Weddings are large, expensive events so it’s a great idea to be mindful when it comes to minimising your carbon footprint. Today, Becky from The Garden Chef tells us about a recent shoot she collaborated on with some local florists. Over to Becky…

A big part of our ethos is to have great respect for the food we create; how we create it and what we create it from. One of our concerns is the cost and waste related to weddings so we wanted to look at ideas to minimise this. We wanted the shoot to be eco-friendly and sustainable. By using local, foraged flowers and food we were able to design beautiful tablescapes while safe in the knowledge there were zero air miles involved in getting the produce to us. We wanted to be creative and imaginative to achieve a unique result, rather than spending money.

Arabella Floral used flowers from Fletching Glasshouses which is two villages away from Patrick’s Barn. She also used foraged greenery and branches from the farm to create a gorgeous hanging instalment above the picnic table. Cabbage White Flowers used dried hydrangea heads from a local park to create the hanging clouds.

Bramble Sky used reclaimed wood to make the raised stands used on the food table and we used wine crates from Lord Limerick’s cellar to add height too.

The meats were from Coppa Ashurst near Partridge Green, a one-man-band making incredible charcuterie from locally sourced meats. Caprelose from Rampesham Farm in Dorset are making amazing air dried meats from more unusual meats, like mutton and venison. Both are creating a truly delicious products which reflects the passion of the creators. The cheeses were all from small-batch artisan dairies.

The sausages were from our butcher who uses local farms for all his meat. The beers were all from our brewery on the farm.

All our food is handmade and ‘real’; no fillers like dried fruits, slices of grapefruit etc which don’t get eaten. We hate food being used for aesthetics alone and going to waste. We want everything to be eaten… there should be nothing left!

We wanted to show that eco-friendly, local and economical can be beautiful. Lesley Burdett was the perfect photographer with her eye for detail, light and colour.

Photography – www.lesleyburdett.com

Food – www.thegardenchef.net

Florist (inside) – www.cabbagewhiteflowers.co.uk/

Florist (barn) – www.arabellafloral.com/

Venue – www.thegardenchef.net/patricks-barn.html