{"id":180878,"date":"2016-10-20T14:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=180878"},"modified":"2024-10-10T14:17:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T13:17:56","slug":"big-top-farm-party-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/big-top-farm-party-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Top Farm Party Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Big<\/p>\n

I really do love nothing more than a couple thinking outside of the box when wedding planning. This afternoon’s bride and groom chose to hold their wedding in a big top circus style tent and boy oh boy was it a marvellous choice.<\/p>\n

Helen and Simon were hitched on the 16th July 2016 in a humanist ceremony on Helen’s parent’s farm in Shropshire. Party was the theme and it really was the perfect idea for these two who were engaged at Glastonbury. There was even a live band, which consisted of Simon and his old bandmates, plus you’ll want to see the shot of their ‘first dance’, just genius. Mismatched chairs were sourced and they worked beautifully with the hand crafted wooden tables, festoon lights were draped in the big top and wild flowers were used throughout.<\/p>\n

I love the sweet attire, scenic location and festival vibes. Woop.<\/p>\n

Robin Studios Photography, thanks so much for sharing these brilliant shots with us.<\/p>\n

\"Mismatched \"Circus \"Festival\"Buttonholes \"Daisy \"Canapes \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Wild \"Rustic \"Napkins \"Sign \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Confetti \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Circus \"Big \"Mismatched \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Short \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Floral \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big \"Big<\/p>\n

THE PROPOSAL | Crouching in the mud at Glastonbury 2015.<\/p>\n

THE VISION | The most fun party ever! We wanted to have a day where everyone we love comes together to eat, drink, dance and be merry! We both love colour and dressing colourfully so asked our guest to dress as colourfully as possible.<\/p>\n

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Si and I are quite last minute so we started planning at Christmas 2015. We went to the pub one evening and just discussed all the key areas. Both our parents are farmers (but from different sides of the country) so the hardest part was deciding where to have it. Once that was decided everything else started to fall into place. We both love arts and crafts and making things so planned to design and make everything possible.<\/p>\n

THE VENUE | Helen\u2019s parents\u2019 farm in Nesscliffe, Shropshire.<\/p>\n

The ceremony took place in my parents\u2019 garden and then we ate and danced in a big top in an adjoining field.<\/p>\n

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was made by Ceris Davies, someone who had made wedding dresses for a few friends. It was knee length and strapless. The top was silk and the skirt tulle with a lace short-sleeved top, which buttons up the back to go over the dress.<\/p>\n

FINDING THE DRESS | I went to quite a few shops and tried on various dresses but I found them all overly formal and long; none of them were right for me. As we were getting married on the farm I wanted something short that I could dance in and not worry about having too much fun in! A friend recommended Ceris who had made her dress and so I went to her and described the idea I had in my head and she executed it magnificently. I wasn\u2019t originally planning on having a lace top but the amazing ranges of laces to choose from as well as how reasonable it was to add this element persuaded me.<\/p>\n

GROOM\u2019S ATTIRE | An electric blue waistcoat and skinny trousers from ASOS purchased about 2 days before the wedding!<\/p>\n

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had a humanist ceremony in the garden. Emilie, one of my bridesmaids, read \u2018The Places We Go\u2019 by Dr Seuss and Simon\u2019s brother Mark performed \u2018Love Gets Sweeter\u2019 by Finley Quaye. We loved having a humanist ceremony as it meant we could have it in my parents\u2019 beautiful garden, it was incredibly relaxed and we could tailor every detail of what was said. It felt incredibly personal to us, from telling the story of how we met and our life together to writing our vows and planting a walnut tree.<\/p>\n

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had my 5 best friends (Flick, Georgie, Rosie, Bex and Emilie) wearing purple sand washed silk in different styles that they each choose and made by someone locally.<\/p>\n

THE FLOWERS | Lots and lots of gypsophila and wild flower vibes!<\/p>\n

THE CAKE | My mum made the cake and it looked so incredible \u2013 she\u2019s so talented (I\u2019m not biased look at the photos!) There were 3 tiers (carrot, chocolate and fruit) covered with hundreds of iced flowers. We were really reluctant to cut the cake as we were uneasy with the formality of it, but as we approach Simon\u2019s brother suggested we do it to Rage Against the Machine \u2018Killing in the Name Of\u2019 which seemed like a great idea! It made the experience way more fun and memorable!<\/p>\n

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We used Robin Studios Photography who are a lovely husband and wife team Jess and Charlie. Jess suggested we do a test shoot which I was a bit unsure of as I thought it would be a bit cringe-worthy but she came along whilst we made our wedding rings and it was a great way get me to relax in front of the camera as I don\u2019t really like being photographed. On the day they were amazing too and capture so many expressionate moments from getting ready to the small hours. We were so pleased with all of the photos.<\/p>\n

THE DETAILS & D\u00c9COR | We wanted to make as much as possible so Si and I set about making 12 long wooden tables that seat approx. 12 people per table. I also went on a chair mission and bought\/found\/borrowed as many chairs as humanly possible \u2013 it\u2019s amazing what bargains you can pick up! Si\u2019s cousin kindly designed our invitation for us which provided the rich colours we used throughout (purple, teal, pink and blue). We weaved this design into everything possible from menus to name places to sign posts. My sister and cousin made some ivy and flower hoops to suspend from the ceiling, mum made the napkins which were of course really colourful and another friend made some flags so we could pretend we were at our own mini-festival with arm chairs outside and a fire pit for later in the evening.<\/p>\n

THE HONEYMOON | We went to the Outer Hebrides in our campervan. We love doing trips in it as it really just strips back life to the basics and allows you to spend quality time together. It was incredibly beautiful, a bit like the Bahamas but without the heat and crowds! We did lots of cycling and sea kayaking to uninhabited islands with white sand beaches and azure seas to have picnics, passing seals and even a pod of dolphins on one occasion. It was a world away from London!<\/p>\n

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | I loved our first dance. We were nervous about swaying awkwardly on the dance floor so got a friend to make us a mega mix of all our favourite songs and everyone lifted us up as we sat on chairs which then turned into a crowd surf.<\/p>\n

The speeches were brilliant as well. My mum hadn\u2019t planned on doing a speech and only wrote it the night before but it was genuinely so funny, as were Si and Jude\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Si was in a band when he was younger and they reformed to do ska covers of some of our favourite songs which was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Do what feels right for you and don\u2019t rush into decisions. If you make a decision that doesn\u2019t feel right it\u2019s never too late to undo it! Lots of people will have their own opinions and potentially not understand or share in your vision but the day needs to be what you want it to be. It\u2019s a massive clich\u00e9 but it will all go so fast so just enjoy it and don\u2019t worry about things. Smashed glasses are a sign of a good time right?!<\/p>\n

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |<\/p>\n

Photography | Robin Studios Photography<\/p>\n

Wedding dress | Ceris Davies<\/a><\/p>\n

Caterers | Food for Thought<\/p>\n

Big Top | Smiddereens<\/a><\/p>\n

For helping me source the amazing bridesmaids\u2019 fabric | Bennett Silks<\/a><\/p>\n

So much fun.<\/p>\n

Helen and Simon, thank you both so very much for sharing your wonderful nuptials today xo Lou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really do love nothing more than a couple thinking outside of the box when wedding planning. This afternoon’s bride and groom chose to hold their wedding in a big top circus style tent and boy oh boy was it a marvellous choice. Helen and Simon were hitched on the 16th July 2016 in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,106,4],"tags":[358,472,23,1461],"class_list":["post-180878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy-wedding","category-outdoor-weddings","category-real-weddings","tag-farm-wedding","tag-humanist-wedding","tag-multicolour-wedding-ideas","tag-shropshire-wedding"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":180921,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/whimsical-cdn.wedissimo.com\/2016\/10\/HELEN-SIMON-190-300x200.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}