Our tipis provided the blank canvas for Marie and Nestor’s gorgeous romantic vintage wedding at Phoenice Fields in September. It was such a lovely day with lots of personal touches and we loved how they styled our tipis, so we wanted to share it with you.

Having found their secluded field space in January, through our sister company Fiesta Fields, we started chatting with the lovely Marie and Nestor about their tipis. With approx. 120 guests we quoted for three of our stratus tipis (giant hats or kata, whatever you prefer to call them :) With a quote including flooring, lighting, furniture, dancefloor and mirror ball this took care of all the essentials.

We started set up on the Thursday. Marie and Nestor had opted for a line formation with one end tipi to be dedicated to dancing.  Marie and Nestor’s head table ran in front of the dancefloor (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 from Fiesta Fields.

Naomi from Rustic Blush was there, 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 & 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 our 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!’

Around 7ish evening guests started to arrive and as the light started to fade guests were treated to a gorgeous magic hour. Guests were then invited back into the tipis to see Nestor and Marie cut their amazing cake made by Bee’s Bakery. A four tier cake (Victoria Sponge, lemon and blueberry, orange and elderflower and flat whiite) iced with buttercream and a gorgeous finish of edible petals. Simply stunning! (and all fully vegan with the top two tiers gluten free for guests with allergies.

Marie and Nestor then took to the dancefloor, choosing Take on the World by You Me At Six as their first dance. The DJ got the dance floor jumping with a mix of classic dance floor fillers and current chart music to get everyone involved. If guests were hungry after the feast earlier, they could snack on chicken thigh skewers or chickpea curry, both served with chapatis.

So Marie, please tell us about Nestor’s proposal.

“We actually met on good old Tinder! But we officially met in person at a lovely pub in Windsor. We drank, laughed and spent the night chatting away and singing along to ‘Teenage dirt bag’ which was being played by a local artist on guitar. We got engaged just before Christmas in 2018 and Nestor had secretly planned the proposal for our last weekend together before I went off to my family for the holiday period. We set off for a woodland walk in Marlow. Little did I know that Nestor had padded his pocket out with gloves to hide the ring box!

After we trampled through the woods, the quiet, scenic spot that Nestor was looking for still hadn’t arrived and he was getting a little agitated. We came across a cute old woman who pointed us in the direction of a secluded walkway. And it was here, on one knee in a bed of mud and leaves, and as I stood with my back to him posing for a photo, that Nestor got out the ring, and waited for me to turn around. I didn’t immediately say yes, I was gabbling away and then when I realised it was for real, he was able to get up from the muddy floor! He placed the ring on my finger, and we had a really long excitable hug, just as a timely jogger ran past!’

‘We knew from the moment we got engaged that we didn’t want a long engagement, and we ended up with turnaround of 9 months in the end! One thing we were adamant about from the start was that we wanted an outdoor tipi wedding in a field with lovely scenery. The reason we decided on the outdoor tipi option was that we wanted to decide on everything and make it a magical and personal day, which it certainly was. 

Nikki and the team at Canvas & Light were incredible during the lead up to our wedding. The tipis, furniture and little touches were absolutely stunning and the compliments we received were nothing but pure amazement! Nikki answered our many emails, calls and questions and was so friendly and professional. We highly recommend Canvas & Light for any special event!

Our main hope for the day was that everyone there had an amazing time, with incredible food, drinks, laughter and dancing. It was safe to say that it was more than we could ever have imagined and we have lifelong memories that we will cherish forever.” 

Thanks to Andy David Wright for all the images

CREDITS

Giant hat tipis / Canvas & Light
Venue, power, loos and on the day coordination / Fiesta Fields
Caterer / Nyama
Chiller trailer / OEEH
DJ / Witch Doctor Disco
Dress / BHLDN
Suits / Moss Bros
Celebrant / Ginny Collins
Florist – Faux Bloom
Styling and prop hire / Rustic Blush
Cake / Bee’s Bakery