Chilled Country Summer BBQ Church & Tipi Wedding

Jodie and Ollie’s church and tipi wedding was an absolute dream! Not only were they blessed with an early September heatwave, but their day was also super chilled and happy. It’s a real treat to read all about their story.

The vibe they hoped to create was a summer BBQ party and it looked like they achieved it to a T. As temperatures soared outfits changed and the party certainly started. Jodie and Ollie looked gorgeous, there were beautiful portraits at golden hour, DIY decor and I love the homegrown flowers. What a stunning day indeed.

Thanks ever so much to Charlotte Wotton Photography for very kindly sharing with us these sensational images. Wow.

Church & Tipi Wedding

The Proposal

Ollie had planned to propose on a holiday in Norfolk which was coming up in August, visions of sunset beach walks with the dogs, just us alone on the stiffkey marshes which is our happy place.

However, once the ring arrived he got too impatient and too excited and decided to propose that night. He popped in to see my parents on the way home from work to ask for their permission, which was a resounding yes from both!

I was none the wiser, having had a pretty trying day at work and nearly stopped off at my parent’s house on the way home too for a glass of wine and a vent – but decided I was too tired and I needed to go for a run to run off some stress.

When I arrived home Ollie insisted on coming for an evening dog walk, for me; this was strange because he was never a huge enthusiast for a Friday evening dog walk in the cold, however, he was persistent and I agreed.

He then proceeded to take around half an hour to “get ready” for said dog walk, which did nothing but increase my frustration levels! There I was in a dirty old hoodie and leggings, while he appeared with a freshly trimmed beard, smelling nice! How I was not suspicious I have no idea. After another 15 minutes of faffing on his part, finding the “right coat”, rummaging around in his van we finally headed off for our dog walk.

The whole walk from our house in town to the fields consisted of me rambling on about my day and Ollie barely answering – because he was so nervous. But a few “oohs” and “oh nos” kept me from suspicion.

When we eventually got to a clearing in the woods he suddenly got down on one knee, I have never been so surprised in my whole life! We’d been talking about this day for months but never did I think this would happen on a random Friday in April! I was so happy and excited I forgot to actually answer and after about 5 minutes of jumping, crying and screaming, Ollie asked again – “So is it a yes?”. We were delighted and the stress of the week melted away, while got ourselves swept up into our engagement bubble!

A quiet dog walk was the perfect proposal for us and we still walk past that spot regularly and reminisce about that Friday evening.

The Vision

I (Jodie) always had visions of a big white wedding, church, marquee, sit-down meal the whole shebang, whereas Ollie was happy with a low-key intimate affair.

We are both outdoorsy people and the one thing we both agreed on was that we wanted it to feel like a huge summer BBQ party with all our nearest and dearest.

Budget

Our rough budget was around £15-20k, we wanted to keep it closer to the bottom end.

The Venue

The church was Jodie’s family church where her parents and grandparents got married, where she was christened along with many cousins, aunties and uncles.

The field where we put the marquee was Ollie’s family friends field, who very kindly allowed us use of it for the whole weekend.

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was a traditional Christian wedding with wonderful hymns that both sides of the family were familiar with. The church was filled with amazing singing.

The rest of the day the music was done by Richie Phillips who played at Jodies’ 30th Birthday and proved he could bring the party! He started with a classic acoustic session for the drinks reception, and then really brought the party with a mixture of DJ and live loop pedal music for the evening.

Your Outfits

Ollie – suit from Moss Bros – wanted a tweed country vibe for all the groomsmen.

Jodie – dress from Wedding Belles Kibworth.

As a girl who doesn’t wear many dresses, I had no vision or expectation when it came to trying on dresses. I was happy to be led by the shop. I tried on so many different styles. I wasn’t going to try the dress on that I ended up choosing because I thought it was too “princessy” but my mum and MOH convinced me to just try it to tick it off the list. Turns out it was absolutely everything I could have wished for, and fell in love. I bought it from the first shop we went to and cancelled all my other bridal appointments.

My veil was from the same shop, I wanted something simple as to not take away from the amazing detail on the bodice, but something simple to feel “bridey”.

My shoes were from Rainbow Club, and were the most comfortable heels I’ve ever worn.

My pearls were my 21st Birthday gift from my parents and I wore the scent “Pears and Freesia” from Jo Malone. It was important for me to have a new scent for the wedding day, as I feel smells are so important in memory of the day.

The Styling & Decor

The theme was “Natural”.

Ollie’s Nanny (grandmother) Joan orchestrated all the flowers for the whole day. Her, Jodie’s mum and Jodie (loosely) grew all the flowers that were in all of the displays. And Ollie’s Pop (grandfather) made all of the crates for the flowers to go in, out of old pallets.

All the signs were made from old pallets that Jodie’s Dad fixed up and Jodie’s Mum used her Cricut machine for the writing.

Almost everything was home and handmade by someone in the family.

All the table flowers were arranged by various wedding guests who turned up on the Friday to help out too!

The cake was an incredibly generous gift from Jodie’s university friend Sarah from @sarahjaneclews – it was all her vision and tasted absolutely divine. Elderflower and lemon cake!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Charlotte Wotton Photography was who we chose for our photographer! One autumnal weekend when we were relaxing in front of the fire in Norfolk on holiday, I (Jodie) came across her profile on a wedding photographer site. I had been trawling for hours, but when I came across her profile we knew she was the one. Her love of autumn, Harry Potter, Friends and highland cows cinched it! We sent an enquiry and the rest was history.

We had an amazing engagement shoot with her in February 2023, where we surprised her with our new addition to the family – our 4-month-old daughter Matilda. She took such incredible photos of all 3 of us we knew the wedding day was going to be epic – and it was!

She was nothing short of incredible, helping and advising above and beyond her job role – sorting the boys out with buttonholes, keeping us calm and being totally and completely inconspicuous in all the right places. She was so much fun to shoot with and made us both feel so so comfortable in the couple shots.

Craig Veasy from Amazing Dayz videography is in the process of editing our wedding film, but he was also nothing short of wonderful for the whole day. Patient and fun throughout the whole day and put up well with Ollie and me misbehaving while trying to get shots. He was also so much fun to shoot with and completely inconspicuous throughout the whole day.

The Honeymoon

We took a mini-moon to Norfolk for a week straight after with our daughter who was 11 months old at the time and our Labrador. A very relaxing week of walks on the beach, coffee and lunch dates. We will plan a honeymoon for the future when our daughter is older.

Memorable Moments

Saying I Do!!!! The cheer from the congregation, the elation we both felt – it was amazing!
The horrific land rover defender drive from the church to the venue – 40 minutes of the most uncomfortable, bumpy and hot drive! It looks cool, but it wasn’t made for comfort. Not to mention it was 33 degrees that day and we had no AC! Style over comfort for sure!!!!
Sitting back on our top table and just taking in all the wonderful people who were celebrating with us. Appreciating all the hard work we’d all put in and enjoying having everyone under one roof.
The 33-degree heat!!! Everyone was in shorts and shirts by 5 pm and it made the day feel super casual and relaxed and we really enjoyed that vibe.
Drinking the bar dry was a great achievement.
Epic golden hour time we spent getting photos across the field from the tipi – it was amazing to see the party happening from a distance and to spend some quiet time together.

Advice For Other Couples

Take it as it comes! We organised an early September outdoor party and we could never have imagined the heatwave that hit us – but we rolled with it, and just enjoyed the day. We didn’t stick to timings or schedules, we let it all go out the window and it still worked out amazing. You can only plan so much.