Chilled & Fun Woodland Meets Festival Vibes Marquee Wedding

Festival woodland vibes today with Emma and Marc’s sensational Sopley Lake wedding held on the 25th May 2019. Following their ceremony at Bournemouth Town Hall, they headed to the outdoor venue in Dorset for their marquee celebrations. It really was a chilled and fun atmosphere; think silent disco, ice cream cart, a pedalo for the lake and entertaining outdoor games. Wow.

There is so much to love about their wedding, from all of the brilliant DIY wedding décor to the super gorgeous outfits all round and that macaron tower! Be sure to read their proposal with penguin references and a link to their venue, it really is so meaningful and special.

These stunning shots are courtesy of One Thousand Words and I really cannot thank them enough for sharing them with us.

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The Proposal

Our first date was at a pick your own strawberry field. Every year since then, we celebrate in the same strawberry picking tradition. 6 years on and Marc’s on one knee presenting a pebble instead of a strawberry. Marc and I have always had a love for penguins, so he followed penguin suit and presented me with a pebble as a proposal. It was thoughtful, romantic and just us all over.

The Vision

We always wanted a chilled woodland vibe. Both of us hated the idea of being centre of attention so we knew from the start our ceremony would be private with a bigger party style reception immediately after. We love going to festivals and wanted an outdoor picturesque day where our guests could enjoy the day as much as us.

The Planning Process

We started with the venue. We viewed lots of field style outdoor venues including barns. Once we figured that the place Marc proposed also had a beautiful field and lake rented out for weddings, we knew this was the venue for us. Next, a structure – we visited the really helpful and friendly Taddle Farm Marquees warehouse to see their stock. I was precious about having oak style cross back chairs and they had everything to match our English Countryside vibe.

Budget

£15K but spent £23K (excluding honeymoon).

The Readings & Music

We wrote our own vows which were very personal, with of course penguin references. My walking down the aisle song was The XX – Angels. We signed the register to Al Green – Lets Stay Together, Asgeir – King and Cross (we first heard this in Iceland on holiday and loved this artist ever since), Submotion Orchestra – All Yours. We walked out to Rusted Root – Send Me on My Way.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Bride – I knew I wanted a floaty boho style dress. I found I loved Lillian West dresses and travelled 2 hours to the nearest supplier, White Lace and Butterflies, after trying on about 20 other dresses! As soon as I saw the Lillian West ones instore I knew they were my style. I wore rose gold diamond Monica Vinader earrings which my husband gifted me on our wedding morning, I literally LOVE Monica jewellery. I wore my mum’s eternity ring which my dad got her after I was born. I had a cathedral length veil from an Etsy shop called Bluebird & Blossom which was plain and on a rose gold comb.

Groom – Dark navy suit jacket from Next, with woodland floral lining. Navy trousers in the closest colour match also from Next and grey herringbone style waistcoat. Once the formals were over, the jacket and waistcoat were off revealing personalised leather braces from an overseas Etsy shop called Corsac Store. Wooden Bowtie from eBay.

The Flowers

We both love simplicity so went for green and grey foliage with eucalyptus being a running theme (we also grew our own trees) and white flowers including peonies and roses.

Beauty

I went for a voluminous, loose up-do and the bridesmaids had half up half down curls. Hair and make up by Amazing Face.

Groomsmen

We had no groomsmen but both our fathers wore navy suits to match Marc’s suit trousers from Next.

The Venue

Sopley Lake. It was stunning and a complete blank canvas where we could bring in our own suppliers to do what we wanted to. They even had a pedalo we were able to rent out for the day and a little cabin so we stayed onsite privately for our first night as Mr & Mrs Bubb.

Bridesmaids

To complete the boho feel, I wanted skirts and tops. The tops were from Boohoo and the skirts from Rewritten.

The Cake

Macarons!! Every year we visit La Patisserie Macaron stand at The Christchurch Food Festival. We asked them to do a macaron tower with a small cake for the token ‘cutting of the cake’. The macarons went down a treat and we had so many compliments about them. We also made sure we over ordered an extra batch so we have kept them in the freezer for anniversaries.

The Details & Décor

Details and décor inspiration of course stemmed from Pinterest. We had the field and lake rented for the two days prior which allowed us to add all our fine details. A lot of this was DIY – We had a ‘family tree’, photo booth pontoon, make your own flower crown and buttonhole station, marshmallow toasting at a fire pit with baskets of blankets, a pedalo, snack table, hand written signage, champong (Champagne ping pong which was amazing as all guests gathered around during welcome drinks and we all played against each other!) home grown terracotta pots of plants spotted around the venue and inside the marquee to give the feel of bringing the outdoors in and merging the landscape. The lighting was important to get the vibe – festoon lighting, a tea light lit walkway guiding guests to the wedding, the fire pit, inside the marquee we had ladders suspended which we wrapped in foraged ivy and had filament bulbs hanging from the ladders at different lengths.
Extra touches were – Garbanzos Icecream Tricycle, Magic by Alfie (our amazing magician) and a silent disco!! This was amazing!

Your Photographer

One Thousand Words – we met them at The Light House Wedding Fayre and we instantly warmed to their fun and friendly characters. We think they beautifully and naturally captured the day and kept us all entertained whilst doing so, and the photograph turn around was really speedy!

Your Filmmaker

Chris Watkins Media (CWM Wedding Films). These guys were truly amazing. We love our video so much, even though its all about us! Hehe. Chris and Ana worked really well alongside the photographers and were so friendly and helpful with little things on the day too. They just really lovely people, the stranger type you would want to share your wedding day with.

The Honeymoon

So we were supposed to go to Sri Lanka & The Maldives but sadly, they had an Easter Terrorist Attack and we were advised to cancel the Sri Lanka section of the trip. We ended up booking a tour across Borneo with Trial Finders to replace the Sri Lanka part. It was truly incredible. It included Kinabatangan River cruises which helped us spot wild orangutan, crocodiles, all sorts of monkeys. We explored bat caves, swift birds, sun bear and orangutan sanctuaries. A highlight of the honeymoon was a visit we scheduled to Turtle Island where we saw Hawksbill Turtles nesting in the middle of the night and released baby turtles into the ocean.

We proceeded to the Maldives with Turquoise Holidays and it was blissful to end the trip. Pure paradise. We swam everyday with wild turtles.

Memorable Moments

The entire day was memorable! A specific highlight would be when our photographers waited for night time to take us to the island in the middle of the lake. By this time the silent disco was well under way and when we got to the island, all you could hear was the screeching of guests attempting to sing ‘Summer of 69’! Of course, all you could hear was the voices, not the music with it! So we were all in stitches!

Seeing guests enjoy themselves was lovely too, we wanted the day to be about everyone, not just us so we’re so glad everyone had a lovely time.

Advice For Other Couples

What will be will be! Some things are out of your control, try not to stress. Lots went wrong but only we noticed.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh so special.

Emma and Marc thanks ever so much for sharing your wonderful wedding day with us xo Lou