Maria & Martin

The whole point of your wedding day is to celebrate YOUR love as a couple. So that means doing exactly what makes you happy and represents the pair of you. For Maria and Martin, that meant finding a rural campsite they could hire out for their family and close friends, and holding an intimate ceremony where everyone shared stories of the couple to one another, followed by an outdoor feast under bunting and festoon lights. The result, as you'd imagine is totally idyllic and I'm longing for more people to have such a simple, paired back wedding day. Have I set the scene? Are you ready to enjoy? I thought so! Then let's get started...

The Bride

Maria the Bride: Since I started to think about weddings I knew I didn’t want a traditional white wedding dress. Of course, I went to a traditional bridal shop, but I quickly found out it just wasn’t for me. So I started looking for someone who could design and make my dress. Via colleagues I found Mirjam, who turned out to be a perfect match for me. We started looking for different fabrics. If you are looking for different kinds of lace, I can highly recommend Stoffe Möller. It’s a German company with lots of fabrics, they even send you small samples. In the end the dress is made just like I imagined and it was a lot of fun the be involved in the complete process together with my mom. The shoes are from Peter Kaiser.

The Groom

We were hoping for a beautiful warm and sunny day in august, so what could be worse than stand in the sun all day in a suit? Therefore, the idea of just shorts and shirt was born. We went shopping in the Bijenkorf (Dutch Department Store) and found this outfit from Ted Baker, shoes by Toms and glasses by Ace & Tate. In the end it wasn’t a sizzling hot day, but the groom was happy with his outfit either way.

The Venue

One big requirement of the venue was that our guest could stay over and that it had a building so that we could hide inside when it would be a rainy day. Your never know when living in Holland, every day could be a rainy day, even in August. We just searched google for a group camp site and after a couple of hours of searching we found The Abbert. It’s a campsite with five fields for groups only. They have some small huts on wheels for 6 to 8 people, we rented a few for guest who just didn’t want to sleep in a tent. Except for the wooden building and a toilet building, there is nothing there, so more than enough space to let your creativity flow! The venue is located in Flevoland, and within a 10 min walk you can find forest and water. A perfect spot for the portraits.

The Styling

Honestly we didn’t have a theme ;) We wanted everyone to feel like him or herself and wear whatever they felt comfortable in. I don’t mind that is doesn’t look “pulled together” on the photos, everybody looks happy and is smiling.

The Flowers

The bridal bouquet was made by Een Bloemetje Op Tafel. One of my favourite florist in Rotterdam, I always buy my flowers there. One month before the wedding I went there and asked if they made bridal bouquet and luckily for me they did. I asked for a field bouquet without roses or gerberas. Exactly one hour before the city ceremony I picked up the flowers in my wedding dress and I couldn’t be happier with it. The flowers on the venue where done by Hééérlijk.

The Ceremony

This really was the hardest part the plan, luckily our photographers helped us, since they have seen a lot of ceremonies and know what works out and what not. We asked a good friend to lead the ceremony and toast at the end. Another friend Oliver Alexander sang for us, including his beautiful song “as long as you live”. The ceremony started with our vows. Before the big day we read each others part we wrote for our family, to make sure we didn’t say anything twice. After the vows, we said yes to our home-made promises, kissed and the groom put on my wedding bracelet. Again, something completely different, we both never wore rings before and we weren’t planning on doing so after the wedding. So we decided that only the bride would wear jewellery after the wedding. The bracelet was custom made from rose gold and a family owned stone by Eva Schreuder, make sure to check her Instagram account she really makes the most gorgeous things. When we were done kissing, eight friends surrounded us in a circle. Each of them told an emotional story about us. Time flew by, but I think it took about 1.5 hour for the ceremony to finish. The only thing I can highly recommend is keeping it personal and true to yourself, so you will remember this special moment forever!

The Food & Styling

We mentioned them earlier, all styling and food was done by Hééérlijk, owned by Eddy & Carmen. Two very special people who just made sure that we didn’t have to think about anything during the day. We met a couple of times before the wedding and they just made the day more perfect. Every styling or food element you see on the pictures was done by them. Except for the DIY guess who, which we made ourselves. Our friends and family loved playing it and it contributed to the relaxed atmosphere after the ceremony.

The Photography

As you can see our wedding pictures turned out wonderful! We met Sam & Diana of Green Antlers Photography a couple of years earlier when they shot our engagement. Since then we knew that we wanted them for our wedding as well. Sam & Diana are the most enthusiastic people we’ve met and we just really like their style of photography. It didn’t feel like we’ve invited photographers to our wedding, but it felt like extra friends. They make you feel relaxed, so there is nothing else you can do except smile all day long!

Advice

After planning our wedding the only thing I can say is: follow your heart. Just do whatever feels like you and your day will turn out as beautiful as you ever dreamed of. Of course, we felt nervous but it turned out we didn’t have to. The people who surrounded us made sure all we could do was enjoy the day.