Lauren & Nathan

We've got a little bit of tipi love for you this afternoon. I love how relaxed Lauren and Nathan's wedding day feels, no fuss or frills, just family, friends and good grub served street-food style. The pair were very lucky with the weather and managed to hold their ceremony outside too. Guests drank Champers in the sunshine and played garden games before cosying up around the fire pit as dusk fell. The stylish, quirky images come from Colin at Rusted Rose Photography, who has really captured the fun had by all. Enjoy lovely ones!

The Fashion

Lauren the Bride: I didn’t actually go into a wedding dress shop until just a few months before the wedding. I didn’t want a “proper” wedding dress. I wanted something I could slip on over my head and move around in freely all day. Luckily I found the dress in the first shop I went into! Nathan the Groom: I had an idea of what I wanted and had been looking around for a while without finding anything. I finally found the right three piece tweed suit and bought it the week before the wedding.

The Venue

We knew we wanted an easy-going outdoor wedding (which was risky with the British weather). We eventually found a venue with beautiful private gardens and Kent countryside views, where we were able to put up the tipis and create our own unique, relaxed setting.

The Décor

There was no colour scheme! We wanted the day to be colourful and eclectic. We just picked things we liked and threw it together. Everything was very DIY, which was obviously more timing consuming. Fortunately my mum helped out – helping me with the bunting, the favours and sewing together the table runners.

The Flowers

The wonderful Sophie from Astilbe and Sorrel was responsible for creating the beautiful flower crown and the bouquets. All the posies on the tables were picked by me and mum the day before the wedding, which was a bit bonkers, but fun!

The Wedding Party

The bridesmaids’ dresses were from ASOS and chosen by the bridesmaids. The groomsmen chose their own three piece suits and wore ties to match the groom.

The Ceremony

My amazing friend Liz, played the guitar and sang me down the aisle. She also sang whilst we signed the register and was the perfect professional – rising to the challenge with pretty much no guidance or direction from us. Nathan’s uncle then played us out after the ceremony on the bagpipes.

The Entertainment

Nathan’s cousin, Malachy, played some acoustic guitar during the day, with a few other family members picking up the guitar to chip in. The band was amazing. We struggled to find a band which would be able to play a variety of genres authentically, without the “wedding band” sound. We eventually found The Sonics, who were exactly what we were looking for.

The Food

We didn’t want a conventional sit down meal, so opted for a more casual food van. Dan from The Roadery was fantastic. The food was British, simple and delicious. Queuing for the food became a bit of a social event, with benches and beer being pulled up to the van. We opted to avoid the traditional wedding cake and instead supplied a whole table of cakes bought from the high street.

The Photography

Like with most of the wedding, we left booking the photographer until quite late on. I had been putting it off as I wasn’t overly keen on traditional wedding photography. However, I stumbled across Colin Clay. With his roots in street photography, his beautiful, gritty pictures really captured the character of the day.