Leslie and Dillon both love hiking and camping, so knew they wanted an outdoorsy wedding from the get-go. With the help of family friends’ pasture land, complete with idyllic stream and woodland, and a $10,000 budget, the couple set about creating the natural, rustic day of their dreams.
They saved a lot of money because of how generous their family and friends were. “All you have to do is ask for help and generally people are more than happy to do so,” said Leslie. “Working with people you know is also a huge benefit because its easy to get in touch with them and they really know what want. It can save so much in the end if you opt out of wedding planners and just ask friends to help you with the organisation and planning.”
They say that you’ll meet the love of your life when you least expect it, and that was really true for Zak and Saba – they were very lucky to meet by pure chance on a random weekday afternoon whilst Saba was working as a retail assistant and Zak came in to buy a suit!
Their wedding party was held in between Christmas and New Years at Hotel du Vin, Bristol, so they wanted a festive, party-vibe for the day. This was fitting with the fact that they were married already, at a ceremony in Las Vegas earlier in the year, so their day was a celebration of that.
If you need a dose of pure joy injected into your veins today then I’m about to hook you up… Behold, one of the cutest, most love-filled weddings ever! Graeme and Gareth were married at Myres Castle near Fife. They both wore the most incredible bespoke outfits made by Atelier Rahman and they even had their cats pop down for some photos!
Oh, and they did one of the BEST first dances I’ve ever seen. These guys are my HEROES! Check it out in the video below:
Their main theme for their late spring celebration was rustic with a touch of elegance. They were married outside, under a huge tree. “Our ceremony was inspired by an Indian style wedding so all of our immediate family walked up the aisle before us as part of the entrance”, they explained. “Since Graeme is part of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, he has many musician friends so we had backing music as well as a mini orchestra. We had six of them playing during the ceremony (a harp, two cellos, two violin and a flute). They played our family and us up the aisle. Our humanist, Maggie, was amazing and made our service so personal. We lit candles for lost ones (especially Graeme’s mum who we lost last year to MND). We did a handfasting and we revealed our Robertson-Brown family tree that Graeme had worked years on. We then walked back up the aisle to the surprise pipe band who were hiding behind a wall!”
“The most unique part of our wedding has to be our outfits”, they continued, “They are very ‘couture’ and people had never seen anything like it. We had our designer Ansar Rahman there for the day as we became very close friends during the design process. We also had an Egyptian tanoura dancer (Gareth lived in Egypt for two years so wanted this bit of culture). He performed during the day and also for the evening guests. An Elvis tribute act was also a surprise for Graeme from Gareth during the speeches that went down a storm (tears were flowing).”
Armed with a $35,000 (AUD) budget, Kelli and Gerard set about finding themselves a venue to host their day. They settled on Gum Gully Farm, situated in the beautiful foothills of the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, a rustic and intimate space that felt just perfect for them as it was laid back and easygoing. It also had the perk that they were able to bring in their alcohol for the staff to serve, which helped to keep costs down.
Kelli’s favourite part of planning was being able to have a custom made dress. “I really enjoyed the wedding dress experience it was a great to get together with my mum and closest gal pals for a drink and try on different dresses. I found that the style I had in mind before trying anything on changed dramatically once the process started and that the dresses I fell in love with were way out of my budget. Getting a dress made using my ideas made it cheaper and a truly personal experience.”
Nia and Lewis had always joked about ‘cordially inviting people to a piss-up in a brewery to celebrate the marriage of…’ years before they’d even thought about getting engaged. Over the years the joke stuck, so when the time came it was obvious that that was what they actually had to do!
They held their big day at the Hillside Brewery, Gloucestershire in April 2019. With a budget of £6000, they focused on having a fun, relaxed day full of laughter and a celebration not only of their love for one another, but of the great people in their lives. “We really did commit to the ‘piss-up in a brewery’ joke,” said Nia. “We even took the wedding party on a brewery tour after the ceremony!”
Josh and Katie met in secondary school. After being in the same tutor group and not exchanging a single word, it took until they ended up in a mutual friendship group in college several years later for them to finally hit it off! They’d been together for nine years and engaged for eight of those before planning their wedding day. As self-confessed Star Wars geeks, with matching Star Wars tattoos already, they knew they wanted a day that captured their nerdiness without being tacky, and also complimented their wedding venue as that was the first thing they picked.
Their ceremony took place in a beautiful rustic barn which was simply decorated with vintage, mismatched jugs full of a mix of fresh, wild flowers and artificial ones, and decorated hula-hoops. They had a simple ceremony, with the registrar reading a small Celtic poem to wish them good luck before they exchanged vows. The best-man performed favourite songs by Zac Brown Band before Josh and Katie exited the barn to a confetti shower as the new Mr and Mrs Smith.
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