Whether you have chosen tipis with their natural looking sand canvas or the luminescent sailcloth tent, you have a brilliant starting point and plenty of outdoor wedding themes and decorations to choose from. Both are absolutely gorgeous with their neutral colours and wooden poles. This means that you can really add your personality. Use as much or as little colour and fun as you desire.
Over the years we have seen a huge range of styles. From very traditional ‘white weddings’ through to eco-style simple rustic: and lots more in between.
So here are our 10 steps to help you on your way adding your character to your tipi.
Step #1: Pick a Colour
When choosing your tipi wedding the world is your pallet. Some people thing Tipis only suit the rustic style weddings and this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many of our couples have added their personality using both traditional white décor and beautiful bright colours of the rainbow.
The best place to start when you are trying to pick your wedding colours, is at your local paint store. Pick up a colour chart or colour wheel and this will start you off on the right foot, showing you which colours go together and may also open your eyes to colour schemes you had never thought possible.
Another great way to choose colours is to look at the flowers are in bloom for your wedding season. Choosing seasonal flowers is great because they will be readily available. The big advantage is that seasonal flowers are cheaper. That’s a good start to the wedding budget being achieved. (And it’s great for your anniversary flowers too!)
Step #2: Pick a theme
Picking themes for your outdoor wedding is great fun and adds a bit of your personalities into the day, which is a must!
Taking on a theme is not always simple, be prepared to put in the extra hours researching before you take your hand to the paper and glue pot. There are great websites and YouTube videos are a must to show you a Blue Peter “and this is one I made earlier!” with step by step instructions and a pause button.
Start by researching your themes and looking at pictures of previous outdoor wedding photos on the internet. This is a great way to see what works and what definitely doesn’t.
Here are a few different themes that looked great for an outdoor wedding: Afternoon tea, Country garden, Glamping (also known as glamorous camping), Festival, Traditional White Wedding
Vintage, Moroccan, Winter Wonderland, Cats, Music, Travel to name just a few!
EXTRA SPECIAL TIP: Keep your theme and colours simple because once you have made your centre pieces and meters of bunting and if you have time left, this is when you can add some extra special bits and bobs.
Step #3: Make your outdoor wedding themes personal to you
Choosing the guest list; making sure the parent in laws are happy; making sure nan has a seat close by plus the endless task of keeping the bridesmaids happy are all just a few of the duties you have as a bride and groom and sometimes you forget that this day is actually all about YOU TWO!
I love it when I go to a wedding and you see those beautiful but simple personal touches that you know are all about the Mr and Mrs.
This could be a note on a chalk board to your guests or a welcome drink of your favourite or even homemade cocktail. Try looking on Pinterest for some amazing ideas of how you can make YOUR special day very much about you.
Step #4: Create a Mood Board for your outdoor wedding themes
This is really helpful and all couples getting married should set up at least one mood board, maybe more. Perhaps a board for each of the outdoor wedding themes you’re considering?
“A mood board is a type of collage that consists of images, text and samples of object to help you develop your outdoor wedding theme concept”
- Buy white cardboard or colour to suit, this is the fun bit remember, don’t take it too seriously!
- Cut out and glue on any pictures you see in magazines of ideas you like (you don’t pay £5 a bridal magazine not to use it to its full potential.
- Build as many boards as possible until you create one which looks pleasing to the eye, the colours match, designs and themes flow and overall you are happy with
This is now your guide, your tick list you might say. There’s so much variety available now a day that you can be whisked away with all the fabulous and original ideas that you could decorate your venue with. Your mood board will keep you on track and hopefully leave you with enough time at the end to make a few more bits and bobs if your heart desires!
Step #5: Consider having a Traditional White Wedding in Your Tent
Traditional white wedding décor will never go out of fashion and does look amazing in the tipis and especially in the Sailcloth tent.
A traditional white wedding is stunning, so crisp and timeless. You can pick any era from 1920s to modern day 2010. It is very simple and very chic and you don’t just have to have them in a gorgeous country manor, they look as amazing in a tipi too. If you don’t believe me here are our pictures to prove it to you.
Step #6: Hire a company
Hiring a venue decorator is all the rage now: it means you can sit back and relax and let the professional take over.
However, even if someone else if doing the decorating, this doesn’t stop you adding your personal touch. You can drop all of your hand made goodies and special little touches to your decorator. Then they can get it all set up for you and when the celebrations are over, they’ll come back to clear it away.
We can recommend some amazing teams who will transform your venue into you perfect backdrop.
Step #7: Bridesmaids duty/ make a day of it with the bridal party
The list of things to do can become rather long so make sure you are not alone. This is one of the reasons we pick bridesmaids. Make sure you delegate tasks to them. It’s very rare to find a bridesmaid who doesn’t want to get involved!
If you have crafty bits and bobs to make, why not make a day of it at with the mums? Suggest with a spot of lunch, some bottles of fizz and a good giggle. Getting married is not just about the day. It’s also about the build-up and the memories that you make with everyone involved.
Step #8: The day before, day of and day after
Give yourself plenty of time to decorate, if you can start in the morning do it. The last thing you want is to be decorating into the night! You will have some serious pampering and sleeping to do. However long you think it will take to decorate, add at least 2 hours extra. Get all of your friends involved. Write down each task on an individual piece of paper and hand them out so they can get cracking.
The weekend before, go through each decoration you are doing and what you need to do it. Make sure you have lots of boxes to store everything that you need to take with you to the venue to decorate. When the boxes are empty plan somewhere at the venue to store them.
If you’re hiring a coordinator, check how much it would be to hire them for the day before/after too. That way you can leave them to take on the decorating duties.
Step #9: Have a back up plan.
Have a spray bottle to bring floral table decorations back to life. (Ask you bridesmaids or caterers to go round just before you turn up.) It’s also a good idea to make an emergency kit. Whoever’s doing the decorating, make sure you have some spares at the venue just in case. (In your own emergency kit make sure you have string, scissors, superglue, tape, posh pins and clear cable ties.) That way, if anything breaks your bridesmaids can do a quick fix and Hey presto!
Make a packed lunch and refreshments for the team, your busy helpers will need to keep their energy up.
Step #10: And most of all have fun with outdoor wedding themes!!!
So whether you have already booked your tipi for your special date or are still deciding what to do, maybe have a go at creating a mood board. Or maybe get down to your local DIY store for some colour charts. And if you need more inspiration to get you started follow the link to our Pinterest boards for photos or YouTube where we have a slide show worth lots of amazing interiors we have seen.
