The Bride Wore the Most Spectacular Custom Floral Dress at this French Wedding Festival

Wedding Festival on a Fort

You may already know this, but we here at GWS have a thing for florals… Floral-filled weddings, floral installations, wild bouquets, and even floral embroidered dresses! So when we saw Katy + Saeed’s floral festival at a fort in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, we about flipped (say that then times fast)!

K+S own a sustainable fashion brand and spend 4 months of the year traveling the world, developing new fabrics and exploring natural dyes. When the two aren’t traveling or at their home in London, they spend a lot of time at Saeed’s parents place in France.

They tell us: Saeed’s parents, while attempting to ‘downsize’ from their two-bedroom bungalow in the UK ended up falling in love with a run-down island fort in France. The first year there was spent renovating all of the roofs and shortly after that, without giving them time to catch a breath, Saeed proposed. The idea of getting married at ‘The Fort’ as we all fondly call it was a no-brainer!

Just wait until you see how they decorated the space + how the whole village really pitched in! Now, let’s adventure in the photos snapped by Max Miechowski!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Holy smokes — look at this place!! We can *TOTALLY* see why they chose to get married here.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

custom dress

Katy shares: I wanted a dress that would be super unique and eye-catching so I asked my friend (a professional pattern cutter) to make it with a detachable tulle outer layer so it could transition from day to night.

The decoration was inspired by my love of vintage Hawaiian shirts and took me and my mum the best part of 2 months to hand-embroider with literally hundreds of meters of colored ribbons! Through our brand, I am often hand-embroidering samples myself, so before we started the dress I knew the technique, I just didn’t realize it would take so long to complete! Since the wedding we have had so many requests for ribbon embroidered wedding dress commissions that we are seriously considering going into business together now.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

How absolutely darling are these two?!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

On the day, our 65 guests arrived at mid-day to join us for the ceremony which was performed by our close friend Jack. It included vows to ‘never watch a boxset without Saeed’ and ‘always support Katy in any fad diet she may be on’ was followed by cakes and drinks

Wedding Festival on a Fort

While the fort was still under some very integral construction work we managed to make it look like our very own version of a festival wedding with the help of amazing family, friends, and a very small budget. Neighbors generously grew flowers over the summer and let me loose in their gardens so that we could decorate our rustic chateau with giant daisies and dahlias.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

We chose to have a wedding spread over 2 days so our friends and families could relax and take advantage of the glorious weather and countryside. From the word GO the whole vibe was one of pure love, with our friends, many of whom had never met, getting on like besties, taking tours of the fort with Saeed’s dad, rowing the boat out around the island and even bungee jumping off the viaduct.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Katy’s sister filled the old well outside the turreted tower (where she and her ladies got ready the morning of the wedding!) with multi-colored flowers. Such a fun idea!

flowers

Oh me, oh my… All the florals!! Isn’t this just divine?!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

The day before the wedding, Katy baked cakes with the help of her mother in their neighbor’s oven (we told you, it was a whole neighborhood event!). They used the tastiest vegan recipes, including: a 4-layer coconut and lime sandwich cake with pineapple flowers, and pecan brownies with dark salted chocolate ganache – plus a selection of their favorite traditional Arabic Baklava.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Katy + Saeed’s mothers hung dried flowers from the ancient beams in the reception room. Saeed’s dad crafted 18 living-edge oak tables and benches especially for the occasion. The whole village really pulled together to make their wedding weekend feel really special… And we’re simply in awe!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Such a cozy + intimate space. We love the addition of the pampas grass, monstera leaves + all the dried florals!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Isn’t this pure magic?!

Wedding Festival on a Fort

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

After a short break to allow people to change from glad-rags to dancing shoes, we all met back at the fort at sunset to watch a local band play classic rock and punk hits. We had hoped the evening would feel like the ultimate house party for everyone and it really didn't disappoint! My mum joined in for a blaring rendition of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac (a personal favorite of mine!) and my 5 year old nephew rocked out with his air guitar for a full 5 minutes! As the night drew on, we were all treated to a tasty meal of steaming rice dishes studded with nuts and dried fruits, followed by a disco of 90s RnB, hip-hop and upbeat Arabic music which had the relatives dancing well past midnight.

Wedding Festival on a Fort

What a spectacular event!! We seriously adore how the whole community came together to help make the day special + all the floral details.

Congrats, Katy + Saeed!

photography: Max Miechowski // venue name: L'Isle Fort, L'Isle Jourdain, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France // wedding dress: bride - custom ribbon embroidered tulle dress // bride's shoes: Zara // bride's ring: Vintage - bride's great grandmother's // groom attire: Vintage 1970's suit // groom's shoes: STORY mfg

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