How to throw a festival themed wedding
Festival Wedding Planning Ideas
Festival Wedding Venues
First port of call when planning a festival wedding is where are you going to have it? Obviously it needs to be a rural location, with plenty of space to erect a marque or similar - as well as space for some camping, some chill out spaces and parking. Below are some of my favourite festival wedding venues of all time! Have a google and research about and fields, woodlands or dedicated festival wedding venues near you. You might also try approaching local farmers or people you know who have land or a huge garden they aren’t using to dry hair the site - but bear in mind this is logistically more work although it will be cheaper! It also has other benefits such as being able to BYOB (in true festival style!) saving you and your guests a bunch of monies.
Cover - tipis, marquees, stretch tents…
Once you’ve got your site, what are you going to choose to house your guests? Tipis are a super popular choice, but they can be very orange in photographs. Marquees are fairly easy to hire from all types of companies (check out smaller local ones too, not just wedding dedicated marquees) and can be decorated as much as you like! Having the sides able to be rolled up or down is a big bonus when it comes to the weather. You can also check out ‘naked tipis’ (just decorated with lights and no top, look beautiful but maybe not super practical!) and stretch tents too which have a definite wow-factor. This space will also likely need to be a backup for the ceremony if it’s rainy as sadly the english weather is tres unpredictable as we know!
The Ceremony
Designing this space gives you so much freedom to have whatever you want (and an excuse to split the day and do the legal bit earlier or later!) and the sky really is the limit! I have written a whole post about designing your own wedding ceremony for some inspiration and there’s some amazing ideas there (getting married under a disco ball!?)
Accommodation
This is an easy one.. camping! if you know your friends and family are well up for the festival vibe then camping is the only way to go. Bring their own tents, campers or rent in luxury bell tents for those not quite ready to give up the finer things.
The Music
Such a key part of a festival wedding! I totally admire people who can line up different acts and musicians throughout the day (a lot to think about with timings and sound checking!) but I think just a fantastic, strong and vibrant band in the evening is great. They really do get everyone dancing and create an amazing party atmosphere. I am a big fan of a brass section personally!
Festival wedding outfit inspiration…
This is the fun bit! Think laid back, up for a laugh, relaxed attire. For the boys, a tweed suit never goes a miss - paired with some sunnies and a bit of colour in the form of a bowtie or shirt! For the ladies, flower crowns always look beautiful too. I’ve had couples who get custom made leather jackets done that are very rock and roll, and of course you can’t do a miss with a pair of wellies on your feet either in true festival style.
Festival wedding food ideas
The best bit! As festival weddings are more relaxed this is the perfect setting for food trucks, wood fired pizzas or a giant BBQ for your guests to help themselves to and chill on a straw bale whilst munching. Think about your favourite tipples, do you want to hire in a bar and get some kegs of beer (complete with branded wedding festival cups maybe?! or create a special wedding festival cocktail?
As it’s a pretty untraditional wedding already I am all in favour of chucking out the fruit wedding cake and going for something more contemporary - how about donuts, cup cakes, cookies or a stack of brownies? it’s much more relaxed without the big fuss or expensive of a big tiered cake and means people can munch when and where they’re ready.
Games + Extras
I personally LOVE a photo booth at a wedding and I think dressing up in sequins and finery needs to be encouraged at a festival wedding, especially after a few bevvies! You can easily do this DIY with an instax camera or hire in one of these gorgeous vintage photo booths for people to really get in character. Also love it when the pantomime horse head ends up on the dance floor..
In the day there’s great games to be had to keep people occupied, we actually brought a table tennis table (easily be made into beer pong) and not forgetting the classic limbo which I love at a wedding!
Other Fun Ideas:
Festival wedding invites
Lanyards for timings of the day / weekend
Naming the bell tents after stages at big festivals
Signs so people know their way around the site
A site map! A true festival classic
Personalised records for the favours
DIY picnic baskets
Naming the tables after your favourite bands
Music quiz
Personalised festival wedding wellies
Glitter ball decor
Glitter bar / Dressing up station
Outdoor fire bowls & hay bales
Practical Considerations
Loos - If you’re hiring these in make sure you’ve got big enough ones and you know where the spare loo roll is kept!
Showers - If you’re got people camping for a few nights you might want to think about getting some showers for your guests
Camping - making sure the ground is level and suitable for tents / camper etc
Electric - How big do you need the generator, is someone going to be in charge of making sure it runs properly?
Keeping things cold - do you need to hire in a fridge trailer?
Parking - making sure people park properly so everyone can leave when they need to, and there’s routes for suppliers and emergency services
Rubbish & Recycling - this is really important especially if people are camping! You want to leave the site as you found it! Make sure you liaise with the bar as well for this.
Noise levels - check with neighbours and the venue about curfews, and maybe make up some signs to remind people to keep it down after a certain time.
The Clear Up - after the fun must come the tidying.. make sure you’ve got a good crew to go through the lost property with you and the litter picking. Not the most fun part but grabbing some left over beers and a hangover hot dog and you’ll be fine!
