Regardless of how long it is until your wedding day and indeed the time of year it will be, there is nothing more entertaining and exciting then planning and executing a festival-themed wedding.

With this in mind, continue reading for a comprehensive and detailed guide on planning the ultimate festival-themed wedding.

1.    Festival Invitations

For each and every one of your guests, there is no better feeling then opening the mailbox to discover a beautifully presented, wedding invitation and what better way to instill excitement about your wedding day than the promise of a festival celebration.

Inside the invitation, you could add a custom-made festival wedding wristband, which your guests need to wear to ‘gain entry’ to the event and which will also double as a fabulous wedding favor and keepsake. Just be sure to have some extra wristbands made, as the last thing you want is your dear grandfather to misplace his band and not be allowed in!

2.    An Outdoor Location

Naturally, the ideal location for a festival-style wedding celebration would be somewhere with a large area of land and if you are fortunate enough to have the wedding budget to be able to afford such a venue, then this is definitely the way to go.

However, there are plenty of other, more affordable, options, such as local pubs in the countryside which may well have even hosted a festival themed wedding in the past. Alternatively, you could even look into farms and outhouses which have barns available to hire for celebrations such as this. Additionally, you should give your festival wedding a unique, festival-inspired name, perhaps one which combines your new and old surnames or first names.

3.    The Ceremony Itself

The general vibe of a festival themed wedding is naturally much more relaxed than that of a more traditional church wedding and as a result, choosing the location of the formal ceremony itself should be focused on a more romantic setting.

One of the best suggestions for the ceremony is to hold the formal section in the same location as your afternoon and evening celebrations, so following on from an outdoor location, a woodland ceremony is perhaps the best decision.

You could decorate the woodland area, or even the farmland and barn, with warm white lights and hang solar powered fairy lights in the trees which will come alive when the sun sets. If you are holding your ceremony in a separate location to your evening reception, then there is only one way for you and your new husband or wife to travel; in a VW camper van.

4.    Festival Decor

Unless you are intending on spending the next few months regularly praying to a sun god, you simply cannot rely on the weather staying warm and dry for the entirety of the day and night.

To counteract any possible risk of the rain ruining one or more elements of the most special day of your life and still in-keeping entirely with the theme of festival, you could hire one or more marquees to host the wedding meal and to provide a dance area in the evening.

Arranging several firepits in and around the woodland area is another way for you and your wedding guests to keep warm as the night sets in and the more lights and lanterns you arrange in and around the site, the better.

Other stand-out ideas for festival décor and additions include:

• A bucket of flipflops and wellies for your guests to change in
• Festival lanyards on the tables as wedding favors
• A wedding poster for the guests to sign
• A beautiful firework display at the end of the evening
• Festival signs made by you and your fiancé

5.    Music!

If you were to list the most important elements of a wedding which is entirely based around a festival theme, music would perhaps sit at the very top.

To ensure your guests are in the party spirit right through the evening and into the early hours, hire wedding music bands that will be more than happy for you to design a set list for them to play. Choose a combination of different styles of festival music to ensure that there truly is something for everyone.

6.    Outdoor & Indoor Activities

Obviously, the main event when it comes to entertainment is the live music, but there is a myriad of other activities, both indoor and outdoor, which your wedding guests can immerse themselves in.

Furthermore, if you deliberately choose activities which encourage teamwork and bonding, then this will make for a much more relaxed feel and overall tone and vibe to make the evening celebrations an amazing festival atmosphere.

Face painting is a classic, as well as crown flower making and a glitter bar where men and women alike can cover themselves in multi-colored glitter to make for both an incredibly sparkly and even more memorable day.

7.    The All-Important Food & Drink

Finally and in the minds of many of your wedding guests, most importantly, much attention should be paid to providing enough food and drink to keep them refreshed all day and night.

When it comes to planning and organizing a festival-themed wedding, the focus should be on food that is most commonly available in an authentic festival setting and there is one surefire way to ensure that the festival vibes are alive and well when it comes to feeding your guests.

Thankfully, there are sure to be numerous companies in your local area that supply small vans and portable stalls which offer no-nonsense, yet simultaneously utterly delicious, festival food, such as chicken nuggets and chips, burritos, pizza slices and a wide array of other picky-foods.

When it comes to alcohol, a cocktail bar is the best way to go and again, you will certainly be able to find companies who can be hired to provide a portable camper-van style cocktail bar, (just be sure to provide some other options too!).