Araminta & Ben's Sustainable & Low Waste Luxury Wedding

Join us as we celebrate the beautiful wedding of Araminta and Benjamin. With sustainability and low-waste at the core, this wedding is full of personal touches that have heart and meaning, including a very special Wedding Forest planted to offset and remember their day. Join us as Araminta talks us through their day, introducing her brilliant list of locally sourced wedding suppliers, her two stand-out bridal looks and her & Ben’s favourite wedding presents.

The brands available through The Wedding Present Company felt more 'us' than other wedding list companies. Supporting the high street and small independent shops is important to me, so I love that whilst you can choose from the gorgeous products on their site, you can also add products from other shops too . Additionally, we wanted to be able to save for special moments in our honeymoon and The Wedding Present Company allows you to create furniture and honeymoon funds as well as charity donation funds. We felt that we created a really well rounded gift list with The Wedding Present Company.

Our favourite brands are Maison Margaux, Piglet in Bed, Global, Sage and Weber.

Ben proposed at Soho Farmhouse on a romantic week away. We had a lovely dinner and then went back to our cabin where, with our new puppy @lilahthewhippet in one hand, and an engagement ring in another, he got down on one knee. I was so surprised that I actually got down on the floor with him. We then had the rest of the weekend to drink champagne and revel in the excitement.

The overall mantra of our wedding was local & low waste. All our flowers were seasonal British blooms, grown at Keythorp Hall. We printed very little (no order of service sheets etc). All our confetti was dried by friends from roses in their gardens. We ate the leftover food for days after the wedding. We didn't have a cake (although Kiki Everard kindly gifted us mini wedding cupcakes and every last one was eaten!). I got my bridesmaids Monica Vinader necklaces that I knew they'd wear again, instead of dresses they'd never wear again. I'd love to see my wedding dress worn again, but if none of my friends want to wear it I'll get it made into an evening dress by the brilliant designer who made it for me, Louise Selby.

The Elderflower Kitchen is helping us to orchestrate a wedding forest that will be planted to offset and to remember our day. We will send out acorns for our guests to grow their own tree and then meet for a picnic and to plant them on the same land that the acorns will come from.

We were married in Leicestershire where I grew up and where my parents still live.  The church ruin is opposite my childhood bedroom window. 

Thursday: We had a dinner with just the two immediate families. The marquee in my parents garden was up but empty. The events company came and set up the bar, dance floor, stage sound and lighting.  The disco ball arrived - my mum had ordered a giant disco ball and when it arrived it looked more like a virus shaped disco ball which was actually hilarious.  We had the dinner in the courtyard just outside the marquee. We drank champagne and a local caterer called Wolf and Bear delivered a delicious meal - we actually used them again on the Sunday for a BBQ.  

Friday: We spent the day setting up, doing the flowers, I went off and got a haircut and some beauty treatments. We got married in the afternoon with less than 20 people in a tiny church in my village. I walked down to the church with my mum, dad, a close friend and my dog @lilahthewhippet. It was extremely intimate and emotional and felt totally magical. Both my mum and dad gave me away which was important to me, and a close friend of our chose a really special reading to read. The vicar said ‘you may now kiss’ instead of ‘you may now kiss the bride’ which I thought was really thoughtful - we had a few tiny tweaks like that throughout the weekend which were important to me but I don’t think anyone else would have noticed. We had champagne out the back of the car outside the church as we walked back home. My sister in law Georgia made the most delicious fresh peach bellini's after (she’s an events planner / co-founder of Studio White events so she has all this magical touches up her sleeve).

Saturday morning everyone did the final touches by the church ruin and in the marquee, so I didn’t actually see how everything looked for the first time until everyone else did too. I had no idea there was a shot wall with everyones table numbers on (another Georgia special). I had my hair and make-up done by a friend I have know since childhood (@miacicely_hair), with some of my closest friends around me and then it was go-time. My husband arrived with friends on a trailer on the back of a tractor and I walked down the field with my mum, dad, brothers, their partners, 4 close friends and 5 kiddies. It was such a unit to walk down with and for me felt like the coming together of two families.

Our colours were mostly focused around pink and green. Our families were instrumental in the décor, and we also had a load of help from Studio White. All of our wedding flowers were seasonal British blooms, grown by Keythorp Hall. Studio White arranged them and Pickleberry Flowers made my beautiful wedding bouquet

Our wedding was a two day affair. The first day, our actual wedding ceremony, I wore a white suit from Zara with jewellery from Monica Vinader. The second day, our wedding service and reception, I wore a made-to-measure dress from the brilliant Louise Selby (who I discovered via The Wedding Edition). Louise’s bridal studio is so warm and welcoming, based out of her beautiful house in Kew. Her style and expertise made the whole process so enjoyable.

My shoes were from Sezane. I accessorized with vintage earrings (my something borrowed from Jacqueline Hurst) during the day, and then changed into Monica Vinader earrings for the evening.

Our wedding rings were from W&W Jewellery.

On Day 1, we had the pleasure of classical singer Chris Fitzgerald-Lombard (my new brother-in-law) performing during the signing of the register. On Day 2, the service featured the elegant sounds of the Gold Quartet, followed by a reception with the lively Wandering Hands band. The day concluded with DJ Martin 2 Smoove providing entertainment.

Every single turn was a new standout moment. The DND Projects 360 photo both was a real highlight - people were on it all night. The Gold Quartet, the poem my mother in law read (written by herself), my older brother wrote and gave the service on day 2, our friend Henry Clarke singing 'hold my girl' at the service. We had all the food, wines, people and music we love in one place... and if you can ever convince Martin 2 Smoove to DJ at your wedding, do it!

Enjoy the whole process, laugh off the stress, and even if you just give people coffee when they come to collect their cars, do something where you can see people the next day if it works with the venue, or get your closest friends to have brunch with you. The day goes by in a flash, but the entire process so much fun.

Gift List: The Wedding Present Company, Photographer: Kim Knott, Seasonal British Flowers: Keythorp Hall, Studio White and Pickleberry Flowers, Cupcakes: Kiki Everard, Bridal Fashion: Louise Selby, Zara, Sezane, Monica Vinader, W&W Jewellery, Groom Fashion: Favourbrook and Loake, Wedding Forest: The Elderflower Kitchen, Catering & Marquee: Copper Events, Décor: Studio White, Bridesmaids Gifts: Monica Vinader, Hair & Make Up: Mia Cecily Campbell, Flower Girl: Monsoon, Page Boy: Zara, Drinks: Tattinger, Billecart Salmon, Mirabeau, Hawksmore, Music: Gold Quartet, Wandering Hands, Martin 2 Smoove, Henry Clarke, Stationery: I.Bowie, Cornelia O'Donovan, 360 Photobooth: DND Projects