How to plan a festival-themed wedding
Discover how to create a vibrant and unforgettable festival-themed wedding that reflects your unique style and love story.
How to plan a festival-themed wedding
Festival weddings and bohemian style themes are a charming wedding trend, as weddings become more personal and tailor-made for the couple. The fashion for DIY and handmade weddings is inspiring many couples to throw their own wedfest party.
Wedding Tipi
A festival wedding (or wedfest) can be whatever you want it to be, but think Glastonbury, bohemian, rustic, vintage, love and flowers… lots of flowers! Essentially it’s all about the party, enjoying your day with the people you love, some good music and some good food brought together with the little extras that make your wedding day truly memorable.
You want your wedding to be unique, allowing you and your partner’s personality to shine through, and a festival wedding with some cute and quirky touches can be the perfect way to achieve this. So if you’re thinking of planning a wedding festival or want some festival themed wedding ideas, we’ve put together some of our favourite tips and suggestions to feed your inspiration.
The Venue
Outdoors is where you want to be for a wedding festival, come rain or shine!
If you have some land or a large garden this is ideal, but if not, search for local farms with land or barns for rent. If you want to make sure you’re close enough to a touch more luxury, many traditional wedding venues such as hotels and halls often have land you can use as part of their wedding packages.
Top Tip: Position tents and decorations around the natural landscape, pretty views and trees to organically make them part of your setup.
Marquees and Tents
Classic marquees can offer a great space that can be customised to flexibly suit your party size, theme and requirements, or why not go all-out and hire a big top tent for ultimate circus chic!
Big Tops
Bigtopmania
Big Top hire will allow you to plan your wedding party around this fantastic, fun feature tent. Recreate the feel of the circus!
Yurts
YurtsUp
Tipis or yurts (a tent used traditionally by nomads in Central Asia) are perfect for a more intimate wedding with a bohemian feel.
Woodland Weddings
Create a truly magical day and get back to nature with twinkling lights, flora and fauna, and maybe even some camping!
The Décor
Often the most exciting and creative part of wedding planning is the theming and décor – this can be where all the other plans and ideas stem from.
Adding some festival flair to your big day is easy with a little inspiration! Try some bunting, flower garlands, hessian, floral fabrics, lace and macramé, paper lanterns, hay-bail and tree stump seats, and see where these ideas take you. Lighting is of course important, so how about trying some glow sticks, candle jars, fairylights, sparklers, or if you really want to impress, a bonfire or fireworks would be the ultimate focal point for your evening party.
Top Tip: Choose a plain cake and cover it in fresh flowers for decoration.
Vintage Hire
Rose Pink Vintage
Vintage, rustic, shabby chic… whatever your inspiration, hiring some props and vintage decorations makes your theming easy.
Country Flowers
Real Country Flowers
Colourful flowers are a great way to naturally decorate an outdoor wedding. There are a number of wedding florists specialising in country style blooms.
Styling
It can often be the little touches that people really remember, so get your styling right and take away the hassle by hiring a wedding stylist.
The Entertainment
No one gets bored at a festival, so make sure there’s plenty to keep guests entertained at your wedding festival!
Add a touch of the Mardi Gras with some circus acts performing some acrobatic, fire-eating, tightrope walking entertainment, perfect for all ages. Temporary tattoos or photo booths are a fantastic idea to keep guests busy and give them something to remember your day. For more ideas including magicians, illusionists, belly dancers, burlesque, comedians and tarot card readers browse through our collection of entertainment suppliers.
Top Tip: Hire a basket of props for your guests to dress up in for photos.
Circus Acts
The ultimate entertainment for a festival wedding has to be some circus entertainment. Visually stunning and daring acts will stun your guests.
Body Art
Forever Face Painting
A nice touch to add some hippy-chic to your day. A fun extra to keep guests entertained, and perfect for the kids.
Photo Booths
What better way to remember how much fun was had at your wedding! Add props and dress up as guests take some selfies!
The Music
The most important aspect of any festival is the music!
Now that your head’s spiralling with wedfest décor ideas you should have your theme pretty much figured out, but the most important aspect of any festival is the music! Perhaps you’re a festival-goer and want a traditional rock or indie band to take you back to your days of Glastonbury and V-fest, or maybe you want to party until late in the dance tent, or relax with a classical or acoustic set in the chill out area.
Music’s personal and dancing is essential at any wedding so to make sure you find the band or DJ to suit you and your festival wedding, we’ve got it covered in our list of bands and DJs. We also work with suppliers who offer audio equipment, music tents and stages if you happen to be friends with Chris Martin, or any other talented musicians of course!
Top Tip: Have your wedding invites designed as music festival tickets or lanyards.
Ceilidh and Folk Bands
Funk and Soul Bands
Jazz Band
Silent Disco
The Food and Drink
The key to catering for a festival themed wedding is creating a communal feel with your food choices.
There’s so much choice out there, you really can make your catering personal and perfectly suit you and your guests. Mobile options such as hog roasts, pizza or burger vans could be a good choice for a laid back outdoor wedding, or choose a buffet option and create a chill out area with beanbags, cushions and throws to keep guests cosy. For those with a sweet tooth, sweet tables, candy carts and vintage ice-cream vans are a nice touch, and don’t forget the bar! We have a great range of mobile bar suppliers offering cocktails, craft beer and specially selected wine and champagne.
Vintage Ice Cream Tricycle
Cole & Sons Traditional Ice Cream
A stunning vintage ice-cream bike is a great addition for an outdoor themed wedding and will keep those with a sweet tooth very happy!
Mobile Caterers
The Fillet and Bean
For an outdoor event, mobile caterers are a flexible and cost effective option and what festival is complete without a food van?
Alternative Bars
The Gin Box
Arguably the most important aspect of a wedding, or festival! There are many specialist, as well as mobile, bars to perfectly fit your tastes.
Other Things to Consider
Don’t miss anything off your planning list; remember you may well need to hire loos for an outdoor event. Do you need any staff? Perhaps there’ll be lots of children there – don’t forget the kids entertainment! Handmade décor, invites or favours are a popular choice and fit well with a festival theme, so why not add some arts and crafts entertainment to your festival wedding and have your guests make their own flower garland, or friendship bracelets – a great choice for little ones too.
Top Tip: Brainstorm your wedding ideas and create a mood board of festival images and inspiration.
Next Steps
There’s so much to think about and so many options, but we’re here to help make the planning of your festival wedding as simple and as enjoyable as possible. Our advice is to start with the theme, then you can take on each of the big areas we’ve highlighted above, one by one. Festival weddings give you the flexibility and choice to personalise your day and mix and match to incorporate all of your ideas, no matter how unusual.