Not Beige

The bride wore a blue/green dress and the groom sported a felt hat he had made himself.

And that wasn't the only alternative feature of the wedding of Nailsea couple Sara Ellis and Paul Reid.

The newlyweds who meet in Bristol three years ago actually got married at the Chippenham register office before holding a second 'handfasting' ceremony at a woodland campsite near Bath called Rocks East.

This all happened on Friday, September 2.

Handfasting is a traditional European betrothal dating from the 12th century.

The term is originally from Old Norse hand-festa 'to strike a bargain by joining hands' and is popular with modern day pagans.

It involves the tying or binding of the right hands of the bride and groom with a cord or ribbon for the duration of the wedding ceremony.

When Sara married Paul they used a length of bright red felt they had spun themselves.

Sara, aged 28, and Paul, 27, live at Heath Road, Nailsea.

Paul, a former pupil at Nailsea School, and Sara, who went to Parkside Community College, Cambridge, will be known as Mr and Mrs EllisReid.

Best man Jason Parker went to school with Paul and best woman Cazbah Sargeant is a long-standing friend of the couple.

The bridesmaids were Ros King and Bex LeFey.

Many of the guests wore flowers in their hair and brightly coloured clothes, as requested on the wedding invitations.

Paul is the son of Tess and Chris Reid, of Nailsea, and the bride's mum Sue Ellis and her twin sister Jo Watters travelled from Nidri, Greece for the special day.

Another long distance guest was Paul's sister Fiona Rudolph who came home from Texas where she is now living.

The couple who trained as playworkers run their own business.

Sara said: "Our business is two-fold - we run a wool art design studio called Innerspiral but we also run hula hoop party workshops.

"We make and sell hula hoops from our market stall at different events including Nailsea craft market.

"We have just come back from a summer of touring the UK festivals with both our fibre art workshops and our hula hoop party."

This year their tour included St Paul's Festival and Priddy Fair.

Paul and Sara also have an online shop called Etsy selling yarn they have spun and dyed by hand which they make into jewellery and one-of-a-kind artwear accessories.

The couple spent their honeymoon in a yurt in Cornwall.

Nailsea People