Photos by Freckle Photography
The Wedding of Lara & Dan…
Last week we welcomed the very talented Emma from Freckle Photography to Mr & Mrs Unique. Not only does she take cracking photos, she is bloody lovely too and it seems the couples she works with think the same!
I was lucky to meet Emma during our Tunnels Boho Beach shoot last year, and Ive been desperate to get her on my books ever since. Her portfolio over the last year has been growing with amazing, unique weddings by the bucket load!
After deciding to join our network of like minded, talented wedding suppliers, Emma sent over a sneak peek of this glorious wedding of Lara & Dan. Colourful and rustic, with lovely homemade touches throughout the day, it really is a beautiful wedding to feast your eyes on!
So over to Emma and then the newly wedded Lara & Dan to tell us about their day…
Name of the couple: Daniel & Lara
Wedding Venue: Maker Heights
Reception Venue: Maker Heights
Emma, from Freckle Photography…
Why you love this wedding…
First up THE COLOUR! I loved that Lara and Dan had gone to town with all the colour, a real mix of everything bright which gave it a proper celebratory feel. I also love that they did things their way and were not afraid to break the rules.
What were the couple’s requirements…
Lara and Dan literally gave me free reign, they trusted me to record their day, shoot a few set groups but most of all capture the spirit and essence of their wedding. This is what I love best about my work: to give back some memories that get lost in the whirlwind of emotions on the day.
Favourite details of the day…
The ribbons! I am mad about anything a bit “boho/ free love” and all the ribbons flying in the wind conjured up memories of festivals – I have been to the Maker Festival a few times and this wedding captured that free spirited feeling you get at a festival.
Favourite moment of the day…
The outdoor ceremony under the blazing late summer sunshine, when Lara and Dan offered each other a tiny yellow flower. I remember the celebrant discussing why we should give flowers – not just on special occasions but as a reminder of our feelings for one another. It was poignant as it was just a tiny yellow flower but alive with so much significance. It reminded me that romantic gestures can be very small but with huge effect.
Lara & Dan…
Tell us how you met and got engaged…
We met at school in year 9 and got engaged earlier this year. I (Lara) was at work and came home to my proposal (and a roast!) written from the bottom to the top of the stairs leading up to Dan and Elsie, our daughter, sat at the top waiting for me. I couldn’t stop giggling whereas Dan was very emotional. I was never expecting an actual proposal as we’ve always discussed getting married and kind of had it planned beforehand so was a really lovely thing for him to do.
How would you describe your wedding theme…
Rustic, woodlandy, relaxed and happy
What were your main hopes and plan for the day…
Basically that our ideas would work! We didn’t want anything too structured. We just wanted to have everything (and everyone) that we loved all rolled into one day and that everyone would love it as much as we hoped they would!
Was your favourite part of the day…
Both of us have said the same.. we honestly enjoyed every single second. We went for everything we wanted and it worked and everyone did love it. From food https://www.facebook.com/makercanteen to music (Land of the Giants!! Eeek!!) If one thing had of been different we wouldn’t have been able to have such a perfect day
How was your day unique…
I think just the fact it was so very different. Almost all of our guests –family and friends – have either had, or have been to, much more traditional weddings i.e church ceremony, seating plans, colour schemes, 3 course meals and we didn’t particularly want any of that. We wanted it to be as much ‘us’ as it could be so we really went for it with how much we could possibly do ourselves and the fact we wanted it to be different from the norm!
The venue itself was surprising to lots of our friends and especially family but they could see why we had chosen it afterwards. Everything was done from scratch so was built up around our vision. We had written our own vows.
We found a lovely lady about an hour away who supplied the flowers and we made all the arrangements ourselves including bouquets, button holes.
We spray painted tin cans for the flowers on the tables. We bought lots, LOTS, of ribbon and used that on top table chair backs and all around the marquee attached to bunting we assembled.
We didn’t want a formal dinner so had some amazing food that was created perfectly to our tastes and everyone chose a chair and mingled. I made our wedding cake and we had some of our favourite cakes to hand from our favourite cafes for after the ceremony and for the evening.
We had an ice cream trike for the time in-between the meal and our band starting which went down a storm.
We didn’t want a DJ so aside from our band in the evening, we had created many different music playlists for throughout the day and into the night which took weeks of tweaking to get it right!!
What was your budget…
Originally £6000 but it crept to £8000 once we looked into prices of what we really wanted.
What was your biggest expense…
The marquee
How did you save money…
By not going crazy on things that – to us – seemed silly . Dan had bought me a ring for our first year together so I’ve always said for him to use that when we got engaged… 9 years later! We didn’t want to spend lots on outfits, we wanted all the money we spent on the wedding to really go into the wedding – so food was really important, music, furniture and all the little ‘bits’ to make it really personal to us. Lots of the ‘bits’ came from our home too so that saved us buying things!! And obviously making our decorations.
What was it like working with your photographer…
Emma truly is a special lady. I fell in love with her and her work as soon as I discovered her. We were extremely lucky to have her involved. She has a very gentle nature and she’s given us great direction from the moment we met, right up until now – nearly 2 months after our wedding! A huge talent.
Advice to any couples about to get married…
Enjoy it! Don’t let it get you stressed, absorb every moment and get to know who you’re working with. That was a huge enjoyment for us…every single person involved was truly lovely and made us feel special in one way or another.
Ahh congratulations Lara & Dan and thank you to Emma from Freckle Photography for the wonderful photos! If you would like to find out more about her services you can view her directory listing here.
