This Couple Married In A Tipi (Who Needs A Church?) And It Was Gorgeous

It’s 6.30pm, a sweltering 32°C and a wedding is taking place on a hand-built wooden platform seven miles north of Moab, Utah. Wedged between two National Parks, Arches and Canyonlands, craggy expanses of red-rock terrain provide the dramatic backdrop to the ceremony. The seeded eucalyptus, lamb’s ear and cream peony floral arch might have wilted a touch in the dry heat, but only serves to add to the rustic aesthetic. The bride wears Castañer espadrilles and walks down the aisle to Sixties South African singer Miriam Makeba’s Table Mountain. The groom waits in a khaki linen suit and the wedding officiant wears shades.

So began the June wedding of NYC-based jewellery designer Jessica Barensfeld, 33, and photographer, model and co-owner of Lynn and Lawrence hand-knitted beanies, Simon Howell, 42.

The two met through mutual friends five years ago, at Jessica’s birthday picnic in Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, and were engaged four years later, following a road trip with friends to California’s Big Sur. ‘We were a little bit inseparable from the  start,’ Jessica says. 

Planning the wedding itself was a less straightforward affair: ‘We were a little late in deciding a definite plan and place,’ Jessica explains. ‘But I knew I wanted something outdoors and everyone together for two days, so eventually began searching for marquee and tent rentals. We ended up stumbling across this incredible glamping ground, Moab Under Canvas.’

Characterful, with tipis and luxurious safari tents, the only problem was the challenging terrain. ‘We had to build a wooden platform because there was no flat ground when we got there, it was just rocks and sand. It was probably the ha