Having grown up on a farm, a rustic themed outdoor Tipi wedding, in Three Giant Hats and Chill Out Tipis was the perfect option for Hannah and Alex.

Making the most of what their family farm had to offer, Hannah and Alex wanted to create a rustic themed outdoor Tipi wedding celebration which matched their personalities. But they didn’t want it to be just about them. With family members all getting involved with the preparation, everyone got stuck in to create a theme personal to Hannah and Alex. Making some lasting memories, our Three Giant Hats and Chill Out Tipis provided the perfect space to bring the rustic elements of the farm in under the canvas.

What made you decide on an outdoor wedding?

Hannah grew up on a farm and it was also the place where I proposed. We never really considered having the wedding reception anywhere else!

What did you both wear?

Hannah wore a hand-embroidered lace dress with detached lace sleeves, pearl veil, pearl shoes and pearl drop earrings. Our favourite colour is green, so we went for full-length bottle green silk dresses for the bridesmaids.

What about the rest of the bridal party?

I fully embraced the farm vibes with a dark green tweed suit and burnt orange tie to match the colours in the bouquet. My 4 groomsmen, the dads and the pageboys were also in tweed but in a slightly lighter shade of green with the same ties (and dicky bows for the pageboys and the dogs!).

How would you describe your ceremony?

We had the ceremony at the local church right by the farm which holds sentimental value. Hannah’s grandparents are buried there and it’s where her Auntie got married.

The main thing we wanted for our ceremony was for it to be fun and the vicar really delivered! We had two hymns so the service wasn’t too long. We also wanted to make sure they were well-known and lively. Some friends kindly offered to play the music at the ceremony and brought a whole band with them! They also played the backing for the hymns rather than using the organ which helped get everyone up and singing. One of Hannah’s childhood friends did a reading they’d prepared themselves which was so beautiful and personal to us.

Hannah’s cousin drove the guests to the farm after the ceremony, in a trailer on the back of a tractor. A family friend drove us back in an old Morris Ten. It only just got up the gentle slope to the farm!

How did you feed your guests?

We chose to do a large amount of canapés, which worked really well as it kept people mingling for longer. We both chose one each which we thought suited our personalities. Mini Yorkshire puddings for me and smoked salmon bellinis for Hannah.

For the main meal, we went for a good old fashioned beef roast. The original plan was for Hannah’s brother to “donate” one of the cows from the farm. Unfortunately, none were ready in time so they were spared and we used a local butcher instead.

We went for a trio of desserts as we couldn’t decide which of our favourites to choose! We had a tiramisu, an Eton mess and a lemon tart which all ended up being pretty much full size.

In the evening we had a hog roast, which seemed like the obvious choice for a farm wedding!

Hannah’s Auntie made our wedding cake. One of the suppliers for the farm shop also brought over a cheese wedding cake which we brought out in the evening.

For wedding favours, we made up little bags of Haribo and Pontefract cakes (from my home town).

For drinks we decided to go for an open bar, we got most of the alcohol from Majestic Wine who were super helpful. We also got to pop into the local shop and do a wine tasting one evening which was a lot of fun. The bar was set up as self-service with other drinks stations/buckets dotted around. I had the groomsmen on restocking duty throughout the day and a few of Hannah’s family friends wanted to have a go at bar-tending later on in the night which we greatly appreciated!

How would you describe your theme?

We wanted to keep everything simple and rustic to match the farm. We used lots of random bits we found (such as barrels, troughs, pallets etc.) to use as tables, plant pots, signs etc.

Hand-made decorations kept it personal to us. We made signs and the order of the day out of pallets and found a block of slate on the farm which we used for the seating plan.

Pictures of ourselves ages 1 to 12 made the table numbers and we used polaroid-like pictures of the guests for place settings. Saved up gin bottles were used as candle holders and Hannah did some watercolour paintings which we used for the invites, save the dates and menus.

A family friend kindly offered to do our flowers and they did such an incredible job! As well as the bouquets and the buttonholes they spent the morning decorating the church, preparing flowers for the tables and using whatever was left over on the signs and the bar. We went for a lot of greens and whites (mainly eucalyptus, gypsophelia and eustoma) with peach and orange roses, peonies and ranunculi for some extra colour. Hannah’s mum also runs a plant nursery on the farm so we were able to borrow whatever was available from there on the day to decorate the garden.

We were also able to borrow decorations from friends who had already got married.

How did you entertain your guests?

We had garden games such as Jenga, tin can alley, corn hole and boules, which were very popular in the sunny weather. The boules and jenga were bought second-hand online. The corn hole was from my sister’s wedding and I just bought some large tin cans off eBay for a tenner.

Instax Mini polaroid cameras made up a makeshift photo station. We took three polaroids of the two of us the day before the wedding which acted as instructions – this was a nice touch. We ordered an engraved wooden box off Etsy to put the pictures in. Going through them the day after the wedding was so fun and we’ve now got a lovely memento on the mantelpiece!

We had a band in the evening who were incredible! They were called Jumpstart and we booked them through Entertainment Nation. Guests of all ages absolutely loved them! They brought so much energy and are a great bunch of guys – we’d highly recommend them!

The morning after the wedding, we invited people back for brunch so that we could make the most of the Tipis while they were still up! Another of Hannah’s aunties and her colleague Sue kindly offered to cater for this.

What are your Top Tips for planning a Tipi wedding?

Get people involved!

Don’t be afraid to ask people for help. We found that people were always so glad to be asked to get involved with the day. We can’t stress enough how grateful we are to everyone who chipped in. As you can tell from reading this we had a lot of help, it really was a team effort.

Embrace DIY – keep things personal to you!

We spent quite a lot of weekends in the lead-up to the wedding painting, photoshopping, wrestling with pallets and learning how to use electric sanders/saws. We’re both so glad we took the time to add personal touches – it helped make the day feel extra special and also kept costs down.

Enjoy the build-up, not just the day!

I think we both agree that we almost enjoyed the week leading up to the wedding as much as the day itself. My parents came to stay at the farm to help prepare the garden along with some local friends and neighbours. It was the most time our two families had spent together! We had such a good time and made lots of great memories.

Spending a lot of weekends at the farm in the months leading up to the wedding meant we could help Hannah’s parents clear space and prepare the ground for the Tipis. It was a lot of hard work but we had such a laugh doing it.

Suppliers You Used, Loved and would trust to recommend

Sami Tipi – Jodie, Craig and the team were perfect throughout the process – the calls with Jodie were so helpful, thanks for putting up with all our questions and disorganisation! If you’re thinking about a Tipi wedding this is absolutely the company you should use!

The Outdoor Pig Company – The hog roast was incredible with so many extra bits and also veggie/vegan options.

R&R Catering – Really good quality cut glass and chintzy china plates, also great delivery/collection service.

Nomadic Washrooms – Really nice/stylish toilets which blended perfectly with the rural theme.

Majestic Wine – Great return policy, loved the wine tasting!

We Are The Clarkes – Our photographer/videographer – a husband and wife team. Anna & Simon were incredible and so much fun. We absolutely love our photos and the preview video made us both cry – we’d highly recommend them!

Jumpstart – As mentioned above, great music, great energy, great guys!

JNS Sound & Lighting – A great recommendation from Jodie (Sami Tipi), they provided the sound system for speeches and for playing music during the day and at the brunch. Really efficient set-up and take down and were happy to work around the Tipis!

Frankie Rose Bridal Hair & Make-Up – Frankie and her team went above and beyond on the day to make sure the bridal party felt and looked beautiful, with lots of words of wisdom and hilarious chats along the way!

The Bridal Boutique Warwickshire (dress) & Make It Sew (seamstress) – Madi & Abi were simply brilliant. Han instantly felt comfortable and at home in both the bridal boutique and Abi’s fitting room. A gorgeous selection of dresses and a personalised service with lots of advice and laughs.

Their Supplier Team

Hannah and Alex’s Rustic Themed Tipi Wedding