Lucy and Ricky celebrated their beautiful summer tipi wedding at the picturesque lakeside wedding venue - Duncton Mill in West Sussex. This was most definitely the time for an outdoor celebration, following the easing of wedding restrictions in July - just a week prior to their big day! It's not really what you need to be worrying about in the lead up to your wedding, but Lucy and Ricky took it all in their natural stride.
Harry Michael Photography captures the mood perfectly - fun filled, free spirited, laid back, relaxed with plenty of laughter, love and lots and lots of dancing!
The proceedings kicked off with a stunning lakeside ceremony where friends and family gathered outdoors, with views over the lake to the tipis. The rustic wedding arch, hand crafted by Lucy's dad was decorated with gorgeous fresh and dried floral displays from Rococo Florist. Flowers on the day included an array of eye-catching blooms from Blushing Bride Protea, Cymbidium Orchids & Grevillea, Peonies, Dried Sun Palm, Olive, Eucalyptus Populus, Setaria grasses to bleached ferns.
Lucy's rustic boho personal touches included a fabulous free standing table layout display for guests decorated with eucalyptus leaves, as well as a personalised outdoor pallet backdrop, photo wall and boho decor with peacock chairs and pampas grass + can we also just mention... bubbles!!
Bubbles add such a magical element to an outdoor wedding or event, especially in pictures too and it's so great to see them being used here as an alternative to confetti!
The wedding ceremony was followed by a tipi drinks reception with lawn games for the youngsters (and adults!), followed by a sit down meal provided by caterers, Stag and Doe Catering and then onto the dancefloor with music by Brighton based band 'It's The Sonics'.
What made you decide on tipis for your wedding?
We went with tipi’s, as I am very much a huge fan of the boho rustic style and thought these overlooking the lake at Duncton Mill would look so beautiful and we were exactly right. I love the style with all the fairy lights, when we planned our wedding we both said we wanted a really untraditional wedding, as this would reflect who we are. The tipi’s were just a perfect fit for us, with all the beams and the open sides. I couldn’t of asked for a better supplier, you helped me bring my vision to light with all the added extras, like the benches and rugs.
How did you go about sourcing your wedding suppliers ?
If I am honest, I used google to find local vendors/suppliers and then I would either look on there website for inspiration/reviews, but mainly I would review their instagrams as you can go onto tagged photos and then you can see real life wedding photos including flowers, bars, comments etc. Instagram really helped me find local vendors with great reviews. A family friend made the wedding cake - Pantry to Platter, she is amazing and does delicious platters and the signage was also done by my friend Michelle, she is amazingly creative, she did all the signage and wedding invitations. The Great Mobile Bar Company even stocked up on my favourite shot - tequila rose !
What advice would you give, from your personal experiences with regards to wedding planning?
I think every wedding is different, but luckily I had a great team of friends and family around me, one thing is, don't be afraid to ask for help when your feeling stressed, without my bridal party and my family my wedding wouldn’t of come out as perfectly as it did. I had help from everyone the night before the wedding helping me set up and bringing my vision to life. One of my friends even let me go foraging on her eucalyptus tree for my decor, I mean that’s dedication. Weddings are so stressful but just try to have fun with it (although if someone said this to me I probably wouldn’t have believed them either) it only happens once and on the day whatever little things you stress about aren’t even apparent. But one thing I will say did save my life other than my people …EXCEL SPREADSHEETS ! Keep a tab on deposits, outstanding invoices and the dates things are due. Honestly what a lifesaver !
Did you have a wedding planner? No I did not have a wedding planner, I wanted to do everything myself. I am a very hands on person and I am quite creative so instead of hiring things from people, I made a lot of decor for my wedding myself such as my table plans, my table names, table numbers, homemade eucalyptus chandeliers with fairy lights. I think doing it myself gave it that extra special touch on the day.
Best moment?
Best moment, it’s such a hard question obviously the whole day is so amazing and special in different ways, i mean the speeches are up there for me but I have to say i think that time after all the speeches are done and the first dance, when you take that moment to stand back with your partner and just watch all your guests having the best time with smiles on their faces, laughing with each other or mosh pitting on the dancefloor to the live band, that's when you realise how it was all worth it and what a huge amount of special people you have in your life.
First Dance ?
FAITH by George Michael. Faith is a great song and a classic for everyone to enjoy! We didn’t want a traditional slow dance, cause it’s just not us but it worked so well.
"Thank you for supplying us with your tents for our wedding, honestly we had so many compliments, it was amazing."
Thank you to Lucy and Ricky for having our tipis at your wedding and for sharing your experiences with us and stunning pictures from your special day!
Tribeca Tipis - 3 giant hat tipis, tables, benches, chairs, dancefloor, fireplace, chill out lounge, sheepskins, tipi and aisle matting walkway, fairy lights and lighting.
No of guests: 80
Suppliers :
Venue : Duncton Mill
Photographer : Harry Michael Photography
Florist : Rococo Florist
Dress: Proposals of Chichester
Shoes : Jimmy Choo
Hair : Wylie Wedding Hair
Catering: Stag and Doe Catering
Cake: Pantry To Platter
Band : It's The Sonics
Lucy & Ricky - July 2021
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