Moroccan Feasting Inspired Bohemian Yurt Wedding

Bohemian dreaming today courtesy of Lucy and Samuel who tied the knot in May last year at Islington Town Hall, followed by a reception at Willow Farm in Essex. They planned on an alternative feel for their celebrations, which were inspired by a Moroccan Feasting flavour. The majestic and magical yurts gave the perfect setting and they entertained guests with fire performer and belly dancer acts.

The adorable children roamed free, their nearest and dearest all came together to help craft the wedding and there was some super beautiful attire. Lucy’s Anna Campbell dress looked divine teamed with her flower crown and I love Samuel’s colour pop bow tie.

Thanks to Contemporary Wedding Photography for sharing these dreamy images with us.

THE PROPOSAL | There wasn’t one!

THE VISION |We were together for 10 years before we got married and Sam was always keen to tie the knot, but I honestly couldn’t see what difference it would make to our relationship. We already had three small children together and I always thought I’d prefer putting the money towards something else. I think deep down it was the idea of a grand-scale, staged, formal and expensive kind of wedding that absolutely freaked me out. That, and the common phrase ‘Everything goes downhill from there’!

It wasn’t until I had spoken to my best friend one night at her place, & she showed me alternative wedding ideas, that I became really excited. I began my research & to say it’s addictive is an understatement! It’s like there’s a whole other secret world out there, that you don’t know about unless you’re wedding planning and I’d never been into it before, so I was totally oblivious to all of the different aspects that needed consideration. The idea of actually getting married was a mixture of excitement and fear. If it were not for my best friend and my mum’s constant reassurance, I think Sam & I would still be unmarried now, and what a mistake that would have been because the wedding was actually a realisation of our dreams. Once I knew it was going to be a totally relaxed, intimate and informal wedding, I was able to get my head around it and stop panicking every five minutes. After leaving my best friend’s house, I went home, discussed it with Sam, and we decided on a Moroccan themed wedding because we thought that the Moroccan ‘feasting’ would tie in nicely with the relaxed feeling we wanted to create.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We arranged a meeting with my mum, sisters (I have FIVE) and our closest friends to let them know that we were planning a Moroccan themed wedding and to see what ideas everybody could bring. We were absolutely blown away by their support. Everybody wanted to contribute HUGELY, which was a godsend because we only had a few months to prepare! My best friend wrote a list of all of the main things we needed in order of priority which helped a lot. My mum got everyone (including us) organised, and kept chasing everybody up to see that they were making progress, which left me free to peruse the web for all of the desired suppliers.

THE VENUE | We got married at Islington Town Hall and then went to Willow Farm in Essex for our reception (a 30 min drive from the town hall). It was basically an open field with fire pits. We had a 32ft yurt with Moroccan low tables, cushions & rugs erected there and a 14ft yurt attached to it. We also had a gazebo outside for the ‘kitchen/bar’.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I wore an ‘Elizabeth’ wedding dress by Anna Campbell because I liked its simplicity. Accessories from Monsoon.

FINDING THE DRESS | My best friend made an appointment for me to try on dresses at Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon. I had a favourite but I didn’t buy it because I wasn’t sure what my size would be, closer to the time of the wedding (I had hoped to lose weight). Then, closer to the time, I was browsing online and found that my favourite dress had gone down by more than half the price because they only had the sample one left and that was perfect for me! I purchased it over the phone, there and then! The only down side was that they no longer had the train 🙁

GROOM’S ATTIRE | ASOS

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We chose not to have any readings because we didn’t want the ceremony part to take too long.

My sisters have amazing voices and sang entry songs by Lana Del Rey and Emeli Sande at the Town Hall, that made everybody cry!

At the reception/yurt we had a SERIOUSLY amazing musician my mum knew, who played live Middle Eastern music which just created such a lovely, authentic atmosphere. I can’t praise him enough-he was obviously highly skilled and talented. And my best friend’s partner, who is also a DJ, carried us through the rest of the night and early hours

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Our children, my sister’s children and both of my best friend’s children were the bridesmaids/masters as we didn’t like the idea of making adults dress in something coordinating that they may not feel comfortable in. It went against the relaxed vibe we wanted to create. And children are way cuter and so much more photogenic anyway!

THE FLOWERS | Bought by my sister from La Belle Vie and just how I had wanted them. My best friend got colourful petals and confetti cones for throwing after the ceremony.

THE CAKE | Was delicious! All of the cakes were made by my sister and her partner who are self taught experts and they also catered for allergies. They had lots of variety of cake, cake pops and beautiful coconut bowls with mixed berries and coconut, that went down a treat!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Adi Kordonski from Contemporary Wedding Photography was the right balance of assertive and gentle and I can’t imagine ANYBODY not liking him – he fit right in! We booked him at the last minute and he was so warm and accommodating and helped everything go so smoothly. The photos were AMAZING, everybody loved them. He definitely managed to capture the moment and the relaxed photography style was exactly what we had wanted. It’s the photos that allow you to re-live the moment again and again and I’m so glad we made the right choice.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We started by sending out Moroccan themed wedding invitations. They were quite expensive, but so beautiful they got everybody really excited. We hired a Moroccan themed yurt from Hooe’s Yurts that was so beautiful inside, we didn’t really have to do much at all! We had a smaller yurt attached to it, that was supposed to be a chill-out area but doubled up nicely as somewhere to put the kids when they wanted to sleep!

We hired some beautiful Moroccan crockery from a company called Oasis Events.

My sister made sugared nuts for everybody to nibble on during the speeches once we arrived at the farm/yurt, that were in gold bags tied with beautiful handmade name places and set on top of the Moroccan dishes. She also bought ALL of the alcohol! Sam sourced silver cutlery, Moroccan trays, teapots and tea glasses from the market. We also had a makeshift bar that my best friend’s younger brother and his friend managed. They were so charming and really helped us to relax and enjoy the wedding because they did all the leg-work! They went over and beyond.

We had a fire pit outside, with hay bales in a circle around it, for seating. We covered them with Moroccan fabric to tie in with the theme. We asked the farm for the contact number of their hay supplier and managed to get a really good deal. The fire created such a lovely atmosphere and we had a fire performer that put on an awesome show. It was really nice to have some kind of entertainment. We were worried that it would make the wedding too structured but it didn’t at all and we don’t regret it in the slightest! We also had a belly dancing performance from a friend of my mum’s.

My mum and sisters added the final touches to the yurts, including table cloths and napkins that were handmade especially.

THE HONEYMOON | We asked our guests not to get us any wedding gifts and instead, if they really wanted to give something, a contribution towards our honeymoon would be lovely. And again, we were blown away by their generosity. Although it was a small and intimate wedding, their generosity managed to cover the cost of our flights, accommodation AND spending money! We gave it all to my sister to plan a surprise honeymoon for us and she did not disappoint. She made us a surprise pack complete with a lonely planet guide and flight tickets and gave it to us to open at the airport on the day of departure, to reveal our destination. It was such a lovely surprise. We made a short video of us opening it and sent it to her afterwards. We were going to the Philippines for our honeymoon! She even made us an itinerary which must have taken a huge amount of planning because she had booked several domestic flights, the hotels and made sure we were going to visit all of the best places! This included The Underground River – which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World! The whole trip was PERFECT. We were away for two weeks but because she had planned everything so well, it really felt like we were there for much longer.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The most memorable moments were; When the Moroccan caterers let us down at the last minute. I was blissfully unaware that they had called Sam TWO HOURS before the wedding ceremony and told him that they weren’t going to be able to make it because the oven wasn’t working! Sam told me after the ceremony when we were in the car on the way to the reception venue. Amazingly though, when we got there, there was a huge buffet-style, spread put out! All of our friends and family had somehow managed to run around, buy and prepare a beautiful feast before we had even arrived and we just FELT the love!!!

The speeches. The maid of honour and Best Man’s speeches were a perfect combination of funny and moving.

My cousin put on an amazing belly dancing performance that out-shined the professional dancer!

Most of us came back to the yurt the following day and my brother-in-law put on an all day BBQ, drinks, fire and left-overs feast! it was lovely to be able to chill out and carry on the celebrations and it felt for a while, that this was how our lives existed in our own little commune. It was sad to leave, the following day and go back to normality. Everybody wanted to stay!

Feeling the love. EVERYONE just pulled together so wonderfully before and during the wedding, it didn’t feel as though anything hadn’t gone to plan. It was so relaxed and exactly how we had wanted it.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Get your groom involved! I stupidly thought I could organise the wedding with others while Sam was at work, but once I got him involved he was was waaaaay more excited and enthusiastic. He also came up with so many great ideas – I just needed to spark his imagination by getting him involved.

Also, you hear it time and time again, but try to relax, eat cake, dance and let go. I know its hard to avoid trying to make sure everything is running smoothly and EVERYONE is okay, but your guests will enjoy themselves regardless and if they love you, they’ll have it all under control – it’s YOUR wedding! Hopefully it’ll only happen once – enjoy the moment because it goes waaaaay too fast.

Another thing is, I know I’m going against the grain here, but I don’t think name places are necessary. Unless it’s a strictly seated, formal wedding.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE | Photographer | Adi Kordonski Contemporary Wedding Photography

Live music |  Tim Garside (Garsaaidi) garsaaidi@hotmail.com

DJ | djteddylewis@hotmail.co.uk (Hip-Hop & RnB)

Moroccan crockery | Oasis Events

Cakes | sutoto@hotmail.com

Dress | Luellas

Flowers | La Belle Vie Florist, Junction Road, London N19 5PZ.

Yurt | Hooey’s Yurts

Reception venue | Willow Farm, Lippitts Hill, Loughton, High Beach, Essex IG10 4AL.

Wedding invitations | NulkiNulks

What a delightful free spirited celebration.

Thanks so very much to Lucy and Samuel for sharing their story today xo Lou