Emily and Sean's Beautiful Tipi Wedding in West Yorkshire by Laura Calderwood Photography

Today I have this gorgeous wedding to share with you from West Yorkshire, so keeping it relatively local to me here in Sheffield. Emily and Sean wanted to keep their wedding day small and they found the perfect venue in Chilli Barn. They held their beautiful intimate wedding ceremony in the barn followed by a gorgeous flower filled tipi reception. With a mixture of pink and purple flowers coupled with lots of greenery, the general decoration is chilled and relaxed, just like Emily and Sean. Big thanks to Laura Calderwood Photography for the delightful photos.

Our wedding day was a brilliant celebration with our closest family and friends. The day could not have been more perfect and we just want to re-live the whole day again.

Emily and Sean were married on 20th August 2022 at Chilli Barn, Otley, West Yorkshire. ‘We wanted a small and intimate wedding with our closest friends and family and the Chilli Barn offered that. We have both grown up in Yorkshire and love the scenery that it has to offer and we thought that Chilli Barn was in great place with fields on one side and the Chevin Woods on the other. We also thought we would get some great wedding photos and we were right -Laura did a fantastic job with our photographs. We had 52 guest during the day and 62 in the evening, it took two years to plan.’

How they met
We met at university when we were both allocated the same accommodation in first year. We have been together 10 years in October.

The proposal
We went for a weekend camping trip to Edale in Derbyshire. The first morning of our trip we decided to go for a walk up Mam Tor. When we set off Sean took his coat, which on reflection was a bit strange because it was summer and he is a typical Yorkshire man, who always wears his shorts and is always too hot. Sean took me to a slightly more private part of the trail to look at the peak district view. He began talking about our life together and was reflecting on some of our memories, then he got down on one knee with an open ring box and asked me to marry him. It was a massive but lovely surprise and I had no idea that he was going to propose.

How did you allocate your budget?
We had an idea in mind of how much a venue would cost. We also thought that getting the right photographer was one of the most important things so allocated more budget to that.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We saved on stationary and signs by creating them ourselves using recycled pallet wood, creating our own templates and painting the signs. The biggest splurge was on the photographer, we saw this as one of the most important parts of the day as it would capture the memories.

How did you choose your photographer?
I asked my sister Rachel for recommendations as she is a makeup artist and as part of her job she does weddings and has had experience of working with different wedding photographers. One of the photographers she suggested was Laura Calderwood. Sean and I looked at her photos and they were very natural which was what we were looking for. Rachel had also said that she was very relaxed and that she would put us at ease on the day (we weren’t used to posing for pictures).

The dress
Dress – Miss Scarlett, Earrings – Rachael Cooke (Alabaster Dream), Shoes – Linzi

Suit and bridesmaids
Suit – Marc Darcy from The Yorkshire Menswear. Bridesmaid dresses – TFNC (ASOS)

Theme or colour scheme
Wild looking with lots of greenery and tones of pink and purple by Emma the Florist in Baildon, Bradford.

Decoration
The flowers were our decorations! Alongside fairy lights and candles for the evening. We had rustic decorations.

Food
The venue provided our wedding breakfast, which was mostly vegetarian. Although we are not vegetarians, the food was amazing and everyone else agreed. In the evening, we had fresh pizza cooked on a train by Pizza Loco.

Wedding cake
We had a tier of lemon cake and a tier of raspberry and white chocolate cake. It was covered with butter cream and then had pressed flowers all over it. It was absolutely beautiful – Peri did an amazing job!

Entertainment
During the day, we created our own Spotify playlists for different parts of the day. For the evening, we had a band that played a mixture of pop and folk music.

Who supplied the stationery?
Etsy for the invites and then the rest was created on the computer by Sean.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went to Singapore and Bali.

Personal touches
We made a lot of signs our self (with the help of our friend) using pallets and cable drums. Another friend, who works for a local brewery, supplied the beer and created a beer pump clip. He named the beer ‘Hoppily Ever After’ which was on the pump clip along with a picture of us. It was such a lovely surprise. We had a little bottle of Henderson’s Relish on each table as Sean comes from Sheffield and we were having pie.

Special moments
It is so difficult to find one highlight of the because it was all so amazing. Sean was so nervous about giving a speech but everyone thought it was brilliant and he did a great. Another highlight was when Sean saw Emily for the first time, she looked so beautiful walking down the aisle. Another highlight was making sure that we took some time on our own to actually take in and watch everyone at the wedding. Having these moments together throughout the day made things feel even more special because we were able to really appreciate the day.

Advice for other couples
When times get stressful during the planning, always remind yourself that the day is about the two of you and if some things don’t work out or go the way that you would have wished, you have each other and your wedding day is about being together for the rest of your lives. It’s not about the small things! Also, make sure you take time during the day where just you two chat and take in what is happening around you.
Enjoy every moment – the day flies by!

Biggest surprise
Sean crying when I walked down the aisle.