Siobhan Craven-Robins, Wedding Planner London - Established 1996
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Marquee Wedding

We had such a fabulous day and know that it would not have been anywhere near as special without your enormous effort and detailed care.

Emma and Kevin decided in July 2006 that they wanted to marry to marry in September 2006! We had just 9 weeks to arrange their wedding! They had chosen their church and also the location where they would like to have their marquee erected, that was all!

  • Marquee Wedding
  • Marquee Wedding
  • Marquee Wedding
  • Marquee Wedding
  • Marquee Wedding

The Wedding

Emma wanted quite a bohemian theme to the day, elegant but not contrived. I decided to achieve this through 3 different looks in the marquee in order to keep the momentum of the day going as they were partying until 3am that night.

It was a long day and required structure in order to keep the day exciting and prevent guests leaving early.

After the church ceremony, guests were transported to the marquee location by coaches. As the marquee had been erected (taking a week) on a hill overlooking an estuary we had guests transported in a fleet of BMW 4 x 4's from the drop off point to the marquee.

My florist had built poles with circlets of Gypsophelia suspended from them to mark the entrance to the marquee. Guest walked under an arbour into a zen themed reception area. - cream lining and carpets with ivory velvet clothed occasional tables and ivory seats and a Spanish guitar band playing in one corner.

It was beautiful day, so guests were able to walk out onto the carpeted balcony area and sip their champagne and enjoy the view and the delicious pan Asian canapés. We had also created an arbour of birch trees from which the placements cards hung at the entrance from the balcony into the marquee so when dinner was called, we handed out the placement cards to guests.

They then walked through the marquee via the 'back' corridor into the 'Moulin Rouge' styled dining room. Here the tables were clothed in either olive or ivory brocade with contrasting napkins. Each table setting had 4 different styles of glasses to keep the look eclectic and the tables were decorated either with gold and crystal candelabra festooned with flowers, flock boxes filled with flowers or Gypsophelia chandeliers suspended from the ceiling and draping crystal droplets just short of the table. The walls were decorated with huge circles of hydrangea. Menus doubled as placecards in order that the tables did not look cluttered. Here guests dined on a 4-course menu while watching the sunset over the water.

Background 'Buddha bar' music was piped through to the room via a discreet PA system.

While guests were dining, we were all busy turning the zen area into a Moroccan chill out lounge. After speeches, dancing was announced and a kabuki drop revealed the 'nightclub' - a huge stage and lighting system, black and white dance floor, lit bar with urns filled with pink, purple and burgundy ostrich feathers. We had also pulled down the curtain from the nightclub to the chill out to create one large space for dancing and chill out.

Soul II Soul played for 90 minutes to a packed dance floor. Guests were then invited outside onto the balcony to watch a firework display set to Bohemian Rhapsody and Tubular Bells.

After this Spanish style Tapas were tray served to guests to who had worked up an appetite and the DJ played until 3am when we struggled to make guests leave!