A Boho Humanist Wedding with a Forest Ceremony - The Reception

Take one sequinned gown and mismatch it with a farm wedding venue, and you have the perfect big day combo of boho glamour. Hanna and Paul chose Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex for their wedding day and celebrated with a three-day extravaganza. All their friends and family stayed on site, and enjoyed a BBQ on Friday night, before the humanist ceremony and barn reception on Saturday. I love the relaxed atmosphere of their big day - there weren't many decorations, but the stunning rustic venue speaks for itself. Don't miss the just-picked wedding flowers, the naked berry cake, the festoon lights, and the hilarious wedding portraits. Huge thanks to Michael from My Beautiful Bride for sending me this wedding. Don't miss the Ceremony pictures here.

We celebrated our big day on 14th June - a summer wedding. We chose Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex as our venue. It's stunning with a clearing where we hosted our marriage ceremony outdoors in the woods.

It was the second venue we visited. It was perfect because we had the farm for the whole weekend, meaning it felt more of an experience, than an in-and-out job like other weddings we've experienced.

A Boho Humanist Wedding with a Forest Ceremony

When I see a truly perfect wedding, I get goosebumps, and I literally can't wait to share it with you! Michael from My Beautiful Bride sent over these wedding photographs a few days ago, and I've been champing at the bit to get it edited and published as quickly as possible. Hanna and Paul celebrated their big day with a humanist ceremony in a forest. So far so rustic, but Hanna glammed it up with a s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g vintage sequinned gown, and colour-pop bridesmaids dresses in coral pink and lemon yellow. It's a feast for the eyes! I'm in love with their rural venue choice - Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex, and their freshly-picked flowers from the next door field. They managed to stay relaxed throughout their wedding planning, and you can really see the joy shining through Michael's pictures. Enjoy these shots, and don't miss the Reception pictures, coming later today!

Real Humanist Rustic Chic Wedding: Kia & Sam - Part 2

Boho brides are going to love all the wedding ideas they'll get from this stunning teepee wedding reception! Kia and Sam's celebrated their big day in Sam's parents' garden, surrounded by beautiful countryside, and tonnes of wedding details. I'm completely in love with their two giant teepee marquees, and the family-style dining tables. With a hog roast and a picnic feel, this lovely informal wedding kept their guests entertained all the way through to breakfast the next morning! Other stealworthy wedding ideas include the colourful handmade and hand-embroidered bunting, the DIY'd log cupcake stand, the fabulous VW van. Kia and Sam's whole family chipped in to help DIY this beautiful wedding. Don't miss Kia's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - she has tonnes of helpful hints for DIY brides-in-the-making. Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden for her stunning pictures - don't miss Part 1!

We celebrated out wedding in June at my husband's parents' farm where he grew up, on the Beds/Bucks border. We had a Humanist ceremony besides an old tree in the meadow and two huge Scandinavian tipis.

We wanted an English country wedding with a Swedish influence {as I’m half Swedish}. It was important for our wedding to feel romantic, easy and fun, with no real formalities, a touch bohemian, rustic and 'us'.

We mostly enjoyed planning out wedding. We loved coming up with ideas – we have to be creative in our jobs every day for other people so it made a nice change to do that for ourselves. It did get to a point where we were so focused on our guests having the perfect day that we’d forgotten about us, but that was just a blip. We got back to the real reason we were getting married and wouldn’t change a thing about the build up or the day itself. All in all it was a lot of fun because we did so much ourselves.

We had tonnes of DIY wedding projects! We created that entire venue from the ground up – apart from the tipis themselves. We bought or made most things with the help of family and friends. 

We didn't have any particular theme for our wedding. In fact we wanted anything but a theme and absolutely no matchy-matchy colours. We just wanted the decoration to reflect our passions and interests with something different everywhere you looked.

We used a lovely local florist in Frosts at Woburn, who was really creative and so passionate about floral design. I wanted something unstructured and wild looking so chose a mix of brightly coloured flowers including snapdragons, sweet peas, sunflowers, dill and corn.

Sam made all the signs and the candelabras for the tree. Our parents made the flower arch and birdseed hearts. My husband’s brother made the cake stand.

We made a cake stand out of tree trunk slices and terracotta plant pots and covered the tiers in individual cupcakes, carrot cakes and plants. We wanted to echo the tree backdrop from the ceremony and the rural setting.

For wedding favours, we had chocolate moustaches and lips on sticks made by a local chocolatier. The inspiration came from my husband’s moustache!

My maid of honour and her mum made the bunting out of specially chosen fabrics and embroidered them with special words. Sam and I folded 500 origami peace cranes to hang on the trees {with the help of the best man and my brother}.  I wrote 'our story' which was printed onto elephant poo (!) paper and turned into paper hearts, which were hung on the backs of chairs.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson of The Image Garden. We chose her because her photography style was exactly what we wanted – creative, observant and natural. She really 'got' the detail we had put into the wedding, and loved the surroundings we had chosen which meant a lot to us. We wanted someone who could just wander round capturing the feel of the day which she did wonderfully.

My advice for upcoming brides is don't forget why you’re doing it. As important the small details may seem to you, all your friends and family really care about is seeing you get married and having a bloody good party afterwards {a friend told me this and it helped loads!}. Speak to friends – they'll keep you sane and keep your feet on the ground. Let go and enjoy every single second – people will look after themselves. We were amongst the last to leave at 5am – we didn't want it to end. It was the best day and night of our lives.

♥ Want more colourful wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about boho wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Humanist Rustic Chic Wedding: Kia & Sam

Take two giant teepees, a vintage campervan and countryside-loving couple and you get Kia and Sam's beautiful humanist rustic wedding. It's chock-a-block with wedding details and wedding ideas, and if you're a planning a rustic, boho wedding, you're going to want to copy every one. Just take a look at the DIY blackboard signs, the paper origami decorations {500 peace cranes!} and how every reception chair is decorated with a pretty flower and ribbons. I love the handmade flower arbour altar, and vintage milk-churn vases, and Kia's stunning bright bouquet. In keeping with the boho feel to her wedding, Kia wore flowers in her hair, and sourced her wedding dress from Spain and her accessories from various boutique jewellery makers. Don't miss her answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - she has tonnes of helpful hints for upcoming brides. Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden for her stunning pictures - more coming soon in Part 2!

We celebrated out wedding in June at my husband's parents' farm where he grew up, on the Beds/Bucks border. We had a Humanist ceremony besides an old tree in the meadow and two huge Scandinavian tipis.

We wanted an English country wedding with a Swedish influence {as I’m half Swedish}. It was important for our wedding to feel romantic, easy and fun, with no real formalities, a touch bohemian, rustic and 'us'.

My wedding dress was made by Yolan Cris, an amazing bohemian Spanish designer. My blue shoes were from Dune and my accessories were all handmade from a mix of designers from Etsy, Asos marketplace and my mum’s collection from the 60s. I just arrived at that look – it felt like me. All I knew was I didn’t want anything too traditional.

My maid of honour had a fantastic red dress made from salvaged vintage fabrics by a designer in Brighton.

Sam's suit was bespoke-made by a tailor in London called Rocacha, as he couldn't find the vintage cut he wanted anywhere! His cufflinks were from Etsy, and his tie was from Sweden.

We used a lovely local florist in Frosts at Woburn, who was really creative and so passionate about floral design. I wanted something unstructured and wild looking so chose a mix of brightly coloured flowers including snapdragons, sweet peas, sunflowers, dill and corn.

Sam and I folded 500 origami peace cranes to hang on the tree {with the help of the best man and my brother}. I wrote 'our story' which was printed onto elephant poo {!} paper and turned into paper hearts, which were hung on the backs of chairs.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson of The Image Garden. We chose her because her photography style was exactly what we wanted – creative, observant and natural. She really 'got' the detail we had put into the wedding, and loved the surroundings we had chosen which meant a lot to us. We wanted someone who could just wander round capturing the feel of the day which she did wonderfully.

♥ Want more colourful wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about boho wedding ideas? ♥

If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter. 

Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.