If I ask you right now, what is a wedding? I’m guessing the occasion that springs to mind will be at least a little formal, decorative, perhaps with someone in a white dress or a gold or red lehenga, guests in sparkly or flowery summer attire and plenty of suits and ties. These are the things we can’t help ourselves expecting, based on everything the media and tradition tells us a wedding ‘should’ be.

I’d like to challenge that expectation today, and suggest that perhaps, a wedding is simply a celebration of love between two people, where absolutely anything goes. It can be quiet, carefully planned and elegantly styled, or like Emily and Jimmy’s day, it can be joyful, raucous and 100% YOU. As a wedding blogger, these unique celebrations are the weddings I adore most of all.

So Emily and Jimmy’s day, shared with us by award-winning photographers York Place Studios, has traditional elements as you’ve never seen them before. Emily wears a gorgeous dress, Jimmy a fabulous suit… but these two wear their personalities with absolute confidence and pride, and the style of the wedding is uniquely them, in the most brilliant way. There’s a chuppah, and a smashing the glass ceremony honouring Jewish wedding traditions… but the couple are otherwise barefoot and Jimmy walks back down the aisle with one shoe on.

Before I leave you to soak in the atmosphere of this amazingly personal wedding, I wanted to highlight a couple of things we often think are non negotiable at weddings… but which Emily and Jimmy did completely differently!

1. What the couple should wear: often a classic dress or suit for the daytime, something more relaxed for dancing in the evening. See Jimmy’s gorgeous floral print and Emily’s epic tassels at the end of this post!

2. How to seat your guests for the ceremony: chairs or at least haybales in rows, for every guest? Or vintage rugs so everyone can huddle and relax with their favourites!

3. What should the person waiting at the end of the aisle do? Look? Don’t turn around until the last minute? This can be a tricky moment, especially if you’re both nervous and forget to discuss it first! Do as Jimmy did: he turned to watch Emily approach, flung his arms wide as soon as he saw her, and swept a classic, Shakespearian bow to his lady as she reached him! Most enthusiastic welcome I’ve ever seen… and a moment the couple will remember forever!

4. Shoes? Entirely up to you. (But definitely required for any smashing of glass – don’t try it barefoot!)

5. What should wedding guests wear? Anything that sparks joy… and the sparks in this wedding are a blaze of fun and colour!

Captured by the inimitable and adored York Place Studios, masters of documentary wedding photography across the UK and overseas. Discover everything you need to know about documentary wedding photography here, and (for photographers) explore their groundbreaking book Is This Something – which offers a perspective on wedding photography which might just change the way you see everything.

 

---