Outdoor Wedding

under the awnings. amanda wyatt for a beautiful tipi wedding under canvas

Julia Smith

A Pretty Tipi Wedding (c) Davenport Photography (35)

Today’s couple are based in New Zealand but bride Rosie and her fiance Nick headed home (to her Grandparent’s back garden no less!) to say their “I Dos”. Keeping things

super relaxed

but seriously pretty, Rosie and Nick had their perfect English wedding (with lots of Kiwi touches) under canvas.

With images by Miki Photography.

A Pretty Tipi Wedding (c) Davenport Photography (42)

rosie says:

Nick proposed on my 30th birthday (May 2014)! We were about to head out to meet my friends for drinks, when a tuk-tuk turned up on the driveway (we met taking part in an adventure rally, racing tuk tuks the length of Indonesia) and I just thought it was a cool birthday surprise. We were driven around my home town and out into the countryside, then we pulled up at a church in a tiny village called Alveston – the church that my parents were married at. We went for a walk around and Nick got down on one knee to propose. I don’t think I even looked at the ring (!) I just said yes and we hugged and cried for what seemed like hours. Then we got back in the tuk-tuk, he put on a song that he played to me on guitar when we first met, and we drove back to the bar where my friends and family were waiting for us. It was definitely the best birthday to date!

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We got married on 28th August 2015. Nick wanted to get married on a Friday and I wanted to get married on a significant date. We both wanted to have a summer wedding and choose a date close enough to the Rugby World Cup that any Kiwis coming over from NZ could catch the first games.

Our wedding day would have been my dad’s 60th Birthday (he passed away when I was 15) and so it was really special. And it fulfilled all of the criteria above!

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We got married in my Grandparent’s garden. We knew we wanted a relaxed, country wedding, and we loved the idea of having Tipis. My grandparents have lived there for 30 years and I’ve secretly always dreamed of getting married in the garden. So when they took Nick and I for lunch and actually suggested that we use their garden, we were over the moon! We couldn’t have imagined a more special, beautiful, relaxed and happy place to get married.

We didn’t have a theme as such, but we definitely had quite a clear view of the kind of ‘feel’ we wanted to achieve. We wanted a country feel, quite casual and relaxed (just like us), with lots of individual details that were personal to us.

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We decided on Tipis for the reception, and we decorated everything with herbs from the garden. We used an old canoe of my brother’s as the “beer canoe” and an old door from the house as our ceremony backdrop. We were unbelievably lucky as a friend of ours (who we also met on the tuk tuk adventure rally) somehow found our very two tuk tuks and he shipped them over from Bali for us – they were pretty much as we left them, in a state of disrepair, but it brought back so many memories, so we used them as a bar!

I wasn’t too worried about everything matching, but I love soft, neutral colours. Greys, greens and a hint of pink. We wanted everything to look natural and compliment the beautiful garden.

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I tried on quite a few dresses before I landed on ‘the one’. I tried some that were truly stunning, but I felt the dresses were wearing me rather than the other way around. When I tried on ‘my dress’ (Amanda Wyatt, ‘Skylark’) I just knew – it felt so comfortable and effortless. It wasn’t heavy like the others and I could imagine dancing all night in it.

Martin Crean of Mode Hair did my hair. Martin is literally a GENIUS! He is currently British Hairdresser of the Year too!

Claire Johnson was my make-up artist, and another friend! I’ve been going to Claire for years for beauty treatments, but she is also a great makeup artist. I don’t usually wear much make-up, but Claire made me look and feel beautiful and natural.

Between these two, I was made to feel the prettiest and most comfortable I’ve ever felt!

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Nick had never actually worn a proper suit! He’s a typical Kiwi – more of a shorts and t-shirt kind of guy. We went to a local tailors in Auckland and picked a navy 3 piece suit that was then tailored to fit. He looked so handsome!

My bridesmaids all wore twist-wrap dresses from Dessy. Two of my girls had just had babies, and each had a different body shape, so we wanted to find dresses that everyone felt comfortable in. The twist wrap dresses were flattering and can be worn in so many different ways, so each of my bridesmaids could choose how to wear it to suit them.

We asked the groomsmen to wear ‘blue suits’ and I wasn’t worried about them matching. However, it was typical that my brother took this as an excuse to get his suit tailor made at Saville Row – and when I said blue, he went for electric blue!

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Ashley Davenport was our photographer. Ash is a friend of a friend and we couldn’t have been happier that she recommended him! WOW!

As soon as we spoke on Skype, it was clear that his style really suited us and our more informal approach. We didn’t want stuffy, over-posed photos, rather natural, ‘in the moment’ photos – something he captured beautifully.

I loved Ash’s photography style – he captures all of the moments that you might not have otherwise seen. He truly documented the fun and love on the day. We totally forgot he was there (in the nicest way possible) – the sign of a great photographer!

All in all, he is an incredibly talented photographer with a great eye for detail and he certainly knows how to capture stunning images. He’s also the most dapper photographer I’ve met, and one of few men who can pull off a bow tie and braces!

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My bouquet was pretty rustic. A mix of ruscus, eucalyptus, lisianthus and roses. A friend, Kate Maxwell, provided our flowers. She is super talented and owns a little florist called ‘In Bloom’ in Birmingham. She also made garlands for our ceremony backdrop and stunning hydrangea arrangements for the aisle.

We used loads of herbs – herbs everywhere! Lavender, mint, basil & rosemary for the tables, and all around the garden. We bought most of these from garden centres in the days leading up to the wedding. My granny put together a stunning arrangement in a big churn jug that took pride of place outside the tipis. All of the other decorations were made from flowers and apples/blossom from the trees in the garden.

We used the old apple tree, which was right in front of the Tipis, as the “Family Tree” and we pegged up lots of photos of Nick and I and our families, all around the tree. Something quite special given that we’re from opposite sides of the world and so a lot of people didn’t know either one of us growing up.

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We wanted to bring a bit of New Zealand to the UK, so we put an individually wrapped Whittaker’s Chocolate (an iconic Kiwi chocolatier) on each place setting.

My amazing friend, Laura (the same friend who recommended our photographer) made our cake! She isn’t a professional cake maker, but she definitely should be! We had 3 tiers – blueberry & sour cream, raspberry & rose, and carrot cake on top. All iced roughly and decorated with rosemary and lavender. It was hands down the BEST cake I’ve ever eaten. All of our guests were raving about it!

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We used caterers, Kemp & Kemp as we loved their home-cooked, family style food. They were incredible! We decided on a big feast menu, with big sharing boards of slow cooked pork and chicken, alternated down the tables, with bowls of delicious salads and vegetables.

Again, to bring a bit of NZ to the UK, we chose a NZ sparkling wine (Cloudy Bay) for the reception and toast drinks, and then we had two whites and two reds – one of each was NZ and one was French. We filled the beer canoe with Peroni and Aspall cider. We used the tuk-tuk bar for soft drinks, presented in big glass Kilner jars.

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We both love live music, and so it was a no brainer to book a live band. It was surprisingly difficult to find a good live band though, and it’s hard to gauge how good a band will be from watching a 2 minute clip on youtube!

I had all but given up and resigned myself to having a play-list. So I ended up just looking for a singer to sing during the reception. I came across Nick Keen and loved his voice and repertoire, so I booked him. It turned out he’s in a band and they happened to have a cancellation for our wedding date – it was meant to be! I booked them without even hearing them, and we weren’t disappointed. I don’t think the dance floor ever emptied – testament to how good they were!

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Before the ceremony our guests were asked to think of a word that best represented Nick and my relationship. Then half way through they were asked to pick up the pen and paper under their seats and draw that word. We were crying with laughter – some hilarious & fun pictures that we’ll keep forever!

To end the day, Nick and I took ourselves off to sit on the bench under the apple tree and we just cuddled and watched everyone partying the night away. We were so happy in that moment, I wish I could bottle that feeling!

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We haven’t been on a honeymoon yet! We took 4 weeks off to come home to the UK from NZ, so we wanted to spend all of our free time with friends and family. We are planning a honeymoon to one of the Pacific Islands in early 2016 – maybe Rarotonga, or Bora Bora?!

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be don’t sweat the small stuff! By that, I mean don’t over-think the details. Pinterest is both a blessing and a curse for brides to be! A few personal details are great, but you don’t need to go overboard – if I’d have done every idea I had, I’d never have finished setting up! Don’t try and organise someone else’s wedding. Ultimately, it should be about you as a couple and what you want that matters!

People say that the day will fly by, so enjoy it. But seriously, IT FLYS BY! Enjoy every moment and try and take a step back every now and again, even if just for 2 minutes, to just take everything in.

 

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