Coastal Tipi Wedding Inspiration with World Inspired Tents

Images by Nick Walker Photography.

Giant Nordic tipis are now firmly established as a great option for rustic and woodland weddings, but Anna & Mark’s tipi wedding at Mesmear near Polzeath perfectly illustrates how they can be used to create a cool, chic coastal venue.

Laya from World Inspired Tents says “For this wedding we provided three Giant Hat tipis and a smaller Cirrus 40 chill out tipi, linked to create a single space to accommodate 140 guests on 14 round tables. The tents were furnished with open fires, a stage, a dance floor, chill out furnishings and lots of fairy lights!” Layla continues “The tipis were decorated with a pastel palette incorporating greys and muted blues, reflecting the Cornish coastline. Pom poms were combined with natural touches such as driftwood and locally grown flowers to create a laid-back feel.”

With gorgeous imagery by Nick Walker, this is bound to get the Mermaids amongst you a little bit excited for your own coastal tipi celebration…

Notes from the Bride

Anna says…

Before going dress shopping, I was conscious not to do too much online research before trying on dresses as I wanted to keep an open mind. However, once I stumbled across Naomi Neoh’s collection, I fell in love with the romantic, floaty gowns that seemed fitting for how I pictured our day. In particular, ‘Clementine’ caught my eye. No matter how many dresses I tried on, I kept coming back to her. On the day of our wedding, I was nearly 6 months pregnant, and this gown seemed to float over my bump whilst still nipping in at the waist.

Hair accessories – hair vine or fresh flowers? The hours I spent deliberating this must have added up! However, if you can’t prance around with fresh flowers in your hair on your wedding day when can you hey? Bruallen Flowers created a simple, fresh gypsophila garland that was perfect, I loved every second of wearing it (and even wore it the next day!)

We decided that traditional tails wouldn’t fit in with our day, and Mark wanted a nice suit he could wear again on special occasions. He went to Reiss and found a gorgeous dark blue suit that was tailored to fit. He chose a pin polka dot, light blue tie and light blue pocked square, also from Reiss to accessorise his suit and to match the bridesmaids dresses.

We were very specific about the location of our wedding and there was really only one area in North Cornwall we wanted it to be held. Having grown up in Cornwall, and having made so many family memories in the Polzeath area, and since, many more after Mark and I frequented the area for camping and surfing trips, we knew this had to be it. Mesmear provided us with accommodation for us and our family, and a large meadow with which to create our own mini festival. We worked with World Inspired Tents to create a tipi that could seat all of our guests, had a chill out area with a fire pit to toast marshmallows, and a dance floor to party on into the evening.

I wanted to create a coastal/country theme that fit the location of the wedding, though I was keen to avoid having a strict colour scheme. For that reason I chose accessories and table decorations that had a natural concept but a personal touch. My Dad cut place name holders from branches that were cut down from a tree that was in our garden. My mum makes soap for a hobby, so the favours were handmade, organic soap that she made, boxed and decorated with dried lavender from a family friends garden.

The table plan was made out of plant pots, and our cake stand was a large piece of wood from Mark’s parents place. To fill the tipi, we all spent about 5 hours a few days before, making up pastel coloured pompoms to hang from the interior wooden structures. My Dad also collected pieces of driftwood out of which we made signs to put up around the tipi, and family and friends collected jam jars, which Marks mum decorated for the table centrepieces. It felt so special that all of our family had helped to put our day together.

I was fortunate that one of my good school friends family business is a Cornish nursery and florist. Nancy, my friend’s mum, from Emma’s Florist, helped me create my dream, rustic, bouquet, with light pinks, blues and leafy greens. For the button holes, Nancy combined roses and thistle wrapped in twine for an earthy, natural feel. My hair garland was from Bruallen flowers.

I found the perfect bridesmaid dresses on Etsy by Coralie Beatrix. My main priority when choosing dresses was that my bridesmaids felt comfortable and confident and enjoyed the day. The wrap style dresses allowed them to wear each one however they liked, whilst the dusty blue colour and floaty texture fit well with being by the sea. My three flower girls wore pink dresses from Next with faux flowers in their hair. Mark chose co-ordinating ties and pocket squares for his groomsmen from Reiss. Sian from So Coco Rouge spent the morning doing our hair and make up and making us feel a million dollars, the perfect girly morning!

To add to the personal touch, we were so lucky that all entertainment was provided by friends, and the Groom himself! After the ceremony and back at the tipi, guests sipped bubbly and ate canapés whilst Mark’s good friends, and band, Three Scotts and a Barman, entertained everyone.

Mark’s Dad, Ian did a lovely speech, and to my surprise, carefully choreographed and halfway through, Mark and his friends all got up on stage and started to sing ‘My Girl’! Mark himself is in a band, ‘Dry Clean Only’, and after dinner, they played a few songs and Mark sang, before Mark’s friend, and DJ, Chris hit the decks!

Mesmear created a menu of relaxed, local, comfort food, with Cornish pasties in the evening (well…it’d be rude not to!) As children, my sister and I used to visit Roskilly’s Farm and watch the jersey cows being milked, therefore, for dessert, we got the Cornish Ice Trike to come along and serve everyone our favourite Cornish ice cream. Mark’s mum made our amazing wedding cake.

I did so much research to try and find a photographer, and really it only came down to one guy… Nick Walker. I was thrilled he was available on our wedding day and captured it so perfectly.