George & Alfie’s Chilled Outdoor Sami Tipi Wedding

If you asked me what elements make up a perfect tipi wedding I’d probably say: colourful flowers, a bright blue sky, oodles of outdoor space, free range kids (and dogs), cocktails, street food vans and no curfew. G&A’s wedding had all of this and more, making it one of my fave real wedding features this year.

As well as boasting some excellent outdoor wedding inspiration (and awesome flower girl style), George shares her top tips for planning a tipi wedding which are equally helpful and hilarious… enjoy!

George says…

It was important to us to have a day that felt really relaxed and fun for both ourselves and our guests. We booked Sami Tipi first, which allowed us to have our venue on the family farm we live on. It was also a convenient two minute walk from the church and had huge sentimental significance. The Sami Tipi team put the tipis up the week of the wedding, so we were able to enjoy setting it up for a few days and, in the case of my niece, practise dancing in it before the big day.

I wore the 2201 with 236 skirt by Jesus Peiro bought from Miss Bush Bridal in Ripley. It didn’t take me long to find my outfit, I loved it and I’d wear it every day if I could! Alfie hired his suit and his groomsmen’s suits from Peter Posh in Warwick.

I love my bridesmaids for their individual characters and styles, and I wanted them all to feel beautiful on the day so I decided not to have them all wear the same dress. I gave them a rough colour scheme, sent them on their way and they all looked amazing. We had the idea to give each of them a different bouquet made from a single type of flower that was represented in mine. I felt so proud to have them all by my side on the day.

The only styling we did was the flowers! Our florist, Green Room Flowers, did an amazing job with my brief ‘big and pink’, and made us an amazing flower arch and bowls for the tables.

My mum and I decided to supplement the florist’s arrangements with some of our own so we went to a flower market, bought supplies in the colour scheme and had a really fun morning making little arrangements in tin cans and vases we’d found around the house. This was such a happy memory for me and I’d encourage people to try to enjoy the lead up to the wedding and lean into moments like this rather than getting stressed about the details.

Apart from those mentioned, the beauty of the tipi was that it was already so beautiful that it didn’t need anything – the fairy lights, coloured lighting, hanging stars and wooden furniture all looked fab.

We weren’t so interested in a fancy cake, so we ended up with our Colin the Caterpillar scene for a cool 32 quid! And for catering we had food trucks – pizza from Nonna Lucia’s, gyros from Kalimera, burgers from Bandit Street Food and Vintage Wonder Ice Cream for the wedding breakfast, along with Mambo Mobile Bars serving cocktails. We didn’t have a formal sit down dinner so the whole day felt really chilled. I have a lovely memory of seeing all our guests sitting on the grass and on hay bales in the sun on our way back from having photos – everyone looked so happy!

Tips for a Tipi Wedding

• Enjoy the set up time – we loved sitting and watching the team put up our tipis! They were so skilled, it was quite a spectacle. We enjoyed a takeaway in there with family that night too!
• No need to go crazy on the decorations, the venue is already beautiful!
• Our mantra for the wedding planning was ‘cut the crap’, and if the item or tradition wasn’t important to either of us, we wouldn’t do it.