By Cornish Tipi Weddings
Marquee weddings and marquee receptions give you pretty much a blank canvas to dress and style things how you want. Whether you’re planning on loads of DIY detail or hiring a professional wedding stylist to arrange the set up and décor for you then the basics remain the same.
Think first of all where your guests are going to come in & what kind of impact you want to make from that first entrance point - it's all about creating the look.
If you’ve already decided you want to go green, then all you have to do is decide whether this is going to be rustic or glam, exotic or botanical. Greenery is surprisingly versatile, and can also reflect the time of year you’re getting married with seasonal greenery like autumn colour or fresh herbs in summer.
You can even go fake if you fancy – with surprisingly good results.
Our big marquee has white painted wooden doors and a purpose built timber deck so unlike lots of marquee weddings you’ve got less of the basics to think about & can concentrate on the pretty stuff…which basically means your tables and for full wow factor your ceiling space.
Ceiling installations are the piece de resistance of marquee décor and immediately draw the eye and create drama in what can feel like a large white space. Our marquee is 24m long x 12m wide (80’ x 40’ for traditionalists!) with cross members running horizontally every 3m. This means you can hang compact hoops of greenery every few metres – perhaps centred nicely above your trestle tables or above a group of round tables if you prefer.
It also means you can hang large wild garlands of trailing ivy, eucalyptus (a favourite for scenting the entire marquee – this is a real unexpected pleasure throughout the day), beech, maple, even little branches of sycamore and bay.
If it’s a DIY wedding we’re happy for you to raid our woods to get that perfect bringing the outside in vibe – although we do ask you not to go too mad and please don’t pick our giant ferns!
Speaking of ferns, these can make an incredible display strung up in hanging baskets or placed in pots along an entrance way. One of our favourite weddings from a few years ago was with a bride whose surname was Fearne – and yes, you’ve guessed the theme and glamorous motif of her day!
Another way to create even larger pieces of theatre in the roof space is to run bigger planks wired with greenery parallel along the marquee, as opposed to the horizontal - this enables longer runs for maximum impact.
Then there’s the exotic – a background of green showing off giant protea and other flowers. Or the botanical feel, maybe with glossy bay leaves, fragrant rosemary, lavender & sage.
Then there’s the inspired styling you get with fresh green hops – they hang and drape beautifully over everything (including our marquee guy ropes which we technically don’t allow anything on!) and are spot on behind the bar - immediately signalling good times 😊
It’s the rustic vibe though that most couples think of when you mention greenery as wedding décor, and this can look great either left plain above the tables (blue glassware makes a lovely counterpoint underneath) or threaded through with flowers like electric blue larkspur and bright pink peonies.
You can thread more ivy on little strings above guests’ heads (but not on our fairy lights) or hang more greenery as a backdrop around the walls or draped around the bar.
If you're planning a themed wedding with story books & fairy tales like Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz, you can make some extra magic with props interwoven with green leaves.
The ideas are endless and we can always come up with some more ideas of how to make your ideas a reality on the day – and we know some wonderful stylists and floral designers who can make it all happen for you.
Or you can nab your nearest and dearest to make a working party the day before (don’t worry - we supply the stepladders).
Excited guests make great decorators & love getting involved – when it comes to the party next day they feel they’ve contributed something really special to the wedding day and everything comes together just as you planned…
For more information you can view our advert on G Wedding Directory here
Credits: photography - appleBimages styling - Woodland Atelier; Escential Blooms; The Artful Event Company