Tipi's

The tipi companies should have your back on this one and should be able to advise, so don't worry. I got married recently and fell in love with the tipi, but couldn't justify the costs, but we went for an alternative which suited our needs & included posh loos. We completely DIY'd our day and to be honest it was really stressful planning it all, but it was equally the best day. If I could turn the clocks back I would've hired a co-ordinator to take some of the pressure off...stupid really as I know a fab one too, but I was typically bride-determined that I could do it! If it rains, it rains - your photographer should be experienced enough to handle all situations. I know a bride who got married this Valentines and that day was some of the worse weather we had seen...it didn't bother her on the day and she loved her images especially as the rain just gave it a different dimension.

Hello!

I may be able to offer some advice for you Initially we were going to have a tipi/yurt wedding, but due to the cost we have changed our plans, however, I had done tons of research on it!

First off, things you may need to hire:

Tipis (start at around £2500 ish, depending on your volume of guests)

Toilets (from around £400)f

Bar (you can get this for free, as they just make their money from selling drink, however, some do charge)

Land Hire

You may not need security, especially if it is on private land. You may want to hire on-the-day-co-ordination for smooth running of the day and to liaise with suppliers. Depending on the sort of package you want, expect to pay around £300-£500 for one.

A lot of Tipi companies hire out furniture, generators, heating, lighting etc. in their packages (the more you get from one company, the easier). The land you hire may come with electricity supply, in which case, you won't need a generator. The land, however, must come with a water supply for your caterers/toilets. This brings me to mention that you will need to a hire a caterers tent. A hog roast company will be the less of a headache to hire, as they just need electricity supply, rather than other appliances. A hog company I contacted said a 4m caterers tent is big enough for them.

A really good company (depending on your budget), is weddingyurts.co.uk . They supply Yurts, not Tipis, however they look utterly gorgeous, come with a bar, and a wedding co-ordinater for £6000. If I had the cash I would book them in a heartbeat. If you have the budget, this is a great option as there is more 'under one roof'.

During my research I have found that Yurts are slightly cheaper to hire than Tipis. Another tip, if you can, is to hire as locally to you as possible. The further they have to travel, the more their delivery costs hike up, same goes for the amount of tipis/furniture etc. you hire. The more weight, the higher the cost. Also, factor in delivery costs for things like toilets and bars etc. and make sure the companies include these costs in their quotes (so have your venue postcode at the ready)!

You will need a temporary alcohol licence for your bar, but the companies tend to get one for you from your council, for about £20.

One final thing, some suppliers need HGV access, so make sure the land you hire has that!!!! Without that, you may end up with a serious problem and no Tipis on site!! The land also has to be relatively flat

As for a wet weather contingency plan, if there is nowhere nice nearby for photos, you will have to have them in the tipis! Make sure there is enough room for everyone to have a seat/fit inside comfortably just in case. The best way to keep the costs from spiraling out of control is to keep your guest list at a modest number. You can always hire/buy a cheap garden gazebo to put some tables/chairs in for after the meal and before the reception to make some room, this could save you a grand so you don't have to hire out that extra tipi for a dancefloor.

I hope this helps, and while I am not having this as my wedding anymore, I hope you do, it is a fantastic idea, but a word of warning, the costs mount up quickly so get all of your ducks in a row before you shoot and get lot's and lot's of quotes. You will have to be super duper organised, so perhaps get yourself a special book for suppliers and keep note of everything as you go. All the best, and if I think of anything else I will let you know!

Wow HeavyMetalMaiden... I'm exhausted just reading that! I'd love to be a guest at a wedding in a tipi/yurt cos it sounds like so much fun but the amount of organising sounds like a massive headache to me. Such a shame you decided against it after all the research you did ? Great of you to share all the info though! x

Thanks Pipsybus! If I can't use my info, I would much rather give it to anyone who needs it, so my months of research isn't wasted hahahaahaha!! I wish we didn't have to decide against it, but we would need to rob a bank to make it a reality Oh well, maybe for our vow renewal in 20 years time or something :p

Hello! I am getting married in 3 weeks and am having Tipis. We are renting a big old house which has big lawn at the front. We are getting married in the house then having the meal and dance in the Tipis. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's so stressful, there is so many extra things to organise which you just wouldn't have to if it was in a hotel. For example electricity: Do you need a generator as a primary source or just as a back up? How many sockets do the band need? How many does the caterer need? We're going to plug everything in at the house so trying to work out the load of each socket and see how many we require. Going tomorrow to measure the distance between the house and the back of the lawn so the tipi company can take the right gauge of cable with them. We were originally going to hire a company to deal with all the electrical/lighting side of it, but his final quote came in at 3k (original was 1k) so we've just decided to do that side ourselves. It's no big deal of it rains, you just stay in the Tipis, we've bought a ton of umbrellas just in case.

One thing to remember is that the tipi can only advise you on different aspects of the planning, same as any other supplier, but it's all down to you to liaise with all of the suppliers. Most of my time is spent sending emails between them all, every time you think your getting there they all come back to you with 3/4 other questions that need answered. If you don't have a wedding planner then there will be no one over seeing the day (like you would in a hotel) this is why you have to be very organised and for example have a list of duties for each supplier with timings on etc. If no one knows what time to be where it's just going to be a shambles and you don't want to have to sort out dramas on your wedding day.

I am not an organised person and I still have a list that is 2 A4 pages long that I need to do in the next 3 weeks. I honestly did not think it would be this much work. I've tried to plan the whole thing in 5 months. So if you have longer to do it in and are more organised than me then I'm sure you'll find it easier! Any questions, give me a shout.

K x

We're having a tipi wedding

We're more or less all sorted now so if you have any other questions that haven't already been answered fire away and ill do my best to help.

We've done everything ourselves so far and have found it all to be fairly straight forward. That said, i'm very organised and love planning/arranging/organising so i'm in my element with this kind of thing! Just take it one step at a time and you'll be fine.

There she is! Not long now, Louise! The days leading up are a bit bonkers.

Oh I can imagine! I'm in complete denial about that at the moment. Deep breaths and happy thoughts and all will be well....I hope

When is it in case we wanted to crash the evening do

I photographed a tipi wedding where it rained and we actually did the group photographs in the tipi entrance. The light was lovely as it was nice and directional and soft and it all turned out fine. In the evening there was a cold wind and rain, we zipped it up and stayed toasty warm by the (real!) fire inside - absolutely magical!!

We are having tipis. The tipi company could supply everything we need but we found she was consistently massively overpriced - everything we asked her to quote for was hundreds, even a thousand more than other suppliers, and always at least a third more than the example prices on the website. So while it's convenient to have one supplier, make sure the prices are competitive.

My two pence worth - I don't know where you are in the country but near us (london/hertfordshire) the land alone started at 5k! You got it for a week to set up etc but I couldn't justify it! I'm sure it's massively inflated so if you're elsewhere it should be fine.

Do you mean ours? If so we're Sept 12th. We can handle gatecrashing....as long as you bring the dog too!

Ok cool. We're clear that day. Dog on the dancefloor, check.