Summer Fun & Relaxed Walled Garden Yurt Wedding

Paola and Will are joining us with their stunning walled garden yurt wedding held at Thorpe Gardens in Staffordshire. Yay! Their day was all summer fun and relaxed vibes, with guest enjoyment high on their list of wedding day priorities. Sounds great right? Well, it totally was.

From the lovely colour scheme of blush pink, cream and greenery to the stunning flowers and magical yurt reception, you’ll be sure to love their story. I adore their timeless attire, the contemporary cake, the nods to Italy and the fun dancefloor moment.

Thanks ever so much to Charlotte Mail Photography for sharing with us these truly wonderful images of such a special celebration indeed.

Walled Garden Yurt Wedding

The Proposal

We got engaged at Trevone Bay in Cornwall in 2020. We were due to have a big trip to Australia that year, where Will had originally planned to propose, but COVID changed that!

It turns out, it was the perfect place for us, as we can go back to visit anytime, and it is so nice to be able to go back to celebrate our anniversary.

Will popped the question, down on one knee on a sunny coastal walk, and we sat there for ages afterwards, looking at the view and feeling very excited! He had booked a table at a gin bar and restaurant in Padstow, where we could celebrate later that day.

The Vision

We both said that we wanted our wedding to be full of summer fun, with a big party and good food; all factors we considered and prioritised when choosing our venue.

In terms of styling, we wanted something simple and timeless; hence the outfits and colour schemes were classic and not overly detailed or complicated. The styling was the same, with a little nod to Italy, where our family originates from (with olive branches, and limoncello favours).

The Venue

We always knew that we would have a Church wedding that would be formal, so we wanted something more relaxed for the reception and party. We felt that Thorpe Garden, a yurt in a very pretty walled garden in Tamworth, offered a gorgeous setting but with a relaxed atmosphere, and it was something a little bit different to the more traditional venues we had visited.

We liked that the venue also had a beautiful glass Pavillion which offered more space for guests to relax in, or that we could have had our drinks reception in, should it have been cold/rained. The venue could also host a bigger number of wedding guests (for us, 120 in the day and 180 in the evening), and despite this, the running of the day felt very personal to us.

The staff and food were amazing, and we loved being able to try the different food options at one of the venue’s feast nights.

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Sutton Coldfield. We were lucky in that Paola’s mum is a singer, and so she and her friends from her gospel choir sang at our wedding. They sang O Happy Day as we walked out and it was so nice to see everyone up and dancing as we left the Church.

Liam Price sang acoustic songs at our drinks reception. His band then played at our party, and everyone commented on how good the band was and how full the dance floor stayed all night. Getting the music right was key for us, as we really did want a big party. We went for the 5 piece band, which included a saxophone player.

Once the band finished, Liam then D’J’ed, with the saxophone player.

Your Outfits

Paola’s dress was from Wedding Belles in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. They were super helpful, and gave lots of helpful advice. She wanted something simple and classic, that wouldn’t go out of fashion on the wedding photos. She did go for a more detailed cathedral veil though, which had beautiful lace on the end.

Will’s suit was from Peter Posh in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton and again, we wanted a timeless suit, and went for a neutral colour with the waistcoat and tie. The groomsmen were all in the same. Will purchased his suit which allowed him to have it tailored, whereas the groomsmens’ suits were hired and this was more cost-effective.

We got the bridesmaid’s dresses from Wed2b as it allowed them to each pick whatever style suited them, but they could all be in the same coloured dress. We wanted them to feel comfortable in their dresses, and we liked the styles, as again, they were quite traditional and classic style bridesmaid dresses that were reasonably priced, and nice quality. We went for a blush pink, which we felt was again, quite timeless.

The Styling & Decor

In terms of colours, we went for simplicity – blush pink, creams and lots of greenery.

Our flowers were done by Katie at The Vintage House That Could, who met us at the venue to discuss what we wanted, and she ensured the flowers we had at the Church could be used at the venue. She is also a stylist, but unfortunately, this fell outside of our budget, so we made/purchased lots of the decorations ourselves (signs, favours, name cards, candles etc). We then had Katie style these decorations for us on the day.

The cake was made by Angelina at TuttoApposto; it was absolutely delicious! She did a cake-tasting session with us, and talked through the design in detail. She got in touch with Katie to make sure that the same flowers we had in our bouquets were used to decorate the cake. Everyone commented on how amazing the cake looked and tasted.

Hair for Paola and the bridesmaids was done by Chloe from The Stables in Perton, Wolverhampton, who made everyone feel fabulous.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our videographer was Eternally Adored; David captured all the happiness and fun of our day. We almost didn’t have a video, because lots of people we knew who had got married, didn’t have one, but we are so glad we did as the day is so busy, you don’t always remember or see everything!

Our photographer was Charlotte Mail who was amazing; she met with us before to talk about what photos we wanted, and made us feel really relaxed during the day. We loved her style of photos, which look natural and not over-edited or moody.

The Honeymoon

We went to the Maldives for a week of relaxation in the sun!

Memorable Moments

Paola’s family is from Italy and Will’s from England. Two days before the wedding, we hired a football pitch at our local gym and had a family football match; Italy vs. England with drinks at our house afterwards. This was really fun and made sure most of our guests had met each other before the wedding day.
Gospel choir singing at our wedding ceremony, made extra special because Paola’s mum was singing too.
The wedding speeches were both emotional and fun and captured so beautifully by our videographer.
Our first dance was particularly memorable; we picked ‘Best of My Love’ by The Emotions for our first dance, which got everyone up and dancing! We were also covered in confetti and lifted up by our family and friends.

Advice For Other Couples

We would advise to book the big stuff nice and early – so get your venue, photographer, band, florist, cake etc sorted. That way, you’ve got more chance of securing your first choice!
We would also say to try and stick to your budget – it is really easy to get carried away and overspend. You want your day to be special, but it is only one day and it goes so fast!
Really enjoy the run-up to the wedding – the family meet-ups, the hen and stag do’s! This is what made the day even more exciting.
Take little moments during the wedding day to take stock of what’s happening and to check in with each other – the day really does fly by!