16 Oct A Bluebell Woodland Wedding in The Cotswolds
Posted at 15:06h
in Tipi Weddings
Max and Clemmie married in the heart of the Cotswolds in late summer of 2018 at beautiful outdoor, woodland venue Wildwood Bluebell. Set within 200 acres of farmland, ancient woodland, meadows and streams, this unique wildflower meadow haven is the picture of serene, bohemian beauty. Surrounded by nothing but nature, wild flowers, countryside and of course bluebells, this venue is so enchanting and such a special place uniting couples in love.
At Cotswold Tipis we were privileged enough to be able to help them realise their dream tipi wedding in this wonderful setting. We loved working with them and their families and friends and are very happy that they have shared some thoughts and photos with us….. take a look…
Where did you first see a Giant Tipi?
I first started seeing them on Instagram and knew it was exactly what I wanted at my wedding!
Obviously we love our tipis, but what made you feel like tipis were the right choice for your wedding?
I am not a traditional girl and so a white marquee with white table cloths just wouldn’t do. Max and I wanted to do something cool and different and so we chose to get married in the middle of the woods and have a big rowdy fun and very loud party afterwards- the tipi seemed the only option and we loved the fact we could have a fire pit inside the tipi.
You chose four tipis for your special day – what was behind your decision?
As we chose to risk it and planned absolutely no cover for our outdoor woodland wedding we suddenly panicked as the weather wasn’t great in the lead up to the day and my brother kindly offered to get us a 4th tipi (Thanks Fred!!) so we could have our ceremony inside if we really needed to.
Luckily the sun shone and we were able to get married in the woods but the extra tipi with the inside fire was so worth it and was used as a bar/chill out area around the fire. It gave us so much extra space on the day and we were really glad we went for the fourth tipi.
How did you find out about Wildwood Bluebell?
We knew we wanted our wedding to be relaxed, pretty and in the middle of no where surrounded by nature. I think I heard about it through a friend, we went to see it the week after we got engaged and booked it there and then.. we couldn’t be bothered to keep looking around when we wanted a home made wedding.
Its a great spot because we slept in the middle of the woods for a weekend in a small hut, and all our bridesmaids and ushers glamped with us. We partied from Friday evening until Monday lunch time surrounded by friends and family, what more would you want??
How did you find out about Cotswold Tipis?
Instagram, my source of knowledge! I find everything on Instagram.. its so useful.
Would you recommend Cotswold Tipis and why?
Absolutely! It was easy and stress free and everything was sorted for me so I didn’t worry abut anything in the lead up to the wedding. I was quite specific about how I wanted the tables to be and Geoff sent me some great options so there was very little for me to worry about. I changed a few things and added things on last minute which was also totally stress free.
What was your favourite moment?
We has a procession though the woods after the ceremony with a fantastic roaming band and everyone was singing and there was pink smoke, that was pretty cool. I think my favourite moment was our first dance, we danced to fat boy slim and within seconds the dance floor was full of all our favourite people going completely crazy. My dad didn’t stop dancing once from our first dance until the music was off… dancing is always the best part!!
What advice would you give to a couple planning their tipi wedding?
Don’t panic if you are worried about lacking decoration/flowers. The tipis look so cool when they are totally bare and when they have all your guests in is when they come to life.
Which other suppliers did you use? Photographer, caterer, flowers, dress, groom’s suit, decorator etc.
Flowers on the tables: My mum perfectly grew them all in her garden! I think they cost about £70 in total which we feel quite smug about… The flowers in the woods I bought on the cheap and ushers and bridesmaids did them the day before the wedding. I didn’t want to spend a million pounds on the flowers when you can get creative with them. I made my bouquet with one of my bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding, we just picked some flowers from the garden and tied them together with a piece of my mums wedding dress which she had shredded to hang in the woods.
Dress: (I love dressing up and ended up with two.. oops)! The first one was from a small shop in Stow On The Wold and the second was from Temperley London. ( I had red wine spilt down me as I sat down for dinner…. which was typical if you know me).
Suit: We went on holiday to Vietnam last year and got it made in a tailors, it cost £100 and fits Max perfectly!
Decoration: I did all of this myself with my mum, I had a vision of what I wanted and so I started collecting various things as soon as I got engaged… including a pink bath to fill with booze, Moroccan rugs, lanterns, colourful table clothes and quirky miss matched candle sticks and bottle vases.
Band: Wanderland Band – these guys were awesome and played during drinks and around the tables at dinner.
Photographer: Bullit Photography
Videographer: Rolling Film
