Rex and Emily

Emily and Rex were first bought together by their love of aviation – walking on top of planes or jumping out of them! With good luck and great fortune their flight paths crossed and they met their match in each other. Their relaxed but beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony was held in an apple orchard on Emily’s family farm.  They embraced a natural, boho wedding style.

I have to admit that I was more than a little in awe of Emily and Rex. We did most of our preparations via skype from their California home in the Sierra Nevada.

Emily met Rex when she was working in a professional wing-walking display team – touring air shows around the world. Strapped to wings of a plane, doing acrobats, and making it look graceful speeding through the air at hundreds of miles an hour.  She bought both guts and glamour to the air.

Rex has many accolades in the adventure sports world.  Youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest is one of them, world-class wingsuit flyer is another.  He has developed his own carbon-fiber wing – which makes him a pioneer of human flight.  Human flight!  I’m not sure I need to say much more than that.  It’s mind-blowing. He has also carved out a complementary career for himself as a motivational speaker, regularly speaking to corporates in silicon valley.

And yet, in person, they were down to earth and a delight to work with.

Their wedding was in the orchard of Emily’s family farm in Gloucestershire. This is a place that Emily played with her brother and sister and their friends as a child.  Over the years the family have held all kinds of  celebrations and parties there.  It was the perfect spot to gather friends and family for their relaxed by meaningful ceremony.  They had a gorgeous giant tipi, complete with open fire.  Their ceremony was held in a beautiful space between the apple trees.  With the trees bearing young fruit and tangles of mistletoe, the space had plenty of natural feel-good vibes.  A home-constructed decorated bamboo tipi created a wow-factor as the focal point at the backdrop of the ceremony.

In typical style Emily made a big aerial entrance!  And she enticed her bridesmaids to join her as they were lifted skyward in the forklift cherry picker of the farm tractor. It was such a fun and set the tone for our ceremony.

Their wedding bands featured tinny gold nuggets that the couple had panned themselves in the streams near their home.

At the close of the ceremony we finished with a hand-fasting.  For Rex and Emily this had to be with climbers rope.  We used a classic climbing knot – the fisherman’s knot that joins two ropes together and gets stronger under pressure.  Such great symbolism for marriage.

Thinking about all their amazing outdoor adventures, whilst writing their ceremony, min mind was drawn irresistibly up into the mountains and the sky. It was a joy to fly with them for their wedding ceremony.  I’ll never forget the view!

Photos by: Cotswold Wedding Photography