A Guide To… Styling Your Wedding Yurt & Outdoor Celebration

A few weeks back Lizzie, the darling of Wedding Yurts, popped by to give you the lowdown on hiring a Wedding Yurt for your celebrations. If you missed this feature then it’s a must read! Packed with top tips and seasonal things to consider it’s the perfect guide! {You can view it in the archives here}

Today, Lizzie is back to talk all things style! From the beginnings of your inspiration through to delicious details to make your party pop.

Over to the nomadic lady herself…

Lizzie: Thank you Emma and Coco Wedding Venues for inviting me back for another installment of Wedding Yurts goodness and today’s guide is all about making your wedding yurt, champagne bar or honeymoon yurt look amazing, wonderful and all the other things you want from your wedding.

I have to admit that I just love styling our Wedding Yurts for celebrations. There’s just so much scope for personality and so much space for bold statements and adorable details. Whether I’ve been responsible for the whole styling scheme and all of the decorative touches or whether I’m just setting up for our clients on the day, I’m utterly in my element dressing the yurts for the big event.

I know I might be biased but I do think our Wedding Yurts are the perfect starting point for some super creative styling. The sweet chestnut wood and cream canvas harmonise so beautifully. There’s also plenty of natural light – we designed our yurts to our own specifications so the doors are taller and wider than a traditional yurt and there’s also a huge panoramic window and a round window in the roof. The canvas walls can be removed in warmer weather and the wooden frame is oh-so perfect for hanging decorations and trailing flowers…

The Inspiration

Inspiration mood board by Lizzie at Wedding Yurts. Images Credits:  Theme – Garden Party via Pinterest. Inspiration – Miss Dior Shoot. Flowers – Holyhocks via My Luscious Life. Cocktails – Selina lake via Outdoor Living. Shoes – Gucci via The Pretty Blog. Light via Pinterest. Decor via Pinterest. Cake via The Bridal Detective. Colour via Pinterest.

But let’s start at the beginning of the process and I start with an inspiration board. This is part of our styling & decoration service and it include all of the elements what need to be thought about in one handy place. From there, we can explore each aspect and create separate boards for themes, flowers and details etc. but we’ve always got the ‘master board’ to refer back to to keep everything consistent.

The inspiration boards are a great way to share ideas with family, friends and suppliers. They’re also a lovely way for you to document your creative journey and channel your inner Style Director! I love making spaces unique and can spend hours searching for the right props and accessories so the inspiration boards are, in my opinion, essential.

hanging & anchoring

Top Row Left: Image by Rachel Lily Photography. Top Row Right: Image by Louise Holgate. Bottom Row: Image courtesy of Wedding Yurts.

So, what works well in a Wedding Yurt…? Well, in my opinion, everything! The interiors offer such fantastic spaces to decorate. The wooden roof ribs look, I guess, like a giant umbrella or huge bicycle wheel and the structure provides the perfect hanging & anchoring opportunities.

This year, we have hung 1,000 (yes, one thousand!) paper cranes in the centre of the yurt, which was fantastic. Another of our D.I.Y. brides made metres of bunting from white paper doilies. This was a very simple and very cost effective idea and they really looked great at night with all the light dancing on the doilies.

Of course, paper pompoms of all sizes look brilliant when they’re suspended from the roof and they’re available in colours to suit every theme. A word to the wise though – make sure you have lots of helping hands available to unfurl and fluff them all!

There are so many things that you can use to create an eye-catching and awe inspiring installation in a Wedding Yurt. I have a couple of really exciting ideas up my sleeve which I plan to test, shoot and share on our blog during the winter months (so watch this space!)

The Tablescape

Images by Louise Holgate.

Let’s move onto the tables because I think table settings provide brilliant opportunities to add special little touches and also to send personal messages to your guests. Before you start planning tablescapes in earnest, do check with your caterer what they’ll be putting on the tables and how much space will be left. Add in eight place settings, crockery, cutlery, glasses, flowers, candles, wine and more and there might not be much space for big props and decorations.

Choosing vintage floral china is a great way to add colour and pretty. I also have a collection of vintage lace tablecloths and I love sewing together doilies to create fabulous table runners – these make the top table really special.

Lighting

Top Image by Kerry Diamond Photography. Bottom Image by Paul Marlbrook.

Lighting is very important both in the day and the night, think about creative lighting for atmosphere and practical lighting for safety. Tea light candles in jam jars are super cheap and so very effective. My girls who work with us during the summer always light hundreds of candles just as it gets dark. Most of the time our yurts are set up in fields and it is important to light up gateways, paths to the toilets and car park and then lots of extra candles just because they look magical.

The joy of Wedding Yurts is that literally anything is possible – you can make them absolutely yours, you’re not contending with a venue’s choice or carpet or artwork and the scope is endless.

I’m going to leave you with a list of my styling crushes, the things I love the most and ideas I want to share. If you’re having a Wedding Yurt or indeed a celebration with any outdoors element, get creative and style it out – you’ll make something wonderfully magical and memorable if you do…

• I don’t think there’s any substitute for fresh flowers. They instantly enhance any space with beauty, colour and scent. I always try to choose seasonal flowers and try to source blooms locally whenever possible.

• Mixing things up and bringing the outdoors in and vice versa is a brilliant trick. Think plants, trees and flowers inside with sofas, furniture and chandeliers dripping from trees outside.

• A current crush is coloured velvet sofas. They look great outside (keep your fingers crossed for good weather!) and we also used little velvet cocktail chairs at a secret garden party wedding this summer – swoon!

• I still love the festival vibe – straw bales covered with brightly colour blankets and cushions are practical, emotive and still comfortable!

• Jam jars are a great cost conscious option but for a super decadent atmosphere, I love using cut glass bowls and jars to house candles and lights.

• Storm lanterns are great if the weather is going to be unhelpful. I’ve just splurged on new ones from Toast and our couples are loving them already!

• Battery powered fairy lights are also a Wedding Yurts must-have. I’ve always got a few sets ready to wrap around tree trunks or light up dark areas.

• I love that we’re now styling all the outside areas as well as the Wedding Yurts – entrances, seating areas, fire pits, outdoor bars & drinks stations, chills out areas, street food stalls and photos booths. I am head over heels with all of the possibilities!

Image by Kerry Diamond Photography. 

Gah! So much pretty!

I want a yurt to play with please… May add this to the impending Christmas wish list.

Thank you so much to our gal Lizzie for her Wedding Yurt styling tips. If you want to find out more about Wedding Yurts then you can find them in the Coco Wedding Venues directory here.

Lots of love…