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Emma married Phil on 2 August 2014 in Shropshire. The pair had been together since New Year's Eve in 2010, and became engaged in September 2013 on a secluded beach on the Western Cape in South Africa, whilst on a trip to visit Phil's family. The wedding ceremony took place at a church in Shropshire, and the reception took place in a marquee in the garden of Emma's family home the same day. The décor was rustic and simple, and their aim was for a very relaxed day. They kept to a careful budget, and incorporated a lot of DIY and handmade elements, with extra help from friends and family.
All images by Ed Godden, edgodden.co.uk
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After some searching I found my wedding dress in a beautiful bridal boutique in rural Shropshire, Shropshire Country Brides.
My hair piece was from Gillian Million, who has a beautiful jewellery and wedding store in Teddington, where I work. I had two pieces in my hair made from freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals, and I wore matching pearl earrings.
My lovely silk veil was borrowed from a friend.
My wedding shoes weren't really a priority for me. I'm only a tiny bit shorter than Phil and had no desire to be towering over him on the day.
I found these cream pumps just in time, and ordered them online from M&S - they arrived the week before the wedding.
Later on, I danced the night away in my old pair of lace TOMS.
Phil's originally from Zimbabwe but his family are spread all over the world these days - outside the UK we had people coming in from Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the United States, Germany and Spain, along with my Godparents coming over from Ethiopia.
As the location was so rural we had lots of people camping in our field.
I wanted the mismatched look for the bridesmaids, but didn't have a particular colour preference. My sister found a dress she liked in Monsoon, as well as a few others that complimented each other, and the girls were happy with those.
My bridesmaids were my sister Lydia, my cousins Liz and Annie, and my friend Jen.
Most of the village halls nearby were too small for 160 people, so our next option was a marquee - which fit perfectly in my parent's garden.
In his speech my Dad mentioned that when he designed the garden he mulled over the biggest thing he might need his lawn for - that one of his daughters might one day want to get married at home...
We had wooden tables and chairs, and we gathered greenery from local hedgerows and brought a couple of small trees to go up the marquee poles. We had some festoon lights around the edge, and extra lights and bunting over the dance floor.
My dad had recently felled a large tree from the churchyard, and we used this amazing piece of thick wooden trunk as the bar.
After the ceremony, we had food back at the marquee - most of which were provided by our lovely guests. The only bit of food we brought in was the hog-roast for dinner - the canapés, salads, sides and puddings were all made by friends and family.
Friends at Hobbs House Bakery provided delicious rolls for the hog-roast.
We avoided an official first dance, but the first song was September by Earth, Wind and Fire.
A highlight was when a popular Zimbabwean song came on, and suddenly there were a dozen or so excited Zimbabweans tearing up the dancefloor, with some bewildered Brits looking on. For some reason the song then played a second time, and this time the Brits knew the score and everyone hit the dancefloor.
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