Issue 59

PEOPLE
“I MUST HAVE
DONE A GOOD
JOB BECAUSE
I ENDED UP
WITH 20
COUPLES
BOOKING. THIS
ENABLED ME
TO FINISH THE
VENUE AND
GET IT TO THE
STANDARD I
WANTED.”
the family’s storage business and growing it year on year, he got their
backing. “As anyone involved in a family business can attest, it's not
been plain sailing. That said, mum and dad felt pretty confident in my
abilities after seeing what I had done elsewhere on the farm.
“They’ve been incredibly supportive and really enjoy seeing the
weddings take place. Dad has a particularly keen interest in what
we’ve got the bar stocked with and pops down whenever he can to
help out.
“I’m so glad they’re happy with what we’ve done. It hasn’t been
an easy ride putting it all together and it has taken a fair bit of
investment, both personal savings and loans.”
With some very smart thinking and a gift for sharing his vision for
the venue, Fraser gained additional funding from couples wanting
to book before it was even built. “There was a period of about a year
when I was walking people around what was just a grassy glade. I
explained what I was going to do with it and told them if they booked
now it would be half price.
“I must have done a good job because I ended up with 20 couples
booking. This enabled me to finish the venue and get it to the
standard I wanted.”
The demand has snowballed since that time, with Royle Forest
Weddings only having one weekend left available between now and
2026. “It’s been amazing. Not only have we received bookings from
couples who have fallen in love with the venue after seeing it, but
also from many who haven’t! We’ve had bookings from abroad but
also from the UK from people who are more than happy to have their
wedding here based purely on what they’ve seen online.
“There were moments when some friends and family members
thought I was going too niche, but I stayed true to what I felt was
right, and clearly there are lots of people out there who share my idea
of what a forest wedding venue should be.”
THE TIPIS
Fraser chose tipis for the venue following a conversation with hire
company Garden Weddings Tipi Hire who were supplying structures
for a couple getting married at Royle Farm when it was still a dry hire
operation. “I bombarded the company’s owner Brett Jackson with
questions as he was setting up,” says Fraser. “It was about a year later
that I called him up to get some more information, and found out he
was a fellow venue owner (Skipbridge Country Weddings). He and his
partner Brontë Hall very kindly invited us down to look at their setup
and they couldn’t have been more helpful. We had a super night
with them and gained a good understanding of how tipis work in a
wedding scenario – as well as finding out a lot more about the ins and
outs of running a venue.
“We have five tipis in total, all linked together – two are used for
seating, one is dedicated to the dance floor, one hosts the bar and
cocktail area, and the smallest is the chill-out tipi which is an intimate
whiskey lounge.
“We ended up going to Kata Tipis for our structures as in my
opinion their tipis are of the highest quality – something we needed to
reflect in our offering across the board. We can seat 160, although the
total capacity is 200. If a client wants more of a festival vibe we also
offer a street food courtyard.”
The festival influence is also evident outside the tipis. “It was
important to me that we did all we could to create a rustic, relaxed
atmosphere. Our ‘fire pit huts’ are a great place for guests to take a
breather, toast marshmallows, and just generally soak up the chilled
vibe under the festoon lights at night.”
As an April to October venue, everything except the decking – all
400m2 of it – has to be dismantled at the end of the season. “We’ve
taken the site down twice so far,” explains Fraser. “It’s easy enough to
dismantle, but putting it back up again is hard work! We are fortunate
that we have the facilities to store everything.
“The team we have is small but very effective, and we rope in family
14 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM