A Teepee & Bell Tent Wedding in Greens & Buttermilk Yellow

Emily and Isaac’s wedding was an utterly joyful celebration from start to finish, that took place on the sunniest June day at the bride’s family home in Northamptonshire, a place already full of love and memories, made even more special with the addition of four sweeping teepees, supplied by Teepees & Tents, a bell tent village, a buttermilk yellow lead colour palette and armfuls of beautiful, British, homegrown flowers.

The couple were married in the same village church as Emily’s parents, before returning to the garden, where soft pinks, fresh greens and that joyful buttermilk yellow ran through everything, from the bridesmaids’ dresses and floral napkins to candles and cake details. The day was an intentional balance between relaxed celebrations and wedding tradition and filled with thoughtful touches, including marmite jars with handwritten notes, pressed flowers, and a Halfpenny London dress.

We love how this beautiful wedding, documented by Sarah Vivienne Photography, captures the essence of summer in the English countryside; guests gathered beneath the canvas of the teepees in scenes that felt like something from a secret garden. Long trestle tables and communal benches invited everyone to sit close and share, while handmade napkins, colourful taper candles and wild flowers brought the tables to life. Foraged foliage trailed from above and climbed the poles, creating a canopy of green that softened the light and made the whole space feel warm, welcoming and full of soul. At the centre of it all sat a beautiful, handmade cake created by one of Emily’s closest friends – adorned with pink icing and carefully pressed flowers.

We’re sending so much love to Emily and her family following the sad passing of her wonderful mum who played a pivotal role in influencing the bride and bringing this beautiful vision together.

We went to a friend’s wedding the summer before and she had raved about Karin Tindall, so as soon as we had the date, we checked that Karin was available and very luckily, she was.

There were so many more things to think about when having our wedding at home, Karin was completely amazing at helping us plan for everything in advance to remove as much of the stress as possible in the buildup. She was there the whole day before and the day of to coordinate everyone and work her tablescaping magic, we trusted her completely and that made us totally relaxed and be able to enjoy the day in full. We still keep in touch! I cannot recommend her enough.

My uncle drove Dad and I to the church in his old Citroen and Isaac drove us back in my dad’s red Citroen 2CV which he brought new in the 80’s. We drove straight onto the lawn to join the party.

My dad walked me down the aisle. I was ready on time but my uncle who drove us made us wait to be fashionably late. Isaac had a long 12 minutes of teasing from his dad at the front of the church so looked very relieved to see us make our entrance.

Two friends played while we signed the marriage register. Their second song, If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out by Cat Stevens, had everyone, all generations waving and dancing in the pews which was a really fun and unplanned way to round off the ceremony and start the celebration.

Our church doesn’t allow confetti but we really wanted our guests to wave us off as we walked down the church path. Mum found these colourful ribbon wands online and all our guests really went for it! I loved how colourful and fun they look in the pictures.

I loved my parents’ wedding photo album, the pictures are so beautiful and we wanted ours to also feel classic and elegant but with a modern natural style and without too many filters and stylised colours.

As soon as we saw Sarah Vivienne’s images, we knew she would be perfect for what we imagined. She was so easy and lovely to work with and we hardly noticed her on the day yet have all the perfect pictures. We could relax knowing she would find us for pictures when she needed us.

Our flowers came from Flower and Farmer, which is a local flower farm where I have always enjoyed buying flowers. I visited on the Monday before our wedding with my two friends Ed and Millie who did all the flower decorations with help from my mum’s friends. We agreed on a pick list on Monday and then they made it all happen when the flowers were delivered on Friday morning. We also all cut lots of foliage from the woods and hedgerows to decorate the teepees and garden. Millie did mine and the adult bridesmaids’ bouquets which were so incredibly beautiful – I added a few sweet peas mum had grown into my bouquet which was lovely to have with me.

Emily is an accomplished landscape architect by trade and her eye for colour, texture and balance – and a passion for nature – really formed the look and feel of the day.

Her parents’ home was the setting, and together with her parents, she worked tirelessly all spring and early summer, whenever she found time, to make the garden the most heavenly setting for the wedding. Sweeping arches of gloriously scented honeysuckle greeted guests on arrival, perfectly-timed clematis and roses surrounded guests for drinks, climbing up walls and structures, arches and paths invited guests to explore the field for the bell tent ‘village’ and onto the main reception tipi. The work that went into opening a hedge to connect the garden with the field, and levelling a severe ridge-and-furrow field to allow a four-hat-tipi to be erected on flat ground, was something else!

A large chill-out tipi hat was put up in the garden – with monkey puzzle branches snaking up the poles – which was the perfect back-up if the weather hadn’t held on arrival, and also a welcome space for older guests to catch their breath once Gentleman George was deep in pre-Glastonbury mode.

The outdoor furniture and bar were all sourced from More Production, and worked perfectly with their own selection of pretty deck chairs and patterned parasols.

One of the more curious décor items in the chill-out tent were the full-sized alien cardboard cut-outs propped up in the corners. These were replicas of the ‘real’ aliens in one of Isaac’s films, another project that the whole family had assisted with! Isaac’s films and their release-style posters also served as the table names.

The reception tipi was truly transformed with the help of Emily’s knowledgeable hedgerow foraging, with her friends from work doing the most marvellous job tying, hanging and arranging the branches (and furiously spritzing with water to keep them looking fresh in the summer warmth we were blessed with on the day). Again, Emily’s selection of flowers from Flower & Farmer were delicate beauties whose simple beauty and texture shone on the tables.

Ahead of the wedding, in late spring, we’d visited the fabulous Nadine at Teepees & Tents, who has a treasure trove of styling items and props with her sister company Nerissa Eve.

The conversation turned to the tablescape, and the subject of charger plates, glassware, cutlery etc. came up. Emily & Isaac were simply not overly fussed about any of this, but after seeing the candle colours Emily was drawn towards, I felt the table would be truly elevated with the help of a patterned napkin, and suggested The Luxe Collection’s ‘Buttercup’ napkin in hues of green and yellow. Here I gained an ally in Emily’s incredible mother, who pushed this one through (with Emily & Isaac’s approval of course!) to my absolute delight.

The combination of the elegant Ester & Erik taper candles in their beautiful tones being picked up in the napkin, and further echoed in the simple but stunning bud vase arrangements, really was the most gorgeous sight.

I feel the need to also mention the marmite jars on the tables. Emily & Isaac are real marmite fans, and these easily recognisable jars were filled with pens with accompanying tags named various things from ‘marriage advice’, ‘recipe ideas’, ‘conversation starters’, ‘favourite things about E&I’ and so on. Guests took delight in filling these out during the course of the meal, and it has made me so happy to hear that Emily & Isaac get these out to read the amusing notes from time to time.

Emily & Isaac were also keen on supporting local businesses wherever possible, not least when it came to food & drink: the most delicious evening cheeses were from Emerson & Wests, flat breads from The Garage Bakehouse and beer from Pot Belly Brewery. All based only a few miles away.

There was always going to be a cracking after-party with this super fun crowd, but it was definitely helped along with a large group of guests staying in the bell tent village on site, with gorgeous bell tents provided by Beautiful Bell Tents.

The following day, the wedding was rounded off in the best possible way with a hearty brunch for all guests, whipped up by The Brothers Supper, and served with generous leftovers of Mimi’s incredible cake. The perfect end to a perfect celebration. Although the party didn’t quite stop there: Emily & Isaac continued straight onto Glastonbury from the wedding, with a good handful of their wedding guests! Truly epic.

What a wedding!

Lots of Birch tree foliage was great in the teepees and big buckets of flowers.

I created the stationery by hand and with Photoshop. We didn’t use a wedding website but had all the details on the invitation. My Dad has lovely handwriting and wrote the name cards, addresses and names on invitations. 

Mimi, my bridesmaid, made our delicious cake. I wasn’t initially planning to have one but then I couldn’t resist. Mimi and I designed it with pressed dried flowers and pink icing. The cake was cut up and served with other desserts in the middle of the tables for guests to share for pudding with espresso martinis. One of my favourite memories from the wedding was having a huge slice the next day.

I used to work for chef Sarah Hollowell waitressing in school and university holidays so she was the first person we contacted when we were engaged and we chose the date based on her availability. It made it very easy knowing we were in such trusted and capable hands for our delicious feast.

We wanted a relaxed feel to the meal so chose a mezze-style meal with slow-cooked lamb, tasty dips and salads which was served in sharing bowls in the middle of the tables, with flatbreads from a local bakery. It was really fun sharing food in this way and it made a lively atmosphere. I also wanted to choose food that would still be delicious if timings slipped so the cold salads and sides could be ready and the lamb could keep slow-cooking without getting dry.

Our first dance song was ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ by Thin Lizzy. The task of finding a song was one of the hardest ones. There were so many terrible, cheesy suggestions when looking online! My friend suggested this and Isaac remembered it as an old favourite. It seemed like a good upbeat enough and fun song to dance to, so it stuck. A friend helped us come up with a dance.

Our DJ was a friend of a friend who had DJ’d at her wedding. Gentleman George was great and we enjoyed dancing to his music again at Glastonbury the following weekend.

I should have listened to Halfpenny and tried on the nipple covers I wore with the dress, because they were silicone and they were thicker than the ones I had worn before, which with the tight white fabric made them slightly visible in bright light, which we had all day, whoops! I thought I was being clever by getting more expensive ones but didn’t want to waste their stick with a trial.

Luckily, my photographer Sarah has done some subtle edits in pictures where needed. And I think only Karin spotted it on the day, although she didn’t tell me until I noticed it in a window reflection! Another bride contacted me via Instagram after Halfpenny re-posted some of our pictures and asked me about underwear to wear with this dress, so I was glad to pass on this warning.

Keep group photos as limited as possible and allow enough time for reception drinks so you can enjoy this. My friend had told me this too so we kept our list of photos short.

Take up all offers of help from friends and family. We couldn’t have done it without them.

Use an on-the-day coordinator so you can relax and enjoy every moment.

And finally, find fun ways to keep it personal, homemade and memorable.

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