A registry office has its virtues: it is dry, it is punctual, and nobody worries about the wind. Its vice is that the vows sound like every other set of vows that day. Here it is different. A registrar comes to Szumilas and to the Dobre z Lasu restaurant, and the civil act takes place where the couple want to say “I do”: under the oak, by the pond or on the glade. If the weather fails, we put up an extra tent for the ceremony itself. There is a fee for the registrar’s visit; in return the guests remember a place, not a corridor.

What a civil wedding looks like away from the office

In Polish law the civil act does not have to take place only inside a registry building. An official may come to a chosen place, and that is the possibility we use. The couple then have a real civil wedding outdoors, not merely a photoshoot that “looks like a wedding”. The vows happen on a glade, by a tree, by a pond or under a shelter; the guests stand where the couple stand, not behind the doors of an office hall.

You may go to the office no earlier than six months before the planned date. It is worth doing so as soon as that window opens: file the papers and book both the date and the registrar’s visit to a specific place. Without that booking you cannot calmly set the ceremony hour or the rest of the day. The earlier you know the time and the spot, the easier it is to arrange the music, the photography and the walk from the tent to the tree.

We work with photographers and musicians who know both venues from real days, not from a map. Chairs, an aisle, a hexagon, a cello or violins are enough to hold the vows; we do not put up a wall of speakers. Guests then remember grass and water, not a corridor in which “we somehow fitted”.

The oak, the pond and the glade — and different light at the Dobre z Lasu restaurant

At Szumilas the ceremony does not have to stand next to the tent merely because that is convenient for the chairs. There are three natural backdrops, and the couple choose the one that suits them. This year guests most often take their vows under the great oak: an aisle, a rug and pampas need not compete with the tree, because the crown is already the set. By the pond the frame is water and reeds — a hexagon should dress them, not hide them. On the glade there is more light and more wind, so structures must be stable, and air remains between the chairs.

At the Dobre z Lasu restaurant the day has a different character. There the vows may stand in the garden, under a shelter that is not afraid of rain, or in a bright hall with windows. If they should smell of forest and tipi, you choose Szumilas in Bydgoszcz. If of a terrace and window light — the Dobre z Lasu restaurant. Both venues are ours; what differs is not the procedure, but how that one hour should look and smell.

When the sky does not keep its promise

The tipi is waterproof, but it does not move. The reception stays in it whatever the weather; we do not force the ceremony into it, because the tipi stands where it stands and cannot be slid under the tree. If the day before looks bad, or showers are likely, we put up an extra, quickly assembled tent for the vows and the guests. That can be done at Szumilas and at the Dobre z Lasu restaurant.

A short summer shower most often simply gathers people under cover. That is not a disaster, only a change of accent. Umbrellas that match the décor, and one line on the invitation — that part of the day is outdoors, and comfortable shoes will help — save more stress than any plan invented in January. You look at the forecast three or four days ahead; we usually decide on the extra tent the day before the ceremony.

Photographs you will not take in a corridor

Outdoor photography is not a ballroom shoot. There is no ornamental wall for a lamp to bounce off; there is light, wind and whether the couple are actually together. The best frames happen when the photographer is given twenty or thirty minutes as a pair between the ceremony and the cake — written into the timeline, not left for later, “if a moment remains”.

Before sunset, in what is called the golden hour, the light in summer is often at its kindest. If the vows or the portraits can move by forty minutes, it is usually worth it. If the weather fails, we move the session under cover, into the extra tent or into the tipi, without panic on the day of the vows. Time to change, water and shade also have to be planned, because outdoors there is no corridor where “we will somehow fit”. More photographs from real days here are in the Gallery.

Who stays the night — and who arrives on four paws

You can arrive with a dog. It is common at outdoor weddings here, so at booking we agree water, shade and who stays with the animal during the vows. Not every dog likes a crowd and salutes; the couple decide whether the dog is there for the ceremony or only for part of the day.

Guests may sleep on site: Szumilas has forty-four beds, the Dobre z Lasu restaurant fifty-six. It is worth booking rooms with the wedding date, because they go faster than seats at the table. A next-day gathering then makes sense — in the morning nobody is hunting for a hotel, the menu can be lighter, the music quieter. We agree it individually; some couples simply book the second day in the same place.

If you want vows under a tree — with a registrar on site, not only a session that pretends to be a wedding — write to us. We will show you both glades, the walk from the tent to the oak, and where the registrar stands while the sky is still clear. And where the extra tent stands when it is not.