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Claire & Anthony’s Eco Inspired Woodland Wedding

Claire & Anthony’s Eco Inspired Woodland Wedding

woodland wedding

Claire & Anthony wanted to hold an eco inspired wedding with an outdoor ceremony and their wedding planning journey began with finding the perfect location which turned out to be less than 12 miles from their own front door!

woodland wedding at the Clophill Centre Bedford

Their ceremony and reception venue including camping for the guests was The Clophill Centre, a former fruit farm in Clophill, Bedfordshire which is now home to a Holistic Centre with numerous choices of green spaces and wooded areas and it was in a glade in one of these wooded areas that Claire and Anthony held their beautiful ceremony conducted by a local celebrant.

In keeping with the eco theme, Claire’s beautiful designer dress was purchased second hand and worn with a sparkly pair of sandals that could be re-worn on their Sri Lankan honeymoon and the bridesmaids chose their own dresses based on designs that they would wear again.

As Anthony is Australian, guests travelled from around the world to be at the wedding so the party started early on the Friday with a camp fire, hog roast and beer …. lots and lots of beer!  He did warn us that Australians like to drink and party and they certainly didn’t let us down!

The reception was held in a traditional pole marquee from Fairytale Marquees and used recycled carpet as a nod to the eco theme.  The site itself already provided eco toilets and eco showers but due to our guest numbers we decided we needed to bring in additional toilets and showers, however these were only available for use on the wedding day itself so as to reduce the consumption of electricity, gas and water.

wedding centrepieces

The girls beautiful bouquets were hand made by Claire and her bridesmaids with flowers ordered from a local floral florist wholesaler – none of the girls had any previous experience and we think they did a pretty amazing job of making them look so good.

bridal wedding bouquet eco woodland wedding

Both the bridal and groom’s parties chose to stay at the venue the night before – the boys and girls in the bell tent village that was provided by Red Sky Tents and Claire chose to spend her last night before becoming a Mrs in an amazing tree house in the woods.

tree house at the clophill centre eco inspired wedding

The wooded aisle was a lovely, slow 3 minute walk which took the guests through the woods and out into a glade at the very end.  A simple arch with honeysuckle and dressed with lanterns and chiffon was the only décor required so as not to detract from the beauty of the location.

eco inspired woodland wedding the clophill centre

woodland aisle to ceremony glade the clophill centre bedford wedding

As a nod to Anthony’s Scottish heritage, along with thistles in the bouquets and buttonholes, the Bride & Groom were piped down from the glade by members of the family and out into the sunshine for the drinks and canapés reception.

wedding bag pipers

The mouthwatering canapés, wedding breakfast and evening food were provided by the amazing team at Provenance Kitchen who again in keeping with the eco theme cooked their wonderful seasonal menu on an open wood fire in their airstream trailer.  Claire and Anthony decided to go against tradition and not have a cake but a family member surprised them with homemade cupcakes.  During the speeches as a nod to Claire’s father’s heritage, all guests were invited to drink homemade shots of ‘Wisniowka’ – cherry vodka.  We were told by family members afterwards that it was over 40% proof and judging by the dancing during the ceilidh band, I think we could agree with them!

provenance kitchen wedding catering

Again, breaking with tradition there was no first dance, instead guests were asked to join in with the Bride & Groom in the first ceilidh dance of the evening which proved to be great fun as guests had been making good use of the cocktail bar from The Libation Station.  Finally, a DJ took over until midnight when guests headed back to the glamping village and a campfire to continue their merriment (and yes you’ve guessed it more beer!).

ceildih first dance

libation station wedding bar

As we left site at 3am after clearing down and turning the generator off, we left guests chatting around the camp fire – Sunday’s schedule was much more relaxed with a friendly ‘Aussies vs English’ cricket match with an afternoon tea/picnic before the bridal party headed off to Barcelona for a belated ‘staggymoon’ followed by their honeymoon in Sri Lanka.

wedding day the clophill centre bedford wedding planner

bridesmaids at the clophill centre bedford

bride and groom at the clophill centre

fairytale marquees traditional wedding marquee

Claire & Anthony, it was a pleasure to plan your eco inspired wedding and to spend your day with you and we wish you all the best for your next adventure.  If you think we could help you with the planning or management of your wedding, please contact Vanessa to discuss your day – vanessa@rocksandfrocks.co.uk

Huge shout out to Claudia from www.claudiarosecarter.co.uk for the gorgeous images and big thanks to the following suppliers that made their wedding possible:

Marquee & Generator Hire: Fairytale Marquees | Celebrant: Malcolm Desborough | Photographer: Claudia Rose Carter | Catering: The Provenance Kitchen | Bar: The Libation Station | Crockery, Cutlery, Glassware, Parasol, Wooden Bench & Garden Game Hire: YA Hire | DJ & Ceremony PA System: Global Hire | Ceilidh Band: George Buchanan Band | Mobile Showers & Toilets: Latta Hire | Fridge & Freezer Hire: Mobile Freezer Rentals | Bell Tents: Red Sky Tent Company | Hog Roast: Spitting Pig Hertfordshire | Venue: The Clophill Centre | Wedding Planner: Rocks & Frocks Ltd

 

2 Responses

  1. Ben seline says:

    What an amazing day. I would have loved to have been the celebrant for thus lovely couple…

    Another fabulous job by yourselves. Well done, love seeing your work…

    Ben

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