. One final decorative element on the top table was the brass plant mister that Alan used to propose with. It looked perfect nestled into the green.

The Wedding Party Fashion. Bridesmaids, Page boys & Groomsmen

My sister Claire and best friend Lindsay wore navy drape dresses & blush slingback shoes both from COS, while Alan’s best men (his brother Ken & best friend Joe) wore navy wool Topman suits with white sneaker’s, matching braces and white collarless shirts similar to Alan’s. My amazing nephew Noah was our only miniature member of the fashion party, rocking a mini-me version of what Alan wore yet his outfit came from Mango with Clarks white sneakers.

The Humanist Ceremony 

Our ceremony was honestly the best part of our day, Storm Brian provided us with enough drama during the ceremony alone to keep us going for weeks. Wind, rain, rainwater coming through the glasshouse and then sunshine when we said our vows. Drinks were flowing during the ceremony, our friends Kelly & Nick read for us and Alan and I read our personally written vows. It was just perfect despite the storm.

The Entertainment

Our friend Dr Dinner Mint was our music man during the ceremony, we used ultimate ear boom speakers and Bluetooth to project our favourite tunes around the glasshouse. Later in the evening, we moved from the glasshouse to the nissan hut where DJ Rich from Stylish Entertainment was playing the tunes. We danced the night away under the corrugated roof and antique chandeliers.   

The Food  

Cru Events supplied all of our canapés, wedding breakfast, evening supper and next morning hangover brunch. Hayley became a friend and coordinator to us throughout the organisational process. The colourful, rustic feasting dishes were perfect for our guests with the pulled pork and rosemary roast potatoes getting the most love from our friends and family feedback. Our uber talented friend Yvonne made our wedding cake which sat beside a seasonal Chinese moon cake brought all way from Hong Kong by Alan’s Aunt & Uncle.

The Photographer

Kristian Leven was recommended to us by our friend’s wedding photographer when we weren’t sure where to look. After checking out his Instagram we instantly knew he was the guy for us. Natural, non posed, unexpected storytelling is how I would sum up his style. We found layers and depth in the moments he captured and are so happy with the results illustrating our natural, relaxed, little bit random weekend in the depths of beautiful Devon.

Advice

The best advice we could offer is not to take too much advice from others when it comes to the look and feel. We had a pretty clear idea of the kind of vision and atmosphere we wanted for the weekend but really it was the people and moments that made it. Doing prep in advance really made me feel relaxed on the day, and no, things didn’t always go according to plan, but at that point, I was really too happy to care!