DIY English Garden Wedding

Emily and Lewis, along with family and friends, took the idea of doing a DIY English garden wedding to a whole new level! For reasons that will become clear below, this was one wedding that I’d been looking forward to for a long time! For the outset it was clear that both bride and groom were incredibly creative, and would be creating a very personal wedding day with contributions from those nearest and dearest to them. Most fundamentally of all, Emily chose to get ready at home, just a minute or two from their local church, and would be returning home to her parents’ garden, where a stretch tent had been nestled beautifully among their quintessentially English garden.

The Wedding Dress

I said above that I’d been looking forward to this DIY English garden wedding for a long time. That’s partly because Emily and Lewis, like so many couples at the time, had to postpone their wedding by a year, but also because I’d been working with Emily and her mum throughout the planning process to photograph the making of her wedding dress.

Emily and Lewis were both working and fashion at the time, and Emily’s mum Tessa, has a long and impressive career in fashion design and teaching. I’d wanted to document the making of a wedding dress for a long time, and so when this opportunity arose I was so keen to make it happen. The final series of pictures, that I made into a book, can be seen HERE.

DIY English Garden Wedding Inspiration

In every aspect of the wedding, the couple put their own creative talent to use in creating their DIY English garden wedding. The flowers were sourced locally and all the wedding stationary and signage was done by Emily, who now sells her cards and stationary online at Sage & Hart. A friend also made their wedding cake, and food was served as a buffet with a choice of different paella, which made for a really relaxed feel to the wedding breakfast. Of course the wedding was blessed with perfect weather, and we were able to use a field at the back of the house for some lovely golden hour portraits, before the couple did their first dance and they partied the night away!