Outdoor Festival wedding with a wild party
BUDGET: £28K
Tor and Luke's wedding was anything but boring, they made sure of that! Everyone was catered for with lawn games, great music, a wild party and a bar that was drunk dry. Family was number one though, there were nods to the father of the bride's Mod roots and her beloved late Mum's love of Motown and sunflowers.
How did you guys meet?
We met over ten years ago at one of my bridesmaids house parties, although we were both with different partners at the time. We kept in touch as we enjoyed each other’s company. Fast forward three years later and both single, we got together after a few dates. Our official first date was September 7th 2012, the reason we chose to get married on our seven year anniversary!
How did you get engaged?
Luke booked a surprise trip before my 30th birthday in 2016. What I didn’t realise is that it wasn’t a trip for my 30th at all, it was so he could propose! He took me to Brimham rocks, only telling me what clothes and shoes I could pack without giving any details away, he’s great at surprising me! He found the perfect rock for a picture and told me to turn and face the world so he could take a pic of me, I turned back around and he was down on one knee, ring in hand and shaking like I’ve never seen before! From there on he took me to Rudding Park for the night, and I was on cloud nine for about 6 months.
How did you Keep it Real and uncomplicated in the lead up to your wedding?
We had a very clear idea of what we wanted – festival themed, lots of music, full dance floor, plenty of beer flowing, all our best friends and close family under one roof and a full weekend of partying!
Lambrettas have featured heavily in my life growing up so we had scooters follow us to and from church, my dad has always been a mod and rode scooters. As Luke had five best men we delegated our little three year old boy, Harry, present us the rings in church.
We styled the tipi ourselves, having a few Harry Potter themed bits as we love Harry Potter too!
My mum passed away in November 2018 so it was really important being as close to my mum, dad and brother as I am for her to feature in our wedding day. My bouquet was made up of her favourite flowers – sunflowers and roses, and held her picture in there too. We had a Northern soul and Motown DJ for the daytime playing live tracks, as myself and Luke have grown up with this music and it was mum’s favourite era. Me, my dad and brother danced to her favourite Motown track “Do I Love You” before the evening guests arrived.
Where did you get married and why did you choose your venue?
In a tipi at Mackinder Farms, Brayton, Selby. We always wanted a festival themed wedding, and always wanted to make it a full weekend event, the owner of the log cabins is a family friend and the space and place was perfect!
Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Our photographer was just outstanding! M & G Photography. We are not ‘stand around and pose’ people so Patrick was perfect, a few staged shots and the rest were natural. He captured the moments more perfectly than we could have ever imagined, his pictures told our story from start to finish, from us all getting ready at the crack of dawn, nervously drinking down our pints, and shots! To me being up on one of our groomsmen’s shoulders dancing with Luke to One Kiss! They fitted in so perfectly we didn’t know they were there! The photos are just beautiful and so real, in a sense he captured every single emotion of the day.
What did you DIY?
Venue decor – We dressed the venue ourselves, the tipis speak volumes theirselves so we didn’t want to overdo the décor. We themed a few things around Harry Potter and did the flowers and vases for the tables. We also put together a ten crate stand for all our lovely bits and pieces. We chose most of our table décor from Country Baskets – it’s a really good wedding shop for DIY brides!
Favours – We provided a lot of shots for the guests as the wedding favours! We made them up ourselves, the bottles were purchased on ebay and we bought lots of random drinks making it slightly like shot roulette!
Signage – As a wedding gift, one of my bridesmaids and her partner made us all our outdoor signage, a huge #crowfest sign ( our insta tag!) and our beautiful table plan which tied in with our table names beautifully – all dance classics about love!
Tell me about your catering. Was it done in-house or did you bring outside caterers in?
Annika’s Apron, as above. She is the most passionate woman I have ever met, she LOVES her job, which made choosing the food really easy! Her team were amazing, they catered for the whole day and night food which was absolutely delicious. We had three canapés on arrival, a combination of proper Yorkshire food, and real exotic food! There was no in-between.
Our main was a mixed BBQ board of chicken, steak, potatoes and salad. Then our pudding was the wedding cake, which we cut before we sat down to eat, served with Chantilly cream. Our evening food was street burgers served from a crate on the dancefloor, all delish!
Your cake looked delicious! Tell us more…
Our fabulous caterers also made our cake, it was beautiful. It was Victoria sponge, lightly iced, almost naked, with lovely flowers winding round it, again with not a lot to go on Annika got it spot on, it was gorgeous too!
How did you pick your stunning flowers?
My bouquet and Lukes buttonhole were real and from Lisa’s Florists in Selby. She did my mums funeral flowers so knew exactly what I wanted, she was amazing. The bridesmaids and flower girls, and all of the groomsmen/girl had artificial bouquets, posies and buttonholes from SisterSister bouquets, Facebook. Really pleased with these girls, not seeing an actual real life bouquet, only pics, up until my best friend’s wedding who also used them, and they were fab!
What was your budget?
Our wedding cost around £27/28K. We had a budget and was about right, and we did a lot of things ourselves to keep it under £30K!
Any tips for saving money?
We learnt very quickly, aside from decorating yourself and spending countless hours researching the best items for the best price, that saving money is quite impossible! Unless you know 100 people who all have a specific skill set. We saved money with all our wonderful signage and table plan that our best friends created for us.
Would you do anything differently?
Not a thing – no regrets, nothing missed. It really was the best day (along with having our son) of our lives! The only time I ever had a bridezilla moment was setting up the day before, mostly due to wind ruining my tables. Nothing we could do to change the weather though!
REAL moments
- The venue, festival themed, laid back, party environment!
- The games! Beer pong and the beer funnel nearly killed us all off, never have we heard so many evening guests tell us they had to play catch up so much on arrival! We literally drank the bar dry and they had to leave 45 mins before finish!
- The dancefloor, the atmosphere, the amazing DJ’s and sax player.
- The guests, to us our day would not have been our day, if it wasn’t for the outstanding friends and family we have in our lives! They made it
DID YOU ENJOY THIS OUTDOOR FESTIVAL WEDDING WITH A WILD PARTY?
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Photographer: M and G Wedding Photography|Venue: Mackinder Farms| Bride’s dress: Chloe Jane Bridalwear| Shoes: Kurt Geiger| Hair accessories: Etsy|Earrings: New Look|Bridesmaids: Joy’s Bella Bridesmaids | Flower girls: Matalan| Florist: Lisa’s Florist | Hair: Elizabeth Horner | Make up: Michaela Love | Suits: Stag & Boy | Catering & Cake: Annika’s Apron| Entertainment: Jonny Ross Music
