Lauren & Ashley’s Spirit Lake Wedding

Lauren and Ashley were the first to celebrate there with a festival style wedding – an absolutely brilliant day during which they used all of the unique space at this gorgeous venue and gave their guests a day to remember.

If you love what you see here, then you can meet Fiesta Fields at their next Open Weekend on Saturday 12th May! You can read all the details in our Event Diary.

Nikki says…

Lauren had fallen in love with this stunning venue on first viewing and knew it would be the perfect spot for her and Ashley to celebrate with their family and friends, giving them the lake-side festival wedding they were dreaming of. Placing full trust in his future wife to choose the perfect place, Ashley didn’t actually see the venue until a little while later but was in total agreement that this was the one.

Set up started on the Thursday morning with Surrey and Sussex Tipi Hire. The majestic peaks of the tipi’s could soon be seen rising into the air and the three giant hats looked wonderful down by the lower lake. Rustic tables and bench seating finished off the look, as well as the all important dance floor and stage area which would later become the platform for the band to take over the party.

The day before the wedding saw all the months of hard work by this lovely couple come together as the bride and groom to be, along with friends and family, arrived on site to help add those all important finishing touches and styling items to make their wedding truly personal and unique. Fairy lights, foliage, flower posies, paper lanterns, bunting and pom poms were strung around the inside and hung from the wooden tipi beams.

Tables were laid with beautiful flower arrangements in individual glass bottles and jars, which Lauren had been saving up. Festoon lights, more bunting and lanterns were strung in the trees and along the edge of the lake to the camping village, where bell tents were set up for overnight guests by BayLily Bell Tents, including a luxurious bridal bell tent, which included a beautiful wrought iron double bed and comfy furniture.

The morning of the wedding dawned bright and sunny, and we were busy with final preparations; setting up the lawn games and children’s area in the walled garden; laying out hay bales by the upper lake for the ceremony; arranging flowers potted in assorted welly boots for the ceremony area; dressing the tractor trailer ready for the bride and bridesmaid to arrive in; and putting the finishing touches to the tables and the tipi dressing.

The great team from Free Range Cooks were busy on site from early in the morning, preparing a fantastic wedding feast, but more on that later.

Lauren and Ashley had chosen to have their wedding ceremony on the upper lawn, by one of our two lakes. As their guests arrived, they followed the pretty bunting marked path through the woodland, emerging onto the upper lawn, where they took their places on the hay bales laid out in front of a gorgeous willow and flower archway.

Ashley and his groomsmen were the first to arrive having stayed on site the night before, looking relaxed and smart in their ceremony attire. Ashley wore a Hugo Boss shirt, chinos from Tommy Hilfiger and blazer from Reiss, with a Liberty print tie and Panama hat. He later changed into a Hawaiian shirt from Next and shorts to match the groomsmen and page boys, all with matching Panamas.

Lauren arrived just before the ceremony was due to begin at midday, looking stunning in her Kate Halfpenny gown, sourced second hand from Gillian Millon in Teddington. She was accompanied by her bridesmaids, flower girls and more page boys, as well as her baby daughter to complete the family celebration. The children, the bride and bridesmaids all excitedly took their seats in the tractor trailer, fitted out for the occasion and had a fun little ride through the woodland to the ceremony lawn. Lauren and Ashley’s two sons, in their matching suits with Ashley, arrived with Lauren in the trailer and proudly accompanied her down the aisle.

Nadine from Nadine van Biljon Photography was on hand to capture the happy couple and their families during and after the ceremony, and as the blessing finished, guests took some time to explore the beautiful grounds, before being invited into the tipi for the wedding breakfast.

Each guest was treated to a personalised drinks tumbler, which they could keep for the day. A nice little environmentally friendly touch. They could refill as they wished from the taps of the fantastic converted VW KombiKeg van. Prosecco, beers and soft drinks were also set up in the walled garden for guests to quench their thirst in the July heat.

All the hard work that had gone into dressing the tipis and the tables was worth it, as the guests gasped in delight at the lovely interior. Lauren and Ashley made their entrance to deafening cheers and applause. Guests enjoyed their feast of mixed meat and seafood paella or summer vegetable risotto, with salads and bread, all cooked al fresco in the sunshine in big pans.

Mains were followed by individual desserts of banoffee pie, Eton mess with summer berries, and rhubarb and custard syllabubs, which guests collected after the speeches to take to the walled garden. Here they found lawn games, Katie’s Face Painting and The Wandering Hands set up and ready to play. A good old sing along followed as they completed three fantastic set of acoustic covers with two guitars, a saxophone and perfect three-part harmonies.

Additional guests started to arrive mid-afternoon to join in the celebrations, as the drinks continued to flow and the laughter continued non-stop. More food was provided late afternoon by The Indian’s Next Door who served up delicious corn on the cobs, samosas, Indian wraps and bhaji’s, before the next round of entertainment began.

A first for us, Uke-Jam had arrived to entertain the guests with Ukulele Karaoke! Yes, you heard right! The band set up on the lawn area between the two lakes and gave out Ukulele’s to the willing guests. And so another brilliant sing-along began, with Lauren and Ashley leading the way in full voice, much to the guests’ delight and applause. Once the Uke-Jam was finished, Ashley and his band took centre stage to serenade his new wife and their family and friends.

And the fun didn’t stop there, as the light began to fade, the outside lighting began to glow and the bamboo torches around the lake were lit. Some of the bridesmaids set up a glitter station at the edge of the tipis to get the guests glammed up and ready for the night-time party.

Aprés Ski, a brilliant 5-piece band including vocalists, were quick to get guests up and joining in and so followed an unforgettable evening for Lauren & Ashley of dancing and singing along with their family and friends. At midnight the music switched to a silent disco to keep the party going until the early hours, when tired but happy guests made their way to their bell tents for a good nights’ rest.

Lauren and Ashley’s wedding was a beautifully personal and magical day and a resounding success. Our first wedding at Spirit Lake, it was an absolute pleasure to work with them and wish them every happiness for the future.

Some words from the bride and groom

When we decided we wanted a wedding festival in a field in Surrey, the first problem was, where do you find a field to hire! We came across Fiesta Fields online and we met Nikki and Kim who showed us a few fields. They were mostly booked up for the date we wanted in July when suddenly Nikki called and told me they had just got access to a new space, just outside Dorking, called Spirit Lake. Calling it a field doesn’t really do it justice, it is a beautiful garden with a woodland area to walk through, a walled garden and two beautiful lakes. It has ample space for people to glamp in bell tents or to pitch up normal tents. We had over 110 people camping over.

The owner of the field is a lovely, really laid back guy, we were his first event and he went above and beyond to help us make everything just as we wanted it. He even drove guests and the bridal party in on his tractor, which he had a trailer made specifically for us!

Kim was very helpful in the run up to the event, they arranged the toilets and generator and security for the day but also suggested some great suppliers from the tipi to the bell tents. She came to help us set up on the Friday and ran the wedding day for us. Kim even took our baby for a walk to get her to sleep.

The day could not have been better! I highly recommend Fiesta Fields and Spirit Lake for anyone wanting a fun, laid back festival wedding!

Best part of the day

I loved the service. We had done it officially the week before, so the ceremony in the field was conducted by our two best friends, Ben and Eve. I loved the relaxed feel of the day, all the different bands and the street food made it feel like a real festival.

The planning of an outside festival wedding was probably harder work than I imagined. You have to source everything from bins, ash trays, showers to fridge trailer as well as all the fun pretty stuff to get the right look, but the end result was incredible. We had the best day ever. We had so much fun and it will be a day we and our family and friends will never forget.

Venue Spirit Lake, available exclusively via Fiesta Fields

Photography Nadine van Biljon Photography

Tipis Surrey and Sussex Tipi Hire

Bell Tents BayLily Bell Tents

Daytime Caterer Free Range Cooks 

Evening Caterer The Indian Next Door

Bar Kombi Keg

Flowers Diamante Flowers

Musical Entertainment The Wandering Hands, Uke-Jam and Aprés Ski

Silent Disco Silent Noize

Face Painting Katie’s Festival Faces

Generator Hire OEEH

Toilet Hire SweetPea Toilets