Our Magical Woodland Wedding

Where do I start? Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve dreamed of one day marrying my prince in a fairytale wedding. A little over a week ago, against all expectations, that dream came true. I got to marry my boyfriend of 10 years, the love of my life. I cannot even begin to explain how deeply happy I am. It was a perfect, beautiful, magical day that turned out even more amazing than we dared to hope. We got lucky in every way imaginable; the covid restrictions lifted just enough, just in time. The weather was incredible after weeks of rain and cold wind… It was a day we’ll look back on with a big smile for the rest of our lives.

I’d like to share a little snippet of it with you today! In this post, I’ll walk you through the wedding, what everything looked like, and the people who helped us make everything perfect. Prepare for lots of photos!

Getting Ready

Originally, the getting ready location wasn’t a priority for us. We were just going to get dressed at home and then drive straight to the wedding venue. There was a time however, not too long ago, when it looked like our wedding would consist of only a small, short ceremony, because of the restrictions. At that point I decided to book a beautiful suite in a lovely hotel near the woods where the wedding was held, so as to “make the most of it”. In hindsight I’m so glad I did that, even though the restrictions were much less severe by the time the wedding actually happened. Villa Trompenberg made the perfect backdrop for our first photos of the day! I got dressed in the suite, and Robbert got ready in one of the guest’s rooms. We both had our mothers and best friends there to help us. After the wedding, we spent the night here. It was a lovely way to extend the celebrations and make the night and next day feel special, too.

As you’re probably well aware by now (since I wouldn’t stop talking about it), I sewed the wedding dress myself. It was a journey, but I don’t regret it one bit. The dress turned out an absolute dream, exactly what I wanted and perfectly me. Making it was a little stressful, but mostly just really fun and satisfying. I vlogged the dressmaking process so if you’re interested, you can watch that here.

I also did my own hair and makeup, because how could I not. Control freak signing in! Seriously though, I was really excited about doing my own hair and makeup. At first I was worried I might be too nervous to do it well on the day of, but deep down I always knew I’d regret it forever if I got someone to do it for me. I used to work as a bridal hair and makeup artist for a bit after uni, so I felt confident that I knew what I was doing. I’ve looked forward to doing my own hair and makeup on my wedding day for ages! We ended up a bit pressed for time, as we spent the morning making and finishing a couple other things for the wedding (pro tip: don’t try to do everything yourself). The hair and makeup definitely didn’t come out as neatly and perfectly as when I practiced it because of that time constraint, but I still think it turned out beautiful. Besides, with the style of wedding we were going for, there’s no need to stress about perfection. In the end I’m very glad I did it!

The beautiful flower crown I wore is from an Etsy seller called Kathleen Barry. I fell in love with her designs a few years back, when I saw a Dutch blogger wear one of them at her wedding. When I saw this flower crown in Kathleen’s store I knew it’d go perfectly with my dress and be just the thing to finish off the bridal look. I wanted to have “something” on my head but didn’t want to wear my veil all day, and this was indeed perfect.

The Wedding

We got married in the Loosdrechtse Bos in Hilversum, which was made possible by the lovely people from Trouwen in het Bos. They are a wedding planning and styling business that specializes in forest weddings, and they truly made all our dreams come true. As soon as we stumbled upon their Instagram page, Robbert and I knew this was what we wanted for our wedding. Their style is right up our alley and everything they do is gorgeous. The way they brought our Pinterest board to life is surreal, and we couldn’t be happier with our choice. We couldn’t have done this without them.

The ceremony was incredible. We asked a good friend of ours to officiate the wedding, and I think that was one of the best decisions we’ve made. He absolutely smashed it with a ceremony that was beautiful, personal and funny, and we’re so glad to have been married by a dear friend. If you’re considering having a loved one officiate, I can highly recommend it. It was lovely and we’re forever grateful to him for doing it (and doing it so well).

The bridal bouquet, then! The morning of the wedding, my best friend and I hopped over to our local flower shop to pick up some flowers and make my bouquet, as well as Robbert’s corsage. The bouquet is probably the only thing I made myself for the sole reason that I didn’t want to splurge on it, haha! I only planned on holding the bouquet as I entered and left the ceremony, so this wasn’t a priority. I still love how it turned out though, and funnily enough, it ended up matching the flowers at the wedding perfectly. They clearly got the memo of me loving white & purple flowers!

We need to take a moment to talk about Robbert’s vows. He wrote the most beautiful tear-jerker of a poem I’ve ever seen and made nearly the entire audience tear up. I’ve read the vows a few times since and haven’t made it through without crying once, haha! He won’t admit it, but Robbert truly has a way with words. I’m so lucky that this work of art was written just for me.

Our wedding rings were made by Robbert’s uncle. We each have a gold band tied into a similar, but slightly different knot. They’re lovely and minimal, but not too plain. These are pieces we’ll happily wear the rest of our lives! The nest the rings were brought to us in was handmade by a family friend, from all natural materials including dried moss and lavender. It was the perfect item to hold and display the rings and went with the scenery so well.

I love how many little elements of the wedding were handmade by people who are dear to us. It made the wedding even more intimate and unique, and we feel very grateful to have such talented people around us willing to share their craft with us.

Our guestbook was paired up with a polaroid camera and forest-themed washi tape, so guests could take photos and stick them right in the guestbook. There was also a photo tree (literally) that guests could hang photos in. This was such a fun element to the wedding! We’re left with some really adorable and hilarious photos, that are currently on display in our living room. Having the camera out is another thing I’m really glad we did. It made the guest book much more cheerful, and we had some tangible memories to look through straight away.

Our wedding cake was, of course, made by my wonderful and talented best friend who went on a true quest to come up with the perfect vegan cake recipe. I’m incredibly grateful for the lengths she went to, and let me tell you… The result was AMAZING! Honestly the best cake I’ve ever tasted. The top tier was chocolate chip cake with chocolate ganache, and the bottom tier had layers of raspberry cremeaux, lemon curd and passionfruit between the cake.

For our wedding dinner, we chose to have a barbecue. We wanted the dinner to be laid-back, informal, and include lots of delicious but non-fancy food (I’m not a fan of fancy food myself, haha!). Originally we were supposed to have a buffet, but unfortunately that wasn’t allowed. The guests had to remain seated, so the caterer, Rosco, ended up placing the food on the tables on large plates, which was a great solution. All the food was vegan (yes, that delicious-looking meat is vegan) and absolutely amazing!

The dinner was soundtracked by a wonderful acoustic gypsy jazz band, Trio Pont Neuf, which really set the mood. We even ended up dancing for a song or two, even though that wasn’t part of the plan.

For dessert we had an icecream cart that served delicious fruit sorbet. It was the perfect way to end a dinner on a warm, sunny day.

Due to the covid restrictions still in place we’ve had to move our evening party to a later date, so after dinner all the guests went home. This did however give us an opportunity to do a golden hour photoshoot!

I definitely need to talk about our wonderful photographer here, Malou von Baumhauer. She was incredible. Such a wonderful, bubbly person when you meet her, but she just melted into the background and took pictures in the most discreet way possible. When we received our gallery we couldn’t believe how many photos there were, and how we hadn’t noticed them being taken. But most of all, we couldn’t believe how breathtakingly gorgeous they were. Every single photo is a beautiful work of art and we couldn’t have wished for a better way to remember the most beautiful day of our lives. She even surprised us with a video, which she somehow managed to shoot inbetween taking photos. If you’re ever looking for a wedding or family photographer in the Netherlands, I can highly recommend Malou.

The entire wedding was everything we hoped for. It was intimate, romantic, beautiful and buzzing with positive energy. Seeing all our loved ones together after not having seen them in such a long time was amazing. We’re so grateful we got the opportunity to have them celebrate with us.

I have a husband!