Magical Grey & Coral Barn Wedding

Oh where to begin? This wonderful set of images and the accompanying story is just so very lovely.

Ryan and Harriet were married on the 8th August 2015 at Owen House Wedding Barn in Cheshire. It was the perfect magical setting for their hand crafted nuptials. Think reams of pretty lighting, bunting, letter lights and stylish stationery, all set in coral and grey hues.

The bridesmaids looked gorgeous in their long asymmetric dresses teamed with pretty blooms, while the gents went for a classic look. Harriet meanwhile chose a Ronald Joyce gown accessorised with an elegant veil and chic up do. Beautiful. Oh and be sure to keep an eye out for a guest appearance by Oscar and Owen.

Bridgwood Wedding Photography, many thanks for providing these marvellous images.

THE PROPOSAL | Ryan went shopping for the engagement ring with his sister several weeks before my 24 birthday. He took me for a meal to Chaophraya in Manchester where he popped the question on my birthday. We then flew to Paris for a romantic getaway which was perfect. Following the engagement we had an engagement party at Stock at the Pavilion in our home town of Congleton.

THE VISION | The main thing that we wanted, was a civil ceremony so that we could have the ceremony and reception in the same place. We then began to look at suitable venues in the local area (Cheshire) and I fell in love with the idea of having the wedding in a barn. I wanted the look of the day to be shabby chic and set the colour theme as coral and grey (my favourite colours).

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We had a 2 and a half year engagement but only really started planning fully after we booked the venue 18 months before-hand. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted and with the influence of Pinterest and me being crafty I had lots of ideas of things that I wanted to make myself.

THE VENUE | At the beginning of our search for our venue Owen House had not opened so we spent our time looking at various other barns and even looked into having a tipi. Then one day whilst searching the internet again, Owen House popped up and I knew it would be perfect. We arranged a viewing and then went to an open day that they hosted with some family and friends. The barn were waiting for their civil ceremony licence to come through and as soon as they had the go-ahead we booked! From that point onwards they built onto the barn, their civil ceremony room and developed the grounds around the barn. It was a real privilege to watch the barns transformation into the beautiful venue which we were lucky enough to celebrate our big day in!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I had no idea what sort of dress I wanted so went to a couple of different local boutiques including 7^th Heaven Bridal. Helen there was absolutely brilliant! She was so helpful suggesting dresses that I might like and narrowing my search to a specific shape. In the end a chose a beautiful Ronald Joyce dress (Variana) which had a large tulle skirt, lace top and a deep V cut out back. The seamstress added very delicate bead-work to the lace (as I’m a bit of a magpie.) On the day I wore the dress with a long single layered veil.

For my hair I had seen a photo of a lace hair piece on Pinterest which I loved. I took the photo to Joan Brown Vintage Bridal who recreated the hair piece for me. She also made the glitzy sash that finished off my dress.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | We went shopping together for the wedding suits and after trying on several Ryan decided that he liked the long sweeping tails and we chose a silver mohair material which fitted with our theme perfectly. I bought the men Dessy cravats in Ginger to match with the bridesmaid dresses and my mum made them the cravats in the same colour. Ryan had 3 Best Men as he couldn’t pick between them and his nephew as an usher.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had 3 readings during our ceremony as we wanted to involve more of our family and friends. Ryan’s sister Mich read a poem called Wedding Wishes, followed by two of my close friends Sam and Charlotte who wrote a poem for us and then finally our friend Rick, who also wrote a poem for us. For the music I loved the idea of having a pianist for the ceremony and the drink reception afterwards. We booked Paul White the Cocktail Pianist and chose Des’ree – Kissing You for the song as I walked down the aisle. I’ll never forget the moment the song started and all the bridesmaids turned to look at me before walking in. Emilie Sande – Read All About It for whilst we were signing the register and John Legend – All Of Me as we exited the ceremony room.

Later on we had the Leon Meya band who also play in Northern Uproar. My husband first saw Leon play in a local bar and then afterwards we went to see him play in various different venues and booked him for our wedding. He was absolutely fantastic and got everyone up dancing! One of our best men then performed a collection of songs with another guest who he is in a band with as a surprise for us which was lovely. Particularly as I had planned the day in such detail, it was nice to have a surprise. We then had a friend DJ until the bus came to take the guests home.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 5 bridesmaids and 2 flower girls. The chief bridesmaid was my sister Hannah and then I had Ryan’s cousin Katie, my friends Abi and Cat, and niece Tabi. The flower girls were also my nieces Tamsin and Elsie. I wanted the girls to wear coral to fit with the theme and loved the Dessy colour Ginger. I had seen the style dress that we chose before I’d even found my dress as I loved the flowers that went over the shoulder and loved the bohemian style that they added to the wedding. We customised the flower girl dresses my adding flowers made out of the bridesmaid material that my mum made and sewed onto the sashes.

THE FLOWERS | The flowers were supplied by a local florist Heaven Scent, and matched our theme perfectly. I wanted coral and peach flowers which the florist then teamed with eucalyptus and other greenery. She then made matching buttonholes for the men and corsages for my mum and both of our Grans.

I loved the idea of having flowers in jars as the centrepieces and decided to sit them on a log slice which mirrored the shabby chic style of the barn. The jars I decorated myself with a range of ivory lace, garden twine and grey and coral ribbons.

THE CAKE | Ryan’s eldest sister made our wedding cupcakes for us which were perfect – even after having transporting them over 100 miles from her house to the venue. I loved the flowers that she decorated them with and I made the banner (in our wedding font) which I wrote on the chalk board with a cocktail stick.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | From start to finish Steve, our photographer from Bridgwood Wedding Photography, was brilliant! I had spotted him on Facebook before we had even booked our venue as I loved his quirky style and the vintage feel that his photos had. Shortly after booking the venue we got in touch and booked Steve.

With a couple of months to go to the wedding Steve came to Abersoch (a place which means a lot to us both) for an engagement shoot. Although it rained constantly until he arrived, like magic, the sun came out just in time and it meant that we had the beach to ourselves. Steve took some stunning photos of us with our Cocker Spaniels Oscar and Owen enjoying the beach. I loved the photos so much I had them made into a book which I put on the coffee table at the wedding for guests to browse. I would definitely recommend having an engagement shoot to any future brides as it really helped us to get used to having the photographs taken.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Inside the barn, I wanted everything to reflect the shabby chic style and loved the idea of bunting which my mum made (60 metres of it) to have from the girders. We went for the round tables which were finished with the log slices and jars and favours. For our favours my sister made us grey and coral macaroons – not an easy task! They were gorgeous and exactly what I wanted! We also had jars on the tables which housed selfie sticks with a ‘let me take a selfie’ sign which I made as an alternative to disposable cameras. The guests absolutely loved them and they gave a fun element to the day! I also had prepared a ‘Mr and Mrs’ style quiz about us both which the guests completed and then my husband announced the winner in his speech with a round of tequilas for the winning table! We also had a sweet cart which the children (an adults) loved, a fingerprint tree, polaroid camera guest book (which we also took on honeymoon and took some pics), giant letters which my husband made with one of his best men and a selection of garden games with home-made signs (I used the font Ondise for all the lettering for the wedding).

FOOD | We wanted the food to be relaxed and informal to mirror the feel we wanted for the day so we plumped for a BBQ. Our caterers, Sue Le Bonne, were fantastic and the food was amazing. I had the menu written up on a large pallet which was displayed next to the table.

THE HONEYMOON | The following week after the wedding we flew to Thailand for our honeymoon, we spent the first 2 nights in Bangkok where we experienced the floating markets, Grand Palace, Wat Pho and the infamous Sky Bar and then headed to Koh Samui for the remaining 2 weeks. We had a fantastic time sunbathing, riding elephants, snorkelling, and even travelled to the nearby Koh Tao. Trailfinders who we booked through, planned the honeymoon perfectly, I couldn’t recommend them enough!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | As my husband had 3 best men, we didn’t want to pick between them so had our nephew Dennis bring us the rings. He did a fantastic job and was super cute too!! We wanted our Cocker Spaniels Oscar and Owen to play some part in the day, so had family friends bring them up for half an hour whilst we were having the photographs taken. I’m so glad that we did it and absolutely love the photos that we have with them.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | To enjoy the day and to not stress too much about the little things. We had a fantastic day, and there’s absolutely nothing I would have changed!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Engagement Venue | Stock Pavilion

Venue | Owen House Wedding Barn

Photography | Bridgwood Wedding Photography

Dress | 7^th Heaven Bridal

Accessory | Joan Brown Vintage Bridal

Pianist | Paul White the Cocktail Pianist

Band | Leon Meya

Flowers | Heaven Scent

Caterers | Sue Le Bonne

Honeymoon | Trailfinders

Ah such a fun day, I love all of the games to entertain their guests.

Thanks so much to Ryan and Harriet for sharing their wonderful story with us today xo Lou