Derbyshire weddings: Sally and James’ marquee wedding celebration at Heathy Lea
I’m so delighted to bring you this incredible marquee wedding celebration. Sally & James married in Portugal but it just so happens that they also live, manage, and hold gorgeous weddings at Heathy Lea, a beautiful outdoor Derbyshire wedding venue, nestled away on the Chatsworth Estate in leafy Baslow.
A celebration wedding
This was a celebration wedding with a difference. Firstly, if you were married, or are going to be married, at Heathy Lea then you might recognise Sally & James! They not only live there but also manage every wedding there too. So when it came to their own wedding, they naturally wanted to make sure they differentiated it from the beautiful Derbyshire weddings that happen throughout the Summer at their venue.
To begin with, they married in Portugal and then decided on a Spring wedding celebration - in fact, it was the first wedding of the year for them. They also decided it should be … “the best ***** party ever”!
So …. no formal tables, no table service, or wedding table centrepieces, just lots and lots of friends and family.
Repurposing Church Flowers
Although already legally married, Sally & James decided on a blessing in their local church in Baslow, Derbyshire, where their close friends and family who hadn’t made it to Portugal could share in their celebration.
To welcome guests, we designed a collection of modular designs for their church flowers, which could be simply moved and repurposed to sit outside their marquee and welcome guests to the party.
One of the core principles of our business here at Campbell’s, is making sure we are accountable in every way we can and minimising waste by reusing and re-purposing is very much part of your wedding day.
Spring Wedding Flowers
As always, we sourced as many locally grown Spring wedding flowers for Sally’s bridal bouquet as were available, in their preferred colour palette of apricot, powder blue, peach, mid pink, brighter blue with a pop of mustard yellow. I have to say this is one of my absolute favourite colour palettes for this time of the year and completely suited to Spring wedding flowers.
Sally’s bouquet featured the most beautiful poppies, ranunuclus, sweet-smelling hyacinths, double tulips, delphinium, craspedia, hellebores, hypericum and seasonal foliage. The poppies were grown here in Yorkshire and are a particular favourite of Spring wedding flowers as they are only available for such a fleeting period of time.
A Marquee Wedding full of Floral Installations
To create a celebratory atmosphere, Sally & James decided to fill their marquee garden wedding with high stools, poseur tables, comfy chairs, sofas, and a huge gold bar in the centre. The whole vibe was fun, good times and dancing - a party to remember1
During our initial talks, I was tasked with creating a fun look and feel, to accentuate the fabulous bar and all the gorgeous furniture. I felt that it was essential to make the bar a real statement, and welcome guests into the marquee, so proposed designing a huge large-scale installation. As a nod to the party vibe I suggested incorporating mirror balls into the design. I specifically sourced gold disco balls to match the circular bar and constructed the design as a smaller and larger co-joined set of floral and foliage balls.
At the furthest end of the marquee, I designed a horizontal large-scale installation to decorate the dance floor and stage. Filled with foliage and florals, this design featured a series of different-sized gold mirror balls hanging at different lengths to reflect the light once the band came on and the dancing started.
I do so love an open creative brief and Sally & James’ marquee wedding celebration at Heathy Lea gave me so much opportunity to flex my creative muscles - I’ll forever be grateful they chose me, as they certainly know quite a few florists and floral designers too!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Sally & James’ marquee wedding celebration, we certainly loved being a part of their big day.
If you’ve not visited Heathy Lea then do, its a wonderful place for a Derbyshire wedding or you can simply stay there for a holiday in their absolutely gorgeous Shepherds Huts or beautiful cottages - dogs are allowed in some of the accommodation too!
Every couple we work with has a unique vision for their wedding day, and it's always so special to be able help them bring that vision to life through the beauty of wedding flowers and event styling.
Massive thank you to Fly on the Wall Photography for the stunning photographs, and the biggest shout out to Jessica Sharpe Weddings, wedding planner extraordinaire who is and was so wonderful to work with, she is the best to work with and genuinely makes everything run smoothly.
For more inspiration on how your Derbyshire wedding or marquee wedding might look month-by-month, head over to our Seasonal Wedding Flowers page or read our top 5 tips for large-scale floral installations Tx
