Rustic + Eco-friendly Wedding Inspiration at The Lodden Brewery

Rustic & Eco-Friendly Wedding Inspiration at Lodden Brewery…

What’s not to love about today’s eco-friendly wedding inspiration! From recyclable stationery, vintage props, high street bridal wear and vegan wedding desserts; there are tons of ideas if you are a price-conscious bride who wants to be kind to the Earth.

Over to Kat from Kat Antos-Lewis Photography and co-planner Ester Hunter from Sugar Lily Cakery to tell us more about he inspiration and the suppliers involved…

Kat & Ester…

Our sole aim for this shoot was to keep it simple…. but to ensure we focussed on all the amazing details, accents and finishing touches that make any wedding, extremely special. It’s what we believe weddings are all about….

Champagne is the go-to drink to celebrate a special occasion, but I was keen to explore the rise in popularity of beers, ales and craft lagers as an alternative celebration drink.

Your inspiration for the shoot?

Our inspiration was driven by the venue and our desire to celebrate an amazing local brewery.

I found the cutest venue in the middle of a little country side village in Oxfordshire. It is home to The Loddon Brewery which is a family run business. It’s a renovated old barn in the middle of fields and glorious open countryside. It has an attached shop and bar area which are open to the public most of the week. You’ll be hard pushed too not to spot a herd of deer wandering by or the most energetic buzzards swopping low. Their range of ales would keep even the most die-hard real ale fans ecstatic.

I love that the family have maintained most of the barns original features and kept the brewing barrels in a vintage wooden look to match the rest of the old beams and wooden features in the barn. This I thought would make the perfect backdrop for a rustic and vintage shoot with beautiful earthy and gold tones to bring it to life. With that in mind we kept true to natural, warm tones which worked so well in the venue.

Tell us about the details?

We focused this shoot on brides who want to have a beautiful wedding but are price conscious and want to be eco-friendly too. We focussed on suppliers who could work with that brief to show that weddings don’t have to cost the earth to be an amazing day. We found fabulous local suppliers who were happy to work with our brief and also discovered hidden gems through Etsy and Instagram.

Our stationary was recyclable, the props were vintage, recycled and made in the UK. The wedding dress was a bargain buy from ASOS and our florist used lots of dried and locally sourced foliage even foraging most of it. The ribbons were handmade silks and even the cake topper was handmade and naturally dyed. The desserts were all focussed on vegan and simple decoration and locally sourced ingredients. All of the dried flowers and plants I collected from the garden and dried myself to add the finishing touches. This was also a great example of a little hard work paying off, without the added expense.

There are so many gorgeous details in this shoot but my favourite are the selection of accessories. We wanted to add a little elegance to complete this look. I must admit it was an opulent choice for a budget focussed wedding, but we felt it was a necessary one because after all every bride wants and deserves to feel special in her big day.

The shoes are by Diane Hassall, beautifully designed and hand made with top quality materials. Her shoes are Romantic, elegant, sexy and chic. She also provides a bespoke service, you can customise your wedding shoes by selecting your own shoe accessories, charms and trims from the Shoe Artistry section of their website. What a treat!

The jewellery and veil are by Hair Bows Wonderworld, each piece all lovingly hand made by the super talented Lynn. The detail in each one of her designs are just breath taking and bought such glamour to this shoot.

We decided to stay true to the natural tones of the building and to focus on colours that would work well with it, and to enhance the look we went for touches of gold which added a bit more glamour to the overall look. We added as much light as possible as the inside of the venue could at certain times could be a little dark. The tip is to look at the venue’s key features and work around them. The key is to enhance everything you like about the space you chose for your wedding. Chose pieces that complement each other but don’t be afraid to add your personality to the overall look. We mix and matched vintage pieces with gold cutlery and pint glasses with blue wine glasses. This theme is all about having fun, don’t be scared to mix old and new. They can complement each other beautifully. You will also spot some of the Brewery’s famous beers in shot, which certainly added to the theme and kept us all thoroughly refreshed thorough out.

Any advice to couples wanting to create this look?

The aim of this shoot was to show couples that you can have so much fun with being different. Country weddings don’t have to be just about bunting and naked cakes, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But my advice to couples planning their wedding would be to think about the look and feel of your wedding, then change what everyone is doing, stop following the crowd and put your personality into throwing the best party of your life. Beers, music, family and friends, surely that’s the secret to a great celebration! And so original….who doesn’t want that for the Instagram generation.

Overall our truly creative team of local suppliers worked beautifully together to achieve this dream brewery shoot. We are delighted with the results and raise a toast to all involved. Cheers!