Sequin jumpsuits, tulle skirts, and naked cakes: a Netherlands orchard wedding of bliss

The Offbeat Bride: Babs, creative weirdo/stay-at-home mom with no kids

Her offbeat partner: Cat, unsuccessful writer/corporate drone

Date and location of wedding: Boerderij Langerlust, Amsterdam, Netherlands — September 3, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We wanted our wedding to feel colourful, light, nature-y, and playful. Our venue fit those concepts so well that we tried to let it speak for itself. We decorated with colourful paper balls, floral bunting, glass jars, gold letter balloons, and flowers we asked our guests to bring. We were on a pretty tight budget and chose to DIY pretty much whatever we could, and had our friends and family help out a lot.

I tried on several white dresses, but none of them felt very me at all, and I decided to just embrace that and wear a holographic sequin jumpsuit and shoes with enormous pom-poms on the nose. Cat wore a beautiful poofy skirt and crop top and a stunningly huge flower crown. We both managed to create looks that we felt were bridal but still felt true to our usual styles. The day turned out beautiful and we couldn’t be happier!

Tell us about the ceremony:

We walked down the aisle together to “Hot Love” by T. Rex, with our little chihuahua Lola. We chose to walk together to show that our marriage was a continuation and affirmation of our relationship.

So many things went wrong during the actual ceremony which turned the whole thing into a slightly surrealistic performance, but in the end it didn’t matter and it kind of broke the ice. We each had a friend read a poem. Mine was “We Are Made One With What We Touch And See” by Oscar Wilde and Cat’s was “Hour” by Carol Ann Duffy. Our dog carried the rings for us. We initially planned for someone to hold her lead and walk her over to us when it was time to put the rings on, but she was so nervous we held her throughout the ceremony.

Tell us about your reception:

We had a small reception after the ceremony that included an incredible cake our friend Cécile spent an entire day baking, and an amazing vegetarian buffet and loads of wine at a long table in the orchard. Cécile, our friend Alex, and my mum gave beautiful thoughtful speeches that made everyone cry, and then Cat made everyone laugh again by thanking my favourite band The Darkness for making me want to study abroad in the UK where we met.

In the evening we had a bigger party in a beautiful greenhouse with all of our friends. We had a bit of live music from my brother’s band and a Spotify playlist of all of our favourite music.

Vendors

• Venue: Boerderij Langerlust
• Dresses: ASOS.com
• Photographer: Sebas Wesselings
• Cake: Cécile van Wijnsberge

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