An intimate, homemade, outdoor wedding

This wedding covered so many parts of the globe! Candian born Denise and UK gent James packed their outdoor wedding with a rich mixture of cultures and colours. African fabrics, tailored in Kampala, Uganda by Nancy Kyokutamba formed Denise’s fabric flowers for her bouquet and metres upon metres of bunting for the recpetion venue to name but a few things. Books and memorabilia from their round the world travels provided the perfect table decor for an all round visual treat!

I arrived with them the day before the wedding for their pre wedding get together BBQ. Not as their photographer but as a guest, which was awesome (but of course the camera came along!) I listened to some amazing stories, found out some gossip and had a bloody good laugh.

As cliche as it sounds, in just one day, it felt like I had known this couple and their friends for years.

The wedding was a very homemade affair with a lot of help from family and friends. Living so far away from the UK with limited internet coverage, Denise and James put a lot of their faith in family and friends to book and arrange various aspects of their day.

1000 paper cranes were handmade by the guests and threaded on to twine and Denise’s foraging the day before the wedding found her the foliage to finish off her handmade fabric and paper flower bouquet. James’ waistcoat and the confetti cones were made from bark and the bridesmaids gift bags were fashioned from newspaper. Attention to detail was off the chart and it paid off!

Everywhere you looked was a personal touch.

Their outdoor wedding was held in the intimate garden of the The Lynhurst, a stunning victorian guest house, wedged into the side of a (REALLY steep) hill, surrounded by all their loved ones and the most stunning, scenic views.

It was lead by family friend Colleen, a Canadian pagan who certainly had the personal touch down to a tee. Keeping the fun flowing, as James and Denise walked back up the aisle, they chinked glasses with all the guests who had been given champagne flutes during the service! Cheers! The music was just as peronsal too. Flute and guitars played by family friends and a first for me, an african click song, I still don’t know how it’s done!

Denise and James are very much an adventurous, outdoorsy couple, so the fact that we had light mist and drizzle during the ceremony, with no shelter made absolutely no difference to them whatsoever! The personalised vows were beautiful and the looks passing back and forth between them just made you smile.

In their typical ‘live life to the full’ attitude, after leaving the ceremony, we bundled into a minibus (I had a space in the boot with a bridesmaid!) driven by James and headed to The Valley of the Rocks on a mini bridal party road trip for a very wet and windy set of pictures.

Literally the best group to work with. Not one moan about the wind whipping their hair across their faces or the rain soaking them to the skin. They rocked it and genuinely smiled the whole way through.

Then, the journey down the cliff face on Lynton and Lynmouth’s funicular cliff railway took them to their reception! Actually, it was just the bridal party who got a ride. I pegged it down a ridiculously steep and winding hill (with my camera bag on my back), in a race to catch them on the descent.

The final destination was the Pavilion Dining Room in Lynmouth. Right on the seafront. Decorated in an eclectic mix of handmade African fabric bunting, beaded chair decorations, fairy lights, travel memorabilia and personal touches. Table centre pieces were stacks of books collected from many of the places around the world they had visited and favours were individually named luggage labels handmande from African fabric. It had the feel of a far off street market vibe mixed with Aladdin’s cave. A first for me and one I’m not going to forget.

Arriving back at my B&B that evening, I found a purse, handmade from the same beautiful fabric as the luggage tags, some soap and a bottle of wine on my pillow, such thoughtfulness shows you what a kind and caring couple I had the pleasure of capturing.

I am so excited for James and Denise’s who’s next new adventure will be starting their own business. A bean-to-bar chocolate enterprise out in Uganda! How amazing. Interested in taking a look… www.moonbeanchocolate.com

If you have a wedding full of personal touches and amazing colours, get in touch. I would love to capture it for you.