Debbi & John’s Woodland & Tipi Wedding

Debbi & John perfectly matched their woodland gathering hall ceremony reception with Betty’s Tipis, the whole day was a rustic shindig with good food, good music, lots of personal touches and GIN! Jess Yarwood Photography was there to capture it all for the couple and the images are so lovely.

Over to the bride herself to tell you more… Oh and if you you like the look of GreenAcres, they’re hosting an Open Day on Sunday 8th October! So take a look at the Event Diary to grab all the details.

The first venue we found was our reception venue, Betty’s Tipis, and instantly fell in love! It matched everything we both were looking for – something different, something non-traditional and something relaxed. Jack & Allison sold us our dream and boy did they deliver! GreenAcres Woodland Weddings Rainford was the perfect spot for our Ceremony; getting married in such beautiful surroundings with our favourite people was bliss. Both venues worked so well together.

I thought I had in mind exactly what I wanted in a wedding dress and as a curvy bride I wanted to feel beautiful and confident on the day. My first stop was this gorgeous small bridal shop called Elegance Bridal in Bebington Village. They allowed me to try on all of the dresses I thought I would like and then announced ‘Right, now can we get you to try on what we think!’. They brought out these tight, fitted Jessica Rabbit type wedding dresses. They were so right to show off my curves and I felt a million dollars (or English Pounds).

I found a beautiful head piece from Etsy which replaced a veil. My jewellery was very delicate as I felt the feature was the dress itself and the back head piece, but a gorgeous rustic bouquet finished off the look perfectly! I decided to be true to myself and wear my glasses on the day too and everyone loved that!

My bridesmaids all wore different colours and different styles, with my Maid Of Honour in gold. The looks were brought together with small rustic bouquets of purples, pinks and greens. I wanted my bridesmaids to feel comfortable in their own individual looks – it was lovely.

Not many grooms could pull off a multi-tone suit with berry jacket, but mine could! All purchased from the wedding shop on ASOS (great budget saver)! Navy pants, white shirt, brown leather accessories and finished with a berry suit jacket and great big beard – how handsome.

I am lucky enough to own a gorgeous hair salon called Imagine Hair & Beauty Salon in Prenton, so my team created the looks for my whole bridal party. My hair was half up / half down with subtle gold / brown makeup. My bridesmaids had their hair up with baby’s breath, followed again by subtle dreamy makeup. The little flower girls all had something different.

Our wedding was definitely a Pinterest inspired rustic theme! After getting square eye from the hours of Pin-stalking, I found my favourite elements that I wanted on the day. It took me and a team of fabulous friends and family over 6 hours to create the décor and it was exactly what I had imagined. Lavender, baby breath, rustic details and a room filled with very special elements of our relationship so far. It had a very personal feel too with old photos, a tribute table to our special friend we lost very close the wedding, and a very dear friend Phil sang for us during the ceremony and at the welcome drinks – it was all very personal! We also decided last minute on Betty’s Gin bar (as a couple who both love gin) – it was very popular!

My mother chose a florist to decorate GreenAcre’s ceremony hall and to create the top table fresh garland and flower girls baby breath’s posies. It fitted so well into the theme – thank you Wendy! And thank you to my mum who wanted the day to be perfect!

Being a non-traditional couple we decided to not have a cake! If we had decided to have a cake then my lovely friend, Danielle, would have done the honours as she does all my cakes. But as she was a guest I wanted her to relax and enjoy the day. So no cake and you know what, no one even noticed! Betty’s Tipis have superb food and for the wedding breakfast we had an evening summer BBQ. My brother and many friends are vegan, so Jack and his team created fantastic vegan food that even my brother was impressed. Their food was incredible – everyone commented and as we are a bit of a foodie couple (well Hubby loves the kitchen), we were very proud the food delivered.

Oh where do I start when it comes to our photographs – Jess Yarwood was found after many, many hours of researching. I have never been fond of the traditional photographs with mainly posed photos of the bridal party and family. I was looking for special moments to be captured, non-posed and very natural. Jess was well known for just that and having a look at the photos, she captured some beautiful moments for me to treasure forever – our daughter’s beautiful smile, friends laughing, me and John giggling to ourselves when we thought no one was there – Jess was everywhere and captured the true essence of the day. Thank you Jess!

Best part of the day

Having everyone in the one place! You looked around the room and it was a story of both of our lives. Both families together and  friends who travelled all over the world to be there. We are both very lucky to have some incredible people in our lives.

From one bride to another…

Don’t get so stressed about the small stuff, the ‘show’ I like to call it. All guests want is good food, good music and a bar. Keep the speeches brief as possible, make sure you have time to enjoy yourself instead of working the room. Most of all get a photographer to capture all those special moments that would go missed. Your day goes so quick, but photographs will be with you forever.

Photography Jess Yarwood Photography

Ceremony Venue GreenAcres Woodland Weddings Rainford

Reception Venue Betty’s Tipi

Flowers Flowers by Wendy

Hair & Makeup Imagine Hair & Beauty Salon

Bridal Boutique Elegance Bridal

Evening Entertainment The Wedding Guitarist