Creative DIY Outdoor Tipi Field Wedding with a Kissing Booth &...

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WWW readers Katie and Daniel wanted to let their creativity shine through on their wedding day held on the 23 ^rd May 2015. They booked the Cedar Field and opted for fun tipis and bell tents to accommodate their wedding party. There were lashings of DIY touches including a kissing booth, lemonade stand, bunting, stationery and fun chalk board signs. The whole day was a real labour of love.

Katie had two gorgeous gowns, lace and tulle for the day and short and sweet for the evening. Daniel went for a navy blue suit while the maids donned elegant blush Two Birds Bridesmaid dresses.

HBA Photography, thank you so very much for sharing your wonderful photographs with us.

THE PROPOSAL | After 6 years of being together and living at my parents' house for 4 years we decided to buy our first home together. We received the keys to our new home whilst I was away on a work trip, which was slightly disappointing as I couldn't be there to celebrate with Dan. On my journey home Dan called asking when I would be home, he seemed very keen on a precise time of my arrival so I immediately thought he had started decorating and moved furniture in! When I arrived at our new home Dan was standing on the driveway looking very excited. He immediately said I needed to close my eyes and follow him... looking forward to seeing our new home for the first time Dan guided me into the living room with his one hand over my face so I couldn't sneak a peek at his handy work. When we arrived got to the living room he said I could open my eyes. As I opened my eyes Dan was on one knee. The room was lit only by candlelight from a giant heart made from tea lights in the centre of the room. The floor was scattered in red rose petals. After Dan had proposed my initial response was "have you asked my dad?" As soon as Dan said yes so did I. Guess what... there was no decorating done but I forgave him as he had been a little pre-occupied.

THE VISION | Before we started planning our day we gave ourselves 6 months to enjoy our new home and get a feel for what type of wedding we both really wanted rather than rushing into any big decisions. After seeing lots of family and friends weddings we knew we wanted something a little bit different, more relaxed and to make the day about our marriage and the guests rather than the formalities of a normal wedding day. Of course we wanted a certain amount of structure but we didn't want guests to feel restricted and neither did we. We're both very creative people and wanted a blank canvas to work from and be able to let our creative side show through on the day.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Dan left the majority of the planning up to me. I'm a self-confessed control freak and I wanted to make sure everything would be perfect. If I did it myself then there would only be myself to blame if it went wrong. After scouring lots and lots of wedding fairs with my bridesmaids and mum the ideas started flowing and I gradually started booking vendors. The best wedding fair we went to by far was the The Giant Wedding Show at Osmaston Park in Derbyshire, this was actually ran by our photographers Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography.

BUDGET | Our budget started out at £15,000 and we thought that this should be more than enough to create our perfect day. After choosing the marquee, cars and dresses we quickly realised our initial budget was not going to come close. After a lot of help from my parents we were able to have exactly what we wanted and the £15,000 quickly went out the window.

THE VENUE | After trawling the internet for weeks and weeks it was looking bleak for us to have the venue we dreamt of. It seemed pretty impossible to hire just a field local to our ceremony. Let alone a field with amazing views and flexibility to do as we pleased. I never gave up searching as I thought there must be something out there, finally one evening we came across The Cedar Field in Market Bosworth. This venue was 25 minutes from our church, had amazing views and also we had free reign on the majority of our day. Yes I like being in control and this was a major thing for me, knowing there would be no one to stop me hanging bunting where I wanted and having as many guest's as I wished was a huge deciding factor.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | After we decided we were having an outdoor wedding I instantly knew I wanted two dresses. My Daytime dress was from The Bridal Rooms at the heart of the country shopping village on the A38 in Staffordshire. My Evening dress was Alice Rose Atelier in Ashby-de-la-Zouch as well as my veil, hair piece and bracelet. My hair piece and bracelet were handmade by Gemma at Alice Rose, Gemma makes the most amazing pieces to compliment your other accessories and dress. For my shoes I knew I wanted something quite traditional so after weeks of looking I found the perfect pair in the Jenny Packham range at Debenhams to compliment my daytime dress. For my evening shoes I wore a simple but elegant pair of heels from Rainbow Club which complimented my evening dress and were extra comfortable too for lots of dancing.

FINDING THE DRESS | My 'Day' dress which I wore for the ceremony and wedding breakfast was the first dress I chose and this took me all of one hour and one bridal boutique to find. We visited The Bridal Rooms at The Heart of The Country Shopping Village in Staffordshire with my mum and bridesmaids as a last minute decision. Not planning to find my dress that day I tried on lots of styles and really wanted to see what would suit my shape. After about 5 dresses my best friend picked out my dress and said try this, at first I said no as I wanted my arms covered in the day. Pauline at the boutique said to try it on and I was so glad I did as she cleverly added a jacket over the dress which completely transformed the look of the dress and was exactly what I was looking for. So I decided there and then that was the dress to everyone's horror as it was the only shop we had been to, but I knew it was 'the one'!

For my evening dress I had saw a picture of it online but found it impossible to find a stockist, finally I found Alice Rose who stocked the Opulence range. After several emails I discovered that they didn't hold it as a sample dress but Gemma was a great help and ordered it in for me to look at. After the dress arrived and I tried it on I loved it! It was exactly what I wanted for my evening dress.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | After looking in many shops for suits we decided the best place to go would be Moss Bros. Dan decided on a navy blue Ted Baker suit with a white shirt and pink/grey Ted Baker tie. The suit went perfectly as the lining matched the bridesmaid's dresses. All of the other groomsmen wore the same suit but a plain pink tie to compliment the colour scheme. Buying the suits I think was more stressful than buying bridesmaid's dresses, Men are so fussy!!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | For our reading in Church my sister read Colossians 3 v 12-17, we didn't ask her to read until about 4 weeks before the wedding and she did amazingly as she didn't have much time to practice. For our music we had our friend Ellis sing whilst guests entered the church and she also sang Christina Perri - One Step Closer when I walked down the aisle. She did an amazing job to learn the songs in a couple of weeks after I had been so indecisive. When we walked out of the church we had Bellamy Brother - Let your love flow playing.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My two bridesmaids were my Sister Lucy and best friend Danielle. They were both an amazing help leading up to the day and on the day, we couldn't have done it without them both. They both wore Twobirds long dresses in Blush with heels from Jones the Boot Makers. They looked beautiful and even though we had dramas leading up to the day with the dresses our close family friend Lisa came to the rescue and helped with the girls dresses on the day.

THE FLOWERS | I always knew that I didn't want a structured bouquet and finding a florist was the most difficult job. This was one of the very last things we booked. We found Emily from Emily Wisher Artisan Florist at the pop up wedding fair at Calke Abbey. After meeting with Emily she was instantly on the same page as me and knew exactly what I wanted. Because we were having an outdoor wedding we didn't want structured bouquets and Emily's work was the exact style we wanted. I knew I wanted Peonies as these are my favourite flowers but roses were a big no no for me. All the other flowers in our arrangements were down to Emily's ideas. She worked her magic and pulled together wonderful free flowing centre pieces, bouquets and button holes. We couldn't have been happier with our flowers, they completed the whole look.

THE CAKE | The cake was made by my wonderful aunty who makes the most delicious cakes. I sent her lots of pictures of the type of cakes we liked then she worked her magic and created a masterpiece out of icing. Even the teacup and flower on the top tier were made from icing. We loved that it had been made by her as it was more personal to us. We had 3 flavours, Chocolate on the bottom tier, Lemon on the second tier and Fruit on the 3 ^rd. The very top tier was a false tier so we were able to keep it.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographers were just the BEST!!! We found them whilst visiting The Giant Wedding Show at Osmaston Park in Ashbourne and instantly fell in love with their work. On the day Ben was awesome, he didn't stop. He arrived in the morning at my mom and dad's house and instantly got to work photographing all the small details. I was really nervous at first with someone pointing a camera in my face all day but Ben was great and put me at ease. The shots Ben created were so unique and we especially loved the smoke bombs and lighting in the woods. Victoria, Ben's assistant, was also amazing and helped get some pretty cool shots.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | I made 99% of the décor myself; the 1% was Dan who made the lemonade stand and kissing booth! I love how chalkboard lettering looks and the overall rustic theme so over during the 18 months of planning I made everything for the day including all of the stationery, chalkboard signs and 75meters of bunting. Lots of people thought I was mental but I had to do it for me. The painstaking hours of chalkboard lettering was all worth it when I saw it all come together on the day. I tried to add lots of details where possible and make it personal to us both. I visited lots of car boot sales and eBay became my hobby in the quest to find the perfect items.

THE HONEYMOON | For our Honeymoon we went to Mauritius and Dubai for 2 weeks. We have always wanted to go to Mauritius so it made sense to go for our honeymoon. We added on Dubai to the end of our trip for 3 nights which was perfect to break the flights up and great to see other places. In Mauritius we stayed at The Shandrani Resort and Spa and it was amazing, ultimate paradise. In Dubai we stayed at Atlantis on the palm which was also amazing! Dan loves diving and went diving in the main aquarium in Atlantis which was full of sharks and sting rays. I think he was crazy but he had great fun!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | There were lots of memorable moments but the main one has to be our first dance. I never knew what we were going to dance to as Dan said he would sort a song and it would be a surprise for me. Not being in control of this scared me but I knew I had to let him choose something. When we came to do our first dance this was the moment I would find out what we were dancing to. The DJ handed Dan the microphone and he announced he had actually written and recorded our first dance song!! I wasn't expecting this and was in complete shock. It was a lovely song and really personal to us, after we had finished dancing everyone was in tears.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Of course everyone tells you enjoy the day as it goes so fast, but no one tells you to be prepared for the emotional roller-coaster you will go on after the wedding. We were both so emotional after the day and it is such a bizarre feeling. We went away for a few days after the wedding and we definitely needed it. We cried and laughed but I was nice that it was just us two to reflect of the day and also the lead up to it. Be prepared for the mix of emotions because it is honestly so overwhelming that everyone has gathered together for you both.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

The photography | HBA Photography

The venue | Cedar Field

Day time dress | The Bridal Rooms

Evening Dress | Alice Rose Atelier

Your shoes | Debenhams No.1 Jenny Packham

The bridesmaids dresses | Two Birds Bridesmaid

Your hair | Francesco Group

Your makeup | Adele Faye MUA

The guys suits | Ted Baker suits from Moss Bros

The tipi | Elite Tents

The flowers | Emily Wisher Artisan Florist