Alternative Relaxed Beer Garden Vibe Wedding in Rust & Pink

Hold on tight, you’re about to be blown away by the super cool beer garden inspired wedding of WWW readers Marilyn and Roland. They were wed at The Giraffe Shed in Wales in what can only be described as an alternative, festival feel, barn micro wedding extravaganza!

From the dreamiest of outfits to the rust and pink colours, not to mention the most spectacular of flowers, you are going to be left feeling so inspired by the end of their real wedding story. The barn was decked with flower pillars, romantic candles, modern stationery and a showstopping cake. Plus there was a fish and chip supper, yum!

Photos By Hash I can’t thank you enough for sharing these totally epic captures of Marilyn and Roland’s fun celebration with us. Fire up your Pinterest boards.

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Beer Garden Wedding Vibes

The Proposal

The proposal was during the lockdown, Roland proposed whilst we were snuggling in bed. We’re not really ones for a big public display, so this was very much us.

The Vision

The main goal of the day was to keep things as relaxed as a wedding can be! We wanted all of our guests and suppliers to enjoy themselves as much as possible! Our idea for entertainment was Beer Garden/Festival vibes with an acoustic set by our friend Tom, with everyone sitting on the grass in the sun, drink in hand.

In terms of styling, rusts, pinks, and neutral tones were the theme we decided on. As the wedding was a micro wedding, we were able to put a bit more of our budget into making our wedding look as gorgeous as possible.

As we had worked with almost all of our suppliers before on styled shoots, we knew we could trust them to make our wedding perfect. We guided the theme, but let them come up with the detail.

The Venue

The Giraffe Shed was absolutely the perfect venue for us. A non-traditional spin on a classic barn wedding. The large windows created the perfect light for our photos, and the modern pink walls added some fun to the main room.

The Shed can be turned into anything you want it to be! We fell in love with it the moment we saw it. Don’t sleep on this venue! Their ‘Black Box’ bar was the perfect post-ceremony hangout, with a pink bathtub full of booze for guests to grab and enjoy.

In the evening Neilo lit us all a firepit, and we all got to sit and hang out together late into the night. Their ‘Shepherd’s Hut’ was also close to the venue, so we didn’t have to walk far to get into bed in our boozed up state! The hut was cosy and intimate, and it was wonderful to wake up to the sound of the local animals nearby.

Han and Neilo completely understood the assignment and our wedding wouldn’t have been the same without them.

Your Outfits

Bride Dress – Capricorn, Willowby by Watters

Originally purchased at Anna Wood Bridal, adjusted and tailored by Lavelle Bridal Couture. I fell in love with this dress the second I put it on. The floral details on the dress complemented my botanical tattoos, and it was also really comfortable! The main thing I wanted from my dress was to be able to move around with ease in it, but without compromising on looks.

Shoes – Meg Pearl, Charlotte Mills

I always wanted a pair of CMs for my wedding day. But when I saw that they had a vegan range, I knew I had to have these ones specifically.

Veil – Rebecca Anne

There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted Rebecca to make my veil. She took exceptional care in selecting florals to complement the dress, and even added some quotes in Dutch, as my husband is originally from the Netherlands.

Headband – Garter & Veil

I wanted a pearl headband and I fell in love with Gemma’s hand-sewn Swarovski pearl creations.

• Garter – Megan Theresa CouturePearl
• Hairpins – Alice and Blair
• Earrings – ORA Pearls
• Necklace – Lily & Roo
• Clutch – Meshka Design
• Groom Suit – Dion, Marc Darcy
• Shoes – Marc Darcy
• Tie – Rael Brook
• Shirt – Charles Tyrwhitt

I really wanted a tweed suit for the wedding. I think they are a timeless classic but found one in the perfect colour from Marc Darcy that gave it a bit of a modern twist. I felt like the teal colour paired great with a pair of brown shoes that they had too. After searching, we eventually found the perfect tie colour to go with it from Rael Brook. Finding the tie was definitely the hardest part of the process.

The Ceremony & Music

We had a small, intimate ceremony. We opted to have a micro wedding and we are so glad that we did!

Marilyn walked down the aisle to Jenny’s Song by We The Kings. We wanted something romantic, but still wanted to stay true to our alternative roots! Roland was waiting at the end, situated between two gorgeous floral pillars.

The rest of our music was either performed by Tom or was on a Spotify playlist that we and our guests created.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Hash is one of the most incredible photographers on this planet. He has the most iconic dark and moody vibe in his work, but can also switch things up and keep things fun and interesting. One minute he’s creating something that looks like an oil painting, and the next he’s making us all goof around for some hilarious shots. He is able to gel with anyone and will be your best friend by the end of the day.

David is a genius when it comes to wedding films. His documentary style had us hooked the moment we saw his work for the first time. Not only did he leave us in floods of emotional tears whilst watching our film, but he also caught our personalities perfectly and had us in stitches by the end! We love our wedding film. We couldn’t have asked for a better one.

The Styling & Decor

Although we wanted our wedding to be relaxed, we also knew we wanted Pinterest worthy one!

There was no doubt in our minds over who we NEEDED to style our wedding. TaraKnott and Emma Cox took our vague ideas and turned them into reality before our very eyes!

We asked for a range of pinks, neutrals and rusts to create a gorgeously romantic feel, and they absolutely delivered. Emma created two stunning pillars for us to be married between. They were full of life and even included my (Marilyn’s) son’s birth flowers, which made them special.

The bouquet looked like nothing we had ever seen before. The thing we love the most about Emma’s flowers is how they dance for you when you hold them. Everything she creates is an art piece.

Tara added an abundance of candles and draping to our tables. She also created a beautiful cake table alongside Vic’s Vegan Bakes. Tara brought everything she could think of to our venue to deck it out and was incredibly helpful throughout the whole process.

Tara teamed up with Polly & Me to create a welcome sign and table plan that matched our placenames; made by our dear friend Daisy May Designs. We still have our welcome sign on show in our living room!

Memorable Moments

• Fabian’s trousers falling down behind us mid vows.
• Getting married!!
• Tom’s music set whilst everyone hung out on the grass together.
• Firepit in the evening, where we all took polaroid photos of each other.
• The most gorgeous vegan graze. Even non-vegans still talk about how delicious the food was!
• Endless amount of Sambuca. We drank the venue dry of it.
• Chippy Tea evening food delivered by Han for us all!
• Tom improvising ‘Bi Wife Energy’ when Marilyn requested it.

Advice For Other Couples

Don’t feel pressured. Do things the way you want to. Smash the traditions! Trust your suppliers to turn your vision into reality. Give them a theme and let them do their thing!

Wow!! What a day.

Marilyn and Roland thank you so much for sharing your epic beer garden inspired wedding story. What a treat it’s been.

Further Reading

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