Where to start haha! Let's begin with how we decided this was the wedding we wanted! We've always wanted our wedding day to be chilled, not as traditional as many and just fun! We went to a few wedding fairs and open days but nothing really caught our attention. I can't remember how we came to the idea of using tipis but we loved the look of them. We then looked around venues that either had tipis already set up or places that hired tipis out. Every venue that we visited was beautiful but it just didn't feel like the right place to hold our special day. There was a lovely venue that we thought was perfect and in our budget but unfortunately it would have been too far for everyone to travel to from the church. We decided in the end to hire our own tipis and do it all ourselves! How hard could it be right?!
After doing lots of searching, we found a company called Forest Tipis that let you hired tipis out just as a blank canvas, meaning we could decorate them as we wished. I think they have changed names now but there's so many companies around now that hire them out! We booked two tents and then we had to find a venue to put them! Ideally we needed a field but a field that could accommodate our day! Because we we were getting married in Rutland, we had to stay around that area and Melton/Leicester as thats where pretty much most of us lived. We asked around and again searched everywhere and then came across Scraptoft Hill Farm on Google. It looked perfect and so we arranged a meeting with Will the farmer. When we went for the meeting, it was just wonderful! As we walked up to the field, Will showed us a private part separate from the field, which had a yurt, a shepherd's hut and a wood fired hot tub! He said this was available to hire out as well so we added that on too! It was beautiful! The field where the tipi's would go was a great size, there was a special walkway from the parking area into the field as well. It also had a little woodland area with benches in which was for unofficial wedding ceremonies! He also showed us a field next to the farm house which was used as a back up plan incase there was heavy rain and we were unable to use the main field. There was also space for camping with toilet facilities! It was about 40 minutes from Normanton Church but only 20 minutes from Melton which was ideal as well! So, the tipi's and venue were booked!
Next up was food! Niall's mum had kindly offered to cater the whole lot, lunch, the evening meal and snacks etc but we wanted to take some of the weight off so she could enjoy the day! We went to a few more wedding fairs for inspiration and that's where we found The Hidden Gem! Handmade wood fired pizza! They were giving out free samples and they tasted absolutely gorgeous! We knew we had to book them for the main meal! It also kept with our informal approach to the whole day too. We then worked out we needed something to keep everyone going for when we all sat down to do speeches and decided on an afternoon tea! Niall's mum did an amazing job with it, literally exactly what we had imagined! We asked a family friend if she could make the scones for the tea as she makes the most delicious scones with a cheesy butter! Niall made the crates for them and a close friend who we worked with made the gingham pieces to put inside! For the evening meal, we had a BBQ and then salads, pastas etc so everyone could just help themselves to! Our wedding cake was made by one of my best friends and we had asked for a naked cake! It was amazing and then Niall's Dad did up an old barrel for the cake to sit on. It all looked perfect!
Drinks were the next thing on our list! Our plan was to hire a bar and leave it at that so it was one less thing to worry about. However, when looking at the actual prices that some businesses charge the guests for their drinks was just crazy! So guess what? We did it ourselves ha! Niall is just amazing with woodwork and so he took the challenge of building a bar himself! It was just amazing! We used a couple of cable drums to use as tables and were kindly lent some hay bales to use as seating! We bought the optics for it and the chalkboards to write the prices on. We bought all the drinks from various places to try and keep the cost down so we could make them affordable for our guests. We didn't want to make any profit on the bar, our goal was to make our money back that we had paid out and this meant our friends and family didn't have to pay a fortune to be merry! We also had to apply for a licence so we could sell the alcohol! For our welcome drinks, we bought some drinks dispensers and filled them up with Orange Juice, squash, water and pimms! We bought glass drink jars, which we bought from Poundstretcher, so guests could refill them if needed and plastic cups for the kids! We also bought a second hand console table, some crates and made it into a feature!
Tipis, venue, food and drinks sorted! Then it was things like toilets, sound and lighting, fridges, tables and seating, generator, the list was endless! We hired some luxury toilets from Lodge Farm Luxury Toilet Hire. I made a little basket for each of the women's and mens toilets with some essentials in that guests might want to use! I just thought it added a nice touch to them! The sound and lighting we hired from Hawthorn which is where we worked at the time so everyone knew how to set up the equipment. The hiring of fridges was a complete nightmare but it all came together in the end! The tables and seating we hired from a local business called Be Event Hire - we also had to hire a van so we could collect them and transport them to the venue but the van was useful to transport everything else too! The committee from 'Old Dalby Day' kindly lent us a big tent that we used for the bar area, just incase it rained! That was a 6 man job just to put that up, it was huge and there were no instructions so we had to build it from memory from past Old Dalby Days (I didn't have a clue though!) We also hired a bouncy castle for the kids (and adults!!) I didn't get chance to have a go unfortunately haha! As well as the tipis, we also wanted a chill out tent and a play tent for the little ones so we hired two tents from Bellows Glamping which we ordered as empty so we could decorate them ourselves! Then there was confetti - At the church we weren't allowed to have it but at Scraptoft we could! So we bought some from Dollz confetti. We ordered it loose so we could fill some small organza bags up ourselves, this also bought the cost down! It was biodegradable and not harmful to the environment which was important.
Decorations and props! This was my favourite part! We are both creative and have creative families so we were really lucky to have lots of help in this area! For inside the tipi, we decided on hessian table runners to go with the rustic theme so ...... Being a massive Disney fan, I also wanted to incorporate this into the wedding but not go over the top with it, which I don't think you could do anyway but I think Niall would disagree ha! So for each table, I did a little centre piece that related to a Disney movie - Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and The Little Mermaid. We also dotted some disposable cameras around the tables for a bit of fun and then a bottle of rose, a bottle of white wine and a mini easel with the table number on, on each table. We weren't going to have a seating plan, just to keep things informal but the best man gave us some good advice and said that was the approach him and his wife went for at their wedding and it took longer than they had expected for guests to find a seat and sit down. So a seating plan it was! Niall made a big heart out of wood and I decorated it with a heart memo holder so I could pop some cards in with the table number and names on. Niall's sister added the finishing touches and we then stood it on an easel so everyone could see it clearly. We also had a kids table so they could all be together when eating and I made up some bags for each child which included a disposable camera with an I Spy Card, sunglasses and a few other bits to keep them entertained.
Unfortunately, Niall's Nan and Grandad and my Nana and uncle weren't with us to celebrate our special day so we wanted to do something to remember them. We bought an old shabby ladder second hand and I decorated it with flowers and candles. I framed a photo of each of them and placed them on the ladder along with a special quote 'We know you would be here today if heaven wasn't so far away.' And I think they were definitely watching over us that day!
Another thing we definitely wanted was a sweet cart, we both love sweets so it had to happen! Niall made an amazing cart and we painted it to look shabby chic. I decorated it with some bunting, some sweet bags and we then filled it with lots of different jars and filled those jars with all kinds of sweets which we bought from several places like Amazon and a wholesalers. For the afternoon tea, we kept all of the teacups and saucers on a separate table next to a table with the recyclable cutlery and napkins on. We bought all of the teacups and saucers from several places including car boot markets and charity shops, it's amazing what you can find from them!
Onto the final table in the tipis was a guestbook table! We had so many plans and ideas for the guestbook - we ended up doing a Disney one but I was gutted as we didn't get chance to do a motorbike themed one which would have been two motorbike helmets - one black and one white and we were going to put marker pens next to them so our guests could sign them! We may have to use that idea in the future for a special anniversary or something! So for the Disney guestbook, we bought a scrapbook from Amazon which was 'Our Adventure Book' from the movie 'Up' and alongside this, we bought a box of Disney postcards which we presented in a little basket with some pens. So once our guests signed a postcard of their choice, they stuck them in the scrapbook! We also were lucky to be gifted an old dolls house which I painted to go with the 'Up' theme too! My intention was to blow a load of latex balloons up with helium and tie them to the house but I ran out of time! For the wedding favours, instead of buying something and it being left behind, we decided to put some money towards two charities that are close to out hearts and buy some pin badges instead. This meant that if any got left behind, at least the money would have still gone towards a good cause! The charities we chose were Mind and Macmillian Cancer Support. I bought some small organza bags and placed one in each bag to add a little personal touch.
We also added some cheesiness to the day to make people laugh! We had a basket full of sunglasses with a sign with it saying 'Don't be blinded by our love!' Haha! I bought the sunglasses from Primark and knew they'd be used as it was a sunny day! Another thing we did was fill up a couple of baskets with fleece throw blankets and had a sign next to it saying 'To have and to hold incase you get cold!' And they definitely got used as the sun went down! My friend got all of the fleece blankets from The Range at a really good price and then I took the packaging off of them and tied different ribbons around them to look pretty! Then for the baskets, we used two that we bought second hand and one we already had!
Now for the outside decorations! First of all, we just had to have bunting and we needed a lot! Luckily, Niall's mum, Niall's sister, our close friend and myself could all sew! So we made metres and metres worth of bunting from a load of fabric we had bought from Ikea which we also managed to get whilst on offer! This was hung all around the area of the field we were using and it looked gorgeous! Niall also made a wooden free-standing N and D which he fixed some fairy lights to for when the sun went down which looked so good and also some free-standing letters to spell out B A R! They added a really nice touch to the decor. Niall also made an archway for the entrance into the reception which looked fab and then we bought some apple crates to place either side of it! We then had a sign which Niall put together and I wrote one of my favourites quotes on it from Winnie the Pooh (see the photo below). Another thing we did was our own Photo Booth! We purchased a small gazebo and bought some fun props that guests could have a laugh with! We were also really lucky to have been gifted an old trunk which we used to hold all of the props in. One of the props we had was a huge frame, big enough to fit a couple of people in, that we had bought a couple of years before the big day, from a second hand shop whilst we were on holiday! It was a challenge to get home with all of our camping gear in the car as well ha! We used the Photo Booth idea as another guestbook too - I purchased some film for my Fujifilm Instax camera and left them both next to a little album and a sign with instructions on what to do! Niall also made a giant Jenga and we also made a giant Noughts and Crosses - for the board we used a pallet we had been gifted and then we used some cardboard X's and O's from Hobbycraft which Niall's sister painted. I think that's everything!
I also did a few other bits like the hangers for my dress and the bridesmaid dresses which I loved doing! The coat hangers I bought from Amazon and the vinyl stickers were from a small business which I think has closed since. There were so many ideas regarding the flowers but in the end we chose to have artificial flowers just so we could keep them to remember the day! The bridesmaids bouquets were from Home Bargains and my bouquet was made up of a mixture of flowers from several places. Niall's sister made the bows and hessian ties for all of the bouquets which were beautiful. I also made a heart wand for my flower girl but completely forgot to give it to her on the day, I was gutted! I also made some gift boxes for the bridal party to say thank you which I really enjoyed putting together! I put bits in like some PJs, a personalised silk dressing gown, socks, strawberry scented hand gel (ironic) and a few other bits. The boxes I bought were also from Home Bargains and the vinyl stickers were from the same business as mentioned above but there's so many businesses that do them now so if you're looking for some they're not hard to get hold of - try Etsy or Ebay!
And finally, the wedding stationary! This is something I had always wanted to do myself! I had made a Pinterest board just for this (Pinterest is amazing for DIY weddings by the way!) So all of the gorgeous photos above are taken by PM Photography who photographed our special day. The photos of the stationary below are taken by me! Luckily I kept one of each item as a memento. I wanted to keep with the rustic and fun theme so I used Kraft card for everything which I purchased from Amazon. For the save the date cards, I hand wrote every single of them, my wrist was hurting ha! I then used a heart paper punch to cut out photos of me and Niall to stick on each one. I finished it off by using some twine and tying a half length pencil to them! I was really happy with them! For the invitations, I did many designs on paper using Niall's Nan's pens I had been gifted when she passed. I was so pleased I was able to use them to create our stationary. Once we had finalised a design, I scanned it onto my laptop and started the printing! We had to buy a new printer in the process because our old one couldn't take the thickness of the card we wanted to use but it was worth it! I also designed a RSVP postcard and honeymoon wish card to place with the invite as well and then finished it off by tying twine around them into a bow. I was so proud of them and usually I'm so self critical about my work and there were a few changes I might have made but overall, I was really happy with them!
So, I think that is everything! Now that I've typed this all out, I can see how much work we actually put into our wedding day and it was so worth it! I'd just like to thank everyone involved in making our dream wedding come true! If you're planning a wedding yourself, I hope I've managed to help you with a few ideas and useful info! The past year has been horrendous for weddings and I'm so sorry if you've had to postpone yours and move dates several times but it will all be worth it in the end. Please try and stay positive and see it as having more time to plan and create things! You WILL have your day and it will be even more special because of what you went through to get there.
Daisy x
If you're finding things hard emotionally right now, you're not alone. My inbox is always open if you need to chat. There are many charities that are there for you including Mind, who have information and support to help you.
