Marie & Nestor’s romantic vintage tipi wedding

Marie and Nestor celebrated their marriage with a gorgeous romantic tipi wedding at Phoenice Fields last September. It was such a lovely day with so many personal touches and we wanted to share all the gorgeous details.

With approx. 120 guests our sister company Canvas & Light had quoted for three stratus tipis – giant hats or katas, whatever you prefer to call them 🙂 

Set up started on the Thursday. Marie and Nestor had opted for a line formation with one end tipi to be dedicated to dancing.  Their head table ran in front of the dance floor (to be packed away later) so they could look out at all their guests, who were seated banquet style in three rows down the middle and into the third tipi, with space at the end for their bar. We also put up our naked ceremony tipi outside, in front of the long grasses, ready to be dressed by Faux Bloom.  

Saturday morning was a hive of activity with lots of suppliers on site getting everything ready. DJ, caterers, florist, stylist and Kim on site, ensuring everything came together in time.

Naomi from Rustic Blush was there, busy dressing the tipis. She had been asked to design a few displays including a photo prop area with a vintage twist and also provided a vintage dresser and books for the couple’s guest book area. She draped bunting across the poles of the tipis and provided a blanket stash to keep guests warm when the stars came out. Marie and Nestor also hired vintage garden games from Naomi to make the most of the outdoor space.

Emily of Faux Bloom told us a little bit about what they provided. 

“Marie & Nestor wanted a relaxed, romantic atmosphere to compliment the beautiful open fields ceremony backdrop. Marie was excited to find us online as an alternative to the usual fresh florist approach. The sustainable floral hire aspect of our business really appealed to her and provided a stunningly versatile and economic option.

We used a mix of peonies, gypsophila, roses & stocks with lush green ruscus & eucalyptus foliage to create a real ‘rustic romance’. We also created Marie’s bouquet and hair piece.”

While all this was going on Marie was busy getting ready with her sister and best friend and Nestor was with his best mates.

1pm arrived and guests started to arrive for the outdoor ceremony. Kim has placed all the chairs – some of which had been dressed with little bunches of gypsophila – outside in front of the ceremony tipi. Marie walked down the aisle on the arm of her father preceded, by her bridesmaids, flowers girls and page boys sprinkling petals, towards Nestor where he waited with celebrant Ginny Collins who conducted their ceremony.

 “We had a humanist wedding ceremony as we are not religious and got married because we see it as an everlasting partnership between two people, our friends and families”.

Marie and Nestor walked back down their aisle through an archway formed by their guests tossing natural confetti on them as they walked by.

After the ceremony, guests were met with trays of Prosecco and canapés of; Vegan bruschetta with heirloom balsamic tomatoes / Vegan crostini with hummus and caramelised onion / Boerewors beef sausages and Chorizo and scallop skewers.

Everyone enjoyed the outside space, playing  the lawn games with a background music playlist from the DJ. After an hour or so of guests mingling and chatting, playing games and enjoying the fizz, food and field views, guests were invited into the tipis for some lovely heart-warming speeches from Nestor and his three best men.

After the speeches, guests were called up table by table to collect their South African BBQ feast served up by Nyama. “We are both massive foodies so it was very important to us that the food was perfect. We selected the following menu for our guests.’‘

Veggie kebabs with lemon thyme baste / Chickpea and mushroom stuffed butternut squash / Mexican black bean burgers with lime and coriander / Rump beef / Piri-piri chicken and for the children: beef burgers with cheese and ketchup. The mains were served with Pomegranate and bulgar tabbouleh, Beetroot and balsamic glaze and Radish and cucumber salad

A dessert of ice cream (mango sorbet, raspberry sorbet and salted caramel ice cream) and teas and coffee followed and guests went back outside, while Marie and Nestor popped away with Andy to have some gorgeous couple shots in the long grasses

So Marie, we are loving everything about your look you chose for the day. Can you tell us a bit about the search for your dress please.

“I hadn’t really thought about it before getting engaged, but I knew that I wanted a dress that was quite elegant, not really puffy, and didn’t drag on the floor (I love to dance too much for that!). I am not a fan of shopping, but quite enjoy it from the comfort of my own home, so this is what I did. I went on various sites and found a couple of ones that I liked on Etsy. Then I discovered an American shop called Bhldn, which has lots of vintage inspired dresses.

I found my dress relatively quickly on the site, and screen shot it so I could look at it every day and make sure it was the one. After about a week of staring at it and imagining myself wearing it, I measured myself and ordered in a size slightly bigger to be safe. It arrived and it was even more beautiful than the images! It was a little big so I went to Alterations Boutique in Marylebone and they pinned it and I waited eagerly for my first fitting! I did this all alone, and I didn’t show anyone the dress beforehand. I had some funny day dreams where I imagined it looking awful to other people and I wouldn’t know until the day, but I went with my gut instinct and trusted my judgement! Once it was fitted perfectly, I brought it home in a dress bag on the tube and hung it in the wardrobe until the big day. (I also tried it on a few times when Nestor was out and practised walking around the room in it with my gorgeous vintage style green and gold shoes!) I was totally in love with it, the beading at the top was just incredible and I liked how it just reached my shoes and didn’t drag on the floor.

But I was having a Meghan Markle moment and decided I wanted a change of shoes and a midi strap dress for the evening so I could fully dance in style! I found the most beautiful white midi dress with bright floral embroidery from Needle and Thread and teamed it with some funky lilac shoes that had a slightly thicker heel so were perfect for a night of boogying. I absolutely loved my dresses and shoes and I am still trying to think of an excuse to wear them again!

When I asked Nestor what he thought the dress would be like, he said that the moment he saw me coming down the aisle, it was just as he had imagined in his head. His exact words were ‘Wow, you look amazing. I knew you wouldn’t get one of those silly dresses you can barely walk in!’