Love Again:
An Intimate Fusion Wedding in Yorkshire

Sunyi and Lee had both been married before, and both had already experienced big, formal church weddings. When they found love again, they knew they wanted to do things differently.

This time, they invited just 20 guests to Hazel Brow House in the Yorkshire Dales for a relaxed weekend focused on family, the people and places they love, and a wedding theme that was simply “whatever makes you feel beautiful and happy.”

Bringing together Sunyi’s Chinese and Texan heritage with Lee’s Yorkshire roots, they filled the wedding with things they love, family connections and plenty of their own ideas.

Photographer Jenny Fozard Photography captured their intimate Yorkshire wedding and all the brilliantly personal details.

Photos throughout from Jenny Fozard Photography

An Intimate Wedding Weekend in Yorkshire

Sunyi and Lee chose Hazel Brow House in the Yorkshire Dales, a place that already meant something to them. They both love hiking in the British countryside, while Yorkshire is Lee’s heritage and has become Sunyi’s adopted home.

With most of their wedding party staying at the house, the celebrations began well before the ceremony. Friday was spent on gentle walks and wild swimming, followed by dinner at the local Punch Bowl Inn and a sunset soak in the outdoor hot tub.

Saturday morning was equally unhurried, with everyone having breakfast and brunch together on the terrace while gradually getting ready.

As Sunyi puts it:

“Luckily, there wasn’t much to do! It was a very laid back affair.”

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Whatever Makes You Feel Beautiful & Happy

There wasn’t a traditional dress code for Sunyi and Lee’s wedding. Instead, their theme was simply “whatever makes you feel beautiful and happy”.

Sunyi took the same approach to her own wedding outfit:

“I don’t wear makeup, so I went makeup-free and did my own hair. I bought my embroidered Double Happiness shoes and hairpins second-hand, and found my dress heavily discounted for £300 new from Hong Kong-based designer Qipology.”

For the ceremony, she wore the red embroidered Qipology dress with a custom cape from Lamnhi Studios . Lee kept things similarly straightforward, choosing a cream suit off the rack from a local menswear shop.

And there was no expectation that those outfits had to last all day either. Once the ceremony was over, the formality dropped another notch, with Sunyi changing into jeans and Lee getting changed into something more casual too.

Bringing Cultures together

Sunyi and Lee wanted their fusion wedding to bring together their different backgrounds without feeling bound by tradition. One of the ways they did that was by including a small Chinese tea ceremony within their formal wedding ceremony.

Sunyi explains:

“Usually a Chinese tea ceremony is a separate event and involves lots of relatives, so it can take quite a while. After some discussion, we stripped back the traditions and kept ours short and simple.”

Rather than holding it separately, they incorporated the tea ceremony into the wedding itself, with their registrar allowing it as one of their ‘reading’ choices.

“We served wedding tea to Lee’s mum and dad, thanking them for the role they have played in our lives. I wanted to show my love and appreciation for them, and Lee felt the same.”

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DIY Wedding Ideas with a Very Personal Twist

A Ferrero Rocher Bouquet... With a Sword

For her bouquet, Sunyi combined a little bit of Hong Kong with a little bit of Lord of the Rings.

“For a bouquet, I knew that I wanted a Ferrero Rocher bouquet (these are super popular chocolates in Hong Kong), and decided to make my own. I soon discovered that many DIY bouquets are mounted on sword handles. Perfect!”

Sunyi bought a replica of Sting, the sword from The Lord of the Rings, from Etsy and used it as the handle for her bouquet, adding faux flowers and plenty of Ferrero Rocher.

After the ceremony, she handed the chocolates out to their guests, cleaned up the sword and put it to another very important use: cutting their West Country Cheese celebration tower.

A Wedding Full of Things They Love

Sunyi also designed their Lord of the Rings-inspired wedding sign, complete with a fantasy map and the words “NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON WEDDING BUSINESS.” On the reverse was a giant cryptic crossword for everyone to fill in together.

Their guestbook was a little ukulele, built by Sunyi and painted white for guests to sign. Lee used to teach children to play the ukulele and likes to say:

“It’s impossible to feel unhappy while holding a ukulele.”

Even the cake topper was DIY. When the usual young, blond couple toppers didn’t represent them, Sunyi designed a fantasy-themed miniature of the two of them using Hero Forge, had it 3D printed locally and painted it herself.

A Piñata Made from Sheet Music

Sunyi’s Texan heritage appeared in the form of a big wedding cake-shaped piñata. When finding an affordable one proved difficult, she and Lee made their own using Lee’s old unwanted sheet music.

Sunyi filled it with origami cranes and stars she’d folded herself, lucky red Chinese sweets and retro British sweets.

“It was a TOUGH pinata to open, and we had to get a croquet mallet to smash it in the end!”

Food, Wine & Keeping Things Simple

Yorkshire Flavours provided canapés and a gourmet buffet, which everyone ate outside on the terrace in the sunshine. Lee chose the music and liaised with the caterers, while his parents provided the wine.

And with Hazel Brow House and the Yorkshire Dales doing much of the decorating for them, there was no need to fill the venue with décor. Sunyi and Lee kept things simple with paper lanterns, something that fed directly into Sunyi’s advice for other couples:

“Choose a really nice location that can work indoors or outdoors, and let that carry the bulk of decoration for you.”

She also recommends embracing colour rather than worrying about enforcing a strict colour scheme.

Just Married (Again)

Sunyi taught herself embroidery so she could customise a denim jacket for the wedding, stitching “JUST MARRIED (AGAIN)” across the back as a nod to the fact that they had both been married before.

She also embroidered the Double Happiness symbol in gold thread, a Chinese symbol associated with love and marriage.

Their wedding rings came with another personal twist. Earlier in the year, Sunyi and Lee had each other’s names tattooed on their ring fingers in Chinese characters at Snake & Tiger Tattoo.

Traditional rings weren’t particularly practical for either of them, with Sunyi’s sports and Lee’s music, although they still chose metal rings to exchange during the ceremony.

Special Day Films captured the celebrations, and the end of their wedding film perhaps sums the weekend up best: everyone eating outside, relaxing together and even piling into the hot tub. No big formal finale, just 20 people enjoying being together in the Yorkshire Dales.