Colourful Hippy Inspired Outdoor Glamping Yurt Wedding

If you are planning an outdoor wedding day complete with outdoor ceremony then I think this beautiful real wedding will leave you feeling inspired and not worrying quite so much about the weather. You see Tara and Jack’s wedding at Plush Tents Glamping in West Sussex was rather a rainy affair, but it certainly did not stop any of the fun. Their wedding was held on the 13th May 2018 in the stunning woodland, with yurts for accommodation and their reception. Keeping things simple and in hippy style, they kept the décor paired back, but added lots of colourful blooms.

In keeping with the relaxed atmosphere, the outfits for their wedding party were mismatched. Jack went for a blue jacket, silk scarf and red trousers for a super cool look, while Tara chose an embellished skirt and top in pale pink by Needle & Thread. Do keep an eye out for her outfit changes later on too – just gorgeous!

We are over the moon to be sharing these divine images by Big Bouquet Photography, big thanks goes to Emma and Ian.

The Proposal

We were spending a long weekend in Wales to celebrate our five-year anniversary. Jack booked a beautiful cottage just outside Hay-on-Wye, one of my favourite places due to the huge number of bookshops for such a small town! We went for a soggy walk along the river (November in Wales = much rain) and Jack got down on one knee and proposed in a field. Sheep were our only spectators.

The Vision

We wanted an informal, relaxed, non-traditional wedding, preferable outside, surrounded by just our closest family and friends.

The Planning Process

We knew we needed to find a compromise between Jack’s vision of a wedding (with loads of people) and mine (just the two of us on a beach somewhere). We were struggling to find such a compromise when we came across our venue, Plush Tents Glamping, and knew it would be perfect for both of us. The location was amazing, surrounded by the beautiful South Downs countryside, and there were loads of individual yurts where people could stay after the wedding. It had an incredible hippy vibe and we knew I would be perfect. After finding the venue, we ignored the rest of the planning until a few months before the wedding, when, with the help of our friends and family we managed to pull together everything else we needed!

The Venue

Plush Tents Glamping, near Chichester, in the South Downs.

Your Outfits & Accessories

I wore a pale pink embroidered top and skirt from Needle & Thread for the ceremony, complemented by my sparkly Converse trainers! After that I had a couple of costume changes, going from a white tutu to a green tutu with duck patterned wellies!

Beauty

I wore my hair in a mid-length wavy style with a crown of flowers. A very kind friend of mine was roped in to do my make-up, sat on a log outside a yurt, hippy-style.

The Readings & Music

During the ceremony we had three readings: Jack’s dad spoke about Jack growing up and two of us as a couple; one of my bridesmaids, Tamsyn, gave a beautiful reading of Union by Robert Fulghum; and Jack’s sister-in-law read an Apache marriage blessing. We hired a fantastic band called Vintage Roots to play acoustic covers in our lovely main yurt later throughout the evening.

Groomsmen

The groomsmen chose their own outfits as we want a non-matching eclectic vibe for the bridal party. A range of country style suits were chosen. Jack wore a blue wool suit jacket and waistcoat from TK Maxx, a Ted Baker shirt, Fat Face trousers, and bright yellow wellies.

The Cake

We opted for cupcakes instead of a large cake. A friend of Jack’s mum’s made lots of very tasty cupcakes with flavours ranging from chocolate (my favourite) to sticky toffee (Jack’s favourite).

Your Photographer

Our photographers were the fantastic husband and wife team, Emma and Ian, of Big Bouquet Photography. They had some really creative ideas to make the most of the quirky venue, took some amazing photographs and made us feel really comfortable. We had such fun with them on our engagement photo shoot and during the wedding, especially dodging the torrential downpours on our wedding day!

Your Filmmaker

Our videographer, Ian, worked at (and even got married) at our venue so he knew the place very well. He was really calm to have around and got some incredible drone footage of the wedding day.

The Details & Décor

The venue was so atmospheric and beautiful on its own that it only needed a few finishing details to complete the décor. We placed hessian table runners, jam jars full of flowers, and a variety of gin bottles containing fairy lights on each table. We also decorated the whole of the venue with bunting and fairy lights, as well as placing shepherds’ hooks containing candles outside each yurt.

The Honeymoon

We spent two awesome weeks in Borneo exploring the rainforests (full of fantastic wildlife) and relaxing on the beach (cocktails and palm trees). It was idyllic and the perfect way to relax after the wedding.

The Flowers

One of my family friends, who has her own wedding floristry business, kindly agreed to do our wedding flowers (even though she lives a long way from us and the wedding venue!) I wasn’t very specific about what I wanted (I think my description was – hippy outside wedding with all the colours) but she is amazingly talented so was able to convert my ramblings into four amazing bouquets for my bridesmaids, a bouquet for myself, and the most beautiful (and giant) flower crown. I continued to wear my flower crown the day after the wedding as I love it so much. We also had many many jars of wild flowers placed throughout the venue, including along the aisle during our wedding ceremony.

Bridesmaids

The bridesmaids also selected their own outfits which were a beautiful range of blues, reds and flowers. The mix of colours was complemented by the brightly coloured wild flower bouquets.

Memorable Moments

Probably the most memorable moment was when everyone was dancing in the main yurt and Jack’s dad brought in a bubble blowing machine filling the dancefloor with bubbles! It was great fun and made for some stunning photos.

Advice For Other Couples

It’s your day so make sure you do what makes you happy! For us, that was a non-traditional hippy wedding surrounded by people, flowers and bubbles.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Tara and Jack, thank you both ever so much for sharing your wonderful wedding story with us xo Lou