Indie Forest Wedding with One Thousand Origami Cranes

The forest is one of my very favourite places to be on Earth, so of course I loved Melina and Greg’s stunning woodland wedding held on the 22nd July 2017. They chose to hold their celebration at Woodland Weddings in Dalby Forest in Yorkshire. The rain cleared just in time for their outdoor ceremony, which was conducted by friends. They decided against readings but still included songs special to them as a couple.

Their day was a real labour of love by their nearest and dearest. How? Well the flowers were foraged from nearby woodland and friends gardens and allotments, which were then arranged by the bridesmaids and every Tuesday was craft club to create the thousand origami cranes, pom poms and bunting to name a few. Isn’t that just lovely?

The outfits chosen were really very gorgeous too. Melina wore a lace, low back gown, Greg a pale grey jacket and contrasting trousers, while the bridesmaids wore vibrant yellow floral frocks. Then there were the images by A Little Picture, smoke bomb fun, divine light and good times, all captured perfectly. Thanks Alice for sharing them with us.

THE PROPOSAL | Greg proposed at sunrise in the desertion Rajasthan, India, at the top of a sand dune. It was a complete surprise, we had spent the night before sleeping underneath the stars in the middle of the desert, after an adventurous camel trek! He had security snuck off beforehand to buy a handmade silver ring featuring Ganesh the Hindu God of prosperity and new beginnings.

THE VISION | To be outside; Friends and family together in a beautiful place that we would love to be.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We set up a craft club every Tuesday, enlisting the help of our lovely kind friends to help make decorations. We made our own sparkling rhubarb wine for the toast drinks, in the end it wasn’t really that fizzy… or that nice! We made everyone drink it anyway though!

THE VENUE | Dalby Forest was beautiful; thanks to the helpful people at Woodland Weddings who accommodated our request to have the ceremony at a big rock in the woodland rather than the field.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | A beautiful bargain from a shop that was closing down outside Newcastle. The headpiece was made by a friend who is a silversmith with a piece of Jade that we got in New Zealand, it meant so much.

FINDING THE DRESS | My mam found the dress shop, as it was in a village near where she lives. I tried on so many that just weren’t right – it’s worth waiting to find the perfect one! It was ‘Megan’ by Anna Sorrano – I knew it was the one straight away.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | We tried to keep it as simple as possible as the dress code was smart/casual. Greg’s jacket was from Reiss and the braces were brown leather from ASOS. Our buttonholes were made by the bridesmaids with flowers from the woodland and our friends allotment.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We didn’t have any readings but we had one of our closest friends do the vows and rings as we wanted someone close to us to be involved in the ceremony. Mel walked barefoot down the aisle to ‘Only Love’ by Ben Howard and our first dance song was ‘Road trippin’ by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | The bridesmaids wore dresses from ASOS. There was a range of different styles in the same fabric so they could choose what they wanted. All of the shoes originally from Primark were glittered at home.

THE FLOWERS | All foraged from nearby woodland and friends gardens and allotments, assembled the night before by the bridesmaids.

THE CAKE | Made with wheels of cheese from ‘Love Cheese’ in York and ‘Basco’ in Tockwith. Decorated with fruit and flowers by my mam, and we built ourselves in Lego for the couple on the cake. Cupcakes handmade by a friend in woodland style.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Alice Little from A Little Picture Photography. She was amazing and so friendly. She took incredible pictures and fit in with the day so well that we wanted her to stay! She made everyone feel so comfortable!!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Mostly handmade with an addition of 1000+ origami cranes. Handmade pompom and rag bunting decorated the trees, loads of fake ivy to decorate the tipi and lots of Buddhist prayer flags. Additional table decorations from Talking Tables alongside flowers and herbs.

THE HONEYMOON | Two weeks in Sicily! Pure Bliss! After months of our phones ringing non stop we turned them off and ate pasta, seafood and drank a crazy amount of wine, Negroni’s and Aperol Spritz!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The whole thing was unreal, but a stand out moment was my dads poem about marriage in Yorkshire dialect to welcome Mel to the family, this was amazing. We also had a sack race and tug of war, which obviously the boys won much to the girls annoyance. Our close friends were the waiters for the meal. We gave them aprons that had ‘I was a waiter at Greg and Mel’s wedding and all I got was this stupid Apron!’ We work in hospitality so we thought it was nicer to have our friends get involved. We couldn’t decide what to do for the speeches so men’s parents made a wheel of speeches!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Plan for the unexpected, and don’t be upset when it occurs! It pelted it down with rain for hours before our outdoor ceremony but it passed over and we did it outside anyway. No matter how ridiculous your ideas are – make them happen! Don’t let anyone else compromise your wedding.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | A Little Picture Photography

Venue | Woodland Weddings

Hire | Simply Catering Hire

Reception food | Bert’s Pizza

Wedding meal | Six Poor Folk

Glamping | Glampit

Crepe van for morning after crepes | Scarborough Crepes

Such an incredible wedding celebration, I love all the fun and games too.

Thanks so much to Melina and Greg for sharing their remarkably beautiful wedding with us xo Lou