Marquee Weddings

As you may know from reading this blog or because you know me in 'real life', I am not married. I do have a rather lovely boyfriend, but I have not yet personally done what I professionally arrange! That sounds kind of weird but you get what I mean.

However as you can imagine I do think about weddings rather a lot. When I'm working with a client I obviously create what they want but they are definitely times when I think about what I'd want if I got married.

Part of me thinks I'd elope to Vegas or somewhere and then come back and announce my 'marriedness', but another part of me thinks I wouldn't be able to resist a big fat shindig.

I thought it might be helpful to do a series of posts on how I would go about things if I was getting married. Of course you might not have the same taste as me but you may well find some useful tips or things you haven't considered yourself.

Although I should note, my main objective in doing this post is to totally indulge myself so please forgive me.

So here goes.

If I were getting married I would want...

A marquee wedding

Hard to imagine on a cold and miserable day like today, but for a summer wedding I think there's nothing better.

When I'm not flitting between various different ideas there is one type of wedding that I always imagined having. I envisaged a big white marquee (but with all the sides open so it's really just a canopy) in my mum's garden, in the house I grew up in. I have to say I didn't do much dreaming of being a princess and walking down the aisle when I was little, but I did grow up always assuming I'd get married in my garden. It's pretty perfect for a wedding really, the main garden would hold the marquee and the bottom garden (which used to be an orchard) and can be got to through a winding old path is obscured by huge trees and would be perfect for camping and partying later on.

But alas my mum is selling the house so this is unlikely to happen. I think I'd still like the same kind of wedding but obviously at a different location.

I like marquees because they're so versatile and flexible. Whilst there are hundreds of awesome venues that suit each couples' needs, I know I'd want to combine bits of all of them. Okay so with a marquee you don't get stunning architecture or historical rooms but you do get flexibility. You can have vintage tents, classic white, Arabian themed, not to mention the fact they're like blank canvases. No worries about dodgy colour schemes and old carpet with a marquee.

Not only that but in theory you can put them anywhere. You can party as long as you like (no kicking out at 11pm) and you can put the whole wedding together yourself. No caterer or photographer you wouldn't choose but have to as the venue recommends.

I should note here, there are many venues that are very accommodating, flexible and beautiful (this is just one girl's desires).

But the main reason I'd want a marquee wedding is because it's unique. No other couple will have had the same wedding with the same style in the same place. I know I'd want my wedding to be totally 'us' and creating a wedding from scratch is how I'd feel that.

Weddings are all about personal preference. What makes one person feel special isn't necessarily so for another. I've been to, and worked with couples having amazing weddings in various different venues. But for me it's creating something site specific and of the moment. Picture a farmer's field - normally filled with cows - but for one day the site of a celebration of love, food, music, dancing - before returning 24 hours later to it's natural state.

That, to me, is pure romance.

*I just want to reiterate to anyone feeling offended, I am not saying marquee weddings are the superior choice, in fact they're a whole lot of work (which I'll tackle in another post), but it's what I would personally want to do. For now anyway, I'll prob change my mind again soon.*