Wednesday 15 January 2014

A Relaxed Boho Country Wedding Inspired by a Painting - The Reception

With a brilliant boho teepee reception venue, an incredible lake-side location, and even a bell-tent village for guests wanting to camp overnight, this stunning big day ticks all my boxes. Lisa and Marcus decided on a relaxed, country wedding, and discovered the amazing Lyndon Top campsite as a wedding venue. Theirs was the first wedding ever held there, and it made for some challenging logistics. Everything, including electricity, had to be brought in - but didn't it make for an incredible wedding? I love all Lisa's wedding details, from the DIY'd reception flowers {including cornflowers - my favourite!}, the boho but elegant teepees, and the Lisa and Marcus' decision to forego cake and favours, and choose cheese instead! Nowadays it's all about having your wedding your way, and picking and choosing from the standard traditions. Enjoy Lisa's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and feast your eyes on Victoria Phipps Photography's amazing work!


We celebrated our wedding on 6th July 2013 at St Mary's Church in Ashwell. We hosted our wedding reception in a teepee at Lyndon Top, overlooking Rutland Water. Our teepees were from Papakata, who I would highly recommend. Their teepees look fantastic and their attention to detail is excellent.


We were hoping to create a relaxed, country wedding, with a hint of boho, and were delighted to find a field overlooking Rutland Water, so we had a fantastic view of the lake as well.



For our wedding theme, I was inspired by the painting, 'Midsummer Eve' by Edward Robert Hughes.  Watching the flower girls and page boys dancing, as the sun was setting over Rutland Water, reminded us of this beautiful painting.


Our wedding photographer was Victoria Phipps. She was recommended by a friend who had used Victoria for their wedding. Victoria is fab; really easy to work with and she is able to really capture the atmosphere of the day. Most importantly she takes beautiful photographs!


 Our wedding videographer was Richard Mattock of Studio 27.



The wedding bouquets and buttonholes were created by our wedding florist Miss Pickering. The bouquets included honeysuckle, spray roses, sweet peas and herbs such as mint. 

We were looking to create wild, loose floral displays with lots of colour; in particular pinks and purples and creams. 

Looking back on planning our wedding, it's worth noting that we didn't go down the easiest route, as we choose a venue that had never been used for a wedding before, and we had to bring in all the services, power etc onto the site. But it was definitely worth it to create a very special day.


My advice to brides? Stay calm, it will all be OK! Make a plan and keep working through your To Do list! Where possible delegate jobs to friends and family - everyone loves to help and share in the preparations of your special day. Don't always go for the most expensive option, often the things you do yourself work out better.


Our caterers were Rutland Gourmet, our band Too Darn Hot, our AV Co-ordinator was Eal Productions, and we even had a flyby from The Blades! This was out of luck! The Blades were performing at Burghley House, nearby, and they very kindly agreed to swing around to our venue… they even did a loop the loop!


We set up a bell tent village so we could stay overnight at the site. It create another feature in the open field and it was amazing being able to wake up to see the sun rising over the water. Our bell tents were from Honeybells.



Our church and teepee flowers were created by a family friend - Goldie Bardwell, and her team of ladies. 


We decided to have a cheese tower created by the caterer rather than a wedding cake. We thought our guests might prefer to have cheese after their three course dinner, rather than cake. We also decided not to have favours. We didn't have huge tables so tried to keep the tablescape as simple as possible.

As one big DIY project, I created all my wedding stationery. I was keen to reflect the pretty, relaxed theme. I painted the Save the Dates, wedding invitations, table places and table names.


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