Festival season is now in full swing! And we LOVE a good festival here at Unconventional Wedding HQ. Whether it’s the awesomeness of Glastonbury or the discovery of new music at smaller festivals, we always have a fabulous time at them! So why not have a festival themed, outdoor wedding? It’s certainly a popular choice. Relaxed, fun and you can mix it up however you want really.
If you want to know how to plan a festival wedding check out our top 5 tips below. From Celebrants to Funky Food Trucks, we are just in love! All these photos were taken at The Unconventional Wedding Festival – we told you we were addicted to festivals – so much we created our own!
1. It’s a wedding weekend not a day!
Most festivals are over a weekend so why not have a wedding weekend instead of a wedding day! After all you’ll be paying for the set up so make the most of it. Most tipi’s or marquees get put up a couple of days before your wedding so there is nothing to stop you using them before or after.
Our top tips for your wedding weekend
- Set up a glamping village for all your family and friends to stay over in (you don’t want them travelling back and forwards after all)
- Add a hot tub to your glamping village for that extra wow factor! You can party on late into the night with a glass of chilled fizz in hand
- Have a wedding pre-party and get your friends to help set up your Tipi at the same time
- Plan a family brunch or BBQ for the day after your outdoor wedding
2. Plan a relaxed festival wedding day
Every festival wedding needs a chilled and relaxed feel. So, don’t feel pressured to have something happening every 10 minutes – weddings rarely run to time anyway!
Share your plans with your guests in advance so they know what to expect. There’s nothing worse that wearing your best Jimmy Choo’s and not having heel stoppers to stop you sinking into the grass in a field. Or coming in your best summer dress and forgetting about the chill of English summer evenings. Provide flip flops for tired feet. Blankets for everyone to cosy up by the fire pit. Toiletry baskets are a fab idea to freshen up in the bathroom. Oh and hairspray is a good one – especially if you get caught out by a typical english shower!
3. Have a celebrant led service - perfect for an outdoor wedding
Going along with the relaxed feel get yourself a celebrant to do your service. It’s always good to start the day how you mean to go on and set the theme for the rest of your weekend.
Yes, you must tick off the formalities the day before (or after), but they give you so much more flexibility. You can have your outdoor ceremony in a field, farm, woodland … pretty much anywhere. We LOVE the same sex, handfasting service captured below from The Unconventional Wedding Festival with UW tribe member Star Ceremonies.
4. Get yourself a cool wedding festival set up
What does that mean? It means go mad with flags, lanyards, wrist bands, signs, live music, photobooths, face painting and flower garlands.
It’s also good to use different tents for different things. Why not have a chill out tent complete with fire pit and comfy chairs. You can also have a raving disco tent for the wild at heart. Or a silent disco tent so you can continue partying into the wee hours beyond the noise curfew! Use the outside space too for photobooths, mini golf or even an ice cream van!
5. Ditch the formal 3 course meal and grab yourself some funky food trucks!
There is such a wide choice of food trucks nowadays you can pretty much get anything. How about milkshake shacks, waffles, mexican street food, loaded fries (see Fry Me to the Moon featured above), alcoholic ice cream (such as Tipsy Cow Ice Cream) or churros stalls? Whatever your favourite foods you are bound to find a food truck to match! You won’t be stuck to a rigid food service and the day will flow far much better. And, if Auntie Annie doesn’t approve, do a formal afternoon meal (you can even go half way house with sharing platters) and go for food trucks in the evening. Perfect! Don’t forget the outside bar too!
The all important list of suppliers featured above - Sign them up quick for your outdoor wedding
Bars and Food Trucks
Dress designers
Photographers
Vicki Clayson Photography (check out more here)
Ed Brown Photography (check out more here)
Nick Brightman Photography (check out more here)
Nicki Shea Photography (check out more here)
Stephanie Butt Photography (check out more here)
Celebrant
Star Ceremonies (check out more here)
Prop hire
Venue
Stanford Hall, Near Lutterworth, Exclusive wedding venue (check out more here)
Photobooths / Entertainment
9 hole event hire (check out more here)
Planner
Hair & Make up
Artistry by Annu
Over on the blog - more on how to plan a Festival wedding
Rustic Festival Wedding Inspiration
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Colourful Summer Wedding – Ibiza Festival Fun
Smoke grenades, ribbons, lanterns, candy floss, glitter, fire breathing and a boat bar… What more could you want? This colourful summer wedding is full of Ibiza inspired festival vibes and we’re loving it! Pink Photographics sent us this epic inspiration and if we had to sum it up in one
Festival Drive In Wedding – Camper Van Fabulousness!
If a festival wedding and a vintage drive-in movie had a baby, it would look something like this! This wonderful drive in wedding is the brainchild of Lily Jones Events and Buttercup Bus. This styled shoot celebrates the creation of The Camper Wedding and we think it’s friggin’ fantastic! Keep
Fun Festival Wedding at Jimmy’s Farm, Ipswitch
We’re huge festival lovers here at UW, so this styled shoot is making our hearts sing! This fun festival wedding shoot took place at Jimmy’s Farm in Ipswitch and is the brainchild of Louie Donovan Photography and Lou from Festival Weddings. It combines rock and disco styles into the ultimate
EPIC Viking Festival Wedding
When we say this Viking festival wedding is EPIC, we are not exaggerating. We’re talking fire displays, archery, a bouncy castle, a cake made of cheese, and a silent disco. This badass couple combined all the things they love, as well as incorporating their Norse and Celtic cultures to create
Bright Festival Wedding At Meadow Vale
Fighting off the January blues? Us too! We have a colourful & cheery wedding theme guaranteed to brighten up any dreary day. This bright festival wedding shoot was created by Linzi from ‘that black & white cat weddings‘ and captured by Kirsty Rockett Photography at Meadow Vale Weddings near Nottingham. It’s