Zee & Alex

Preparations for this DIY bohemian wedding started by clearing out the cow sheds at Bride Zee's parents home for the fabulously creative barn reception. The styling, decor and details were all carried out by the couple or their super talented family and friends. The wild flower arrangements were all courtesy of Zee's grandmothers amazing floristry skills, and lovely friends stepped up and made the dream catchers hanging in the tress at the outdoor ceremony. The gloriously heartfelt ceremony took place in the garden under a foliage arbour with the guests seated on haystacks. Zee looked a picture amongst the natural setting in a flower crown and boho lace gown by Spell and the Gypsy, as did her maids in floral dresses by Auguste. Can we also talk about the breathtaking couples portraits by Nigel John, the one of Zee's billowing veil literally made me gasp it was so beautiful. Plus there are pineapples, festoon lights and pure joy every where you look.

Dress

Tünde the Bride: My friend showed me Spell and the Gypsy at the very beginning of my search and I instantly fell in love with a dress from their collection. However, with them being based in Australia, I was a little worried about the risk of ordering from abroad and what would happen if I needed to return the dress. So, I went to a couple of boutique dress shops in London and Manchester with my Mum and my sister and had a lot of fun trying on dresses. My veil actually came from one of the boutiques, Jean Jackson Couture in Manchester and I would definitely recommend paying them a visit. A beautiful space and Felicity (Jean’s granddaughter), at their Northern Quarter store was incredibly helpful. Nothing was quite right or very ‘me’. I rarely wear dresses and finding the right one was my biggest challenge. But after repeatedly looking at the original dress I fell in love with I decided to go for it and order it in from Australia. Spell were brilliant and I ordered 3 dresses (just in case). There were no issues with returning the other 2, despite them arriving 2 weeks after their return date (thanks Royal Mail). The dresses arrived beautiful packaged and it felt like receiving a gift, as soon as I opened my dress and lay it on my bed, I knew it was ‘the one.’ After a quick Facetime with my Mum and sister, the decision was made. My shoes were an easy find after deciding on my dress and I knew in my head exactly what I wanted, after paying a quick visit to Kurt Geiger there they were sat on a shelf. My jewellery was made by the very lovely Tansy Haak of Kind Jewellery, a creative genius and very good friend. I had already been given a piece from her collection for my 30th birthday and Tansy elaborated on this and extended my original design to create the perfect piece for my special day. She also made both Alex and my wedding rings. It was so lovely to be able to specify exactly what we wanted, it felt all the more personal and unique. Tansy was able to make the perfect wedding band to fit around my engagement ring and knowing the materials were ethically sourced was an added bonus. My head dress was lovingly crafted by the beautiful legend and inspiration that is Dawn Shuttleworth aka Grandma. I did my makeup myself and Rachel, one of my bridesmaids worked her magic on my hair. I wanted to keep things simple and natural so I used Bare Minerals make up and had a loose wave in my hair.

Grooms Attire

Suit Supply are amazingly high-quality suits for very reasonable prices. A great buying experience that rivals that of overpriced Saville Row tailors. Modern cuts with classic Italian fabrics. Quick turn around on adjustments and all excellent service. You can’t go wrong with a classic brown loafer. Remove socks for the hipster touch.

Venue

We were lucky enough to be able to use my parents’ family home in Horncastle, with a big empty barn to decorate as we liked and a Lincolnshire cornfield as our backdrop, we could not have asked for a more perfect setting. My parents suggested repainting the old blue barn doors and moving all the sporadic old window frames and planks of wood dotted around the place, but we decided to keep everything as it was to create our rustic/authentic countryside wedding. We had everything we needed in one place, accommodation for our family, the ceremony in the garden, the barn for eating and the courtyard for dancing. My Mum and Alex also surprised me by creating a bridal suite in the summerhouse at the bottom of the garden. It was a heavenly retreat.

Colour Scheme/Décor

Pineapples seemed to feature quite heavily throughout the wedding, by accident initially, after first appearing on our save the dates. All of our decorations were painstakingly hand made by our amazing family and friends who did everything from helping us collect over 100 jam jars (which were then filled with candles and hung from the ceiling), to spray painting signs with the obligatory pineapple and resizing material for our table runners. This was very much a DIY wedding with lots of evenings spent at home making pom poms and creating hangings and dream catchers. We couldn’t have done it without the help and support of everyone around us. It’s lucky we know some very talented and creative people. We have been lucky enough to travel quite a lot together so we had influences from all over the world. We had Mexican flags hanging over the bar and Texan brisket for the main course. Each of our tables were named after Mexican playing cards and Kirstie Little and Harriet Fernandes did a truly magical job at crafting our table plan, we were blown away with how incredible it was (the perfect gift). We were also lucky enough to have the use of some beautiful parasols made from vintage saris, courtesy of my parents’ company Kasakosa. They were perfect for adding a splash of colour and shelter from the sunshine.

Flowers/Florist

I have always loved wild flowers and wanted to incorporate them in as many ways as possible in the wedding. I went to a local family run wild flower meadow with my Grandma, Mum and now Mother in law and we walked around choosing our favourite flowers. My hero of a Grandma then created amazing jars, head dresses, bouquets and button holes. I could not have asked for a better display. My bouquet was incredible and better then I could have imagined. With gypsophila spread around in jars on the tables, the look was complete.

The Wedding Party Fashion

I wanted my brothers to be very much involved in my big day (my sister India was already Maid of Honour), so instead of having bridemaids and bridesmen, they decided between themselves that they would be called my ‘Bridesmates’. For the dresses, I wanted something to reflect our relaxed day in the countryside and Auguste had the perfect dresses. I had been eyeing up their beautiful dresses and ethical fashion for a while and they were exactly what I was looking for. As my bridesmates were all different shapes and sizes, we decided to keep the same print throughout but they chose their own styles, they all looked stunning. Ebony was brilliant with her advice and shipping the dresses over from Australia (there seems to be a theme here). I wanted to tie my brothers’ outfits in with the girls in some way, so rather than make them wear dresses, we went for a baby blue suit from ASOS with a pink floral tie and pocket squares to match. They also had pineapple cufflinks and socks to go with the unwritten theme. The Ushers wore their own blue suits with floral ties and pocket squares to fit in with the bridesmaids and our country wedding theme.

Ceremony

We held the ceremony in the garden with an arch crafted by our friend Charlie, hay bales for seats and the dreamcatchers made by our friends hanging from the trees. Our celebrant Lizzie was brilliant and really helped tie the whole thing together, we had only met her twice but she felt like an old friend and really understood our story. My Grandpa, Alex’s Dad David and our good friend Rob read out our favourite songs as readings, which we found to be a good way to have something read that was meaningful and representative of us as a couple. We also had a ribbon tying ceremony representing the binding of our families and us as a couple, with each ribbon signifying something that was important to us both individually and to our union. These were presented by both of our Mum’s, Alex’s sister Holly and Tansy. Our entrance and exit songs were again special songs to us and played by our friend Mark. A particularly special moment was when we turned round to see that my parents chickens had followed us down the isle.

Entertainment

We spent a long time considering what to have as entertainment and in the end decided to have a playlist running instead of live music and in the evening, we had friends and family djing for us. My brother Todd, Alex’s brother Matt, our friend Mark and family friend Richard did a great job keeping everyone entertained and we danced into the early hours (despite the rain). The sounded system was provided by Ace Bros, who were great to deal with and very helpful.

Food

Our cake was really beautiful and lovingly made by our family friends Jane and Anna. They made such an amazing 5 tier cake with matching cupcakes. It was everything we wanted it to be and more.

Photographer

Our photographer Nigel is a true gent and a legend. He was incredibly easy to work with and we felt like we had known him for a long time despite having only met once before (at another friends’ wedding). He acted with such discretion and professionalism that I have no idea how he took some of the shots he did. We are not very posey as a couple and Nigel just let us walk at our own pace through the fields, allowing us to have some time together to catch up whilst also taking some of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. His timing was spot on. The whole experience working with Nigel was seamless and he made our lives very easy. Our family and friends cannot get enough of the photographs and he has left us with a some very special memories. I could not recommend Nigel more.