Vegan Festival-Vibes The Den At Four Acre Tipi Wedding

A very warm welcome to Ellie and Jamie who are kindly sharing with us their The Den At Four Acre wedding in Cumbria.

Their day was filled to the very brim with personality, think festival vibes, a vegan menu and lots of fun colours! It was very much a DIY affair, with simple decor, a tipi reception and live music all round.

I adore their stylish outfits, the sustainable florals which looked incredible and the clifftop portraits – so beautiful.

Thanks ever so much to Lauren May Photos for sharing with us these tremendously wonderful shots of a really special day indeed.

The Den At Four Acre Wedding

The Proposal

Many, many years before! In 2018 on my 23rd birthday, Jamie asked me to come into the living room. He was down on one knee holding a ring, but didn’t say anything! I asked what he was doing, and he asked me to marry him, to which I immediately said yes.

It turns out, he had also snuck my parents over from London, as he needed them to bring over my great-grandmother’s ring in order to propose!

We’d always spoken about how when Jamie proposed we were promising we would get married but wanted to be settled and ready before doing so. On his birthday in 2022, I bought a puzzle pyramid that he had to solve and hid a ring measurer inside, as a way of proposing to him.

It felt like a nice way to come full circle from getting engaged quite young, to finally being settled down enough to make it happen.

The Vision

As we’d both worked in events, we didn’t want our day to be like things we’d organised before. We knew that we wanted to do a lot of the work ourselves, and finding the perfect venue solidified the vision we had for the day.

We knew we wanted an outdoor venue with lots of music, colour and good food – all round festival vibes! We wanted the whole day to be relaxed for our guests, but meticulously planned the order of the day behind the scenes so that it ran as smoothly as possible.

Budget

Initially £20,000, although we didn’t want to spend it all.

With generous gifts, ended up approx £28,000, which we ultimately did spend most of. Although big things were budgeted for, all the little details end up building up and costing more than you think.

The increased cost probably came from doing a lot ourselves e.g. hiring each service separately.

The Ceremony & Music

Had freedom as got legally married a few days before.
Our celebrant, Jayne, helped guide us and figure out what we wanted.
Didn’t want focus on us – friends did readings, godmother read a prayer.
Hand-fasting ceremony while Jamie’s mum and sisters sang the Irish Blessing.
Our uncles played Ben Howard’s Old Pine on guitar and violin during the procession.
Walked down the aisle at the end to Johnny Flynn’s Detectorists.

The Venue

Dry hire, tipi venue.
First full wedding they had!
Could personalise it as much or as little as we wanted.
They built the outside ceremony area the week before!
We hired a few bell tents for us and a few guests to stay on the night, just adding to the festival feel.

The Styling & Decor

Didn’t want a cake, but did brownie bites from Bad Brownie for everyone in the evening.
Kept a lot of the decorations already there luckily – didn’t want anything too extravagant.
Flowers were sustainably sourced, just had to give general ideas, and they created the perfect bouquets.
Jamie’s grandma created a flower arrangement for the top table, which was really special.
Generally wanted lots of colour, but particular accents of plum and gold.
Jamie’s cousin drew our table plan for us, Jamie made the stands for the table numbers out of wood.
Orders of service designed ourselves and got printed – turned them into fans as we knew it would be a hot day!
Venue provided outdoor games – horsebox bar and caterers set up little tents, which gave it a real festival feel.

Your Outfits

Jamie – already had the suit (ASOS), got it tailored and adapted.
Loved the plum colour, fit in with our overall colour palette, but couldn’t find it anywhere else.
Custom ordered shirt with gold buttons from Charles Tyrwhitt.
Shoes and belt from Will’s Vegan store.
Tie, pocket square and socks from Victory and Innsbruck – champagne to match bridesmaids.
Groomsmen were dressed in inverse colours to Jamie.

Ellie – Kayla dress by Rebecca Ingram.
Knew the style I wanted – a lot of the designs I tried were very restrictive and heavy, ultimately went with the lightest style as I knew the day would be hot.
Coordinate hair vine from the Bobby Pin with hoop earrings from PS With Love.
Shoes made by Beccis Bridal Designs on Etsy, as I have wide feet and comfort was super important to me!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Photographer – Lauren May, absolutely pivotal to the success of the day, something we knew we wanted to invest in.

We can’t recommend Lauren enough. She is a kind, compassionate person who subtly captured every moment of our wedding in beautiful colour. Every stage of the planning process was made easy and we are so grateful Lauren took the time to get to know us so she could capture the wedding exactly as we wanted.

Neither of us naturally enjoy being in front of a camera and she used her fantastic people skills to totally put us at ease, meaning we have beautiful, natural-looking photos to enjoy forever. Her ability to join in with the wedding guests means she gets fantastic candid photos and we loved seeing the moments among guests that we didn’t get to see on the day – she really captured the feeling of our wedding!

Her online portal makes managing the planning and sharing information easy, and sharing your album is as simple as sharing a link, not to mention you can hide photos you might want to keep just for yourself. Thank you so much Lauren, for taking the time to make our day so special, and the time we had away from the venue was perfect.

Our friend Owen was the videographer, as a wedding gift – still waiting on the video as he’s moved to New York for film school!

The Honeymoon

Still to come and still undecided!

Memorable Moments

The feeling just after we were married before walking down the aisle, as the music started to play and people readied their confetti, just looking at each other felt like we were in a perfect film moment, indescribable.
Most memorable moment was the day after – driving home, we both just sobbed from pure joy and relief that the day had been beyond what we dreamed.
Jamie’s parents’ band played the evening – family joined in on stage – all-round fun vibes!
Food was incredible and all vegan – even some of the sceptical uncles were praising the chefs!

Advice For Other Couples

If you’re going to plan your own wedding, budget for the small stuff as much as you can, and leave a budget buffer for these.
Don’t worry about stuff that ultimately won’t matter. I spent hours sweating over different fonts and teeny tiny details that no one would ever notice.
If you want guests to interact with something e.g. a guest book, put it front and centre, don’t assume they’ll find it!
If you’re introverted like we are, get family members involved in every stage of the day to take the focus off yourselves.
Take time away from guests – it’s a long day and scheduling quite a long period to take couple photos and recharge helped us get through the full day.