Eco-friendly farm wedding in the heart of Cumbria – Lake District Wedding Photographer
I love a big diy wedding… I love it when everyone chips in, mum makes the bunting and the flowers, bridesmaids provide crafting help, groomsmen are all hands on deck… but this.. well… this goes 20 steps further.
Charlotte and Nick are eco warriors… actually they’re doctors, but that’s besides the point. They are those rare breed who firmly believe that less is more and that we all need to reuse, recycle and reduce, and they applied this ethical ethos to every part of their wedding.
From Charlotte’s wedding dress, purchased from a charity shop, to the wedding meal being created from waste food, this was the most ethical wedding I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing. Held on Charlotte’s parents small holding in a marquee overlooking the beautiful Cumbrian countryside where she grew up, everything about this wedding was a labour of love. Guests arrived two days early to erect an agricultural marquee and most were camping in the adjoining field. Charlotte’s mum baked scones and made jam from fruit on the farm. Nick’s mum made the most amazing wedding cake. The couple brewed their own beer (and very fine it was too), laid the tables themselves, and made origami decorations from junk mail and old discarded bicycle wheels. And did I mention the toilets? Goodness! Never have I shot a wedding where the bride and groom had actually made the toilets… and when I say made, I mean with planks of wood and screws and nails.. oh yes.
To get to the church, Charlotte and her bevy of bridesmaids (whose outfits were also sourced from charity shops) along with her hard working mum who had also grown the flowers used in the bouquets, donned their walking boots to hike across the Hawkshead hills that Charlotte walked as a wee lass. Thankfully, we were blessed with amazing weather and reached the church without being covered in mud or wet through (thought let me tell you, I was knackered from all the running and a bit sweaty!). Charlotte’s father is a bell ringer at the church they’ve been attending all their lives, so it really was a personal service. Then it was off to the village hall for lunch and a glass of fizz before leading everyone back across the hills to the farm. Everyone was all hands on deck ferrying plates and washing up, playing music, singing and serving booze – even Nick threw off his suit jacket and started hammering some pegs in to provide a shelter from the sun.
The Real Junk Food Cafe were drafted in to create a fantastic wedding banquet from food that would normally go to landfill and guests tucked into chicken in white wine, veggie chilli and platters of meat and cheese. Even the gifts had to be home made or second hand. Absolutely incredible. The wedding even made it onto the pages of the Guardian which you can see here.
So here’s some of my favourite shots from their big ethical knees up.
Cumbria Farm wedding photographer, Lake District by Toast of Leeds. If you’re getting married in the future in Cumbria or elsewhere in the Lake District, get in touch by visiting my photography website at www.toastofleeds.co.uk or you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. I photograph weddings across the UK in tipis, barns, country houses and iconic hotels. For more information and to check availability, contact me now.
