Jodie and James’ countryside sailcloth wedding was a beautiful celebration of love, family, and the place they call home. Every step of their day was filled with personal touches and sentimental meaning. With a stunning Sailcloth tent set on a family friend’s farm, and a laid-back reception featuring their favorite ice cream spot, this wedding perfectly captured the couple’s love for the outdoors, community, and the joy of sharing these special moments with their closest family and friends.
Where did you get married?
We wanted to get married at our local village church. We’ve lived in the village for a couple of years now and some of our family and friends haven’t seen where we live, so it was the perfect opportunity to show everyone how lovely it is. Our good friends, parents own the farm where we got married, and when we told them we were getting married, they said “use our field”, which was perfect! After the church ceremony we all walked to Morton’s Bistro where we regularly go for breakfast and Ice Creams with the kids. They gave us exclusive hire for a couple of hours, and we had canapes with Pimms and Prosecco and an ice cream parlour in one of their barns. It was a great opportunity for the welcome drinks to be served and be able to chat and catch up with our guests.
How did you get to your Sailcloth?
The farmer, Nigel, drove us from Morton’s to the field on one of his trailers. We were so made up! There was a little sofa on there, a table with a bucket of prosecco and juice for the kids. He then drove us around the village and it was amazing. This is when I really started to relax and enjoy it. I got to spend time with James and the kids and it was definitely the best part of the day for me. Stefan and Steve from Lincolnshire Videography did our video, and they had drones which followed us around on the trailer, which the kids loved! The video was the most important thing for us so we paid a bit more to have a second videographer there. We wanted to capture everybody, everywhere, because we weren’t going to get to see all of it. To be able to look back on an eight minute video with the kids and older members of the family meant a lot to us.
How did you style the Sailcloth?
I had Julia from Julia Dilworth Florals do my flowers. She initially met us at home and came with a brochure for us to look over. I always thought I wasn’t too fussy about the flowers but actually found them to be quite an important part of it. I certainly knew what I didn’t want. I did initially want Lillies but my Mum and Nan said they’re related to death so that put me off! However, Julia suggested Calla Lillies which were just beautiful. The bridesmaids had a small bunch of these with Eucalyptus leaves, and then mine was mainly made up of White Roses, gips, Eucalyptus and of course the Calla Lillies. I loved my flowers!
We did all the styling in the Sailcloth ourselves. I’m not actually that creative so I used Pinterest for inspiration. I looked at the colour palette we were using and figured out our theme really was an English Country Garden, so a lot of green and white. We used sage green cheesecloths that ran down the centre of the tables. I’d seen people do the log slices so we had them in the middle with the large church style white candles from Ikea. I then asked all the school mums to start saving their jars so we had loads of jars which we just put down the tables with gips and faux Eucalyptus in them. We also made our own table numbers which we got from Hobbycraft and then saw some of the inspiration in your blogs, and we loved the floral hoops which we knew we definitely wanted. We had round tables and long tables, which our VIP guests went on the round tables and then all our friends and the rest of the family went on the Nordic tables which worked really well. We had all our styling done by the Friday afternoon, it probably took us six hours in total with plenty of help.
What did everyone wear?
I wore an A-Line Lillian West gown, with a beautiful train edged with lace from Leigh at Pink Confetti in Broughton Astley. The front was a sweetheart neckline with a ball laced bodice, which crept just over my waist and flowed down to a satin dropdown, with a low back with buttons. I absolutely loved my dress, I could wear it again and again! I knew I wanted something simple, with a train and I love buttons, so it ticked all the boxes. It was the fifth dress I tried on, but when I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I knew it was the one!
I had four bridesmaids, including my maid of honour, and a flower girl who wore dresses from JJ’s House, who is an online retailer. They were great because they had a variety of styles and you could fit to order. Initially I wanted them to wear a jumpsuit style dress but I struggled to find something that would suit them all. In the end I ordered a few styles which when they had all tried them on we found the perfect one. We went for a light sage green colour, with a high neck, and backless, which was really free fitting, so it floated down in a tulip style with a slit in the leg.
James wore a suit he bought by Marc Darcy from Thorburns in Leamington Spa. He wore a light grey suit with a navy waistcoast and floral tie. His Best Men did it the other way round with navy suits and a light grey waistcoat.
You had a number of children in your party, how did you keep them entertained?
We had children ranging from seven months old to six years old. I made them some Kids Boxes for the tables for when we got to the Sailcloth, but to be fair while at Morton’s, they have a large green area, so they were just happy running around in that and of course the Ice Cream Parlour helped. For the boxes I included bubbles, crayons, glow sticks, transfer tattoos, flashing sunglasses, some juice, crisps and party rings. They were so happy with them. To be honest we hardly saw them because we had a bouncy castle in the field so they spent most of their time on that! It was definitely the best investment we made! Don’t get me wrong I loved all of it, but that bouncy castle from Bouncy Kings was the best £200 we spent!! We also had a Firepit with Hay Bales and we put on Marshmallows and S’mores which also proved popular. Family members stepped in to help with the childcare which was amazing and our babysitter came to the evening, and she stepped in from there and took them home for 10pm.
How did you feed your guests?
We fed our guests a paella from Giant Paella, after our speeches, which everyone loved. We had a Seafood one, Chicken one, and a vegan and vegetable one, with potatoes and a really big salad. Later on, Two Counties Hog Roast did our evening food, which again went down really well. James and I had a really nice moment while we ate our food. I wanted it to be just us, so we took ourselves out of the Sailcloth and found a bench by some stables. Juliette from Giant Paella brought us a small table out with a tablecloth on and we just sat there, ate our food and just took it all in.
What made you choose the date and in particular a Sunday for your wedding day?
We weren’t too precious on the date, but when I found out the date we chose was actually my great, great Nan’s birthday it actually felt quite nice. I love the feeling of a Sunday! When I think back to childhood, my Dad was always off on a Sunday because he worked six days a week, so Sunday’s for me were really chilled and very much a family day. For me getting married on a Saturday felt rushed so having that extra day not only helped finalise everything, but it gave us that extra day to enjoy the whole thing, as well as being able to welcome people arriving.
What made you choose to get married outdoors?
The first plan was to get married abroad but when I got pregnant with our third child, it felt a lot more sensible to keep the wedding more local, where I know I’d feel more comfortable, especially being closer to home and having the support of child care when we needed it.
With our local village having so much beauty, it just seemed like the perfect option, and the views from where we had our Sailcloth were amazing. The children were my priority and the thought of them being cooped indoors in the middle of summer just didn’t sit well with me. We love the outdoors and I particularly love a sunset. Kate, our photographer and Stefan actually suggested we do our first dance just outside the Sailcloth, which meant they captured the sun setting perfectly. It was just lovely!
How did you entertain your guests?
James Junior guitarist played during the food and he was amazing. He has such a soulful and he was our DJ too…he can even beatbox! We’d really recommend him. The Origin Bar also provided our drinks who looked great.
What are your top tips or advice for people considering an Outdoor Wedding?
Think about your timings, particularly when it comes to getting from different venues. Our guests loved the fact we had the church ceremony, then the couple of hours at Morton’s and then on to the Sailcloth.
Don’t overthink things and try to be as decisive as you can. You can end up going down a black hole once your Instagram has heard you talking about photographers, which then makes the decision really hard.
If you’re a mother with small children planning a wedding, ask for help! I got overwhelmed at times and I couldn’t have done it without my Maid of Honour and close friends.
Try and plan your wedding over a shorter period of time. We spent eighteen months planning ours and I wish we’d done it shorter. I found we got a bit more done when there was a time pressure in place. As long as you’ve got your Sailcloth booked and your venue, everything else will fall into place.
Make the most of the planning sessions with Beth at Sami Tipi. It really helped me imagine what the layout would be and where the Sailcloth would go. With us doing a lot of the styling ourselves, we needed to understand what was going where so that really helped. Beth would also make recommendations, so knowing sunsets were important to me, she suggested where to place the top table so we’d get to see it all, which we would never have even thought of. That was invaluable to us.
If you can afford on the Day Management, I’d definitely recommend it. We didn’t have it, and our Maid of Honour had to step in to do a lot of it. Definitely find the value in the investment of this.
How was your overall Sami Tipi experience?
You’ve done a fab job, everything went great! I started to panic a bit about the site visit, so for me if that could have been done sooner it would have been better, but when Craig came it was of course fine. We found you on Google and Instagram and I knew straight away I wanted a Sailcloth. I loved being able to see all your Real Wedding blogs, it was so helpful to see what other couples had done. This helped us a lot. You were all amazing and when the guys had put it up, it looked great! On taking down, they worked so hard, in hot conditions too! I’ve even recommended my friend to you who’s booked a Tipi wedding with you for next year!
Their Supplier Team
Featured Sami’s Friends
Sailcloth | Sami Tipi
Bar | Origin Bar
Other Key Suppliers
Photographer | Katie Hamilton Photography
Videographer | Lincolnshire Videography
Canapes Venue | Morton’s Bistro
Flowers | Julia Dilworth Florals
Daytime Catering | Giant Paella
Evening Catering | Two Counties Hog Roast
Singer | James Nicholas
Bouncy Castle | Bouncy Kings
Brides Dress | Pink Confetti
Grooms Suit | Thorburns
Further Inspiration
