Mint & Peach Spring Rustic Barn Wedding

This lovely pair threw their relationship and shared loves into their wedding with gusto. Think Icelandic influences colliding with Game of Thrones and computer games amongst their favourite things. Sounds pretty awesome right?

WWW readers Katy and Simon were married on the 7th May 2016 at Bateman’s Barn in Suffolk. They creating a darling Spring day with a delightful mint and peach colour scheme. Katy is super creative and crafted so much of the gorgeous décor herself, she has now also opened her own Etsy shop to sell her wares. I just love the tassels and pom poms scattered everywhere, they really do pack a punch. Other elements included were statement music choices, local ale and pizza to finish. Delicious.

Katy looked just beautiful in her Kitty and Dulcie frock teamed with sparkly Crown and Glory belt, so cute! Such a special and personal celebration.

Thanks so much to Hannah Hall Photography for providing these wonderful images.

THE PROPOSAL | Simon proposed to Katy as the clock struck midnight on new years eve/day 2014/2015! We were on our 4th (katy) and 5th (simon) trip to Iceland and had gone up to the main church in Reykjavik – Hallgrímskirkja – to let off fireworks we had bought, as is the tradition in Reykjavik (just about everyone buys fireworks from the mountain rescue team to set off at midnight and the result is the most intense fireworks display ever!). I (Katy) complained that my hands were getting too cold to take photos of all the fireworks, Simon responded by saying he would take some photos but only if I held something for him! He passed me the ring box and I was stunned into silence for the next hour or so! (Technically he didn’t ask me to marry him haha!) We had been together for over four years at this point and whilst I always knew I was going to marry him, I wasn’t expecting the proposal to be sprung on me then!

THE VISION | We wanted to create a fun and relaxed day for all our closest family and friends to enjoy – no stuffiness and no dramas. We wanted to bring in lots of personal touches, such as including Iceland in the day as it is somewhere we go every year together and it is super special to us, having beer instead of wine/prosecco for the post ceremony drinks, avoiding the usual cheesy wedding playlist and just creating an atmosphere of the best party ever! We also wanted to involve our friends in the wedding – my make up artist was a childhood friend of one of my bridesmaids, the drummer of our band is also in a band with Simon and our photographer is the wife of one of Simon’s uni room mates and our good friend!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | I (Katy) used pinterest a lot to plan how I wanted the barn to look and also relied on recommendations from other friends for suppliers. I felt like we left a lot of things until the last minute but it all worked out in the end, and Nicole and John at Bateman’s barn were amazing at getting us organised!

THE VENUE | I spent ages looking at various wedding venues online to find the perfect one. I’m originally from Devon and Simon’s from Sheffield and we live in Norwich, so for a while we weren’t sure what part of the country we were going to marry in… eventually we decided to get married in Norfolk or Suffolk and I knew we wanted a venue which we could have all day to ourselves and that was licensed for civil ceremonies. I came across Bateman’s Barn online, and a girl I went to uni with noticed I had pinned a picture of it on my pinterest board… she told me her sister had got married there and that it was incredible so it instantly went to the top of our list! Once we visited and met the owners, despite it being during a thunderstorm and torrential rain we were totally sold on it! It combined the beautiful rustic features of a barn with a modern marquee, with experienced owners who we could trust to ensure the day ran smoothly! It has a working farm, medieval ruins and it surrounded by acres of beautiful Suffolk countryside and woodland.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I always knew I wanted to tea length dress and found my perfect dress from Kitty and Dulcie online. I got a local seamstress to alter my dress and add buttons to the back for that extra bit of detail.

My necklace was a map of Iceland in a heart from KfiatekGiftedHands on Etsy.

My earrings were also from Etsy in colours matching our wedding theme.

I bought a cute ring box with our initials and the date of the wedding from bespokelaseruk on Etsy.

Our rings were made by William White who is based in Cornwall.

I spent A LOT of money on Etsy!

I also had a custom belt for the evening reception made by Crown and Glory.

My hair was done by the amazing Laura Hughes, who hand arranged fresh flowers our florist Fig & Roses provided in my hair!

My glittery mint colour shoes were by Irregular Choice.

FINDING THE DRESS | I never wanted a lot of fuss made over a dress, I spent a long time online and actually bought another dress before seeing this one on the Kitty and Dulcie website and it was perfect, so fun to twirl in on the dance floor!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | We were torn between Simon and his groomsmen wearing casual suits or something more formal; he decided he wanted to wear tails so we went with that.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | As background music as guests were arriving we had orchestral versions of video game music (final fantasy VII & VIII, Zelda…etc!) and music by the Icelandic band Amiina. I walked down the aisle to ‘First Day of Your Life’ by Bright Eyes – one of the first bands Simon and I saw together as an official couple. We signed the registry to Góðan daginn by Sigur Ros and our recessional music was Inní mér syngur vitleysingur by Sigur Ros as well. The Icelandic influence was strong in the music! We also threw in the Sigur Ros cover of ‘The Reins of Castemere’ into the post ceremony “mixing” playlist…as Game of Thrones fans we found this (and some of our guests reactions to hearing it!) very funny! We didn’t have any readings, but I did make a paper cutting of a beautiful quote about love from Phillip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass, which was displayed on one of the tables.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My sister Emma was my maid of honour with Leo who I survived nursing school with and my amazing friend Kate filling up the line up! Simon’s mum is a seamstress and she kindly hand made the bridesmaids dresses – all retro styled but with different necklines to fit the girls personalities. They were so amazing helping me get ready, stay calm and getting on the dance floor! I told the girls they could wear whatever shoes they wanted… we all ended up with different Irregular Choice shoes!

THE FLOWERS | Before I started planning a wedding I never thought I would want lots of flowers… that soon changed though! Kat at Fig & Roses was recommended to me by another florist and I’m so glad we found her! She created the most beautiful blooms and table arrangements; flowers were arranged in mismatched jam jars and arranged on wood slices and all our bouquets were beautiful and informal, hand tied with twine.

THE CAKE | Our incredible cake was made by Sassa’s Cakes. I found her online and fell in love with the design; it perfectly matched our spring time woodland theme and was also delicious with tiers of lemon, salted caramel and then classic vanilla sponge!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We would not have wanted any other photographer to do our wedding photos. We are so lucky to know Hannah and her family, and as soon as we got engaged we both said we would love for her to be our photographer. She set us totally at ease, gave us time to enjoy the day, had some brilliant creative ideas and captured the day perfectly in her photos!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | I (hand made most of the decorations. I was inspired by a fresh springtime colour palette that reminded me of trips to Cornwall, being by the sea and in woodland. We had letter garlands inspired by Parks and Recreation (A show we had watched together since the beginning of our relationship) with “I love you and I like you” – Leslie Knope’s words to Ben on their wedding day – hanging on the registry table and our sweet table had the famous “TREAT YO’SELF” quote! BEST DAY EVER hung from the top table as well! I also made all the tassel garlands, pom poms, table confetti and hand wrote all of the chalkboards! I enjoyed making these decorations so much that now the wedding dust has settled I’m setting up my own Etsy shop to sell them!

All of the table names were places in Iceland! Some of which were utterly unpronounceable! We had a polaroid guestbook and our guests loved taking selfies with the camera. Looking back through the photos they took and messages they wrote is so much fun.

We also had a small brewery from just down the road – Barrell and Sellers – provide us with a keg of their delicious pale ale – beer is important to us and this was the perfect refreshing drink on such a hot day! Free beer went down extremely well with our guests!

Our favours were chalk hearts with our guests names on, and blind bagged lego mini figures! It was always a joke between Simon and I that whenever we go to the supermarket I try and sneak some lego mini figures in the trolley, and our house is full of them, so it seemed fitting to let our guests share in this!

For daytime food we wanted something informal so went with an afternoon tea, which was delicious with everything hand made and locally produced. In the evening we wanted pizza – Simon and I have always joked if we were a game of thrones house our sigil would be a pizza – and we came across the Wood Kitchen and their amazing food and van and booked them instantly!

THE HONEYMOON | We haven’t yet taken our honeymoon! We are planning to go away towards the end of the year – Mexico is calling! Going to Iceland again would be fitting but we only visited in February this year so maybe we will return next year instead.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Too many memorable moments to count! From walking down the aisle, seeing each other for the first time that day, stepping out of the barn as a married couple and being handed a glass of the most delicious pale ale, seeing all our friends and family together in one place… everything about the day was memorable! Other moments that stand out particularly are our hip hop and funk band Vex opening with Ignition by R Kelly and all our guests bouncing away to this, and look on our friends faces who also loved this music when our DJ played our emo/pop-punk from the early 00s playlist! Taking Back Sunday came on and they lost their minds!!!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Put as many personal touches in your wedding as possible; the day is a celebration of your relationship and including things like our favourite video games in the music, TV shows in the décor and places we love just made the day extra special to us!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Hannah Hall Photography

Dress | Kitty and Dulcie

Venue | Bateman’s Barn, South Elmham, Suffolk

Rings | William White Jewellery

Flowers | Fig and Roses

Cake |  Sassas Cakes

Suits | John Field Formal Hire

Decorations | Mostly made by me!

Band | Vex

Hair | Hair by Laura Hughes

Make up | BeDazzled by Haylie Sarah Make Up Artist

Pizza | Wood Kitchen

Magic. Such a happy and loved up couple.

Thanks so much to Katy and Simon for sharing their lovely wedding story xo Lou