a closer look at Heather Ann & Lukes Wedding – Summer 2019

We had the privilege of providing our tents for some of the most beautiful weddings imaginable last year. One that really stuck in our minds was Heather & Luke’s wedding, held at ‘a wedding in the wood‘ in maldon, Essex. Using our tipis and help from a variety of local suppliers they achieved an amazing atmosphere for their big day. We took the time to speak with Heather Ann after the wedding to get feedback on her experience with Events Under Canvas. Providing insight and tips that you may find useful if you are planning a wedding for later this year anywhere in the South and East of England.

tell us about your original wedding day vision:

We were both really drawn to the idea of tipis as a venue. We trawled through pages and pages of websites trying to find places that felt right and fit into our budget and vision but every time we came back to just finding a big field and plonking some tipi’s in the middle of it, so that’s what we did! We definitely didn’t want anything too formal, it needed to be relaxed and fun!

Ultimately, it was about celebrating us and this lifelong promise that we were making to each other, but also the people who have supported us both individually and together, and helped us to get to this point. In theory the plan was simple, good food, lots of booze and a great party to end the night with!

your top tips on planning your wedding:

1. When it comes to wedding dresses, don’t set your mind on a particular style or fabric too much before you try some on. Its good to have a look online, that’s half the fun but when you go dress shopping, try on lots of different variations. Even if you don’t think you’ll like it on the hanger, you might feel completely different when it is on.
2. It sound obvious but I think it is important to sit down at different points in the planning process and check in on what you have spent, what still needs to be bought, what you would still like to spend and what is realistic for you spend – these will probably be different figures! We did this a lot and had a few ‘but do we really need this’ conversations which reigned us in on certain things that we had originally budgeted for.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask your suppliers lots of questions. I hated picking up the phone and calling our suppliers to ask questions or writing emails with silly questions, I always felt like I was bothering them. But I am glad I did. It’s important to remember that your suppliers have done it all before lots of times. They know how all the little things work and I really appreciated the time we spent on the phone listening to them and taking their advice on board.
4. Don’t aim for perfection! Your wedding will never be ‘perfect’ because perfect means an endless number of things to different people. It will be always end up being perfect to you because of the memories you create. You can definitely get weighed down with ‘the little things’ that won’t matter to anyone else. Everyone is there to see you and your partner and no one really cares if the pink napkin they mop up their red wine spillage with matches the pink delphiniums in your bouquet. Seriously.
5. Etsy is a great place to go for wedding supplies and gifts. There is such a variety of great ideas and you can get a good feeling knowing that, for the most part, you are supporting homegrown, family businesses.

if you had your time again what would you do differently?

Worry less. It’s impossible not to worry at all. You’re inviting your closest friends and families, maybe spending the most money you’ve ever spent in your life and all eyes are on you! But I did worry about things a bit too much, and drove my other half mad with all my ‘what ifs’. I think I had just about imagined every worst case scenario over the year of planning. Torrential rain, standstill traffic, sickness bugs, uncoordinated napkins (shock horror) – and all that time spent worrying for nothing! The day goes too quickly to worry, just soak up every moment as much as you can.

your favourite memory of the day?

Surely no one can choose just one!! From the minute I woke up at 7am with a cheery faced bridesmaid at the door, to the moment Luke and I fell into our glamping tent at 4 in the morning, we didn’t stop smiling, laughing and just generally having the most incredible day with all the people we love most around us.

If I had to name a few though then I would go for the grin on Luke’s face when he saw me for the first time walking down the aisle, the hymns being sung out of time with the music (one of my favourite things to watch back), Luke driving us to the venue in my mum’s convertible mini. Our wonderful magician, Guy Park, amazing everyone with his magic, speeches of course, me falling over on the dance floor, twice. Our photographer dragging us off to a cornfield and capturing more magic as the sun set and of course the moment I finally became Mrs Dodkin!

shout out to your favourite supplier and why they deserve such accolade?

Events Under Canvas, of course! We had so many lovely compliments on our wedding and the day we had chosen to have and the tipis played a huge part of that. Driving down the drive on the day and seeing them at the bottom of the hill with all our Guests mingling outside gave us such a buzz!

To be honest though I couldn’t name just one. We were so lucky with all the suppliers we chose, so many lovely, lovely people who helped to make and capture the most perfect day. Natalie Watts, our incredibly talented photographer, just look at any of her pictures to appreciate her talent.

Linda Hamilton and the Gather and Feast team for the extremely yummy Wedding Breakfast. Our food was incredible. Good, hot and simple foods that everyone loved!

Stock Florist, for my gorgeous flowers. I really struggled choosing my flowers and they did an amazing job of creating my vision on the day.

Ed Bray, our lovely videographer, Edward Taylor and Karleigh Marsh – Hair and Makeup Artists, Nicola at Oppsadoodle for her amazing talent on our wedding invites. The list goes on and on! Every person involved worked so hard beforehand or on the day to make all the planning, phone calls, meetings and emails an unforgettable reality.

After the day when we caught up with friends and family the thing we have heard, over and over again was how much of happy day it was. Luke and I are so grateful to have so many incredible people in our lives who made it a day filled with so much love but also to all the hardworking suppliers who came together on our day to put all the planning into action!!

what music featured in your big day?

• How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog by Taylor Mali.
• First Dance song – ‘Always Remember Us This way’ from a Star is Born
• I walked down the aisle to ‘Can’t help Falling in Love’ by Elvis Presley and we left the church to the Bellamy Brothers Let Your Love Flow’

check out some more of the images from the big day below