Home Made Mismatched Tipi Farm Wedding

WWW readers Amy and Kieran tied the knot on the 1^st August 2015 at Three Peaks Barn in Yorkshire. Their day was a real labour of love, with the lambing barn totally transformed by their DIY efforts. There were hand arranged blooms, home made cakes, lanterns and home brewed beer to name a few. Let’s not forget the stunning tipi too which looked just magic. I love that some of the sunflowers were grown by my Amy’s mum’s reception class, so sweet.

Amy chose a Benjamin Roberts gown, while the maids wore mismatched white frocks and Kieran chose a Ted Baker blue jacket and Liberty print bow tie. Amaze.

Alex Abbott Photography, thank you so much for providing the wonderful imagery this morning.

THE PROPOSAL | In Paris – sounds cheesy but I used to live there (and there were tinnies of beer instead of Champagne, which makes it much more interesting!) I got a lovely antique aquamarine!

THE VISION | The best word to sum up our vision is ‘personal’ – we wanted a completely unique celebration which would utilise the many skills of all of our friends and family. We wanted it to be relaxed, really fun to take advantage of the beautiful viaduct setting.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Achieving a ‘relaxed’ DIY vibe was very far from relaxing! Because everything was from scratch we had to plan all the details with so much care and attention. We relied a lot on our family and friends to help us with ideas, decoration, food, music, booze, logistics… Simply not possible without them. We planned for about a year and were lucky to be able to be on site at the farm for a few days beforehand to set up. It was so much fun but exhausting.

BUDGET | £20,000

THE VENUE | Three Peaks Barn at Ribblehead Viaduct.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was a Benjamin Roberts design with a few alterations. I had intended something much more demure and simple but the dramatic venue called for a big dress and it was SO much fun to wear! I had a beautiful gold and white enamel head piece from Milk and Honey and aqua coloured shoes from André. They lasted about 10 minutes in the mud so dancing was mostly in wellies.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Kieran wore a cool blue suit jacket and waistcoat from Ted Baker with mismatch trousers. He invested in some blue suede Church’s brogues. We ordered Liberty print bow ties for all the groomsmen in different blue patterns. He was also in wellies by 6pm!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | This was so important to us! My brother conducted the ceremony for us as we had officially married the previous evening with just a few guests. We worked with him to make sure everyone was in tears the whole way through! One of my bridesmaids read an excerpt from ‘If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable things’ by Jon Mcgregor to reflect our northern routes. We had some of our friends collect quotes from our family and friends about what love meant to them and they read this out then presented us with a book. We also asked Kieran’s Godfather deliver a speech on happiness which was just beautiful. I walked in to The Bird which Winds the String by Lau, the wedding congregation sang Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson and we all danced back out to My Girl, armed with glasses of fizz!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I wanted my bridesmaids to choose their own dresses but to have a bit of a hippy look! We went for white which made the bright wild flowers pop. They also had lavender garlands in their hair. Their dresses completely reflected their personalities and were quite different to each other. I am lucky they are all so gorgeous!

THE FLOWERS | Yellow roses, lilac stocks, dried lavender and gyp: all from a wholesalers and arranged by one hard-working bridesmaid the day before! We also had loads of sunflowers – some were bought and some were home-grown by my mum’s reception class of 4 and 5 year olds!

THE CAKE | Again, home-made by my lovely friend Kirsty. Cake was one of the traditions we weren’t too bothered about but she was insistent and we’re glad she did it! 4 tiers of deliciousness! It sat in the middle of a fete-style dessert table surrounded by lots of other cakes and puddings made by our guests.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Alex Abbott – look him up. He is ridiculously good. I will also say it was like having another guest at the wedding. Easy!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | This was my domain and thoughts of it kept me busy on my commute to work on the tube for months! We decorated a completely empty (and not fit for purpose!) lambing barn with giant sheets of white material; we also hung big white lanterns from different heights to make the space feel romantic. The boys built an arch from silver birch which we decorated with fairylights and ivy. A lot of candles and flowers later and the barn was done! In the tipi where we had our evening reception, we continued the rustic theme with watering cans of flowers and hanging lavender. We wanted to reflect the presence of the viaduct so we named all the tables after train journeys we’d been on together. My dad created the seating plan for us using the panels of an old door. Other details included dozens of paper hearts on sticks which lined the pathways around the farm, tiki lamps and home-brewed beer bottles with pictures of us on!

THE HONEYMOON | Sri Lanka! We intended to be adventurous but it was much more fun lounging around, drinking beer and eating delicious food. It’s a breathtaking country and we’d highly recommend it for honeymoon.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | We’ve both said how much the ceremony stood out to us. Having my brother conduct it was so special. We’d placed bottles of Champagne down the aisle which people could pop when he announced we were married! I also loved the dinner and speeches: we’d made pass the parcels which formed part of my speech and the final layer contained the order number for people to go up to get their food! Lots of fun. I loved watching the sun go down behind the viaduct whilst sat around the bonfire. Finally, seeing my bridesmaids dance around under a giant disco ball in their onesies in the early hours of the morning was wonderful!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It has to be a team effort. Decide which personal touches you want to include, plan them properly and in lots of time – they are the things which makes the day really special.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Dress | The Wedding Mill in Saltaire

Venue | Three Peaks Barn

Friday night legal ceremony | The Angel in Hetton

Photographer | Alex Abbott Photography

Food | Tasty Hog

Band | Dreamer – amazing funk and soul!

Flowers | Dutch Flower Auction Direct

Ahhh so much FUN.

Thanks so much to Amy and Kieran for sharing their fantastic wedding with us here at WWW xo Lou