Oli and Lily held their legal ceremony at Horsham Registry Office followed by a hand fasting blessing at Lily's grandmothers beautiful cottage in Copthorne. The quintessential country cottage which backed onto 18 acres of woodland and an idyllic lake was also the home to their wedding reception and provided plenty of space for their guests to camp.

Their vision for the day was to have an outdoor wedding that was relaxed, comfortable and with no formalities. They hoped to create a little home from home where all of their closest friends and family could experience the things that make them such a unique and special couple - exactly how a wedding should be!

Oli and Lily's wedding is in my eyes the epitome of an alternative wedding. From their unique hand fasting ceremony to the Romani tradition of wrapping yourself in a huge sheet and feeding your guests; they weren't afraid to be themselves on their wedding day even if it meant changing the order of the day at the last minute. If they fancied stopping off for an impromptu beer after the ceremony on their way to the reception then they did it! Their day was their day and I just love that. No pretenses, no fuss, no structured routine. Just a day that was all about having fun.

Lily tells us more about it......

Oli proposed at home in our yurt with the dogs playing around us with an original flavoured hula hoop as a ring! Apparently he went to many shops to find the right flavour!!

My wedding dress was made by my friend Pearl who runs her own dress making business and is incredibly talented. It was a vintage dress that was personalised with pink and green underskirts pulled up with ribbons. On my feet I wore vintage cowboy boots.

For my jewellery I wore the pearls my granny was married in in 1940 and a paper flower garland given by my Mum. I also traded this for a green top hat in the evening!

Oli wore vintage brogues, hunting sock, a country shirt teamed with the waistcoat his Dad wore on his wedding day and a cravat made by Pearl.

We wanted to share the way we live with the people we love so everything about our wedding was inspired by the 100 acres of woodland we manage and live on. Managing such a vast amount of space has led to working with some very skilled, talented and wonderful people that over time have become very good friends and a big part of our lives. We wanted to share all of this on our wedding day and did so in the decor.

Everything we did was DIY. We built it all from scratch including all the shelters and marquee. My Mum made the bunting and we also made fire torches and loads of lanterns. The flowers were all handpicked the day before from the cottage garden and arranged by Lily's Mum. They were mostly hydrangeas in pink and purple along with ivy and ferns.

We tried to personalise our wedding as much as possible and had everything pretty much donated by people we know which made the whole thing such an overwhelming experience. I think everyone really enjoyed how personal and relaxed the whole day was and embraced the style and outdoor theme. Even my gran who had been really unwell enjoyed herself! We really are so grateful to everyone who helped make it happen (especially Kirby and Tom for putting up with us for 9 days of building!)

For the catering everyone brought their own food and we all say down to a massive picnic lunch.

My gran being able to come and seeing her face when I came down the aisle or stealing moments with Oli away from evberyone or Oli and I throwing hola hoops at all our firends and family!

Another favourite part of the day was stopping on the waty to the reception with our friend George wjho was driving us in his duck egg green morris minor with no reverse gear! We pulled off the main road from the registry offive and stopped at a country pub nest to the A road! It was not open yet as it was only 11.30 but we managed to find the barn man who was so shocked to see un in our full wedding gear that he served us! We sat outside with a pint and wved to all our guests shocked faces on their way to the reception! It was so muhc fin and it was great to get a quiet hald an hour with Oli before the madness of the recpetion. If you get the schambe we would throughly advise it!

Don't take it too seriously! Weddings are meant to be fun!

Ceremony Venue: Horsham Registry Office

Reception Venue: Bride's Grandmothers Cottage

Photographer: Matilda Rose Photography

Brides Dress: Pearl Bespoke Dressmakers

Brides Shoes: Cowboy Boots

Flowers: DIY

Catering: DIY

Thank you so much to Lily and Oli for sharing your unique and refreshing wedding with us. Love the fact that Oli proposed with a Hula Hoop! Genius!

Lily and Oli's first dance will be featured under Independent Love Song later on today.

Until then!

Big Love

Festival Brides xx

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