We’ve partnered up with Amanda Dunn from Billy One Horn to bring brides-to-be and potential venues some wonderful festival wedding ideas to bring inspiration as this new trend really begins to take off.
By Amanda Dunn, Billy One Horn
Earlier this year I set up Billy One Horn, our vintage caravan hire business. We were fortunate enough to be hosting a family wedding and I thought vintage caravans would offer a really quirky form of accommodation to any guests who might wish to stay overnight.
It also seemed a great opportunity to springboard a vintage caravan hire business following the wedding.
Well, the wedding was great fun and we enjoyed helping to host it so much, that we’ve decided to offer Billy One Horn as a location for a handful of weddings each year. (This is in addition to our glamping and festival-style party events which we are keen to continue with.)
The land that we own is permanent pasture, ridge and furrow with a pretty stream running through the centre, which in itself, offers the unique beauty of English countryside and heritage. It’s a perfect starting point for a wedding be it typically country, festival-style or vintage through and through!!
Alex and Rory (our family bridge and groom) wanted a completely blank canvas to work from, they wanted the wedding to feel as though it had just been ‘placed in a field’. So, early in the planning it was decided that long grass would add to that feel, the stock obligingly moved to adjacent fields and the grass was allowed to grow. A simple winding lane was mown through the long grass in the week of the wedding, which led guests to the stunning teepees that were positioned by the lake. A second bridge across the stream was fashioned, straw bales scattered around, a number of fire pits positioned and a cricket square manicured, these were all intended to add ambience to the day.
Our venue gave Alex and Rory huge scope to demonstrate their creativity within totally relaxed boundaries. It also enabled them to make their wedding day a doubly personal affair, by recruiting family skills and support for finer details of the day. Rory’s sister Georgie, did the flowers, his father trimmed down slate tiles to be used as place mats and Alex’s friends provided an essential team of table dressers!
There were no constraints, they could make the day completely their own.
The Groom and ushers stayed over in the caravans on the eve of the wedding and after a hearty farmhouse breakfast, finalised the styling before heading off to the church. The caravans were positioned and dressed in their Sunday best and vintage horticultural styling (courtesy of Ruby’s Vintage Moments) added to the rustic theme.
There was a happy, relaxed atmosphere throughout the day, with plenty of space for younger children to run about and enjoy the open air. One of my favourite memories is watching four generations playing vintage cricket on a manicured square in the middle of a remote field!
While there was plenty of space outside, the inside of the teepees was cosy and personal, ensuring a party mood right into the early hours.
It was a great wedding and a great honour to be able to offer our land for the event. We enjoyed it so much, that when I saw a tweet from Festival Brides looking for land to host festival-style weddings I responded immediately.
We were delighted when they visited the farm and agreed it would be a great venue for them to promote, either as a simple field/blank canvas for the bride and groom to build on, or as a full wedding package. The rustic and vintage themes are right up our street and with our experience to date, we’d thoroughly enjoy assisting anyone considering that style of wedding.
Festival Brides will be handling all initial enquiries for us, their knowledge and expertise in the area of festival weddings will be invaluable to any prospective bride. That will also mean our time is free to ensure we keep the site exactly how our brides would like and, very importantly, that we can still meet the needs of both our glamping and festival-style party customers.
Inspired Camping
Copy and Picture Credits: Billy One Horn
When my other half and I got married earlier this year we looked at a similar thing. There are a few companies in the south west offering bespoke “green” weddings – but the one thing they all seem to share is prohibitive (to our budget, anyway) costs.
We eventually decided that we could organise our own green wedding…but struggled to find a campsite owner willing to let us erect a marquee and serve alcohol – until we stumbled on Brooklands Events in Devon. Not only do they cater for events, but own their own tents and marquees – and most importantly, their own campsite
We ended up booking the entire site for what seemed to be the only sunny weekend in September – with a huge, beautifully set up marquee, a staffed bar, a barbecue for friends that had turned up to camp on the friday night, a pimms reception following the ceremony in Exeter on saturday lunchtime, and a hog roast on saturday night – for far less than we budgeted
For anybody wanting a camping/festival/outdoorsy wedding in Devon I can’t recommend Dave and his crew highly enough!
That’s a fantastic recommendation. We love the idea of taking over an entire campsite for friends and family. Thanks for popping by and inspiring us. Sarah
Wow! This sounds lovely! we are looking for something similar in Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire area —does anyone have any recommendations?
If you get in touch with Amanda from Billy One Horn I’m sure she’ll be able to steer you in the right direction. Sarah