Amelia and Kirill's Marrakesh Inspired Micro-Wedding at Canon Leys Farm, Essex

Mr + Mrs Teslia 

12th September 2020 | Canon Leys Farm 

Guests: 30 | Instagram: @ameliawhybro | Photos: Kris Lissimore

For Day 7, our final post, of Microwedding Week we are bringing you Amelia and Kirill's beautiful wedding that took place just two weeks ago! The decor was inspired by Marrakesh and the flowers consisted of big, bright and beautiful blooms. For entertainment they had their own shooting range! The bride wore an elegant Otaduy two piece, teamed with some statement celestial earrings...

Tell us about the ceremony...

We had a registrar office ceremony followed by our own blessing with the remainder of the guests. We wanted to do our own ceremony, we prefer the personal aspect of it. We wrote the ceremony and our own vows, we both enjoyed our evenings, wine in hand writing our service. We asked our friend to conduct the service and he did a sterling job. My mum and aunt did a reading that we had adapted from the book “the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse” by Charlie Mackesy, we love the moral behind this book so wanted to share it with our families.

What music did you walk down the aisle to?

Acoustic Version of Bombay bicycle club “Luna” performed by our friends. It was epic.

Advice for future brides… Do it your way! Your wedding can be whatever you both want it to be. There’s no “Rules”.

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

Our wedding was all about a celebration of us, the people that have shaped our lives and who will continue to do so. We wanted people to have fun, eat well and be merry. Or style theme was Marrakech, we fell in love with the city 4 years ago and have been back yearly since. The colours, atmosphere and the mix chaos and calmness makes it our favourite place! We had collected a lot of things on our trips to Marrakech and a year before the wedding we went back with a budget to get all our wedding table decor. 

eBay was also a great place for extra brassware and pots for flowers. Earthy tones were the colours from marrakech so we wanted to incorporate this scheme into our flowers and styling, oranges, sandy and soft brown tones. We also wanted to recycle as much furniture as possible rather than hire it, our cake table was my parents old walnut dinning room table, the bar was a old workman’s bench by mum sanded down.

What was your favourite wedding purchase? 

We bought a table football from Facebook sales a week before the wedding- was the best £40 quid we spent! It gets people laughing and mingling well.

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?  

We had our own shooting range, as we tend to have an annual shooting night. So I asked my brother to organise a shooting gallery with targets etc. We had lots of hand gel and anti-bac wipes to ensure it was all Covid safe. It went down a treat, everyone had a go and it became quite competitive!

Did you make any wedding DIYs? 

Yes my sister did all our calligraphy for the place names, it’s easy to get on a course these days and she did a grand job. Our table runners where muslin we just cut up and had down the centre. Favours were Russian sweets (Kirill is from Russia) so I wanted to bring some of this into the day, my mum made cotton drawstring bags which we filled with Russian sweets. My best friend and bridesmaids made our mega macrame table plan! We attached it to a piece of drift wood and we plan to hang it in our Lounge as a keep sake.

Tell us all about the dress...

My sister in law owns Rock the Frock Bridal in Chelmsford so it was only natural that I would go there, regardless of her being my SIL I would have gone there anyway as the styles are more me, she supports a variety of smaller brands/vintage alternative styles. Being petite it is very hard to visual the dresses on me as they are very long and not in proportion. It’s not until a week before when my dress came back from the seamstress I saw what it was actually going to be like.

I had a vision that I would wear lace, but after trying on a few lace dresses I realised lace did not suit me. I ended up going for a beautiful Otaduy two piece and then a pair of Otaduy trousers for the legal ceremony. They're based in Spain and the fabrics felt so luxurious and suited my frame perfectly.

My veil was a sash and veil cape. I was able to wear it clipped into my hair at the party and then clipped onto my top at the registrar office. I like the aspect of being able to change my outfit to get 2 looks. 

My shoes were a pair I’d worn for my sisters wedding from dune. I wore a Khaki green velvet jacket on the evening, as it can get cold at night in September. It was reduced in marks and Spencer’s from £80 to £29.99! Best bargain. My jewellery was from By Nouck which I'd found on Instagram. I wanted some bold earrings and found these big stars with crystals on which matched my Carrie Elizabeth moonstone engagement ring. I also wore a small initial diamanté K (husband's initial).

Favourite wedding supplier: our florists, The Country garden flower company. Grow their own Flowers local to us. They are extremely talented and the flowered were our of this world. The scent from the freesias filled the room and the pop of orange colour from the daliahs was just what we hoped. They also made a fresh flower crown for my flower girl and it lasted all day. We incorporated some herbs mint and rosemary - smells of marrakech into all our flowers too.

Tell us about the cake...

Our wedding cake was 2 tiers chocolate and then white chocolate and raspberry. Can you tell I like chocolate? The bottom tier was covered in ganache and then fondant with a white and gold geometric design, the top tier was covered in ganache with a bright orange and gold leaf design. I wanted a pop of colour rather than a all white wedding cake.

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What was the most emotional moment of the day?

The vows and speeches. I had rehearsed my vows intensely as to not get teared up, but Kirill went first and he automatically got very tearful, not sure there was a dry eye in the room. The speeches were equally as emotional and humorous. I was so proud of Kirill’s speech and his delivery of it was spot on!! He spoke fondly of all those who has been a part of our lives, not just me which was a lovely touch.

Were there any surprises on the day?

That it actually happened!!!

What was the worst wedding planning moment?

Do I need to expand... Covid-19 was not the pre-wedding run up we had in mind. It was fairly stressful, sitting tight, waiting to see if they would make more changes so we could have a celebrations of sorts. We had come to terms that we would only be able to have 30 guests and it be a much smaller day than we planned at the start of lockdown, and we were okay with that. Postponing was not and option for us, we wanted to get married and that is what we did. We spent a long time thinking about changes we had to make to make it Covid safe, and it was hard asking people not to attend but all our family and friends understood. These are exception circumstances after all.

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

We had ideas before Covid to go to Japan or South Africa, but chose instead to so 2-3 smaller breaks to give us more flexibility as the situation changes. We booked an Airbnb down near Newquay for 3 night and then 3 nights in Venice. We hope to go to Iceland later next year too. We are resigned to the fact that we may not get abroad at all.

Top money saving tip: Try and prioritise spending money on the things that are important and what people will remember. Let’s face it, no one remembers the save the dates or table - you can get some great ones online at really reasonable prices. Our table plan was also from Etsy pinned onto a macrame backdrop.

Venue: Canon Leys Farm 

Photographer: Kris Lissimore 

Videographer: Inverve 

Stationery: Rosemood. Calligraphy by my sister 

Flowers: The country garden flower company

Cake: Pink Face Cakes 

Décor: Backdrop + stars from Rock the Day styling / DIY

MUA: Claire Marie make up 

Dress: Rock the Frock bridal (Otaduy)

Shoes: Dune 

Bridesmaids Dresses: French Connection 

Flower Girl Dresses: Rock the Frock Bridal

Suits: Ben Sherman 

Rings: Laura Lee (his), Sophia Prez Hatton Gardens (bride)

Celebrant: Friend/ registra 

Band: Three Mile Hill 

Photobooth: Instax Selfie