Lisa and Jason’s Anti-Wedding at Ufton Court

Having an alternative, untraditional wedding opens up a whole world of doors and possibilities. And that’s exactly what Lisa and Jason decided on for their autumn wedding at Ufton Court. Planned in just three months, when I first met them, they told me that they didn’t want any fuss, as little attention as possible and to just have a big party. What they wanted, was affectionately known to them as “The Anti-Wedding”.

An autumnal alternative wedding at Ufton Court

On the morning of the wedding, a beautiful, bright September day, I dropped in to see Lisa, who was upstairs in the Tudor Manor House, while she was getting ready. For her alternative bride look, Lisa wore a stunning understated dress from Bride To Be Reading. She accessorised with a feather shrug, and dried flowers in her hair to match her gorgeous autumn bouquet from English Flower Farmer. I don’t think I’ve seen someone look so effortlessly beautiful in a long time. Just as she was finishing up getting ready, her sister brought out her bridal shoes. I say shoes, what I mean is full on chunky bridal trainers, complete with ribbons. AMAZING. Lisa is the picture of “effortless chic”.

I realised that Lisa and Jason were absolutely my people when it clicked that they were walking down the aisle to an instrumental version of “She” by Green Day. Oh my god yes, give me your old-school punk ceremony. In fact, their wedding playlist was all over punk, emo, rock bliss. It was like being back at any emo club night from when I was 18, I was in my element.

During our bridal portrait session, they mentioned that neither of them are confident in-front of the camera, so I made it as quick and painless for the both of them. Just a 20 minute session in the golden-hour sunlight in the gardens. And honestly, they killed it. Within 5 minutes there were cheeky grins, mock strangulation and then Jason ended up in stocks. All in a day’s work, really.

For the reception, the barn was decorated throughout with more dried flowers, with a chandelier and fairy lights from Oakwood Events. Lisa’s sister had handmade their beautiful naked cake. It was adorned with berries and topped with ADORABLE robin cake toppers from Little Patch Designs. The buffet soon opened, a drop dead insane barbecue spread from Fosters Catering followed by a dessert table and donut wall – perfect for any sweet tooth.

The perfect non-traditional wedding

The rules for the night were made clear. No speeches, no first dance and no cake cutting. Just eating, drinking and dancing. Which I can absolutely get on board with. The beauty of an alternative wedding, is that you can make the rules up yourself. No following traditions if you don’t want to. Add in the bits you want and take out the stuff you don’t. It’s making your big day your own. Although if you’ll be spending longer planning your wedding than the three months Lisa and Jason spent planning theirs, take a look at my wedding timeline and planning guide.

If you’re looking for alternative wedding photography for your own big day, take a look at my wedding photography packages and contact me here!

“A super massive thank you to Jodie!! After planning our wedding very quickly last year, and with a recommendation, we contacted Jodie to be our wedding photographer. Jodie met with us to discuss our plans, which added a nice personal touch, and it was nice getting to meet face to face. We discussed all our plans and even though our time frame for planning was short, Jodie was more than happy to go with our fairly different idea of a wedding, and was very accommodating and adaptable to our ideas.”

Lisa & Jason