Relaxed Outdoor Tipi Sunflower Wedding with Child Naming Ceremony...

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I really love a family orientated wedding filled with joyful children, it makes for such a meaningful and loving day.

Nic and Steve were married on the 6th June 2015 at The Cedar Field. They decided to have a naming ceremony for their daughters alongside their humanist wedding ceremony. The gorgeous tipis provided the perfect setting for their nuptials and the big party that followed. Think fun and games, Frozen, rustic décor and Sunflowers galore.

Nic donned a stunning 1950s style dress with sweet bows while Steve went for a blue suit from Marks and Spencer. You are really going to love this celebration today.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Daffodil Waves Photography for sharing these sun shining images with us.

THE PROPOSAL | In October 2012 in Gwithian in Cornwall during an early morning walk on the beach. This place is very special to us as we have special memories of being on holiday there with our oldest daughter Isla. Our middle daughter Elsie who was 12 months at the time was witness to the whole thing!

THE VISION | In July 2014 we realised we could actually go ahead and book a date! After a bit of a chat we decided that we wanted an outdoor wedding with yurts or tipis involved. Relaxed with an element of formality, the main objective being for everyone to have fun. We also included a naming ceremony for our daughters which gave an added special significance to the day. Our oldest daughter Isla died in June 2011 when she was 3 years old, and it was important to us that she was just as much a part of the day as Elsie and Flora.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | There were a lot of lists ( a personal favourite planning tool for the bride) ! As soon as we booked the venue we booked all the big stuff very quickly, - tipi, luxury loos, celebrant etc... we have such wonderful friends and family and they helped to make it very personal over the following months. They helped with decorating and catering and we had a great time getting together with them to talk bunting, food and wine!

We really want to mention Jo the celebrant, she was just so fantastic to work with and again it was like having another friend at the wedding, in fact a few guests asked us if she was a friend. She has been so patient and has come up with suggestions when we have been struggling, she has been brilliant over bring Isla into the ceremony and has been such a pleasure to work with. She even got the girls a little Frozen surprise at the end of the naming ceremony.

THE VENUE | We had decided on a tipi in a field, and thanks to google (other search engines are available)! We found The Cedar Field in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, our families and friends live all over the country so it seemed like a good location, also Nic had been to Nottingham poly so has close friends in the Midlands who were a huge help when it came to the catering. Annie and Matt who we hired the field from have links on their website for marquee suppliers, we saw Elite Tents and immediately knew that they supplied the sort of tent that we would love, Annie from Cedar Field was great to talk to, we had an initial wobble with dates and she was really patient and helpful, once we confirmed Cedar Field we booked Elite Tents and went to two of their open days. One in October and one in February, they are just perfect, and because they are so beautiful we decided to have the ceremony inside the tipi regardless of the weather, this took the worry of rain away and meant we would make the most of the fantastic atmosphere that they create. Annie and Matt from Cedar Field also provided the bar and the sound system. We'd like to mention how helpful and friendly they both were during the whole process, they made us feel as though we were the only wedding that they were doing this year.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was a 50s style tea dress from Elaine at Look Darling on the Wirral where she has a home studio. I spent the afternoon there in November with my mum, aunty, Elsie and Flora who were fortunately on their best behaviour! After trying about 4 dresses on that were all gorgeous, I picked a sample up just because it was my size, I honestly didn't think too much of it at first, but as soon as I tried it on I loved it, mum and aunty San did too and that was it, we got it, I took it home straight away with it being a sample, it felt great having that sorted as I didn't want the dress part to be stressful and it wasn't. I had tried some shoes on with the dress by Rachel Simpson that were perfect but not my size, so I went on a mission on ebay to find them and I did, an ex display pair for £20, I was so pleased... a few months later though as I was breaking them in I realised that they needed to be just a half a size bigger, so I ended up getting a pair of Benjamin Adams shoes from ebay again, for £30, they were peep toe so more comfortable and went perfectly with my blue sparkly toes. In January some friends and me went to Gillian Million's in Teddington to look at head wear, again it was all decided nice and quickly, I went for a beautiful head band with a birdcage veil, and as a surprise at my hen weekend, the girls had clubbed together and bought a matching wrist cuff which was such a gorgeous surprise.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | It wasn't going to be a morning suit, but I wanted smart. I went for a blue suit with brown shoes. To fit in with the sunflower theme we had decided on, the groom and ushers wore yellow ties. M&S have a great range and so good for ideas. I actually found the right one with them.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had two readings for the wedding ceremony, our friend Maggie read 'I Wanna Be Yours' by John Cooper Clarke, and our friend Hannah read 'An Apache Wedding Blessing'. Nic walked in to 'Calibans Dream' by Underworld which featured during the London 2012 Olympics. While signing the register we played Tom Odell's 'Grow Old With Me', and 'Thank You' by Led Zeppelin. At the end of the ceremony we played Muse's version of 'Feeling Good'. We had three readings at the naming ceremony, one for each of our girls. Our friend Claire read 'Us Two' by AA Milne for Isla, Tracey read 'The Places You'll Go' from Dr Seuss, and Michelle read 'Touch' by Kathie Davis. At the end of the naming ceremony we played 'Let It Go' from Frozen, the grown ups joined in too!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I decided early on that I was just going to have little bridesmaids, our daughters Elsie and Flora who are 3 and almost 2, my niece Ruby who is 7 and Steve's god-daughter Emily who is 15 who always had a special bond with Isla. They were all fantastic and Emily did a great job of looking after them all.

THE FLOWERS | It had to be sunflowers, we went fairly simple as the tipis are so lovely anyway. We had a single sunflower with some gypsophila in a retro 80s school milk bottle for each table, we put a little tag on giving them as a present for the person whose birthday was coming up next. I had a bouquet with 3 sunflowers and the girls all had a sunflower each.

THE CAKE | Our friend Claire kindly volunteered her sister Helen to make the cake! It was amazing, we went for chocolate cake with white icing and sunflowers made from icing. It was all done in a rustic style and tasted divine. The cake was then the dessert and Helen made extra blocks of chocolate cake so the main cake could stay on display. It was then served with strawberries and cream. Gorgeous!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Nicola from Daffodil Waves, she has been fantastic, we met at the Elite open day in October and got on so well, talking about anything but photography, then we met again in February, it was as if it was meant to be, it was like having an extra friend at the wedding. She does a wonderful reportage style of photography and she mad everyone feel very comfortable resulting in perfect photographs that really capture the relaxed atmosphere of our big day

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Beautiful bunting in yellows and purples was made by our friend Tracey, it fitted perfectly with the feel of the tipi, Tracey also did hessian favour bags with porcelain hearts tied to them, we wrote guests names on these so that they doubled up as name places for dinner, we put sunflower seeds and love hearts in them. We also put a moustache on everybody's plate and they were all donned within about five minutes. Nic's aunty San made lovely tins for the tables, she punched holes in them in a heart shape and painted them cream with purple ribbon, we had led tea lights in these for later. Marianne Taviner decorated the tipi with white lanterns and did a gorgeous cascade above the dance floor. Table names and the table plan were done by Kate at Coral & Slate. We had white lanterns either side of the doorway to the tipi hanging on stakes together with more bunting. Cedar Field provided hay bales which were a hit with everyone, there was a splat the rat, a homemade photobooth, we also put disposable cameras on all tables, its been fun getting these developed! We made the orders of service by putting the naming ceremony on one side and the wedding ceremony on the other side of a white paper lunch bag, we put confetti in these which again went down well.

Catering wise Helen the amazing cake maker provided most of the food. We had retro nibbles after the wedding ceremony, pineapple, sausages and cheese on sticks, mini yorkshire puddings and salmon crostinis. We had a hog roast, veggie burgers and Mediterranean kebabs. Helen and her mum Robbie did fabulous salads and home made coleslaw to accompany the hog. The aforementioned cake was pudding, and at around 10pm we had cheese and biscuits, the port fed Stilton was a hit.

We did our own playlist and had been taking request from guests in the months running up to the big day. We also had a band called The Daisy Belles who are a vintage female trio who did songs from the 40s to the present, adding a twist to the contemporary ones. 'Baby I Love You' by The Ramones was our first dance and they sang this for us, they were great.

Our friend Paul did us the honour of being the mc. He went down very well. Apart from Steve's speech we had a quiz rather than any more speeches, Paul hosted this and did a bonus pub singer round at the end.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to St Ives in Cornwall on a family moon! It was lovely and needed to be longer! The sun shone and we spent most days on the beach watching the girls running in and out of the water. Perfect relaxation.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | It's cliché but the whole day was so amazing that we could include all of it. Some things that do stand out though are arriving at the field and it being covered in a blanket of yellow buttercups. Seeing the tipi when it was up for the first time. The guests faces when they saw the tipi, walking across the field with my brother and the bridesmaids and seeing the tipi looking so beautiful knowing that our favourite people were in there. Hearing our guests laughter during the ceremonies and just knowing that they were part of it all. Steve's speech was perfect and he had me crying ( in a good way)!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Make sure that you spend some time together taking it all in, the day does go very quickly and it's important that you try and do this. From an organisational perspective start early and laminate your lists/timelines etc...! Pinterest for ideas.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | The Cedar Field

Tipi | Elite Tents

Celebrant at my perfect ceremony | Jo Clarke

Hog Roast | Richard Farrow

Photographer | Daffodil Waves Photography

Band | The Daisy Belles

Wedding dress | Look Darling

Accessories | Gillian Million

Hair | Fox and Co Hair

Lanterns | Marianne Taviner

Table plans | Coral and Slate