Inspiration

Hands up if you've ever played the game what would you do if you were stranded on an island? Well how about getting married on one?! Temple Island in Oxfordshire is simply magical and most definitely brings the wow factor to this couples outdoor ceremony. Add a glasshouse marquee covered in foliage and copper accents, and you have a mesmerising display of botanical beauty. Our leading lady and man are the adorable Tamara and Tom. Who look utterly divine together. Tamara's braided up do with gypsohhila detail is incredible and will certainly get your pinning fingers twitching. Each image by Belle and Beau photography in their delicate fine art photography style, beautifully illustrates the love and wonderment of this unique wedding on the Thames.

Venue

Tamara the Bride: From the offset I wanted the wedding to be a joint effort, if there was going to be a bridezilla then there would also have to be a groomzilla! The venue choice was ultimately a joint decision but one of Tom’s more groomzilla moments! Tom has a love for all things water so we decided to make it one of the major themes of the wedding by getting married on Temple Island, a small island sitting in the middle of the Thames in Henley. This was especially meaningful to us owed to the way Tom proposed, a boat trip that I had planned as a surprise with Tom’s family for his birthday actually turned out to be a surprise proposal for me! Rowing around a small island in the Thames, expecting to see his family with a banner reading ‘Happy Birthday Tom’, I was in complete shock to see Tom down on one knee with the sign reading ‘Will you marry me Tamara?’. Temple Island was the perfect resemblance of that day! Temple island was an incredible setting to get married, with the river rushing past us on both sides as we read our vows to each other. It was incredibly intimate and tranquil.

Dress & Shoes

I wanted a dress that I could customize and make my own, I chose a dress by Alan Hannah from the Teokath boutique in Wimbledon. It was elegant and beautiful in its simplicity. I customized it with pearl beading around the neck and back, my favourite gem (stone?). I went for the popular ice-dusted ‘Romy’ shoes from Jimmy Choo, a sparkly number that I just couldn’t resist! Although I’m not sure many people saw my footwear on the day, I felt like a princess wearing them!

Hair & Make Up

I found Aga through Claire Nicole. She was absolutely fantastic and provided a huge amount of support and advice to help find the perfect look. It was such a lovely start to the day for us all.

Groom

Tom and I try to go to Thailand every year, a meeting place for his very international family! On our last trip before the wedding we went to a tailor that Tom’s Father has been going for decades and also where his brother-in-law had his wedding suit tailored. We chose a vibrant blue three-piece suit with cuffed shirt and added a pink tie and pocket chief from TM Lewin. Tom chose a pair of brogue shoes from Ted Baker. The groomsmen were dressed in French Connection grey three piece suits with the same ties and pocket chiefs as Tom. They all wore personalised copper cufflinks and tie clips with their initials, purchased from Etsy.

Flowers

My mum runs a freelance gardening and florist service, Flora’s Fauna and I always wanted our wedding to be an outlet for her creativity. The essence of the floral arrangements was to make them un-stylised and let the unusual aspects of the selected blooms/greenery speak for itself. I didn’t see any plans before the big day and loved her rustic style of pots and ladders with lots of foliage. We went to the New Covent Garden Flower Market the week before the wedding to pick the bouquets depending on what was in season and I loved the use of thistles, pink baby’s breath with rustic branches. Each bouquet for the bridesmaids was unique. We also had beautiful confetti from Shropshire Petals, which formed the aisle on the island. Tom is a product designer and loves copper. Early in the planning, he envisioned the wedding reception as a naturally lit space with copper and foliage suspended from the ceiling. Weeks before the wedding he built the copper matrices in our garden and worked with the marquee company to hang them the day before the wedding.

Marquee

We used Meridian Marquees and cannot recommend them highly enough! Our contact, Flo, helped us to realise our vision and to be as creative as possible with the budget we had. Originally we were quite opposed to using a marquee, but with clear ceilings, open sides and suspended copper and foliage arrangements we achieved something very special!

Photographer

We loved how light and natural Holly's images were, from Belle and Beau Photography. She did an incredible job on the day to make us feel comfortable and enjoy the photographs. Every picture has captured an unforgettable moment. Words do not do them enough justice, they have been so so incredible!

Entertainment

We really wanted music wherever our guests were, be that on a boat or on the front of the island. We decided on a 3-piece acoustic trio who could travel with the guests throughout the day and that is how we came across the Roamers through Stormont entertainment. They have such a fun, relaxed style and sound amazing. The majority of our guests came up to us on the day just to say how great they were! We also hired a DJ through Stormont for the evening who did a fantastic job of getting people on their feet!

Favours

We wanted the wedding to be as open and airy as possible and knew that presented a risk with the potential heat in summer so we decided to do something a little different for the wedding favours. To ensure everyone kept cool on the day we gave everyone a miniature phone fan!

Stationery

Trying to keep to our copper and marble theme, we decided that if we wanted to achieve our dream invitations we would have to design them ourselves. We worked with Feel Good Invites who printed the invites whilst Tom and myself individually assembled each invitation. The results were incredible and Feel Good Invites were incredibly helpful through all 6 revisions of the design!

Style and Aesthetic

Above all else we wanted the wedding to be fun for the guests, to have all the elements that make a wedding but to ultimately be a party. The outdoor ceremony followed by lawn games (beer pong, hook a duck, crazy golf and gladiators), with the roaming 3 piece band was a lot of fun and allowed people to get to know each other before the evening activities! This is also why we chose to go against the classic circular tables and have everyone sat at long benches for the wedding breakfast, to allow more people to talk and have fun whilst playing table games. The aesthetic of the wedding itself was centralised around a few key colour schemes. Marble, copper and foliage were the strongest with subtler accents of pink, grey and blue. On the walls of the marquees hung copper wreaths, once again wrapped in foliage, in the centre of each wreath was a memorable photo of us. We made sure the guests were in at least one picture each!
Lorna Shaw

Written by Lorna Shaw

Venue: Temple Island | Florist: Flora's Fauna | New Covent Garden Flower Market | Confetti: Shropshire Petals | Marquee: Meridian Marquees | Entertainment: Stormont | Stationery: Feel Good Invited | Dress Designer: Alan Hannah | Bridal Boutique: Teokath | Bridal Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Hair & Makeup: Claire Nicole | Suit, Shirt & Tie: TM Lewin | Grooms Shoes: Ted Baker | Groomsmen Suits: French Connection
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