On 13th May 2017 my best friend and I had our handfasting. A handfasting is a traditional pagan wedding ceremony in which the hands are tied with cord to symbolise the union, and a broom in jumped to symbolise the starting a fresh.
I never imagined myself walking down an aisle in a white dress so a handfasting with a Medieval theme seemed perfect for me, and us! We wanted fun and colour and you can see from the photos that we certainly had that!
It was a lot of work planning, organising, making, baking and at 5.5 months pregnant I really pushed myself to the limits but it was exactly how we wanted it.
So thankful to our parents who helped set up, coordinate and take down. Also to our friends and families who got dressed up and came with a smile and an open attitude unsure of what to expect but really embraced it. I think fun was had by all.
We had some amazing suppliers that really helped to make the day fantastic:
The venue was Abbey farm – Jenny and family were wonderful, nothing was too much trouble and the venue, the ruins of a medieval abbey, really worked with our theme.
Smart party marquees– cheaper marquees than traditional, quicker to put up and really light and spacious.
The costume company– we hired all the inside decorations and tankards from them, these really brought the theme to life.
The Cheese and Ale barn – fantastic choice of cheeses and Lou worked with us to create a cheese ‘cake’ within our budget.
Sticky Fingers – wow, what fantastic flavours of ice cream and service. They even gave us a free taster session with 18 flavours.
19Gales – Not going to lie, they are poor at communicating and can promise the world but not deliver (like promising me gluten free bread…) but when it comes to straight up hog roast that was gorgeous!
Armstreet clothing – supplied my wedding dress and Richards colourful outfit.
And last but certainly not least was Dave Sutch, our Celebrant. He conducted a beautiful ceremony with real authenticity, him and his partner were such lovely people they really made the day magical.
And just to give credit to the family members who made things!
I sewed 50 meters of bunting, flags and costumes and made all the dried flower decorations, Richard, as a talented puppet maker, made the amazing cake toppers and signs, my mum made some delicious food and Richards mum made the fantastic hobbit house cake and about 300 sausage rolls!
A picture tells a thousand words so here is our special day in photos, thanks to the talented Sarah Deeming.


















































And because I realised I didn’t upload any photos of our legal ceremony or the hen do here are a few photos, this time of our legal ceremony that took place in April in Cheylesmore Manor followed by afternoon tea in Coombe Abbey. Another fantastic day! Lucky me I got 2 wedding days 🙂




My hen do with my lovely friends and family involved cakes, sewing, Alpacas and a meal at The Green Man, I had a great time!








And to end it all off a few photos of our short Honeymoon, down in Devon/Dorset hunting for fossils.






Phew I’m done, can I go to sleep now…