Quirky Colourful Relaxed Fun Barn Wedding

Bright, happy, fun and quirky wedding time folks. Yippee, my fave.

Rachel and Ross got hitched on the 26th March 2016 at Wellington Barn in Wiltshire. They wanted a ceremony which was super personal and so held their legal ceremony a couple of days before. It’s something I recommend from personal experience if you are a little stuck with your ceremony plans. It totally frees up your options on location and content. They envisioned a colourful celebration with plenty of food, drink and dancing.

There are so many brilliant creative touches thanks to this couple’s DIY efforts including 1000 paper cranes hung around the barn, spray painted bottle candle holders and crafted stationery. A mouthwatering chocolate cake took centre stage with fairy lights and fireworks ending the evening alongside a ceilidh band to entertain.

Rachel’s gorgeous gown was a Phase Eight find, which she teamed with fluffy cardie and bright blooms. Ross meanwhile wore a bright blue suit with floral bow tie. Didn’t they look wonderful?

Thanks to much to Lush Imaging for sharing these really rather fabulous images.

THE PROPOSAL | 09.07.14

Ross proposed on the “100th Happy Day” of my Instagram challenge! He took me for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston with homemade scones, strawberries & champagne.

Unbeknown to me he had been designing my ring with a jeweller in Bath (near where we both originally come from) and popping back at weekends to sort it all out!

THE VISION | Relaxed, lots of fun, lots of colour, lots of food & drink, lots of dancing!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We got engaged in July 2014 and for the first couple of months didn’t do much planning! We live in Birmingham but we both originally come from Wiltshire, and our parents all still live there, so we knew that that was where we wanted to have our wedding.

Ross is a teacher and so the wedding needed to coincide with a school holiday for honeymoon purposes. We decided on Easter Holiday 2016 giving us about 18 months – lots of time to plan and save some money!

We also decided fairly early on that although we didn’t want a church ceremony (neither of us are religious), we also didn’t want a civil ceremony held by a registrar as we felt that they can be impersonal, so we decided to get married legally a couple of days before and do our own thing on the day.

The first thing we booked was our venue. Having looked at lots of places online we arranged to look around Wellington Barn and it seemed to fit the bill perfectly. They were holding a wedding fair a few weeks later so we took our parents along to have a nosey too, and put a deposit down there and then.

Once the venue was in place we fairly quickly sorted out the other “main bits” – caterers, photographer, evening entertainment etc – which left loads of time for all the fun bits!

THE VENUES | We got legally married at Bath Guildhall two days before, where we had a short but sweet ceremony with just parents and siblings present. I think the registrars found it funny how casually we were treating the day – certainly no airs and graces! Afterwards we went for a fab meal at Graze in Bath which was a really lovely opportunity to spend some time with our families together before the main event. Ross subsequently had his (third) stag do that evening, which I hear didn’t leave him in a good state… at least he had a day to recover!

The day itself was spent at Wellington Barn in Wiltshire. We had both our ceremony and reception there, so no need for travelling in between. The venue is in the middle of the countryside, overlooking the back of the Cherhill White Horse hill. It’s a converted barn with two main rooms and a bar. There’s also a lovely outdoor area, which unfortunately we didn’t get to use to its full potential due to the weather. Despite the rain, the barn was so cosy and beautiful inside it didn’t matter that we weren’t able to use the outdoor space as much. The staff were absolutely amazing – putting out all our decorations, dressing the tables and serving the guests. They were so accommodating to all our requests and did their best to ensure we had the best day.

FINDING THE DRESS | I think I knew more what I didn’t want when it came to my dress initially – not strapless, no bling/diamante, no big skirt. I wanted something I would feel comfortable in for the whole day and that I could go to the toilet in without needing assistance!

The first dress I bought was from ASOS and only £75. It wasn’t specifically designed as a wedding dress and it was pretty, but after some thought I just felt like it wasn’t special enough.

I felt quite intimidated by bridal boutiques and, having been to the National Wedding Show with one of my bridesmaids, who was getting married before me, I knew I didn’t like many “normal” wedding dresses!

I made an appointment at a company in Birmingham which specialises in alternative and bespoke wedding dresses, which I went to with my mum and one of my bridesmaids. It was fun trying on a few dresses and getting ideas for what I liked. We even sketched up a design which I’m sure would have been beautiful, but I just felt like I couldn’t justify the price tag at over £1500!

I looked through my fair share of wedding blogs during the run up to the wedding and spotted a dress which I really loved on a blog article. After a lot of searching online I found out that the dress was from Phase Eight, but was no longer available as it was from a 2013 collection. After some more hunting online I managed to track down the dress on preloved.com in my size. I paid £250 for the second hand dress and loved it as soon as I got it!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Along with the dress I wore gold Melissa x Vivienne Westwood heels with red hearts on the front (second hand from eBay for £50!), a full length veil with pearls sewn on (new but bought by my mum from eBay) and a beautifully soft angora wool cardigan (another bargain my mum picked up – down from £60 to £10 in a sale). I also got some gorgeous mustard yellow velvet flats with jewels all over them in the Boden sale (down from £120 to £35) to change into for the ceilidh dancing. You can tell my mum and I love a bit of bargain hunting!

I didn’t think the dress needed much jewellery as it was so detailed with beading on the top, so I kept it simple and just wore some old earrings I already owned.

HAIR & MAKE UP | I wanted my hair up with lots of plaits and flowers – and thanks to Kelly from Centre Stage that’s exactly what I got! It finished the whole look off perfectly and even withstood being outside in the rain!

I don’t wear a huge amount of make up and I didn’t want to end up looking too OTT, so I decided to do my make up myself. I went to a couple of department store make up counters for some tips, and invested in some Benefit make up and a nice set of brushes. I felt more comfortable knowing I could look exactly the way I wanted.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had six bridesmaids – Sally (friend from university), Caitlin, Lucy and Philippa (friends from school/hometown), Elizabeth (Ross’ sister), and Becky (my brother’s girlfriend).

I love mustard yellow which I thought would be a really unusual colour for bridesmaids but would look great. This proved quite a tricky colour to find, however, especially within budget! After a LOT of searching I found the perfect dress in H&M for only £40. There was a bit of a faff trying to find enough dresses in the right sizes (trust me to pick a dress that is only stocked in London, Birmingham and Manchester!) but we eventually managed it and they all looked fab in them!

They wore different shoes so they could pick something they would be comfortable in, and I bought them a gold origami crane necklace to wear.

THE FLOWERS | Caroline Bowater from Foxy Buds is an ex-colleague of my mum’s and, having seen her bouquets on Instagram, was a natural choice to do the flowers. I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to flowers and so I heavily relied on Pinterest to show her what I liked! The brief was essentially lots of colour! Caroline did the most amazing job, all the flowers were absolutely beautiful and brought so much colour into the day!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Ross had his heart set on a suit from a Norwegian company called Moods of Norway since our first holiday together in Iceland in 2009, where we came across one of their stores. They don’t have any shops in the UK so we ordered it online a year in advance to avoid any last minute panic. Luckily they had a sale on so we got a blue three piece suit half price. It looked great but needed some alterations, so Ross took it to a local tailor in Harborne, who did a fantastic job.

Ross was really keen on wearing a bow tie, so we ordered him one, again online, in a red floral Liberty print with a matching pocket square. We ordered ties for the best man, groomsmen, and dads in the same print. He wore Loake Beaufort brogues which were a graduation present from his dad.

To finish the outfit off I bought him some Moods of Norway tractor cufflinks and a watch from JS Watch Co. in Reykjavik (another thing he had admired since that trip to Iceland!) as his wedding presents.

All in all, he looked very handsome!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | My mum’s best friend, who had played at my parents’ wedding in 1984, played piano before I arrived for the guests. I walked down the aisle to “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac.

We wrote our ceremony and vows ourselves, and a close friend acted as unofficial officiant – he did a great job!

We had three readings:

An extract from Les Misérables (my favourite book) read by my mum.

An extract from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin read by a family friend of Ross’.

“A Lovely Love Story” by Edward Monkton read by one of my friends from university.

After we’d said our vows, Ross’ mum read “The Blessing of the Hands” and my nanna said a prayer she had written.

We walked out to “All I Want Is You” by Barry Louis Polisar.

Straight after the ceremony we were treated to a performance by the choir my mum is a part of, which was really lovely.

THE FOOD | We were very keen to avoid either a buffet or a formal sit down meal. Ross and I both love tapas style food and thought sharing platters would be a great way to ensure no-one was waiting around for food at any point. Plus it was a great way to get everyone chatting on the tables.

Our food was made by a brilliant local chef, Peter Vaughan, who is hugely charismatic and passionate about local produce. We had canapés during arrival drinks, then artisan breads on the tables to start followed by a seemingly never ending supply of sharing platters with pulled pork, chicken and chorizo, halloumi, grilled potatoes, humous, loads of vegetable dishes and salads. For dessert we served our wedding cake with chantilly cream and berries. So yummy!

Wine and fizz for the toasts was sourced by Ross’ best man who lives in France. It was brought back over to the UK after a mountain biking trip in the Alps by Ross and a friend who conveniently owns a van!

We were able to have a guest ale at the bar and so we chose Gem by Bath Ales – a local brewery and Ross’ favourite ale.

As it was Easter Saturday we gave out Creme Eggs as favours (sourced by a friend who very handily works for Cadburys!).

Vaughan’s Kitchen also supplied the evening food – lamb or halloumi burritos served with potato wedges and sweet potato fries. We also had chocolate cupcakes made by the fabulous Lydia Taylor.

THE CAKE | Our very talented friend Lydia Taylor who has her own cake company made us the most amazing and yummy naked chocolate cake, decorated with fresh berries, flowers and gold leaf. It looked incredible and tasted even better.

I ordered a gold glittery personalised cake topper from Not On The High Street.

We also had a pick n mix cart – I bought loads of mismatched glass jars from all over the place (charity shops, supermarkets, Ikea…) and filled them with sweets I sourced online or from places like Home Bargains. The whole lot cost under £100 and was really popular with the kids!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The amazing Naomi from Lush Imaging!

I looked at a LOT of wedding photographers online before arranging a meeting with Naomi over coffee. We immediately got on and she seemed to understand exactly what kind of photos we wanted from our day. Basically, by the time we got home we’d made up our mind to book her!

She did the most incredible job and we are over the moon with our pictures. She completely knew what she was doing with the shots of just the two of us, and even when you feel stupid posing in what feels quite an unnatural way, you end up with the most beautiful shots!

She snuck around in the background and we hardly noticed her, leading to some of the most wonderfully natural shots of us and our guests. However, she was able to get everyone together and organised for the obligatory family group shots!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | I’m quite creative and so if I could make it, I would!

My brother is an artist so I utilised his skills in designing the invitations. Using his design I made a lino print of the image which was printed through a press by my dad. The invitation design ended up being a sort of logo which we incorporated into everything we could! My dad is a headteacher so we bought some card and we printed the invitations, order of services, and menus at his school. Only needing to pay for the card, and a donation to the school to cover printing, kept the costs down significantly.

I had a thought to try and make 1000 origami cranes after seeing pictures online, but quickly dismissed it as a stupid idea and far too time consuming (especially as I’m not overwhelmed with spare time as a junior doctor!). A few weeks later I changed my mind and decided it just looked too pretty not to! Over the next few months I managed to make the 1000 cranes – you get pretty quick after a few hundred! After a bit of debate over the best method to do it, I strung them up on clear nylon thread, using small beads and a glue gun to space them out. Each string had 20 cranes on and I put 10 strings on a thin wooden dowel, therefore ending up with five curtains of cranes. They turned out so much better than I could have imagined, and looked just amazing, especially in the photos. We had them hung up behind us in the ceremony and then behind the top table, and they provided such a great backdrop.

For the table centres I spray painted prosecco bottles gold (which we got for free from a local pop up restaurant) and put long candles in them. I also covered jam jars in gold glitter, and spray painted the bottoms of some glass milk bottles bronze. Those, plus an assorted selection of small glass vases (again collected from charity shops, supermarkets, Home Bargains etc.), were filled with flowers. I also covered some cheap candles from Ikea in bronze glitter. They were all placed on log slices which I picked up for £30 from a local man found via Gumtree.

The table numbers were records (we are quite into our vinyl!) with the labels painted with chalkboard paint and numbers drawn on using a gold paint pen. In the same vein, I bought an A1 piece of mount board to stick more records on for the table plan.

I designed a “Who’s Who” map on the computer which showed how everyone at our wedding was connected to each other. I got this printed at a local stationers onto A1 paper and mounted it on mount board.

I also bought an absurd amount of fairy lights (worth waiting to get them reduced after Christmas if you can!) to cover the venue with, which gave it such a warm and cosy glow.

THE ENTERTAINMENT | We knew from an early stage we wanted a ceilidh for the evening entertainment. They are so much fun and encourage everyone to be involved. We were recommended Cartwheel Ceilidh by the staff at Wellington Barn and they were great! The dance floor was full from start to finish!

In between the ceilidh sets my parents had organised a firework display, which was a complete surprise to me! Luckily the rain had stopped by the evening and it was a beautiful clear sky – perfect for fireworks! It was such a wonderful surprise and made the night even more amazing!

We followed the ceilidh with more dancing to the most excellent playlist compiled by my brother Sam!

THE HONEYMOON | A week travelling around the Bay of Naples, Italy. We spent a couple of days on Capri, before heading over to the Amalfi Coast – where we hired a vintage Alfa Romeo for the day, and visited Pompei, Herculaneum, and Vesuvius. We then finished off our trip in Naples where they have the BEST pizza ever!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | So hard to choose – the whole day was amazing! It’s such a whirlwind of all your favourite people and fun!

But I suppose in particular the ceremony and vows were really special (I’m told not a dry eye in the house – including the groom!). Other highlights include the speeches (top notch!), photos in the rain, fireworks, ending the night dancing to The Wine Song by Cat Empire surrounded by a circle of our friends, the list could go on…

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Stick to your guns – if you have a vision of how you want your day to be then go for it. Although you can feel pressure from family to have things a certain way, if you don’t want to do it then stay firm and have it your way. They might even be surprised!

Try not to stress, especially over the little things – you won’t notice them on the day and, to be honest, nor will your guests.

Don’t feel you have to spend a fortune – choose a couple of elements to prioritise and try to save on the smaller things if you can. Photographer and food were the priorities for us.

ENJOY!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Lush Imaging

Venues | Wellington Barn and Bath Guildhall

Caterers | Vaughan’s Kitchen

Cake | The Taylor Made Cake Company

Topper | Not On The High Street

Flowers | Foxy Buds

Ceilidh | Cartwheel Ceilidh

Dress | Phase Eight found via Preloved

Shoes | Melissa x Vivienne Westwood and Boden

Hair | Centre Stage

Bridesmaids | H&M

Groom’s Suit | Moods of Norway

Shoes | Loake

Watch | JS Watch Co.

Bow Tie | Mrs Bow Tie

Tailor | Dámian Márquez

Rings | Gold & Platinum Studio, Bath

Just spectacular.

Rachel and Ross, thank you both so very much for sharing your gorgeous nuptials with us here xo Lou