Harry and Laura had a rustic village hall wedding at Iford Hall in Lewes with lots of DIY decor, hay bale seating, a marquee reception, and a celebrant led ceremony. They chose Iford Hall as their wedding venue, it was the perfect space for their summer wedding as they had their ceremony outside, their wedding breakfast in a marquee and their evening reception inside the hall.

Some of the brilliant DIY decorations they made include little wooden signs with the dates they met, when they got engaged and their wedding day, a wooden pallet for the order of the day which they hand painted, the seating plan, polaroid guest book, table names, and the best one; hundreds of origami paper cranes made by the bride which they used as their ceremony backdrop as well as having them on the tables and hanging from trees. They had a Japan theme to their wedding as that's where they got engaged so they had the origami cranes, a map of Japan as the seating plan, and cities of Japan as the table names.







The groomsmen got ready at the venue, they had muted green tweed suits with a lilac tie which matched beautifully with their buttonholes from Kate Langdale Florist. As the guests arrived they got ready for the outdoor ceremony, there were two rows of hay bales and two rows of wooden chairs for the guests to sit on, I loved the relaxed vibe of this wedding. The bridal party arrived in two vintage cars from Butter Cup Bus, a green VW camper van and a cream beetle, both with flower garlands attached to the bumpers. The bride looked stunning in her wedding dress from Monsoon, it was modern and simple with floral details. She paired it with a floral crown and a lilac bouquet which created the perfect boho look for an outdoor wedding.
They had a celebrant led ceremony which was amazing, I wish more couples would do this as it's so much more personal. They chose Claire from Creating Ceremony as their celebrant, she was brilliant and told the story of their relationship so well. Their niece's and the mother of the bride both done a lovely reading each and then they had lots of people come up with ribbons for the hand fasting ceremony. I think it's so nice to have your closest family and friends involved in the ceremony, it makes it that bit more special. After the hand fasting they exchanged rings, made their vows and sealed it with a kiss. Everyone made a long line ready for confetti, they had a massive bag from Proper Confetti (the best confetti in my opinion) that was handed out to everyone. The confetti looked amazing, there was so much of it that you can't even see the couple in some of the photos!













They had pimms served as welcome drinks during the drinks reception by Orange Beach Bars who set up a cool wooden outdoor bar. The wedding guests chilled whilst I took the couple off for some portraits, the guys at Butter Cup Bus drove us down the road in the beetle to an open field where we took a few shots and headed back. I love how the photos turned out, the warm yellow field looked great with their outfits. When we got back we took the group shots in the small garden at the back of the hall, we took the standard family photos and then they wanted to add in some funny ones including the groomsmen lifting up the bride and them pretending the play cricket.






During the drinks reception the team at Centre Catering were preparing the wedding breakfast buffet. Iford Hall has a large kitchen area which is handy if you need to bring in caterers. They put the buffet out inside the marquee ready for the guests. Everyone sat down ready for food and went up one table at a time to the buffet. I think buffets are a great idea for relaxed weddings as there's lots of choice for everyone and they can choose their own portions so less should get wasted. After food they moved onto speeches, the bride and groom done a joint speech to start, then the father of the bride, then two of the groomsmen. The groomsmen definitely nailed their job of embarrassing the groom, one of them showed a photo of him in a miniskirt and one shared an embarrassing story which had everyone in hysterics. Then the dessert buffet was served, they had brownies, salted caramel cheesecake and Eton mess.











After the evening guests had arrived everyone gathered inside the hall for the cake cut and first dance. They had two giant Collin the caterpillar cakes as their wedding cake which they chopped the heads off of, then they made their way to the middle of the dance floor for the first dance. They danced to Adore You by Miley Cyrus and then asked everyone to join in with them. The dance floor was packed which is always nice to see, people were taking polaroids and putting them in the guest book, drinks were being served at the outdoor bar, it was just a really nice vibe. The sun just started to come through the clouds so I took the couple outside quickly for a few more portraits, we brought a bottle of champagne with us to spray which made some funny photos. It was one of my favourite weddings, thank you Harry and Laura for letting me be a part of it!




Vendors:
Photographer phoeberossiphotography.com
Transport https://buttercupbus.com
Celebrant https://creatingceremony.com
Caterers http://centre-catering.com
Confetti https://properconfetti.com
If you're looking for a photographer for your wedding at Iford Hall please get in touch!