Beautiful Relaxed Fforest Farm Festival Wedding - Whimsical...

Beautiful Relaxed Fforest Farm Festival Wedding - Whimsical...

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If I have said it once, I have said it way too many times. I love you guys!!

WWW readers Jenny and Tommy along with their 14 month old son Ianto had a weekend wedding celebration back in May 2014. A sun shining weekend filled with their nearest and dearest, they had a great knees up.

They opted to host their wedding at Fforest in Wales, a venue which is set in the most beautiful countryside. A relaxed atmosphere with great food, drink, pretty blooms and smiles was order for their day, as they tied the knot in a rustic tipi. This is one wedding where you wish you were a guest, trust me.

Thanks today to the totally amazing Pete Cranston for sharing these images.

THE PROPOSAL | We were exploring mid-Wales on a winter holiday and we walked up Sugarloaf Mountain, near Abergavenny. At the top Tommy got down on one knee in the snow and proposed! He had the ring and as a complete guess it fitted perfectly! We had originally planned to get married in the summer but our plans were happily delayed for our son Ianto who was born in March 2013.

THE VISION | We had always wanted a relaxed wedding with a festival style theme, something which would reflect our personalities and get everyone into a celebrating mood. We wanted something outside but given the British weather we knew there would have to be inside backup plan!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We searched for barns and looked to hire tipis but nothing was quite right. Then 3 different friends told us about Fforest in west Wales. The minute we went there we knew it was the right place for us. Originally a farm it had been beautifully converted into camping units with canvas tents and beautifully finished buildings for partying. Once we had the venue the rest was easy!

BUDGET | Initially we wanted a budget wedding but when we decided on Fforest our budget went out the window! We decided to make it exactly we wanted - we were only going to do it once! We did keep costs down by brewing our own wedding favours, collecting old jam jars for flowers, my mum did all the flowers and as everything was on one site there were no transport costs. Tommy's sister made our invitations, hymm sheets and programmes. Tommy's mum made our seating plan from up-cycled photo frames and chalkboard paint. We haggled over corkage costs and my sister in law supplied the Prosecco and having the cake as dessert also kept costs down.

THE VENUE | Fforest Farm in Cilgerran, west Wales.was just magical! Accommodation for 100 people on site in luxurious camping units, some with double beds and all with wood burners meant that people could come for the weekend and have a holiday!

The communal lodge for breakfast with smooth wooden surfaces and tin teapots and mugs served homemade bread and local produce. Wild flowers in mismatched vases were on windowsills and the occasional stag's horns adorned the walls. The rustic no fuss barn was perfect for meals on long trestle type tables. And the giant hat tipi was where we said our vows and later had the band and dancing.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I got my dress from Allison Jayne bridal in Cardiff - I had tried on loads of dresses by then. I had originally wanted lace, then a tea length dress but as they say - you know when it the right one. I had a hairpiece made of fabric and crystal and I wore my mums single pearl earrings. My shoes were Jenny Packham embellished heels that I had when I was a bridesmaid for my best friend the year before but I had a pair of white embroidered pumps for dancing later on. I also had a pair of white Hunter Wellies that my lovely Hen's had given me at my hen do but we ended up having fantastic weather and they became part of the décor instead!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Tommy wanted to be low key with chilled out mismatched suits. He has a muted green shirt, light brown waistcoat and dark brown jacket and navy chinos and brogues.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We actually got married on the Friday morning in an intimate ceremony with just immediate family. It was in the stone cottage, aka the pub! Which was also on site. we hadn't really thought much about the registrars ceremony as all out attention was going on the 'main' event on Saturday, but it was actually a beautiful experience and the intimate venue with just a few family members made it incredibly special. The sun was shining for us and after the ceremony we had a celebratory lunch of lamb tagine and apple crumble in the vegetable patch. Later our guests started arriving and there was much drinking, singing and eating as Fforest prepared an amazing dinner for all those staying of spicy butternut squash soup and pizzas in the wood fired ovens. It was a late night for some!

Our amazing friend Hayley was our celebrant and her ceremony was perfect. We didn't really know what was going to be said and so the whole ceremony was so special. It was in the giant hat tipi which was decorated with our flowers, cones of petal confetti and bunches of Gypsophila tied to the poles. The countryside was a beautiful backdrop.

There was Croquet, Boules and Quoits on the lawn and a friend set up a slackline which kept some people entertained, while others sat in deck chairs in the sun with Rum and Ginger cocktails or local bitters. The lodge which had been decked out for the children with colouring, home made play dough, books, beanbags and films.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Music played a big part in our wedding and Tommy took on board choreographing and working out the musical accompaniment. I walked down the aisle to Ben Harper There will be a light, and we sang Calon Lan, a beautiful old Welsh hymm which the Welshies in attendance sang with good gusto!

We had a reading which was actually a song by Tommy's sister Abi - she sang the words to 'favourite things' but changed the lyrics to suit us. I don't think there was a dry eye In the house! Tommy played and sang a Tiki Tane song called 'Always on my mind' which was my favourite song from our travels in new Zealand - I had no idea he was going to sing it.

We had written our own vows and said them to each other in front of all our guests which was met with a huge round of applause. We finished by singing 'Can't take my eyes of you' accompanied by our friends on trumpet, sax and guitar!

Our band Salvation were fantastic and everyone was up and dancing until late. We also had various playlists and impromptu performances from friends! We had a hat trunk with a collection of random hats which came out for the dancing. it just added to the fun atmostphere.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My niece Ellie was my flower girl and my sister Lois was my only bridesmaid. It was probably more difficult to get her a dress than it was for me but she looked stunning In a floor length one shoulder pale yellow dress from Coast

THE FLOWERS | My mum and I ordered the flowers online and they got delivered on the Thursday and we spent a significant part of the day making up the vases. My mum made the button holes and bouquets on the morning of the wedding. They were just as I wanted- British wild flower type theme in a rustic style. My bouquet was tied with lace and pinned with a vintage hat pin from Portabello Road Market (which I had brought with my first pay check). Flowers were placed in mismatched vases, different sized jam jars and chemistry glasswear which my friend Louise found in a second hand shop in Liverpool.

THE CAKE | Was a round four tiered un-iced Victoria sponge decorated with summer berries. I painted peg dolls of myself, Tommy and iInto and they were placed on top of the cake.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Pete Cranston was amazing! He was everywhere taking photos of the venue, the details and the guests as well as wonderful ones of us. He really embraced Fforest as a venue and made the most of the beautiful scenery. We wanted relaxed photos with no too many posed pictures which we certainly got. For the group photos he was brilliant they were all done quickly and although posed to a degree remained very informal. He was there from the time we had breakfast to after the band and the photos are fantastic.

THE HONEYMOON | We had a massive Sunday brunch with our guests in Fforest. Some people stayed another night which just added to the whole feeling that we were having a holiday with all our closest family and best mates. A group of us went canoeing on the river Teifi (which Fforest arranged). The ones with the hangovers lounged on beanbags in the sun and we had a communal curry later on!

Tommy and I managed to get a babysitter and went to St Ives in Cornwall for a few days. We stayed in a beautiful B&B called Harbour House and the time spent together allowed us to reflect on the amazing experience.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | There were so many special moments every time we think back something else to talk and smile about.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Definitely get the photographer! I'm so glad that we had Pete, he captured the feel of the wedding in a way our friends cameras didn't.

Go on a honeymoon soon after! it is so busy before and after the wedding that some time on your own is really important, even if it is only a few days.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Fforest

Photography | Pete Cranston

Cake | Cake Carousel

Dress | Allison Jayne

Honeymoon | Headland House Hotel St Ives

Wine and champagne | Kilgarriff and Kahan

Just incredible. See I told you that you'd be wishing you were there... hehe.

Jenny and Tommy thank you both so much for sharing your wedding XO Lou

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