Outdoorsy Colourful Coral Tipi Wedding

This colourful coral celebration is going to leave you with a big fat smile this morning. Why? Let me share all.

Sophie and Liam were married on the 25th June 2016 and chose to hold their wedding at Peak District Farm Weddings in a stunning tipi supplied by Teepee Tent Hire. They wanted to create a wedding which was a little different complete with an outdoorsy feel and plenty of fun. The vibrant coral colour palette certainly packed a punch, think blousy Peonies, miles of rag bunting and pretty ribbons.

The bridesmaids looked simply divine in their custom made white frocks and statement flower crowns. They worked wonderfully together with Sophie and Liam’s attire. Sophie chose to wear an elegant fishtail gown with classic veil and the most gorgeous whimsical bouquet. Liam and the boys looked very handsome in their formal tuxedos, what a super stylish wedding party. Oh and one more thing… the cakes! They looked so scrummy.

Tierney Photography, thank you so much for sharing these stunning photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | 10th October 2015

THE VISION | Something a bit different, low key, relaxed, outdoorsy and plenty of fun.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Having booked the venue almost overnight it suddenly occurred to me afterwards that I’d left myself very little time, only 7 months. I decided that from then on in it was just a case of making the right decisions first time…

The first thing to think about was finding a teepee. I reached out to most of the well known teepee companies to find these were all fully booked and even starting to fill up for 2017. Panic stations set in as I really didn’t want to settle on a marquee, it just wasn’t the look and feel I was going for. After about a month of searching I found Teepee Tent Hire based in Preston on the internet and we got it booked.

The dress was next. I imagined something a bit lacy, long-sleeved without much of a train, maybe even a two piece. I was looking for something that wasn’t a typical wedding dress – to go with the outdoor theme but once I started trying them on, neither felt bridal enough. By this time my Dad had asked if he could walk me down the aisle of a church. Being his only daughter this was something I couldn’t go against. Initially we thought we might have had a civil ceremony at the venue or even took ourselves off the Gretna Green to say our vows in advance. Liam thought he would have preferred to say his vows without everyone watching as he gets quite nervous and doesn’t like too much fuss.

The church was a no brainer it was at our local parish, 500 meters from where we lived. Diane the vicar is well known for being laid back and comical. She instantly put Liam at ease with his vows and every few months we’d meet at the vicarage for a bit of a practise.

BUDGET | Stared at £10K ended at £20K.

THE VENUE | The venue was the first thing we booked. It was the one and only venue we visited on the 24th October 2015. 30 minutes from where we live, on the edge of the peak district, the perfect rural landscape setting nothing too fancy yet breathtakingly beautiful. Although it was thick fog the day we visited, once we realised the farm was on Smith Lane it just felt right. The wedding date was dictated to us by the venue. It was the only date left available in 2016 and Jennifer daughter of the farm owner told us it would be the last year she was holding weddings at Common Barn Farm as she was emigrating to New Zealand having just got married herself. Had she not have told me this I think Liam would have made me wait until 2017.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I found my dress in the 2nd shop I visited. It was the 5th November, and I initially called in to the shop on a whim with one of my bridesmaids Carla. I didn’t actually pick the dress out myself. It was the dress in the window that I hadn’t noticed. Having tried 5 dresses on with no luck, Belinda the sales assistant suggested that I try it and I instantly fell in love with its simplicity. I had pinned a number of fabulous Vera Wang dresses but my compromise to Liam for getting married so soon was that I wouldn’t spend a fortune on a dress. I decided at this point I’d find a good dress maker to help me make it fit and add a little something, my own stamp. This ended up being spaghetti straps and my big black satin bow – based on the Vera Wang I had dreamt of.

Shoes, Ted Baker. Earings, Thomas Sabo. Bridesmaids Bags, Accessorize.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Liam wore a black DKNY dinner suit. He hadn’t tried anything else on and the black tied in well with my idea of a black bow so I didn’t try to change his mind. His jacket came off almost immediately after the church.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Diane the vicar did our reading ( I can’t remember what this was but we chose this together along with our hymns on one of our many visits to the vicarage to practise our vows.. We also paid for the Church choir. Lots of familiar local people sang in the choir including a neighbour of mine on my parents road so I was really keen to have them and the organist.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My bridesmaids where next on the list and the thing I stressed about the most. I had 6. Liam’s daughter Kayleigh aged 14, my closest friends Tina and Carla, (Carla was pregnant at the time, due date May 2016), my sister in law Jess and Megan my youngest brothers’ girlfriend. All very different shapes and sizes with even greater differences in style and taste. The colour was always going to be neutral. As I had always imagined the flowers and decoration inside the teepee would be enough pizzazz. It was Christmas by this time and there wasn’t much in the shops and virtually nothing in ivory.

I sketched the dresses myself and had them made to measure by a dress maker I found at Affects Palace in Manchester. The same lady also made my Mum’s and Liam’s Mum’s dresses and my veil. My Mum was kind of my chief bridesmaid. I wanted her to be as much a part of the bridal party as my Dad. She’s my best friend and I needed her to walk down the aisle along with everyone else.

THE FLOWERS | I found Laura on the internet and struck gold. I think my google search was ‘contemporary florist’ in my area. I wanted the wow factor, the bigger the better. Plenty of colourful, quality flowers. And above all else something that little bit different. And that’s exactly what I got. Laura interpreted everything I wanted and got it spot on.

THE CAKE | Similar to the above, I was after something different, with lots of variety. The cake was our dessert option. I’ve been to so many wedding where the cake never gets eaten and I was desperate for it not to get wasted. Rachel had done my Brother and Sister in law’s wedding cake only a year earlier. I knew just how talented she was and I was delighted she was available. Liam selected the flavours. We went for 6 individual cakes, a mixture of different shapes and sizes, to be displayed upon barrels and apple carts.

Luscious lemon cake sandwiched with lemon curd buttercream, butterscotch cake with homemade toffee sauce buttercream, Victoria sponge cake sandwiched with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam, Victoria sponge cake sandwiched with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam, chocolate truffle cake sandwiched with chocolate ganache buttercream and chocolate truffle cake sandwiched with chocolate ganache buttercream.

The cakes were left Naked/Semi Naked and decorated with fresh fruit, flowers, and drizzled with caramel, fruit coulis and chocolate ganache accordingly.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Mark Tierney came recommended to us. The nicest guy we met during this whole process. His website and blog made us realise quickly just exactly what is was that we wanted in a photographer and the pre wedding shoot he offered totally confirmed it for us.

You only have to look at his website and meet him to realise why we went with him.

He has such passion and clear sense of his own style. He captured every little emotion and even managed to capture Liam with his eyes open on every occasion (despite his tendency to blink, made worse by his real fear of the camera). We can’t thank Mark enough.

I felt like he could have been a member of the family on the morning of the wedding. I was concerned as we had recently moved house with very little time for decorating so I was conscious of how the house was going to look in the background, however the photo’s he captured say so much more! Mark captured all of our most priceless memories and real emotion. As well as putting me and Liam totally at ease, he took all the excitement and hysteria in his stride still managing to blend into the background. Overall we are absolutely delighted with how our wedding photos turned out and how he manages to tell the story in such a way that’s creative and individual to us.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | 100 meters of home made burlap made in 10 meter pieces… how much we needed was estimated on the size of the 2 giant hat tepees however we ended up having far too much. Mum and Step-dad Brian had spent the best part of 6 months stringing the strips of hessian from one end of the garden to the other, cutting thousands of strips of varied fabric and tying them on in order…!

Old benches bought from an old reclamation yard and Liam paid his daughter extra pocket money to paint them white every weekend. Step Dad Brain (a handy joiner) made all of the wooden signs with a router. Liam’s mum Diane made the hessian and lace table runners collected all of the glass jars and decorated them with lace.

We hired the umbrellas in case of rain. I’m so glad we did as these were used on many of trips by our guests to the outside event bar, in the form of the marvellous converted ambulance, Agatha.

Wedding stationery made by the wonderful Nicola – All The Little Details.

THE HONEYMOON | 2.5 weeks in Bali. With a short stopover in Dubai. We spent our time white water rafting, cycling, visiting the Hindu temples, on safari and learning as much about the Indonesian culture as we possibly could. We also drank and ate the most amazing food.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The bus journey from the church to the wedding venue was so much fun….! It had rained all morning and just as we left the church and headed towards the bus the skies cleared and the sunshine appeared for the next few hours. I think the bus driver went the longest way possible, maybe he got lost as the journey must have taken an hour instead of the 30 minutes we had expected but it was the most magical scenic route. Strangers in the street stopped and waved as the bus struggled to get around tight corners and steep bends. Me and Liam sat on the front seats of the upper deck with 70 of our closest friends and family. Singing and laughing all the way, with a convoy of guest’s cars following.

The band was absolutely incredible! And had travelled all the way from London making it all the more special. I’d heard them at my company’s Christmas party in the December and they had given me goosebumps! I don’t know how many encores they did but our guests just didn’t want them to leave.

Dave, Liam’s best man falling asleep on the hay bales next to the fire pit straight after the speeches..

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It is still possible to get drunk on your wedding day despite what people say. (Tried and tested hehe). Perhaps get a videographer – this is my biggest regret. Don’t stress too much about the little details. If you have wild, party loving friends like ours make sure you hire a toast master to keep everyone in tow. I don’t know what we would have done without ours..!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Tierney Photography

Event Bar | Hoban and Sons

Flowers | Green Earth Flowers

Wedding Bus hire | Wedding Buses

Catering | The Treacle Town Pie Company

Wedding Stationery | All The Little Details

Venue | Peak District Farm Weddings

Teepee | Teepee Tent Hire

Make up | Make-up by Chloe Johnston, Stockport, Cheshire

Dress | The Cheshire Wedding House

Hair | Sarah Dyer at Ifinnerty Hair, Stockport, Cheshire

Bridesmaid Dresses | Strawberri Peach at Afflecks Palace, Manchester

Bridalwear Alteration | Cupids Treasure

Cake | Ma Cake Company

Band | The Clicks Covers Band

DJ | WDC Entertainment

Church | St Saviours Church

What a special celebration indeed.

Sophie and Liam, many thanks to you both for sharing your story here on WWW xo Lou