Miscellaneous Monday: It’s festival fever!

For our Miscellaneous Monday this week, we’re looking at ways to celebrate your wedding day outdoors, whatever the weather. 

Festival wedding venue: Outdoor celebration

If you’d like to have a relaxed, laid back feel for your wedding day, then why not consider a festival theme? With summer music festivals and local fetes all across the West Country at this time of year, there are plenty of local suppliers that can help with everything you need. With a few simple touches, you can transform your parents’ garden into a wedding-worthy venue. Weather permitting, you could be making your way down the aisle on a carpet of daisies, with guests sitting on hay bales, and say ‘I do’ under a beautiful floral arch. And if you're embracing the festival theme fully, then invite your guests for a wedding picnic under the blue sky - do ask them to bring wellies and a brolly, just in case!   

To get you started, we’ve put together a Festival Theme board on Pinterest, which you can share with your bridesmaids and maybe inspire you to create your own. We'd love to hear your thoughts in a comment below or drop us a message on Twitter!

Follow West Weddings's board Festival wedding theme on Pinterest.

Festival wedding details: Wild flowers   

From bouquets to center pieces, think mismatched wild flowers in different shapes and shades that look like they’ve just been picked from a meadow. Take inspiration from Kate Moss and go for a natural look – think soft dresses, loose curls, floral garlands and bare feet!  

Festival wedding music: Live band

There’s no better way to create a festival atmosphere for your wedding than with a live music performance. Choose a band whose style you both love and agree on a playlist that will get everyone on the dance floor. Add some festival flags, fairy lights and glow sticks, and your guests will feel like they’re at Glastonbury! 

10 Alternatives to Cheesy First Dance Tunes

It's a Friday. If you're in the midst of planning a wedding, let us give you permission to set aside the seating plans, phone calls to vendors, decisions about bridesmaids dresses, and instead to take on a slightly more relaxing wedding task: picking the song for your first dance as a couple. What isn't there to enjoy about sitting back and listening to some romantic tunes that conjure up images of you and your future spouse walking through life in matrimonial glory? (Or something like that.)

The one sticking point about picking a 'first dance' song is avoiding the predictable and over-done options (yes Nearly Anything By Frank Sinatra, I'm looking at you). To help you past this hump and into your weekend of music-listening relaxation, here are West Weddings' top 10 'first dance' picks to stir your creativity:

1. "Something in the Water", Brook Fraser - "Give me something fun to do, like a life of loving you"
2. "Bloom", Mae - "Love will find a way to bloom"
3. "Marry You", Bruno Mars - "Hey baby, I think I want to marry you"
4. "Such Great Heights", by Iron & Wine - "I am thinking its a sign that the freckles in our eyes our mirror images, and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned"
5. "In My Arms", by Jon Foreman - "We need to be together, like the shore and the sea"
6. "Grow Old With Me" (John Lennon), cover by The Postal Service - "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be"
7. "Sweet Darlin'", She & Him - "Sweet darlin', come hold me just a little bit longer now"
8. "You Picked Me", A Fine Frenzy, - "The two of us a perfect fit, you're all mine, all mine"
9. "'Til Kingdom Come", Coldplay - "For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come"
10. "Love Today", Mika - "Everybody's gonna love today"

(To listen to the songs on YouTube as a playlist, use this link.)

Happy listening!