What better way to make your wedding last a whole weekend than by planning an event that pays homage to the likes of Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight festival or for the more rock-oriented, Download? Over the course of the pandemic we’ve all missed out on these events and as weddings look set to get back underway this summer, planning a festival wedding seems like a choice that ticks both emotional and logical boxes. By recreating the festival atmosphere you will be in essence ensuring as much use of outdoor space as possible and in encouraging guests to sleep in their own tents, camper vans or hired yurts, this kind of wedding really could be the way to go to ensure fun, safety and a weekend to remember.
The first steps to a festival wedding
Undoubtedly the first thing you want to do is to find a suitable field. You’ll need a venue close to your wedding venue, easy to find and with a landowner amenable to having tipis, yurts and probably cars on it for the weekend (or weekdays) in question. You’ll want a venue with the capacity to pull off your desired look. Fields with a view are not uncommon in the UK, so a bit of research and a degree of power of persuasion should give you a great chance of unearthing a real gem.
The tipi
No festival wedding would be possible without at least one tipi. The wonderful thing about tipis is that they present themselves as a blank canvas, ready and waiting to be transformed into the entertaining space of your imagination. No matter your preference in terms of an overall theme, the tipi will be amenable to your ideas.
Outfits
For a festival wedding, you can be a simple or glamorous as you want. Think floaty dresses with flowers in your hair or stand out sequin dresses. Be sure to tell your guests that their wedding guest outfits are fine finished off with flip flops or wellies!
Lighting
There are few details to match the lighting in terms of importance for any outdoor wedding. You need to make sure paths are illuminated for the evening, along with the tipis, yurts and toilets. Mood lighting inside the tipi is a great way to create atmosphere and for the evening you may even wish to hand out glow sticks as the ultimate festival chic accessory.
Food
Gone are the days when people accept the paucity of comestible options at festivals and I’m not sure if there would ever have been an acceptance of dodgy hotdogs at a festival wedding! Thankfully there are so many incredible food truck businesses specialising in every conceivable foody treat that you can choose from. Just make sure you have the dietary requirements of all of your guests covered!
The music
No festival wedding would be worthy of the name without a considerable emphasis placed on the music. Of course, the details of this will largely come down to personal taste and the desired theme, but it is certainly worth sparing a thought for what the local music scenes have had to deal with over the past year and hiring a great local band with a point to prove and energy to spare can certainly help get the party started.
