“We don’t want a beige wedding! We want to experience the music, walking down the aisle of grass and flowers and the love from everybody all weekend!”. This was Nicola and Tim’s must-haves for their wedding at Wonderland.

For Nik and Heather, the dream is "to host a wonderful weekend, bringing people together who we don't get to see as often as we'd like, and create a memorable experience for everyone there. A special shared experience for our family, including getting the kids involved”.

Close up of festival wedding order of the day on a pallet with bell tents and flags in the background. — Photo: Kirsty MacKenzie Photography

Imagine saying "I do" in the heart of a lush woodland, or a dreamy celebration by a tranquil lake, with enchanting fairy lights and blooming flora or by a beautiful beach to the sounds of the waves crashing.

This is what wedding dreams are made of. But, you also want to make sure everyone you love is part of your big day and you don’t want them to leave when the sun goes down - you want this to be more than just one day of magic.

Maybe you have a whole field or campsite as your canvas for a magical festival wedding venue with music, food trucks, tipi tent for dancing and chill area and space for everyone for a weekend of glamping.

Wide image of wedding guests standing on lawn with a fire pit and hay bales in front, between a wooden structure bar and barn with bunting hanging between them. — Photo: Jacques Lloyd Photograpy

If you are already planning for a festival wedding and your wedding planning folder is brimming with pictures of colour, nature and people having fun together, but you are not sure how to make the ceremony as wild, natural or inclusive as the rest of your festival wedding setup, I have plenty of ideas for your mood board.

First, let’s talk about the set-up.

Choosing the perfect outdoor wedding venue

Your first, and maybe most important, decision is to book an outdoor setting that is fit for a festival wedding, and where you can have or make a ceremony area. Think open fields, lush gardens, or even forest clearings. These natural spaces provide ample space for guests to mingle and enjoy various activities for more than just a few hours.

I suggest you consider factors such as accessibility, weather conditions, and available amenities when selecting your venue, especially if you have many people sharing bathroom facilities and sleeping areas and if they need to be fed for more than just one night!

Photo of mobile toilets and showers at festival wedding with a blackboard of shower schedule in front. — *Don’t neglect the needs of your wedding guests! Especially, if you are having them stay for a whole weekend of festival fun.*

Outdoor ceremony considerations

When it comes to the ceremony, you have a lot more freedom.

As long as there is open or protected space for the amount of guests you have invited and that seating can be organised for them. You are likely to be standing some, or all, of the ceremony, but it won’t hurt to have some seating for you too.

A good celebrant will always be able to guide you on where to stand and how to organise the area for good sound - or they’ll either have great voice projection or a portable PA system (I have both!).

It’s pretty cool to have your ceremony in a marquee, tipi or stretch tent too, a bit like you’re the main act of a music festival! A tent with space for ceremony also doubles as plan B if the British weather has a bad day, avoiding ruining your best day …

Use your festival theme for the ceremony

If you’re having a festival style wedding, it only makes sense to have the ceremony set the tone as that is usually the first order of the day. As your guests are also likely to arrive on site earlier than at a conventional indoor wedding venue, to get themselves settled, unpacked and glittered up, the atmosphere will be relaxed and informal. So why not continue with a fun and easygoing, yet intimate and meaningful ceremony style?

Designing the ceremony space with your festival colours and elements is a given: you could introduce your festival theme by filling the ceremony space with hay bales and mason jars filled with wildflowers or colourful flags and a personalised banner, and have live musicians to serenade you as you walk down the vintage rug covered aisle. Or maybe you’re the glam type, who pictures disco balls hanging in the trees?

As a backdrop to the moment you say your personal vows, consider a flower arch, a boho macrame hanging or strings of fairy lights - or anything that takes your fancy!

Celebrant Gitte stands in front of hanging paper cranes shown from back, with guests facing in blur in woodland ceremony — *Get creative with your ceremony decoration and enhance the natural setting. Behind these gorgeous paper cranes was also a wooden arch with flowers in the colour theme.*

Photo: Ari & Lucy Photography.

Although you, and your guests, will be able to look back at pictures of how wonderful it all looks, you also want to make sure that the actual ceremony is as memorable.

This is where your celebrant comes in to help you design the words and elements of your ceremony.

Cool festival ceremony ideas

As an experienced outdoor celebrant, I will make sure that my words in the ceremony are intentional to your values and the theme. I will also work with you to plan symbolic acts and other elements that are as fun and inclusive as you and your whole wedding festival.

Here are some ideas from previous ceremonies I have planned and conducted that you can make your own - you can always change and match them to your own style.

Wooden sign attached to tree reading 'ceremony. — Photo: Sonder Lust Photography

Handfasting ritual

A handfasting ritual is a beautiful way to represent your commitment with a connection to the place and style. This ancient Celtic tradition involves tying ribbons or cords around the couple's hands to ‘tie the knot’. You could use ribbons in colours that match your theme or recycled cotton cords to match the connection to nature.

A fantastic festival design could be braided or thick macrame cords in different colours (I make these!).

Handfasting ceremony in woodland showing side of celebrant tying the knot on hands of groom in burgundy and tattooed arm of bride. — *Ria and Chris chose to use three macrame cords in their colour theme braided for their handfasting ritual that I made for them especially.*

Photo: Ari & Lucy Photography.

Tree planting ritual

If your focus is on the environment, you can’t go wrong with a tree planting ritual. During, or at the end of, the ceremony, you can plant a tree in a pot (or in the ground, if you are doing it on your own land), as a symbol of unity. This wedding ritual commonly symbolises the merging of two lives to create a deep (like the roots go deep in the ground) connection with a lasting, and growing, meaning.

Sand blending

Another lasting and symbolic ritual is a unity sand ritual. Each partner, and any children, pours coloured sand individually into a keepsake transparent container, such as a glass bottle. The result is a beautiful layered effect that represents each life blended and contained together. This would be even better if your wedding is near the sea so you can include sand to represent the special place of your commitment.

Live music

It’s not a festival without music, and as you’re setting the tone for the rest of the time you are all together, why not kick it off in the ceremony? Instead of traditional recorded music, consider having live musicians or bands to perform during key moments like the entrance and exit. Or how about a familiar song during the ceremony that everyone can sing along too (you can always have the lyrics printed and attached the seats)? This can, of course, also be done with recorded music. Live music definitely can definitely add an authentic festival feel to your celebration.

Guest participation

A festival is naturally a shared experience, so make it a natural part from the beginning! And, a joyous sing-along in the ceremony is not the only way to have your guests taking part in the ceremony. You could have guests write down wishes or advice on small pieces of paper and place them in a wish jar or on a tree. To really make your guests feel part of your wedding, and your supportive community for your commitment, consider having them warm your rings before you exchange them. Let the rings travel through the hands of all of your (or selected) guests to hold and inject their loving thoughts for you. When they reach you they will contain in their precious metal something even more precious: the love and support of your family and friends.

Ceremony toasts

If you’re throwing a festival weekend to celebrate your marriage, and your guests don’t have to drive home, you’re likely also expecting some alcohol to be consumed … Let your guests warm up during the ceremony with a toast to you and your vows! Fun ways to do this are either just for yourselves with shots on a plank, communal shots in glasses given out by your wedding crew (e.g. ushers) or even in test tubes, if the ground is uneven!

Bride and groom drinking celebratory shot from plank in woodland — *With Harry being a cocktail bartender, it was natural to start the day with personalised shots for him and Holly in their ceremony to seal their commitment to a lifetime of fun together.*

Photo: Sonder Lust Photography

This is just a small selection of ideas to add to your outdoor ceremony. Check out some more ideas for ceremony rituals and other ceremony ideas on my blog.

Celebrant Gitte, wearing rainbow coloured striped dress, in the middle of bride and groom about to say their personal vows in festival wedding ceremony — Sarah and James’s “JamFields” festival wedding included a ceremony in the woodland adjoining the campsite that they hired for a bank holiday weekend.
Photo: Kirsty MacKenzie Photography

Festival weddings are for the free spirits, music enthusiasts, and lovers of nature who want a collective and participatory event.

With elements such as unity rituals, live music performances or guest participation, a celebrant-led ceremony gives you endless possibilities for incorporating the same lively festival vibes in a personalised commitment ceremony and lots of love and togetherness, sure to make memories for life - for you and your guests.

Want to have a chat about how I can help you create a personalised ceremony for your festival wedding?

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Ceremony ideas for festival weddings