Lillie + Gavin's Tipi Wedding Photography

17 Sept

Lillie + Gavin | Tipi Wedding in the welsh countryside

What can I say about Lillie and Gavin? I've known Lillie for ages, and I've seen her grow from a teenager into a totally amazing woman. When she announced her engagement to Gavin, everyone was like "well, yeah, of course!" They go together like peas and carrots.

Early on in their wedding planning they decided they wanted a homespun, DIY wedding. Several years back, Lillie's dad, Mike, bought a large, empty field. Since then he's worked so hard at turning it into a meadow. It's been a whole family effort - they've planted hundreds of trees, built a cabin, started an allotment, kept bees...

It's a huge part of their life as a family. I can't think of a place that means more to Lillie and Gavin than this wild, beautiful field in the Welsh countryside. It was the right place to have their wedding.

We started with Lillie getting ready at her parents' house, and then popped down to the church in Bangor on Dee for their ceremony. After chucking some confetti around we posed on the bridge (any excuse to stop traffic on a wedding day!) and then moved up to the field. If you're looking for some inspiration for a wildflower wedding, or a DIY wedding then this is a must-see! The tipi was decorated with flowers and hops, and all the tables were named after varieties of tree that they'd planted in the field many years ago. Photos of the Lillie and Gavin with their guests were placed all over the tables, and they'd hung many more photographs from the beams in the tipi. It all meant that everyone who was there was so important to the couple and had a really strong connection with them.

Many of the decorative items were handmade by Lillie's mum, Liz. Candle holders were decorated with wildflowers that were grown in the field and pressed, and the dried-flower bouquets were designed and tied by Liz too. I was particularly impressed by them filling their canoe with ice and booze! There were no staff topping up people's drinks, and plenty of fun things to keep people busy, like playing Schullbach and toasting marshmallows by the fire. They opted for a pizza van and donuts rather than a sit down meal and a big fancy cake. Liz collected loads of tiny jam jars - the type you get with breakfast in a cafe - and filled them with a homemade orange juice and rum mix from Madeira called Poncha, which is bloody delicious and something they drink on holiday there. Poncha refills were readily available for toasting the speeches, and I think it's safe to say it went down pretty well!

This was a really fun, heart-felt wedding and I have to confess to crying a tiny bit while I edited their photos.