Your Bristol & Somerset Wedding - June/July 2020 (Issue 77)

We spent a number of summers travelling the country together working at festivals. For some of that time we ran a backstage VIP bar, which was inside a PapaKåta tipi. When we found a venue down the road with the same tipis, we knew it was the right setting for our festival-themed day. It was even better that the venue had incredible views over Chew Valley Lake. We named the tables after different festivals that Ben and I had been to together. My bridesmaid, Dotty, laser-cut them from wood along with the place settings, which doubled up as favours. We had a whole team of family and friends who helped us set everything up. The bridesmaids laid the tables with lace runners, wood rounds cut by my maid-of-honour’s dad and flowers and candles in glass jars that I had decorated. The groomsmen hung half a kilometre of bunting around the whole venue, which was made by our mums, auntie and Ben’s mum’s quilting club. We didn’t have a traditional wedding car. Instead, my uncle drove us in his military Land Rover, which my auntie decorated with ribbons and flowers. They even had a bottle of prosecco waiting for us. It was great, but the sides were open and there was torrential rain so we got pretty wet on the way to the reception! 32