If it’s a fun festival wedding you’re planning for summer, look no further, as today we bring you the best festival wedding inspo here on the blog! Sasha Weddings captured this cheerful, outdoor tipi wedding which took place on the border of the prettiest of woodlands in the Herts countryside. They were married in church before heading to Vanstone Park, a rural woodland space matched perfectly to the festival set-up of their wedding; think tipis, chill out area, fish & chip van and secret garden party spots!

We just knew that a formal wedding wasn’t for us. Instead we wanted something that would mimic the fun we have at concerts and festivals!

The couple made their own signage and used their creative DIY skills to feature some really lovely props, including a handwritten ‘Order of the Day’ pallet and rustic wood sliced table centerpieces. DIY festival weddings can be as simple or as detailed as you make them, and anyone who’s planned or is in the middle of planning one (this counts me in!) will know that the entire project can be a lot of hard work! So, why not take a leaf out of Helen and Jason’s book….hire beautiful tipis, roll out the street food van and hire a good band – keep things simple!

The most important thing for us was that everyone had fun! We opted for a laid back approach to the day with help yourself welcome drinks, lamb spit roast and the most amazing live band.

One of the things we LOVE about Sasha’s collection, is the fun and smiles that she captured on the day. The rain poured down for parts of the day, but that didn’t bother the couple as you will see by their happy, beaming faces -these images just wouldn’t be the same without the joyful shots of Helen prancing in the rain with her pink umbrella!

Here’s Helen to tell us all about her festival wedding to husband Jason….

Thai Beach Proposal

Jason and I had been together for ten years when he booked us a trip to Thailand in December 2015. After nearly two weeks in Thailand he proposed at a beach bbq under the stars next to the ocean.  

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Sale Rack Wedding Dress and Shoes from Dorothy Perkins

I bought my dress from Wed2B after trying on a huge selection of dresses in different styles. I’m so glad I did this, because it helped me to figure out what best suited me! We ended up finding ‘the one’ in the sale – it was possibly the quickest wedding dress purchase in history! I was out of the store within fifteen minutes. I knew immediately that it was the dress for me (and such a bonus at less than half price!)

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Surprise Wedding Jewellery from the Groom….

On the morning of the wedding, one of my bridesmaids presented me with a Links of London box which Jason had secretly asked them to give them to me during hair and makeup! Inside was a beautiful rose gold necklace and matching earrings to compliment my engagement and wedding rings!

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Vast Woodland Hertfordshire Venue with Tipis

We were married at Vanstone Park which was the host and setting of our stunning tipis, hired by Country Tipis. I’d seen a tipi company at a local wedding fair that I went to with my best friend and Maid of Honour. Jason was really intrigued by the idea, so we booked to attend their open day. As soon as we arrived we knew it was the perfect venue for us…. it felt like we were stepping through the gates of a festival!

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Family Church, Elegant Florals and The Goo Goo Dolls!

Our ceremony was at St Paul’s Walden Church in Hertfordshire. This was the church that I grew up visiting, and where we said our final goodbyes to my mum, so it’s a very special place for me and our family. Jason’s aunt was kind enough to visit the local market and shops to put together some simply elegant flower displays for the church.

We chose two readings for the service. The first was ‘The Giraffe and the Monkey’ by Daniel Thompson, read by my Dad. The second was a verse read by our vicar from the ‘Song of Solomon’ which is all about love and friendship. I walked down the aisle to ‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls, and then we left the church to ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons. Both songs are real favourites of ours!

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DIY Festival Signage and Decor

The tipis were so impactful on the day – we really didn’t need to add too much in terms of additional decoration. However, everything that was made was lovingly made by us! Jason made some festival signage, I painted our Order of the Day on an old wooden pallet and our table plan featured some old trunks belonging to one of my bridesmaids. We hired plants to decorate the outside area, and then we created our own table decorations using dried flowers.

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In replacement of the usual boring guest book, we bought an instax camera for our guests to snap away during the night. We’ve since created our own photo album using the photos from this and we absolutely love looking back at these!

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Dried Lavender Bouquets and Garden Centre Flowers

I absolutely LOVE lavender, and knew I wanted lots of dried flowers to feature on the day. We used Artisan Flowers and chose the ‘midnight haze’ collection for my bouquet, hair accessories and all of the buttonholes. The bridesmaids held simple lavender bouquets, and we ordered a selection of dried flowers from Shropshire Petals which my bridesmaids helped to arrange in vases as table decorations. We were also able to hire plants from the garden centre based at our venue which we used to add colour to the tipi.

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Rustic Canapés, Roasted Lamb and Fish & Chip Van

We used Flame BBQ to cater for our wedding breakfast. We had rustic canapés served on arrival followed by a lamb spit roast. Later in the day we had a fish and chip van – great way to soak up all the alcohol!

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Delicious Cupcakes and Eton Mess Wedding Cake

My friend was kind enough to make delicious cupcakes for our wedding dessert. We chose three flavours; lemon meringue, victoria sponge and black forest. We used a local company called Neighbourhood Bakes to create an eton mess for our celebration cake.

I bought my shoes on sale from Dorothy Perkins. I went for flat sandals with pretty tassels to match colours of the wedding. One of the best decisions I made was wearing flat sandals. I danced all night without having to take them off!

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Mix & Match Bridesmaid Dresses and Pearl Bracelets

Jason wore a blue suit from Moss Bros. As a gift, I had a memory charm made for him containing a photo of his Dad which he attached to his buttonhole.

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I let my bridesmaids choose their own dresses. I gave them a colour pallet and left them to it! I loved how the dresses were all so different, yet complemented each other so well. All the girls wore a pearl bracelet which I gifted them the night before the wedding.

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Discreet and Professional Wedding Photographer

We chose Sasha from Sasha Weddings to photograph our big day. She was so discreet – we almost forgot she was even there! She captured so many precious moments and every time we look back at the photos, the story of our day is retold all over again.

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Indie Rock Classics

We wanted a band which would get everyone up, out of their seats and partying all night! The Anthemics were the perfect party band! They played a mix of indie and rock, and at one point, I was even crowd surfing in my dress!

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First Dance

We chose an acoustic version of ‘Everlong’ by The Foo Fighters which our band played. This has always been our song and the Foo’s are our favourite band.

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Favourite Moment

Spending the night on the dance floor! Before the day Jason and I made a promise to spend as much time enjoying the day together as possible. Everywhere you looked people were singing and dancing with big smiles on their faces.

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Any advice?

Things go wrong and that’s OK! The heavens opened the day before when we were setting up – ants attacked our cakes and we forgot our cake topper…. but none of this mattered. You can’t control everything, and if you try to, you won’t enjoy it. We look back and laugh at these little things now.

The Line Up

Photographer: Sasha Weddings; Venue: Vanstone Park; Church: St Paul’s Walden Church; Tipi Hire: Country Tipis; Bride’s Dress: Wed2B; Bride’s Shoes: Dorothy Perkins; Bride’s Jewellery: Links of London; Groom’s Suit: Moss Bros; Rings: Smooch Rings; Dried Flowers: Artisan Flowers | Shropshire Petals; Caterer: Flame BBQ; Cake: Neighbourhood Bakes; Band: The Anthemics