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The offbeat bride: Zillah
Her offbeat partner: Jon, computer programmer
Location & date of wedding: In a field near Brighton, England, UK — June 5, 2010
What made our wedding offbeat: We are both lucky enough to have families that let us do what we wanted, so we did. We hired a field with a tap and had to sort out the rest. It was basically a mini-festival, with a picnic buffet and dancing until the small hours.
Just because it was in a field didn't mean we missed out on home-comforts, we had a bar with fridges, sofas and a pool table. To keep costs down we did everything ourselves, and with a lot of help from our friends and family, we had the most overwhelmingly romantic and amazing day (and night) ever.
Tell us about your ceremony: We officially got married at the town hall a couple of days before, with only eight people present. We did that just to make it legal.
The main ceremony and party was our handfasting, we had about eighty people there. We didn't need any “official” people as we had already done the legal bit, so we made it up ourselves. We got our friend to “call in the directions.” Everyone turns to the North, East, South and West and shouts a loud A-HO! with their hands in the air. This was a nice ice-breaker.
Then everyone tied us together one at a time with their own ribbon/string/shoe lace/electric cable(!) that they had brought with them for their own personal reasons. This was a nice way to say hello to everyone and kind of like a “receiving line” but more fun. Then we said how much we loved each other (not really vows as such), and jumped over a hay bale! It was perfect.
Our biggest challenge: The generator failed and we had to get someone to come and fix it. The man who came was a hero and re-soldered the engine in the field at night, then hey presto, we had lights and music!
My favorite moment: The handfasting was very special, and very made-up on the spot! Luckily it worked out.
Our friend Dom gave a hilarious and touching speech.
My funniest moment: My husband was making a speech to welcome everyone and just as he said “as you can see, this is all a well oiled machine-” he knocked over his glass of champagne, and everyone laughed. I think they thought it was planned, but it wasn't, I have married Mr. Bump.
My advice for offbeat brides: We were trying to save money, and did everything ourselves. I think it might have been wise to at least get someone to do the food!
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Never trust a generator until you've seen it doing what you need it to do!
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- We got the willow ‘tipis' that we got married under from Creative Willow
- The main tent came from Party on the Grass
- My dress, the bunting, the napkins were all handmade by me.
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zillahpie/albums/72157624171998501
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
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