Tropical Boho Luxe Barn Wedding

Today’s couple have a love for travel, so it was only natural that their travels inspired their tropical meets English country barn wedding celebration.

WWW readers Lucy and Tom were married on the 24^th August 2017 and held their reception at The Barn Brasserie in Essex. They incorporated tropical vibes by using palm and banana leaves and gold painted pineapples alongside luxe decorations. Plus fun travel and map details were used, which really brought their theme to life.

The attire and styling meanwhile was perfectly boho, with the Lucy in a glorious statement flower crown and her fave girls in floaty peach frocks. Tom looked really dapper in his velvet black tie, which complimented Lucy’s elegant gown perfectly. I really think you will love the fun transport, decadent florals and personal touches here today.

Huge thanks to Lucie Watson Photography for sending over these sublime shots.

THE PROPOSAL | Tom and I had been living in Australia for a year and stopped in Thailand on the way home for a month. We were on the idyllic island of Koh Lipe, one day Tom suggested we go kayaking to a deserted island, after spending some time snorkelling around the island he got down on one knee on the beach and popped the question. It was magical!

THE VISION | Many times we thought about getting married whilst travelling on a tropical island somewhere and although that sounded dreamy, the vision for us was our family and friends all together so we decided to come home and get hitched. We wanted to bring a taste of the pacific home by incorporating palms, banana leaves and flowers. Our vision was traditional English barn wedding with a touch of tropical lux.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We started planning with my sister who was my personal wedding planner throughout. We started with looking at venues. Originally, we wanted an outdoor tipi style wedding, however this was looking more and more out of our price range and we decided it would be so much easier to choose a venue and not have to worry about certain things. I loved the whole planning process, I really wanted it to be personal to us so enjoyed creating everything! Tom even made our own light up letters, which looked amazing on the dancefloor!

BUDGET | £10,000

THE VENUE | St. Nicholas’ Church, Tolleshunt D’arcy is where we had the ceremony. The church is very quaint, a typical English village church which looked even more gorgeous on the day with a wild flower arch!

The Barn Brasserie, Great Tey is where we had the reception, a 16^th century barn with exposed beams.

As soon as we walked into the barn we were blown away. The food was incredible and had beautiful land around for photo ops.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I wore an Essence of Australia dress with a bespoke flower crown made by my florist. My Nan gave me a gold bracelet to wear, which my Grandad had bought her when they were young. My bridesmaids bought me some gorgeous earrings that I had seen on Pinterest months ago. Shoes were rose gold strappy Roland Cartier sandals.

FINDING THE DRESS | After getting engaged in Thailand we came home for 6 months then went back out to New Zealand for a year. Whilst in New Zealand I bought a wedding dress on Gumtree as I was obsessed with a brand. At that time I had in my head a beach style bare foot wedding. Of course, coming back to the UK that was not to be. Even though I had a dress I still wanted to go dress shopping to have that whole experience. I went with my Mum, sister and best friend. Some would say it was a bad idea as I ended up falling in love with another (Australian) dress! I went back home and tried on my original dress, I decided it wouldn’t fit in with our wedding here in England so I sold that dress and went and bought the one I had tried on. It was by Essence of Australia and it was a style I would not have picked at all. But it felt amazing on and I knew it was the one!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Tom wore a navy blue tuxedo from T M Lewin matched with a black velvet bow tie.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | During the ceremony we had one reading, read by my sister, which was 1 Corinthians 13 – Love Is. We had an organ play the Beatles – All You Need Is Love when we walked out of the church. During the reception meal, we had a pianist play followed by a DJ. Our first dance was Jack Johnson – Never Fade.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 7! I just couldn’t pick!

I wanted the bridesmaids in a neutral colour and the style flowy and boho. It was difficult finding a dress to suit all 7 styles but I found one on boohoo.com.

I also had 4 adorable flower girls who were the cutest, I made the tutus myself, which ended up being the bane of my life but were so worth it!

THE FLOWERS | I wanted my colour scheme to be very neutral, a mix of white, greens and golds. The florist managed to create a stunning bouquet of white roses with a mixture of greens including ferns from New Zealand and eucalyptus from Australia. They felt so personal and were truly beautiful! She also made me a gorgeous flower crown to match. Tom’s Mum made all the bridesmaid bouquets out of gypsophila.

THE CAKE | We were extremely lucky in that Tom’s Mum is an extraordinary baker and actually used to be a wedding caterer herself. Her and Tom’s sister made the most amazing cake, again it was very personal. They had even researched a flower that was native to most of the countries we had travelled to and tracked it down in England! It was perfect and tasted delicious too.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Finding the right photographer was difficult. We wanted our shots to be natural but also to have that wow factor. I was told about Lucie Watson by a friend, I looked through her website and she was just what we were looking for. Her natural light shots were gorgeous and I was drawn in by her golden hour! We also had Chloe Lee, who took video clips throughout the day to create a highlights film. Lucie and Chloe were best friends too and they were so lovely and easy to work with. Photography for me was a huge part of the wedding and I am so happy we found Lucie! I will treasure her shots forever.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | The barn itself is already decorated beautifully and there is not much that needed adding. However, I am all about the little details I think they’re so important especially for a wedding. Tom and his best men went to the venue in the morning to set up the tables, I must admit I was a little worried leaving it all to them but they did an incredible job and everything looked perfect!

The tables had palm leaves going across with the table name written in gold in a vase. Each table had a mini easel with a polaroid of a different country where we had been, the table plan was a map of the world. Instead of a guest book, we had a bucket. On each seat was a card and people had to write something to add to our bucket list. It was funny the next morning reading all the replies. Tom made out of pallets a photo frame where we hung polaroids of us, which looked effective. For favours we had sweetie bags with personalised stickers. Tom and I also had on the backs of our chairs ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ gold signs with tropical leaves coming out of them, I felt like a real-life Moana!

THE HONEYMOON | We felt it was important to go on our honeymoon straight after the wedding and I’m glad we did as it carried on the buzz! We decided to go to Sri Lanka for 16 nights and travel round beach to beach. It was a gorgeous place with amazing food and lovely people. We will definitely be going back and I highly recommend as a honeymoon destination.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | So many memorable moments!

Waking up the bridesmaids at 5am with Chapel Of Love blaring out, driving to the venue just Tom and I in the back of the convertible VW Beetle and people waving and beeping us. My sister’s speech! Also, right at the end of the night Tom and I attempted the Dirty Dancing lift, which went surprisingly well.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Enjoy the build up, enjoy the planning, enjoy the stress! Take every moment in from start to finish and don’t forget to dance the night away!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Lucie Watson Photography

Florist | Amnesia Flowers

Videographer | Chloe Lee Photo

Hair | Hair by Mia

MUA | Kate Jackson

Transport | Billy the Beetle

Venue | The Barn Brasserie

Dress | Essense Designs

Just perfect.

Lucy and Tom, thanks so much to you both for sharing your beautiful wedding story with us xo Lou