Alice & James – A Festival-Inspired Bohemian Welsh Wedding
Fresh off the back of Glastonbury ‘25 – the UK’s most extra-ordinary festival, we literally cannot wait to share with you, a throwback to Alice & James’ utterly awesome Wedfest. And trust me, this ain’t any old tipi wedding! No, no, no, it was a bohemian, coastal extravaganza set in the idyllic surrounds of Tros Yr Afon, a private weekend retreat for gorgeous weddings such as this.
Check out the epic floral wedding arch framing their I Dos, and the incredible beer-bearer – Love this! And I’m totally in love with Alice’s red velvet bomber – embroidered with Mrs Abernethy! And that lighthouse shot – simply incredible! Needless to say we’re obsessed.
I’ll hand over to Alice & James to let them share the details of their spectacular wedding.
When and where did you first meet, and what attracted you to each other?
Facebook! Haha
James added me as a friend about a year before he drunk messaged me one night. At the time I really wasn’t looking for love but found him to be breath of fresh air. So after a month of messaging back and forward we went on our first date!
Tell us about your engagement – when and where did it happen…
We completed the sale on our first house on 31st January 2020, and moved in the next day. James asked me to come to meet him at the house before everyone else started arriving with van and car loads of boxes, so we could have our first breakfast in our new home together.
He got there before me, and I was rushing around all morning, and when I got to our new street I couldn’t get parked – so had to walk up the street with 3 carrier bags, our dog on his lead and a stool (I was trying to make a head start! Haha) all flustered I got to our new front door where he helped me get everything in. Then held me tight and told me how much he loved me, and how excited he was. Behind me was a parcel which he told me to open, and inside was a giant love heart cookie which said ‘Will you marry me?’ I turned around to find him on one knee practically shaking and I cried ‘Are you serious?!’ and he said, in typical James-fashion ‘Well this is all a bit much if I’m not!’.
I then spent the rest of the day grinning ear to ear!
Why did you want a tipi wedding and what style/feel of wedding did you want to create?
We LOVE a festival!
We both wanted a super relaxed day, that reflected our personalities, with a big party to celebrate.
We wanted a venue that allowed guests to stay, and so when we found Tros Yr Afon we knew we’d be able to incorporate a tipi wedding with everything we wanted.
How did you find Tipi Unique and why did you choose to use us?
Early in wedding planning I knew we had a budget to stick to and how important it was to shop around. I believe I found Tipi Unique through searching online.
I sat for hours comparing quotes, including the additional extras that we would need to hire to make our venue extra special.
Tipi Unique came out trumps every time. Their catalogue of furnishings and accessories was so black and white about pricing/sizing etc where other companies were very vague and didn’t offer anything like Tipi Unique did.
How did you decide on the date and season of your wedding?
Well, we wanted a bank holiday weekend – because our venue was exclusively ours for the weekend, so it meant guests could stay all weekend without rushing home.
But then, the Queen through a spanner in the works and her jubilee was the following weekend so the last weekend in May was no longer a bank holiday ☹ but we gave our guests loads of notice so they could make preparations.
May and June are beautiful in North Wales and usually really nice weather so that’s why we hedged our bets on 28th May 2022.
Where did you get married and why did you choose to host your wedding here?
We got married on the lawn of Tros Yr Afon, with our impressive tipis sitting behind us. We decided to do the ‘legal’ bit inside the Manor House with our two best friends as our witnesses joining us.
Tros Yr Afon has a large area for tipis/marquees at the end of the lawn, which was perfect for what we wanted. It’s situated in Penmon, and is a short drive from Penmon Point where we went for some photos near the light house – and they turned out better than I’d imagined!
What was the theme and colour palette of your wedding and how did you decide on this?
James surname is Abernethy – and whilst it sounds very Welsh it’s actually a Scottish name. Their family clan has a tartan called Leslie which is made up of red, navy and green – so we loosely used these colours on the day. It was lovely to see the vision come together, as a lot of the decor and accessories I sourced or made myself.
What type of decor, furniture and flowers did you choose, and how did you add your own stamp to the tipis?
Boho was absolutely the vibe we were looking for – again to really accentuate the festival theme.
For the decor I was keen to be thrifty and create as much as I could myself. I bought muslin material, then dyed and cut it into table runners and napkins – I’ve kept all the material ready to be used when we have our baby for burp cloths so it won’t go to waste!
I handmade 115 Macrame placemats, and 12 Macrame centre piece hoops. I designed and printed table names and place cards on brown craft card. I scavenged glass jars and made them boho by adding lace, twine or Macrame covers.
Furniture was all from Tipi Unique, we wanted to make the most of the space so opted for their long tables with chiavari chairs. We had an Ohana tipi to house our bar and opted for some armchairs, stools and cushions in this space to make it super cosy. As an extra that I couldn’t say no to – we also had the swing set with lights – the kids absolutely loved it! As did the hungover bridesmaids the day after!
Our flowers were all from Mr Jones & Me, we wanted a mixture of dried and fresh wildflowers for the tables to go in the boho jars I decorated, the bouquets and buttons holes were all dried wildflowers and she decorated the arch we married under in bright vibrant fresh flowers.
What type of food and drink did you have?
We didn’t want a 3 course sit down meal, it would feel too formal and goes on foreverrr.
Instead we opted for a Graze Table for our wedding breakfast, and Millies Grazing and Georgia’s Bakeaway did an amazing job – people went up for 2nds and 3rds and there was still loads of food left.
In the evening we wanted to offer different options, and like a festival we wanted a few different vans. So we had a Woodford pizza Van from Flour & Flame, Yorkshire Pudding wraps from Manna Foods, and a chocolate waffle stand from Chocolate Falls.
Our bar was run by Darren’s Dazzling Mobile Bar – he made sure we had a few specials available on the day like vodka slushies.
When me and James go to festivals we inject vodka into capri sun’s and then seal them so we can sneak them in (ridiculous I know haha) so I bought some drinks pouches, fruit juice and vodka and Darren and his team kindly made them up and kept them on ice ready for our speeches, he really did go above and beyond and keep everyone very happy!
Tell us about the entertainment and any special touches?
This was another important area for us, where we could really make some festival vibes happen.
James friends are in a band called Life’s a Beach and they kindly played a few cover sets throughout the day which we were so so grateful for – again they went above and beyond what we expected and keep everyone singing and dancing.
My step-brother is DJ NatFan – who also kindly played a set for us, his mixes kept everyone on the dance floor, never knowing what was coming next.
Later on we had DJ Two Tone, who does his own percussion alongside tracks – its so cool to watch him do his thing!
And joining him we a Saxophonist from Girls That Mix giving festival/Ibiza vibes – they get right in the crowd and dance with you which was so much fun.
What did you love most about having a tipi wedding?
I loved how much freedom we had with everything, my whole vision came to life.
We’ve been to so many venue weddings where they’re all carbon print of each other, all that changes is the bride & groom – we didn’t want that. We wanted something memorable, something us! And I absolutely feel like we achieved that.
How would you rate our tipis and the Tipi Unique team?
The team are so friendly, Karen made us so at ease and nothing was too much. She completely understood and shared our vision and her husband and team made it happen.
The tipis, furnishings and lighting all made our day what it was, perfect!
Thank you Tipi Unique for making our day so special
Tell us a little about your chosen wedding photographer?
Katee Reichle : The Shutter and Eye Photography
Who kindly travelled all the way from Northamptonshire for us – we wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to capture our day!
What was the best part of your wedding?
Omg, how can I choose one thing? Absolutely, it was marrying my best friend first and foremost.
There you have it, quite possibly the MOST original wedding! Packed full of personality and utterly focused on love, and making sure every detail was meaningful and treasured not just by the happy couple, but their guests who enjoyed this beautiful Welsh destination wedding weekender.
Wishing you a lifetime of adventures as best friends and a very happily ever after!
It’s fair to say, festival-themed celebrations, really do it for us – and reliving this fantastic day, paired with the magic of the festival season, really has got us inspired. If you’re thinking of creating your similarly-styled celebration, get in touch, we’ll do all we can to help create your very own extra-ordinary minifest and make it one heck of a weekend!