Stylish & Sparkly Industrial Barn Wedding with Abundant Greenery

I really think you’re going to enjoy today’s moody yet glamorous wedding, which is just laden with greenery. Dempsey and Sam tied the knot in a church ceremony and followed their nuptials with a sparkly industrial reception at The Big Barn in Ashley on the 24th November 2018.

The Vedrines Photography were behind the lens and what a fab job they did of capturing the glamour! Thank you Izzy and Tina for sharing these images in all their glory with us today.

I’m absolutely loving Dempsey’s bridal separates, what a beautiful sparkly top and I can’t get enough of the fishtail skirt with its buttons! Sam wanted to stand out too so he chose a cream suit, what a stylish pair!

The rich reds of the bridesmaids’ and cake florals are perfect for this winter wedding, and I love the contrast with Dempsey’s white bouquet. Our pair also wanted to include lots of greenery and by the time they’d added in an absolute boat load of candles, the effect is just magical. Enjoy!

The Proposal

So Sam had definitely put a lot of planning into this! It was a Sunday at the end of February last year and we were going for a walk with our dog at Swithland Woods in Leicestershire. I did wonder why we were walking around in circles for a while until I saw an area with rose petals on the floor and a plaque saying ‘Marry me’ oh and Sam was down on one knee! My mum, his mum and sister had set it up and his sister had been taking pictures! So cute!

The Vision

We always said if we got married it would be a winter wedding, so we were really happy we could do it last year in November! I wanted something different, messy but glamorous at the same time! That’s why I loved the barn, with it being so industrial from the outside and being able to transform it on the inside! I wanted to bring the outside in with lots of greenery, lots of little lights but then the glam of a white wedding too!

The Planning Process

To be honest, we aren’t the most organised people in the world! I used Instagram a lot to hashtag things like photographers and venue stylists! Which is where I found pretty much everything! Also Pinterest! Everything just seemed to come together and work perfectly! In terms of our colour schemes and decoration wise, there wasn’t really a set theme it was just lots of things together which we thought looked good! Thank god it worked!

Budget

We did set an initial budget of around £15,000, we definitely did not stick to this! With everything we ended up paying around £24,000. I didn’t know how expensive things for weddings were! But everything was worth the money and more, your suppliers are the glue that hold your day together and make the memories!

The Venue

Our venue was The Big Barn which is in Ashley, Market Harborough. We married at the beautiful St Mary the Virgin church in Ashley.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Dempsey – I found it really hard to find a dress, as I’ve styled so many brides’ hair for weddings and seen so many dresses, everything I tried on I felt like I had seen before! I didn’t have a vision of myself in a dress but did imagine something very plain and long sleeved! I ended up having a dress made into a skirt and then buying a bridal top and wearing it as a two piece! The skirt was slightly fishtail with a long Train by Augusta Jones and the top was a sequin cropped top by Theia bridal, I had a chapel length veil too. Lisa at Serendipity brides in Weedon was amazing and if it wasn’t for her I don’t think I would have found what I didn’t know I was looking for!

Sam – Sam’s suit was a Noose and Monkey three piece suit from ASOS! I can’t quite describe the colour but I would say it’s a really cool beige! He had a slate grey tie which matched the bridesmaid dresses, I think he always knew he wanted a cream suit as he loves to stand out! His shoes were marks and Spencer’s and so was his shirt.

Beauty

Hair was the amazing Jody Palmer and her daughter Emily Palmer from the Hair Hut in Desborough. We all had our hair down and I had a bit of a slight beehive and some boho braid and twists in the back of my hair.

Makeup was Lucy Macdonald and Megan Yorston from Lucy Macdonald Makeup Studio! They were both amazing!

The Readings & Music

We had one of the groomsmen read 1 Corinthians 13
Entrance music – Jasmine Thompson – Halo
Signing the register – Ed Sheeran – I see fire
Exit music – Cranberries – Dreams

Our band in the evening was Odd Child from Northampton!

The Cake

My cake was made by the lovely Rebecca Webb and was a four tier naked cake decorated yet again with red flowers and greenery! It was Victoria sponge, chocolate, lemon and white chocolate and vanilla and raspberry!

The Flowers

My flowers were from a local florist called Helen at Chilli Peppers, I don’t know a great deal about flowers so I went to her and basically asked her what I should have! I told her what colours I liked and a lot of greenery! She did an amazing job, my bouquet was all white roses with Calla Lily’s and I really wanted feathers in my
bouquet! So she added pheasant feathers to all bouquets, the bridesmaids had red rose bouquets with feathers.

The groomsmen wore white rose buttonholes and Sam had a red rose. We had our centrepieces decorated with all red flowers and greenery too.

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids – these were an absolute bargain from Etsy! They were £35 each and were slate grey multi-way dresses, I got them light grey fur wraps from eBay and a gold wire hair piece. I got the girls to get their own gold shoes, my best friend Lea changed hers into some amazing gold sparkly trainers!

Your Photographer

Our photographers were the INCREDIBLE Vedrines Photography! I found them by hash tagging #midlandsphotographer and as soon as I found their Instagram that was it I had to book them! I didn’t even look at another option! They captured everything and more from our day, still now I can’t believe I have such amazing wedding photos to look back on for the rest of our lives!

Your Filmmaker

Our videographer was Paul Haywire who is a friend of Sam’s! He really was great and wasn’t in your face at all! I was so worried about feeling like we had loads of cameras everywhere but we wouldn’t have even known!

The Details & Décor

The whole entire vision and decor was all put together by the amazing Charlotte and her team at princess occasions! Imagine basically throwing all of your Pinterest ideas at someone and having them actually bring it to life before your eyes! She really has an eye for detail! Nothing was ever too much and I loved that if I had an idea she completely got it and made it come to life!

The Honeymoon

We had a mini moon in Budapest straight after the wedding. We stayed at the Hotel Palace New York which was incredible! We go to Jamaica in February!

Memorable Moments

Seeing Sam’s face when I walked down the aisle, I didn’t know what to expect but he really looked so happy, then when he was stood next to me he just kept welling up and saying ‘Wow I didn’t think you would look like that!’

Having our dog be able to be part of the ceremony!

Our first dance – we really are both terrible dancers so it’s actually hilarious to look at the photos of us dancing!

Walking into our venue and actually being married! Very surreal!

Groomsmen

Sam had five groomsmen who wore a wine/berry three piece suit from River Island which matched the red in the bridesmaid flowers, they also had the same slate tie and the shoes from Marks and Spencer! They were also really easy to choose!

Advice For Other Couples

It’s pretty easy to say just go with it when we are both quite laid back people! But we did just go with it for the whole of the planning! The last two weeks were stressful because of it all coming together. But photographers are so important, those photos hold your memories for a life time!

Take a step back on the day and just look at it all! It’s so much fun actually watching what you actually managed to pull off!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

What a beautiful day Sam and Dempsey! Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous winter wedding with us. Rachel x