Eco Weddings: Northern Wedding Suppliers go green to collaborate

Recycled plastic flowers, preloved bridalwear and an upcycled icecream trike?
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Lisa Bourne tells us how Yorkshire wedding suppliers wowed with their bright & rustic eco-inspired photoshoot.

Photos above: Jenny Milner Photography 

It’s not often you get chance as a self-employed mummy to network in such a fun environment with a great bunch of people, but I did just that last week.

I am a humanist naming and wedding celebrant and I gathered a bunch of fellow Yorkshire wedding suppliers together to work on a relaxed styled shoot at Chilli Barn in Otley, Leeds.

It was a perfect opportunity for them to showcase their businesses and for me to get some photos of myself not talking! 

I wanted it to be themed as much as possible around eco-friendly/recycled/upcycled/handmade options and I was amazed at what local suppliers could provide and I am pretty sure you will be too. We also opted for bright and rustic and I think you’ll agree it is an amazingly beautiful combination.
 
The Venue

Chilli Barn, Otley, Leeds: a set of converted family farm buildings set in beautiful countryside along the Otley Chevin. Chilli Barn is really easy to dress to your liking. It is perfect for those wanting a smaller barn wedding but there’s also room for marquees to extend the capacity. It is adjacent to The Cheerful Chilli which provides vegan food, locally sourced where possible.

Flowers & styling: The gorgeous flowers and props were provided by EcoBlooms. Sylvia makes flowers from recycled plastic. Yes, they are all plastic, even the bridal bouquets! Sylvia also created a makeshift backdrop from some second-hand lace. It gave us that rustic but quirky look we were after.
 
The Bridal models

Cruelty free makeup: It was a 9.30am start with hair and makeup. Chrys Chapman used cruelty free products on myself and the two bridal models Tara Bailey (owner of Dreamee Teepees) and Chloe Markham (owner of The Yoga Revolution).

Preloved bridalwear: The bridal models wore preloved bridalwear from Bridal Reloved YorK; a relaxed and friendly boutique owned by Elizabeth Matfin. The dresses were altered by Once Upon A Dress and you can see they looked stunning. I would never have thought second-hand wedding dresses could look so good.

Jewellery: Tara also wore a necklace and haircomb made by Working Clasp. I too, joined in with the Working Clasp gorgeousness and wore their Grace earrings. Working Clasp source factory offcuts for their lasercut acrylic designs and any material pieces leftover are donated to community art projects.

Foliage crown: We did have a fresh foliage crown for Chloe, made by Hare and Howl. The foliage was all UK grown. In fact, most of the items were foraged by owner Elichia or taken from her own garden.
 
The Food

Catering: Set up upstairs were Hodge Podge Catering Co – I can absolutely recommend their food, it was scrummy. They had brought sharing boards; such a fun idea for weddings to get your guests chatting but also reduces food waste. They dressed the tables really simply with white linen, edible flowers and a sprig of herbs. Hodge Podge are a family business and they donate leftover food to a homeless charity. I think that is a lovely touch to know that on your special day, you won’t be wasting lots of food and those in need will be benefitting.

Cake: The Sugar Florist, based in York, worked wonders on the cake. Her brief was simply “bright and rustic” and although it was outside of her usual repertoire, she nailed it!

Icecream: To set the bright summery mood we had A Taste Of Italy providing award-winning local icecream in their upcycled icecream trike. The trike’s charm is not the only lovely thing about this unique service – the trike runs without needing electricity so you’ll be doing the environment a favour. And yes, I can confirm that the banana icecream was good.
 
The Entertainment

Games: Upstairs we also had Cards or Die Boardgaming. Now, we have all seen the massive outdoor games which look loads of fun but what if it is typical Yorkshire weather and it is wet outside? Well Ann can bring an array of different games that will entertain the big kids as well as the little kids indoors. She stays on hand to help with rules. She can bring traditional, logical, quirky – you name it, Ann has got something to suit. Most of Ann’s games are second hand. She even has a game from the 1940s.

Music: We also had with us singer-songwriter Lynz Crichton. I loved how she could just rock up with a couple of instruments and set the mood. For a low-key small barn wedding you really wouldn’t need anything else and Lynz got that right away. A really friendly lady, she can create bespoke songs that can even be made into favours for guests to take home – totally personal and no wasted money on sugared almonds folks can’t eat because they’re too hard ha!
 
The Ceremony

Last but not least of course was me. As I said, I’m a humanist celebrant and I used a snippet (names changed) from a previous wedding, to show other suppliers just how bespoke and personal the scripts that I write are.

One humanist principle is to look at the impact we have as individuals on our planet and take responsibility for what legacies we are leaving  behind for future generations.  I am very proud of what all the suppliers were trying to achieve and I can highly recommend any of them for your big day. Big thanks to Darren Sanderson Photography and Jenny Milner Photography for allowing us to use the shots from the shoot.

Written by Lisa Bourne – Lisa Bourne Ceremonies
Contact details:
07725686436
lisa.bourne@humanistceremonies.org.uk
Lisabourne.wixsite.com/lisabourneceremonies
Facebook.com/lisabournehumanist
Instagram – lisa_bourne_celebrant
Twitter- @lmbbnamings

​Photos below by Darren Sanderson Photography
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