Bohemian Festival DIY Wanderlust Inspired Wedding - Whimsical...

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Oh me oh my. I am super excited by this wonderful celebration this afternoon. You guys are going to LOVE it.

WWW readers Chris and Hennie were married on the July 4 ^th 2015 and held their reception in a stunning marquee from The Arabian Tent Company. There was a bohemian vibe to this festival style wedding with travel influences reflecting this globe trotting couple perfectly.

The whole affair was a DIY masterpiece. Hennie's gown was a creation by her sister, the cake was baked by another sister and all of the décor was hand-crafted. WOW. Cocktails and camp-fires, ribbons and pineapples, this wedding had it all.

Thanks so very much to the marvellous Fern Edwards Photography for providing the imagery.

THE PROPOSAL | We met the old fashioned way, at a nightclub in Brighton! It was love at first sight with our first date lasting 2 weeks! From there it seemed to be a romance reminiscent of a fairy tale, with both of our heads firmly in the clouds, we both knew it was something out of the ordinary. Since then we have embraced our love and our sense of adventure, travelling the world and taking on challenges we had both dreamed of even before we met. Living a somewhat nomadic lifestyle our lives rarely stand still, and our focus has always been on filling them with new experiences and excitement.

We were out walking on the sand dunes overlooking my favourite beach in the world, St. Ouens, it was when we were negotiating a narrow path going down one of the dunes, single file, when Chris grabbed my arm, at first I thought he was falling over, I turned around to see him looking at me with big nervous looking eyes. I was bewildered as to what was going on and after a few choice, and slightly wobbly words, he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. From that moment I was speechless and the whole moment felt completely surreal, I couldn't get my head around what was going on, probably not helped by a few glasses of wine at lunch, but needless to say no matter how jellified my brain was at that moment I never really needed to digest anything, the answer was always going to be, YES!

After that initial moment Chris noticeably calmed and whipped out a bottle of champagne, we sat on the sand dunes, looking out at the beautiful ocean and everything started to sink in, certainly a moment I will never forget!

The ring Chris gave me was his granny, Pixie's, ring. Pixie is no longer with us but before her passing I would visit her several evenings a week to make her dinner and pour her a whisky, but most memorably to chin wag about her wonderful and rich life, my moments with Pixie are held very dearly in my heart and to have her ring as a symbol of mine and Chris' love couldn't be more perfect.

THE VISION | We wanted to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere for our friends and family, filled with colour, music, and merriment! The inspiration for the day came from our travels with a lot of the décor coming from places we love, saris hanging in the trees and on the tables from India, prayer flags on the entrance to the tent from Nepal and so on...We also wanted to create lots of little areas for people to explore as a representation of our love for exploring new places and things.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We had the most amazing input from friends and family.

We held the reception at Chris' parents house which saved money, but to be honest was always going to be the perfect location, sitting on the Seven Sisters with the most incredible views of the sea.

Our talented friend Jo MacDonald made our rings.

Basically, work with everyone around you and if you are creative do as much of it yourself as you can, it can be stressful but it is stressful in a fun way and makes the day so personal.

BUDGET | £16000

THE VENUE | Wedding Venue: Friston Church, East Sussex. Reception Venue: Friston, East Sussex. Family home.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | The dress was made by my sister, Vic Aylwin.

The accessories were a Bespoke headpiece by Vivien Sheriff Millinery and the shoes were Carvela by Kurt Geiger.

FINDING THE DRESS | One of my beautiful sisters Vic is a costumier and she worked tirelessly to create the most unique and personal wedding dress for me. She is so talented and despite working together up until the last moment, making little adjustments and decisions, I had complete faith that she would create the perfect dress, and needless to say she did.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Suit: Without Prejudice, London. Shirt: Hugo Boss. Shoes: Office. Pocket Square: Drakes, London.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Our musician friends Ollie and Benny played during the reception and later in the evening we had The Swing Ninja's.

THE FLOWERS | Grand Flowers, Eastbourne and some from the garden.

THE CAKE | Another one of my sisters Kat made the most beautiful wedding cake with a helping hand (or tongue) from her son Fynn. Decorated with flowers it was the perfect accompaniment to the day and was soooo delicious.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Fern Edwards.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We did all of the décor ourselves, Chris is a carpenter so we were able to make lots of things, and bought general bits and bobs from all over the place, including 10kg of saris from India!

My youngest sister Immy tirelessly made hundreds of peace cranes to decorate the garden with, hanging from the trees, a vision that I had my heart set on from the word go.

My dad lives in France so some booze and cheese from there certainly saved a lot of pennies!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | It is hard to pin point one moment as a favourite from the day, I think saying our vows really touched us, it is something that stirs more emotion than you could ever imagine. As we arrived at the reception seeing all our friends and family in the garden, amongst everything we had worked so hard to create and with the sun shining was also a pinnacle moment, and everything from that moment onwards continued to be wonderful.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Enjoy the lead up, when you think of weddings you think of fun and happiness, this is what you are creating so regardless of the unavoidable stresses remember this and allow it to put things into perspective, you are about to marry the person you love surrounded by people you love, so life is pretty good! Also, on the day LET IT GO, don't think about any of the logistics but allow yourselves to relax and enjoy every moment.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Dress | Vic Aylwin

Accessories | Vivien Sheriff

Suit | Without Prejudice, London.

Flowers | Grand Flowers

Shirt | Hugo Boss

Shoes | Office

Pocket Square | Drakes, London.

Stationery | Us

Cake | Kat Alywin

Marquee | The Arabian Tent Company

Photographer | Fern Edwards