Forest Fest Photo's

Hi everyone, at last....here are the promised photo's  from the  recent 'Forest Fest' we attended.     It was an after wedding celebration for our daughter's husbands brother and wife, they were  married two days earlier.     It was  held at the groom's parents house. The house  is  in the middle of a forest.... literally, so perfect for  this celebration.     Btw. it was also the venue for our daughter's wedding reception 4 years ago...it rained so heavily though, such a shame. The weather was fabulous this time luckily.      Still cannot believe all the work Steve and Sarah put into it all....anyway you will see yourself. They  wanted  a magical forest celebration.... I think they  achieved it.         The words I kept hearing from everyone were "Wow this is just amazing" Steve built the stage,treehouse,the sweet booths and most  things you see here and carved lots of  things too,  even a totem pole!       So here goes.......        

The Venue

 

The Happy Couple ....vintage theme!

The amazing cake!

The cake flavours......tasted so yummy !

The sweetie booths.

These proved very popular, top quality ice creams and cones. A chocolate fountain, a candy floss machine and a booth with most sweets you can imagine. Built by Steve and  put together/decorated/painted by our daughter.     Every single sweet was eaten according to our daughter. I think all the kids were on a sugar high all day/evening lol !         Lots of children attended and they all had such a great time. In the evening they all had dayglow sticks and dayglow  jewellery, quite a sight to behold dashing about.

The Mart Inn...their name is Martin, all the drinks were in here.

I helped to set everything up, about 200 expected....yikes! some camped overnight too.

So much to do and see.

There was croquet....

Swingball....

Archery.......

4x4 bumpy rides in the forest....they had a special track as both Steve and our SIL love it.

A large tree swing.....

    Also see the face on the tree above..a few of these around to spot.

Another tree swing....we used loads of ribbon to decorate them

A children's craft area and even a face painting expert...

So much craft stuff, this is only a fraction of it....

Most of us got a rub on tattoo...mine was a small spider :) Then along the forest trail.....

A tree house....built just for the day.... hammocks were added underneath later too I noticed.

Lots of old keys hanging from branches near the tree house...

A carved totem pole....

A tree den...

Some steam punk stuff  here and there....

A woodland suite... hay bales for a mattress...

A frame for photo's....

A stage built for the live group....

Faces to spot.....

Fairies dotted everywhere.....

More fairies.....esp lots in old trees...

and frogs......

Lots of bird song and frogs sounds set off  when you entered paths....so magical...a child's dream.

Wooden sculputres....

Lots of seating..and another face to spot...

and more seating....

Yummy food...just setting up here... 9 quiches made by the family and so tasty!

Soooo many boxes of these.... and strawberries and fresh fruit for dessert.

Pretty flowers...

Pretty colours too.....and night lights in little 'tents' later on.

The craft area was a big hit, esp. the face painting..

Me and my beautiful daughter...

We had just helped to finish doing the tables and swings, also putting all the food out etc. Glad of a sit down too.     How my chest looks so near the floor here I do not know......it isn't. My beads have risen up to neck also for some unknown reason  ...make allowances lol.   The several glasses of  homemade Elderflower champagne  we were plied with while doing jobs not helping either ..........but lovely !

and one with daddy too :)......

Good fun was had by all.....

The group were just fabulous......all friends of the groom...

They played all night too......

and yet more food at night....

A big bonfire for the evening....kept us all toasty...I sat next to a fireman :) Then a big screen was put up later and they showed the Star Wars film... I have been to a few 'do's here now and they always put on a  fabulous  party. So many multi talented singers/ musicians in the family too,there  is often a stage and they all do their 'pieces'.     Sometimes its funny  poetry too,we have been amazed by the  confidence of the children. One  decided to just give an amazing  speech at our daughter's wedding.It was soo clever and funny...think  he was about nine!     Sometimes in the evening Steve does fire-eating and swings buckets  of fire ...oh my! he and his brother ( and our SIL) stand by the large pond just in case he told us lol.      So we always feel very excited to attend. So many lovely  people here...we had such a lot of laughs.

This sums it all up I think .....:)

Everyone just loved it all, and we suggested they do it every year .......but that didn't go down too well lol ! The bride and groom and our SIL all work for an events company...I think it shows lol. So there it is......hope you have enjoyed seeing it all. .....One last pic, I caught our DD peeking from behind a tree :)