Earthy Woodland Boho Yurt Village Wedding With Pampas Grass

Settle in for the most beautiful yurt village wedding at Plush Tents in West Sussex. WWW followers Hazel and Christopher are here to share their gorgeous earthy woodland boho celebrations!

Their wedding lasted the entire weekend, with overnight glamping and even a fire pit folk tale session. Doesn’t it just sound amazing? There were the most stylish of outfits, stunning pampas grass decor throughout and some epic portraits in the woodland.

Mollie McAusland Photography, I can’t thank you enough for sharing with us these tremendous images of such an awesome day.

Hazel and Christopher on WWW

We really enjoyed the authenticity of WWW Instagram page. You can’t beat sneaking a peak of real weddings, with real couples, for advice and unique inspo.

Yurt Village Wedding

The Proposal

In a rare lockdown-free month back in 2020, things were feeling back to normal. Relatively speaking. We loaded up our van and headed to our local beach for a sunset paddleboard. Nothing unusual about that.

Our oven was broken so my partner suggested we took the camping stove and had dinner on the beach. Still nothing unusual… and I was completely suspicion-free. The sun was setting, picnic blanket out, chilli nachos at the ready. I had just taken a big bite of cheesy goodness, when Chris said he had something to ask me. He then pulled the ring out of his pocket and dropped to his knee!

The Vision

We always knew we wanted our wedding celebrations to spread across more than one day. After all, how many times in your life are all your loved ones in the same place, at the same time?

We also wanted a celebration which reflected our outdoorsy lifestyle. So we set out to find a woodland venue which we could book for the full weekend. Earthy boho vibes was definitely the key theme from the very beginning!

Budget

£16K

The Venue

Plush Tents is an off-grid yurt village nestled in a woodland close to Chichester, UK. Hiring the sustainable yurt village for the weekend meant we could set up everything exactly how we wanted it on the Friday, have the main wedding celebrations on the Saturday, AND still enjoy the gorgeous venue on the Sunday with our overnight guests.

The venue sleeps 60+ people in gorgeous Mongolian yurts and retro Airstreams. The wedding hire also included a large home yurt marquee, woodfired hot tub, massive fire pit, and treehouse kitchen. The staff were beyond amazing too. They were always so friendly, proactively helpful and on-hand to support with everything.

Your Outfits

I tried a lot of dresses on and had such a great time, however, I didn’t feel like myself in a lot of them. I felt like I was playing dress up as a bride as opposed to being the bride. That was until I discovered the bridal separates collection by Catherine Deane at Hannah Elizabeth Bridal in Botley. I tried on the Italia lacy top and Anika skirt and instantly knew this was the one… or more accurately the two!

We wanted to keep the wedding as sustainable as possible. Trying to only buy things which we would reuse or wear again. What’s great about the separates is that I can wear the pieces independently of each other again after the wedding. It was actually my grandma who suggested I could wear the top with a pair of nice jeans and some heels for an anniversary meal.

Chris and the groomsman all opted to wear ‘broken’ suits, so navy chinos paired up with a grey herringbone waistcoat and suit jacket.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was magic. Set outside under the clouds and in the woods. A family friend acted as our celebrant and based the ceremony around the old Pagan custom of handfasting which dates back to the Ancient Celts.

We had done the legal part of ceremony a few days before at the registry office, which meant we had absolutely no constraints around what do or say during our main wedding day ceremony at Plush Tents.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our photographer, Mollie McAusland, was an absolute legend. No question about it. Not only on the day, but during the lead up too. Neither Chris or I like having our photos taken, but Mollie made us feel so comfortable and kept everything flowing naturally.

She was also packed with incredible ideas for combining the more traditional aspects of wedding photography with something a bit more unique. Cue running through the woods with smoke bombs!

The Styling & Decor

The benefit of a woodland wedding? You don’t need to spend a fortune on decorating as nature had already done it for us!

However, massive shout out to my mum (and her helpers!) on the beautiful flowers and decorations we did adorn the venue with. They were all hand-foraged/upcycled, handmade and looked incredible! We centred most of the decorations around using pampas grass which we picked and dried the previous year.

The Honeymoon

Those who have organised a wedding, especially a DIY one, will know you 100% need some time to chill straight after.

We opted for a minimoon in Cornwall (with Quinn our puppy), and have our official honeymoon booked for December 2023 in Costa Rica. We took the slightly unconventional route of having a gap between the wedding and honeymoon so that we had something big to plan and look forward to again the year after.

Memorable Moments

This may be a cliché answer, but the best and most memorable part of the day was seeing and celebrating with our loved ones. We really felt the love and it was a strong reminder of what wonderful family and friends we have.

Outside of that… the Ceilidh band. If you know, you know. If you don’t, then you absolutely must experience it! Our chosen band, The Shipsters, consisting of fiddle, accordion, guitar and a caller, had everyone laughing and dancing around the woods. My favourite photos from the day are the spectacular pictures Mollie captured during the dancing. The delight on everyone’s faces in these photos are priceless.

We also enjoyed some truly unique experiences on the Sunday which were super chilled (and ideal for any sore heads from the night before). Our friend played an awesome folk music set for us and we had a storyteller join us to tell us folk tales around the fire.

Advice For Other Couples

Enjoy every moment and go-with-the-flow. If things don’t quite go to plan, don’t worry. As Mollie, our photographer reminded us… no one apart from you know the details of your plan and won’t be any the wiser if anything deviates.

Don’t be afraid to delegate! Weddings are such a huge event to organise. However, so many of your friends and family will want to help and support your big day.

Top tip for outdoor-loving brides… if you’re getting married in a woodland, avoid anything with a big train unless you don’t mind dragging a few kilos of leaves and twigs around with you 😉

Finally, make sure you factor in alone time with your partner, even if it’s just 15mins. You will never experience a day go as quickly as your wedding day and those moments together are precious.