Real Tipi Church Wedding: Jess & Alistair - Reception Details

With tonnes of colourful, bright wedding details, and a wedding reception set in a tipi {so on trend}, you're going to love Jess and Alistair's big day. After their church wedding ceremony, they head to the beautiful Church Farm on the Wirral, right near the sea, for their wedding reception. With the help of friends and family, they DIY decorated their wedding tipi with bright paper lanterns, handmade hanging hearts, jam-jar tea-light holders, and pretty green ivy. Jess even created her own wedding table plan out of a humble piece of mdf, plus blackboard paint! I love the countryside feel of the hay-bales, wood-fire and cheesecake, and it's all pictured perfectly by Victoria Phipps Photography. If you missed Part 1 click here, and don't miss Jess' answers to our questionnaire - she has tonnes of inspirational wedding advice.

We got married end of July 2012 in Thurstaston, on the Wirral Peninsula. The ceremony was at St Bartholomew’s Church and the reception was in Papa Kata tipis at Church Farm on the Wirral.

We had three different florists for my bouquet, the church and the reception. My bouquet and the bridesmaid’s corsages/groomsmen buttonholes were by Eden Florists in West Kirby, Wirral. Friends of Alistair's mother did the flowers for the reception, and members of the church did the church flowers.

Al is wanted quite a traditional wedding, and I wanted something fun and relaxed. We compromised by having a church wedding and a tipi reception. The church had meaning for both of us as it was where my parents had got married, and it's somewhere Al and his family had visited on Sunday walks.

We didn't have any wedding theme as such. We just wanted a colourful and personal wedding. Creating a fun atmosphere was important to us, as was throwing an amazing party with some seriously tasty food!

There were a few of DIY projects, and as the reception was in a tipi there was a lot of decorating to do. The blackboard table plan was some cheap mdf, that I painted with black board paint. We collected lots of jam jars for rustic tea light holders, and the green ivy was picked and put up by Al’s mum and a couple of her close friends.

As part of my hen-do we did a crafty session at a local artists studio where we made hanging hearts in different colours. We put these hearts up as part of the decorations. I painted numbers on white paper lanterns for hanging table numbers, and the hanging lanterns for the dance floor were bought and set up by us. 

I like to illustrate in my spare time, and we thought it would be nice to have an illustrated wedding invite. Jim Fleming, a local artist illustrated our cards. I added in the lettering, and drew a whimsical map, and I also wrote the place cards and the table plan.

We were lucky enough to have two cakes. We went for a cheesecake from the Liverpool Cheese Company, and Al’s mum baked a yummy fruit-cake wedding cake for us.

We spent a year planning our wedding, and tried to not let it take over our lives. We had creative control over every aspect, which made the day just what we wanted, but it was also a lot of work!

My advice for other brides starts with learning the art of delegation! We couldn’t have planned the day we had without the help of our parents, our friends and anyone else who offered assistance.

Our photographer was Victoria from Victoria Phipps Photography. We really liked her natural photography style.

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Real Tipi Church Wedding: Jess & Alistair

Brighten up your day with this fantastic colourful wedding day, set by the sea, on the Wirral peninsula. The lovely Jess and Alistair had two different visions for their big day, but compromised between traditional and quirky, with a church wedding and a tipi reception. With bright blue cornflowers, red roses, pink peonies and yellow daffodils, Jess' beautiful bouquet epitomises the theme colours for this gorgeous wedding, and I've completely fallen for her bridesmaids' floral dresses, and vintage-style corsages. Jess' lovely vintage gown was refashioned from her mother's wedding dress, and her blue wedding shoes were a bargain from a local supermarket! Don't miss all the gorgeous wedding reception pictures - due to go live later today. Huge thanks to Victoria Phipps Photography for her beautiful work - she captured every stunning detail.

My wedding dress had been my mothers wedding dress from the 1970s. I tried on lots of lovely dresses but none on them were what I had envisioned myself wearing. My mum was more than happy for me to customise her dress as it had been sitting in the attic for the last 37 years. A local dressmaker at Anna May Couture in West Kirby interpreted my ideas and made the dress.

The headpiece was borrowed from my bridesmaid from when she was married. I did want a floral head garland but once I put my friends headpiece on it just seemed right. 

We had three different florists for my bouquet, the church and the reception. My bouquet and the bridesmaid’s corsages/groomsmen buttonholes were by Eden Florists in West Kirby, Wirral. Friends of Alistair's mother did the flowers for the reception, and members of the church did the church flowers.

I knew I wanted floral bridesmaid dresses. The girls tried on dresses from Phase Eight and they ticked all the boxes!

I loved my blue wedding shoes, and even better, they were from a well know supermarket and didn’t break the bank. Everyone commented on them and thought they must have been expensive.

Al wanted to stay traditional and went for suit with tails, hired from Moss Bros. His tie was from Charles Tyrwhitt. He picked out the blue ties for the ushers and the camel coloured waistcoats.

We got married end of July 2012 in Thurstaston on the Wirral Peninsula. The ceremony was at St Bartholomew’s Church and the reception was in Papa Kata tipis at Church Farm on the Wirral.

Al is quite traditional and I wanted something fun and relaxed. We compromised by having a church wedding and a tipi reception. The church had meaning for both of us as it was where my parents had got married and somewhere Al and his family had visited on Sunday walks.

We met at a party - I was already friends with Al’s brother. We proceeded in bumping into each other at various gigs and nights out, and realised we had a lot in common {the-who-asked-who-out part is greatly contended!}. We had been together for 4 years when we decided to do a European road trip. We drove around Europe with the final destination being a day in Paris.

We spent the day touring the sights, and in the evening Al had booked a table in the wonderful restaurant. It was so busy, we were squeezed onto the end of a table almost on the laps of the couple next to us. We ate late and as the restaurant emptied out they moved us to a table of our own for our desserts and coffees. Al proposed over the crème brûlée.

Our photographer was Victoria from Victoria Phipps Photography. We really liked her natural wedding photography style.

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Pastel Bridesmaid Inspiration for Spring

After the weather forecast promised sunshine, only for it to rain, I've decided I'm done with winter, and started looking ahead to spring! First up for my spring-clean are bridesmaids dresses. I love these bright pastel gowns, and wedding accessories from BHLDN. Their bright tones are bang on trend for 2013, and your girls would be sure to wear them again and again. Last year was all about muted shades, but I'm predicting a big colour flush for this year - you heard it here first, look out for the brights!

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Real Blue-Themed Boho Wedding: Abi & Nath

If you're an eco-bride, a hippy-chick, or you just love the great outdoors, you're going to adore this countryside wedding. Abi and Nath fell in love with their venue Fforest Farm in Wales, and encouraged all their friends and family to come down and celebrate with them, before bedding down in tipis and tunnel tents for the weekend. I'm loving their free spirit, the gorgeous rural venue and the fact they did their wedding their way. DIY brides can take inspiration from the handmade cake, dress and entertainment, all of which was done by friends and family. Get those people working for you! Other stealworthy ideas include the Monsoon bridesmaids dresses {cheap and chic}, the white bunting {always my fav}, and the thistles, which are becoming a bit of a Before the Big Day trend this week. Gorgeous pictures as ever from Hannah at  Kinver Miles Photography - we heart her work big time!

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Real Nautical Stripes Themed Wedding: Irma & Willem - Part 2

If you're dreaming of your summer holiday, you're going to love Part 2 of this blissful beachside wedding. With wedding details galore, many of them DIY, you're going to want to add every one to your Pinterest page. I'm loving Irma's wedding style - her stunning romantic dress, her casual side ponytail and her glamorous red lipstick. Add in the fabulous vintage campervan, the striped wedding reception details, and the adorable rustic placemarkers with airplane badge favours, and I'm a happy wedding blogger! Don't miss the DIY'd jamjar lights, and the polaroid guest book - fab ideas to copy for your own wedding. Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to the talented team at welovepictures.

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