Greganbury Cumbrian Festival Wedding

I said I would bring sunshine....

Names: Megan & Greg from Cumbria

Month: Sept 2017 - Grey days with lots of rain... apart from their special day!!!

Venue: Duddon Sports Club

Marquee: Fjell Event Tipis

Photographer: Steven Taylor Photography

Catering: Cunliffe Hog Roasts

Video: Satin Pictures (Trailer link here!)

Music: Jaydee Records / Paper Cranes

It was looking like an epic plan; tipis, array of bands, huge flags, pimms bar, shooting range, hog roast, ice cream... but one thing stuck in our thoughts... will the Cumbrian weather play nice?! 

Megan and Greg's planning for this epic celebration was faultless. Megan had gone to town with beautiful DIY projects and full on festival vibes while Greg got handy making some personalised finishing touches. A glorious collection of people were invited to join in with not just dancing to the line up of acts but to the personal and emotional elements encompassed in the ceremony and speeches. The stage was set and fingers were crossed that the weather would change from its gloomy wetness to spectactular sunshine. 

Being 7 months pregnant I too was concerned but for slightly different reasons. I couldnt picture me sludging about quickly enough on soggy ground for my usual non stop, proactive role! 

But, as you can tell from the fab images of the day by Steven Taylor Photography, all was well and the clouds vanished! Months earlier I happened to mention that out of the over hundred weddings I have been involved with now, only a hand full had rain. This was seen as a given from that day and so I had to deliver! Still working out how I did it but I dont mind taking the credit! 

Myself and Leigh-Ann had such a fantastic time helping with this wedding. Happy memories such as the hilarious sing-along while gathering people for the group shot and the stunningly pretty sun setting over the hills. Plus so many ideas and lessons to take away with as usual me such as fun glasses to keep not just for favours but for your pimms and the wonderful shooting range activity which worked for everyone there. 

Here is what Megan had to share about having Weddings by Annabel involved....

"In the early stages of our wedding planning, we knew we wanted to do some different, informal and fun.  My biggest, and probably only concern about that was not having a proper venue, and therefore a wedding coordinator or venue staff to rely upon.
I was never looking for a wedding planning to ‘plan’ our wedding in its entirety, we had lots of ideas, and we wanted it to be ‘ours’ but I just needed that extra pair of hands (and ears!).   We’d decided to go for a festival themed wedding, in tipis, in a field, with live music throughout the day, and there was one thing we really didn’t want – a formal sit down meal. We could visualise it all, our question was just ‘how do we make this happen’.
My purpose for contacting Annabel initially, was to see if she offered support on the day of the wedding.  Whilst we had a sizeable bunch of bridesmaids and groomsmen, we wanted them to be able to enjoy the day, but we knew we’d need that extra pair of hands on the day to sort suppliers, manage guests etc.  Annabel explained that this was something she offered as part of her package and we arranged to meet up further to discuss how it would all work.
From our first meeting with Annabel, we had the reassurance that we’d have someone taking care of our day, that would be part of the planning journey over the following year, and by the time the day arrived, she’d know what was in our heads as much as we did and would be making sure that became a reality.
Whilst we had all our own ideas for decorations, invites, suppliers etc, Annabel was still able to provide us with further options and advice based on her experience of what would and wouldn’t work well.  Even just having her checklist and spreadsheet was reassuring to make sure there wasn’t anything we were missing.  She also gave us the great idea of having a joint Hen and Stag party which turned out to be one of the best things we’ve ever done, our family and friends are all pushing for us to do it again this year!  
When the wedding arrived, there was probably only myself, my husband and Annabel that knew everything about the day.  On the day, Annabel arrived with one of her colleagues early in the morning and they started by checking everything at the venue, and dealing with everything we’d been unable to do the day before due to the weather.  After that, they came to check on me and the girls, then headed off to ensure the boys were in check before heading to the church.  Whilst I didn’t think about it much on the day (because I didn’t have to), knowing someone was running around checking everything was how we wanted it relieved any worries I would have otherwise had, I was completely laid back throughout the day.  
I remember a point during the day when my husband and I were stood in the Tipis discussing how it was just how we imagined and more.  We clocked Annabel and her colleague, at the time they were lighting candles, collecting rubbish and topping up our cocktail bar.  It was then that I said to my husband ‘you don’t realise until the day how much we needed this, its worth every penny’.  And I still stand by that now, I think the management of the day would not have gone as well as it did without Annabels help, and a number of things would have fallen onto our wedding guests, which is exactly what we didn’t want.
As as an added bonus, she told us she’s a lucky omen with the weather and it proved to be correct.  Our wedding day fell right in the middle of a storm, the week before the wind and rain was beyond belief, and they day after it returned, yet our wedding day was a beautiful day without a drop of rain!"

Wonderful photography from: Steven Taylor Photography

For more details on any suppliers or how to create the festival atmosphere for your day, get in touch for a chat. 

A x