Tag Archives: Hippy

A Laid Back, New Age, Irish Wedding: Britta & Oscar

February 2, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Kat

When I grow up I want to be as cool as Britta & Oscar please. They not only got married at their own home in Dunmanway, Ireland but they put the whole wedding together themselves including building their own marquee!

“We built the structure with ash poles and tied tarpaulin to the poles with zip ties and lots of rope,” Britta explained.” It would not have been possible without the help of our friends especially Will Dukes who pretty much did most of the hard work as Oscar had broken his leg a few weeks before the wedding…. convenient you might say!”

“Oscar wove some willow ‘chandeliers’ which we wrapped in fairy lights and hung to the structure,” she continued. “We were hoping to sew our own bunting but then we found some beautiful bunting at a stall in Waterford which were made from recycled saris. They were perfect. ”

“The food was made by us and our wonderful friends and family. Oscar’s Father gave us a present of a wild boar to cook for the wedding as we planed to have a pig on the spit. The pig was far to big for it to be done on the spit so our best man cooked it on the barbecue instead.”

The most important thing to the couple was that their wedding was fun for their guests and that there was no pressure to conform just because it was a wedding. ”Our inspiration came from many different sources. We were engaged for 2 years so had alot of time to search for ideas,” Britta said.

“We mostly just gathered bits and bobs together as we found things from shops and stalls, there was no real theme or color scheme we just wanted to have lots of colour and be surrounded by what we found beautiful. As we started to plan the wedding we found ourselves saying oh we MUST do this and we MUST do that until we asked ourselves why…why did we have to do all those things? There are so many rules one must follow when getting married and we decided to break them all.”

The bride wore a Novia d’Art dress which she bought from Oxfam Bridal, and her groom donned a Social Suicide jacket and a shirt from Brown Thomas. ”Our theme was just to have a relaxing, comfortable, non formal day. We had no colour scheme for our bridesmaids or groomsmen, nor did we have a dress code for our guests. Our number one priority was for everybody to feel comfortable and enjoy the day!”

A Shamanic Wedding Ceremony in Guatemala: Daniela & Mark

January 30, 2012 in Wedding | Written by Kat

How utterly beautiful is today’s real wedding? This is the kind of wedding that makes my heart sing – no fuss, no details, no over-the-top-bridezilla-stresses – just the most important thing…love.

The bride, Daniela, told me all about their special day. “There were only the two of us at the ceremony, the lady who married us, the lady who owned the land and our photographer. The ceremony itself lasted about 1.5 hrs and consisted of several parts: lighting the fire, being cleansed with special leaves and incense, hearing the 20 nahuales of the Mayan Calendar being read out, telling each other our love and exchanging our rings, being wrapped in a green shawl which represented Gaia. We began and ended the ceremony with chocolate, a block of which was also burned in the fire. Chocolate is sacred in Mayan culture.”

“We chose to get married in Guatemala as we got engaged there last year and it’s our favourite country. Neither of us knew much about Mayan beliefs, but after doing some research we decided to tie the knot in a Mayan fire ceremony because we felt like we should honour the traditions of our chosen wedding location. Organising everything was extremely easy – we found our photographer via Tripadvisor and our shaman, the amazing Aum Rak , via a quick Google search. She then got us in touch with Terri, the owner of a local hotel in Lake Atitlan who offered us to get married on her land.”

“I knew that I wanted to wear a vintage (or vintage-looking) dress and briefly considered one by BHLDN, but it would have been almost criminal to shove such an expensive dress into my backpack for 3 weeks (we were travelling through Mexico and other locations in Guatemala before the wedding). So I chose a Gunne Sax dress instead, which I could just roll up and carry around with me without it getting creased. As for shoes, they had to be Swedish clogs!”

“Some might think we’re bonkers for getting married in this way,” she concluded, “but our parents fully understood, and for us it couldn’t have been more perfect or more emotional and meaningful (I was crying so much throughout the ceremony!). We had such a relaxed, blissful day as we didn’t have to worry about anything. No guests, no reception, no cake, no make-up or hair appointments… It was completely stress-free! Afterwards we had our honeymoon in the middle of the jungle in Honduras!”

A Bohemian Hoedown Wedding: Reenie & Edwin

January 23, 2012 in Wedding | Written by Kat

As soon as I saw bride Reenie in that incredible floppy hat I knew I had to feature her wedding. I love seeing brides that make really unique styling choices and I don’t know about you but I can remember ever seeing a bride in a hat like this before. With her fabulous head wear she wore a 1970s style dress, which was the very first thing she bought, from Nataya for just $199!

The October wedding was held at Hampton Hall Farm, Jefferson City, TN and their laid back hippy vibe makes me wish I was there. I love how homely and cosy it all looks and that the whole family got involved. The photos of them all having a pre-ceremony sing-along on the porch are just the best!

“I couldn’t come up with ‘wedding colors’ or a particular ‘theme’,” Reenie told me. “I didn’t want to be one of those brides that stuck my girls in my favorite colors knowing that not all of them can pull of chartreusse. One day I noticed these really cute retro aprons in the window of Bliss, and it all kind of fell into place. My wedding colors were ‘quilt.’ I picked out about 20 fabric patterns and had them pick the three they wanted incorporated into their dresses.”

“I wanted everything to be comfortable, inviting, and informal. When folks arrived, there was wine on the tables and little plates of goodies to tide them over. The party started when you arrived. In fact we were all so laid back I forgot to carry by bouquet to our ceremony! I only noticed it was missing on the way back up the aisle!”

“The ‘quilt’ idea continued into our ceremony. Edwin and I stood one that my sister had made for my Father after our Mom passed away. It was made from all of Mom’s pajamas. Since both my Mom and Dad have passed, it was a way of having them there, under our feet.”

The couple wanted an ‘outdoor/indoor’ feel and so set up little outdoor rooms for people to congregate comfortably and naturally. They had hay bales covered in fabric and a makeshift bar and lounge area in the barn.

“I like kids at weddings”, the bride concluded. “When I was a kid, we always went to our huge clan’s Cathloic weddings. The receptions always tended to be informal garden parties. Us kids ran around and had a ball. My friends, Chris and Candice, who own Hampton Hall Farm, have a 5-year-old by named Will (he was my ring bearer). So there was lots of play-stuff around for the kids. Lots of trees to climb, places to hide. I have fun watching kids having fun.”

“Joyfest 2011″ A Weekend-Long Festival Wedding: Jen & Rob

January 18, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Kat

“A weekend of celebration” was how Jen & Rob described their festival wedding to me, and that couldn’t have been a more perfect description. Stokes Barn, specialising in self-catering group accommodation, in the Shropshire hills played host.

“We knew we wanted something different,” explained the bride. “We wanted to celebrate with the special people who enrich our lives and who share and understand our values and beliefs. We had the idea of a festival type celebration where we could create a magical, memorable and warm weekend (whatever the weather!) of celebration, relaxation, much merriment, Peace and Love!”

After the ‘legal ceremony’ at a register office on the Friday morning, the couple had a humanist ceremony outside, on the Saturday afternoon, in front of all their guests. “We made our commitment to each other, and shared our aspirations with our guests as they sat on rugs and chairs in a semi circle around us. My brother was our celebrant and our daughter read ‘the Owl and the Pussycat’ and my son read ‘The Art of a good relationship’.”

“We are not practising pagans but are pagans by heart and believe deeply in our connection with Mother Earth,” Jen continued. “Therefore we wanted to find a peaceful and natural environment where our friends and family could also share with us the beauty of nature and of the countryside. We found Stokes Barn, the most perfect location imaginable, a place which provided shelter but also allowed our guests to camp while enjoying views stretching across Shropshire. Our daughter came up with the name ’Joyfest’, a perfect description of what we were hoping to create: A Festival of Joy!”

For catering, the couple asked their guests to bring their favourite dish instead of wedding gifts. This not only meant they had a really unique and delicious meal, but that everyone was able to feel involved in the day. “We asked people to bring a dish for the Friday night buffet and, if they wanted, to bring something to decorate the courtyard or marquee. We wanted to make the whole event very personal to every single person that was there. We wanted our friends and family to feel like they were truly a part of it and that they could make themselves completely at home!”

“We hired a bouncy castle which was a complete success with not only the 46 children who celebrated with us, but with many of our adult friends and family too,” the couple continued. “We asked people also to contribute to the entertainment so our guests organised tug of war competitions and rounders. We also put on a morning of archery.”

An Upcycled, Recycled & Indie Wedding: Mel & Carl

September 15, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Kat

The bride’s love of all things indie, unusual, hand made, recycled and upcycled was the catalyst to the theme of this creative wedding. After a hand-tying ceremony, where their friends and family all added a strip of fabric to their hands, Mel & Carl invited their friends & family to a laid back and family-central wedding reception.

A number of the wedding attendees helped to set up the wedding beforehand hanging decorations including the ‘lollipop tree’ (lollipops bought from Etsy hung from a willow tree), vintage fabric bunting, origami birds, vintage toys and games, wildflowers and Victorian birdcages (be sure to check out all the amazing details in the gallery below!)

They even had a homemade candy buffet ‘staffed’ by their son and homemade super food cookies, popcorn and wasabi peas served in newspaper cones which were homemade by Mel.

The bride wore a dress found on eBay £80 which she pimped with the help of her best friend Sarah. The applique swallow was an antique beading decoration found at a flea market and the flowers and beads were also vintage, sourced from Kempton Market. They also added turquoise cord to match the brides shoes.

Mel’s bouquet was designed by Jen of The Ritzy Rose. She wanted it to match the electric and unusual vibe of the day and so none the individual pieces really ’matched.’ They added dinky toys and animals to mirror Mel’s love of vintage toys. The bride’s beautiful and unusual necklace was bought from Andra Aitken of ‘Pejolu‘ on Etsy.

A Californian Bohemian Bridal Shoot

September 12, 2011 in Bridal Shoot/Trash The Dress | Written by Kat

This beautiful bohemian bridal shoot was sent over to me by Paris based photographer Juliane Berry. “I’ve been living in Paris for a while now and mostly shooting in the city,” she told me. “Wanting to tap into my earthy California roots, I set up this bohemian bridal inspiration shoot while I was in California in June.”

The shoot took place at William Marie Vineyard and they used props such as porcupine quills, owl feathers, peacock feathers, vintage goblets, hippie tapestry and a VW Beetle to create he scene. The model, Kelly of KM Photography wore a vintage dress accessorised with feathers and quills in her hair, a Native American buffalo tooth necklace and a wooden beaded hemp bracelet.

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