Relaxed & Romantic Barn Wedding with Peach Flowers

WWW readers Alex and Mel are with us this fine Friday and they are treating us to their delightful real wedding story. They were wed on the 18th August 2018 and held their beautiful barn reception at High Billinghurst Farm in Surrey. There really is no better way to end the week than with a pretty barn wedding, filled with peach and purple flowers all round. The bouquets really were so lovely and the fireplace flower installation using swathes of greenery really did make quite the statement, just beautiful! They had lots of other gorgeous touches in the barns such as a tassel garland, terrarium centrepieces, greenery on the backs of chairs and a foliage adorned seating plan. Also keep your eyes peeled for the magnificent chocolate naked cake, which really looked amazing and by the sounds of it, tasted just as good as it looked.

The outfits were all super stylish, garden games were played on the lawn, live music entertained come evening and Mac and Cheese was served too, yum!

The relaxed, romantic and fun vibes were all captured just wonderfully by Larissa Joice Photography and we are just so thankful to be sharing them with you today.

The Proposal

Alex proposed to me on Christmas Eve 2016 at a place called Newlands Corner in Surrey, which has beautiful views of the Surrey Hills. It was so exciting getting engaged over Christmas as we had a good couple of weeks celebrating with our friends and family!

The Vision

We wanted to have a really relaxed and informal day. I was also very keen to create lots of personal touches to really make the day our own.

The Planning Process

We weren’t really sure about where we wanted to get married so spent a lot of time looking at different wedding venues in both London and Surrey. We finally found a venue that we both loved. Once we had a date locked, everything else fell into place. We were engaged for about 18 months, so had more than enough time to arrange everything!

The Readings & Music

I walked down the aisle to Songbird by Fleetwood Mac – one of our favourite tracks!

Alex’s dad chose a biblical reading and my friend wrote her own, which was themed around how Alex and I met. It was a real hit!

Your Outfits & Accessories

It took a while for me to choose my wedding dress as I found the whole experience quite overwhelming. In the end, I chose a beautiful dress from Sanyukta Shrestha. I wanted something that was romantic, floaty and would make me feel completely comfortable all day long!

I wanted a pair of wedding shoes that I would wear again. I ordered my shoes from Faber Novella – I loved the colours and they were very comfortable too.

Alex had his suit made at a London tailors called Beggar’s Run. Great quality and the service was excellent. It was a modern alternative to the very traditional Saville Row tailors.

The Details & Décor

We worked with Devine Bride who helped us run the day, ensuring that everything ran to time and without hiccups. Laura was amazing to work with – super helpful and professional at all times! Whilst we did the majority of the set up the day before, Laura made sure everything was in place on the morning of the wedding.

• Flower frame – I wanted to create a photo opportunity for all our guests throughout the day and decided to make the flower frame myself. It was really easy to make and our guests loved it!
• Lawn games – we collected a number of games over time and thought we would make use of the outside space to give our guests some additional entertainment.
• Photobooth – We made our own photobooth and brought a polaroid and some props for our guests to enjoy throughout the evening.

The Flowers

We worked with one of the venue’s chosen florists, Mad Lilies. Alison from Mad Lilies was an absolute joy to work with – her passion and energy was amazing!

We went for a boho theme for our flowers with lots of summery pinks, peaches and purples to complement the multitude of foliage in and around the venue. I loved my bridal bouquet and the fireplace design that she constructed – it became a real feature of the main barn.

The Venue

High Billinghurst Farm, Dunsfold, Surrey

We knew that High Billinghurst was the right venue as soon as we walked through the door! We always loved the thought of making the venue our own and High Billinghurst completely allowed us to do this. We had the venue from the Friday, through to Sunday, which meant there was lots of time to set up.

The venue itself is huge – two indoor barns and lots of outdoor space, which made it perfect for a summer wedding.

The Cake

My friend, Ashleigh made our wedding cake. We went for a deconstructed chocolate cake with a crunchy, feuilletine filling and decorated it with some of our wedding flowers. It was delicious!

Groomsmen

The groomsmen wore their own navy suits and we provided the ties from Mrs Bow Tie to ensure we had some form of uniform for the pictures.

Bridesmaids

Garland Maxi Dress from Monsoon. My bridesmaids tried on a number of dresses and the Monsoon dresses were the clear winners. The girls loved the flexibility of being able to wear the dresses in a number of different ways. Plus the quality was excellent.

Beauty

From the moment I went for my trial, I knew that Rachael from Alchemy Hair and Make-up was going to do my hair and make-up. She is extremely professional and knows and understands how to do the ‘undone’ look very well. My biggest concern for the big day was wearing too much make-up but Rach did such a good job and I felt glamorous yet natural all day long.

Her team were also lovely; my mum and bridesmaids loved their hair and make-up too. Would highly recommend!

Your Photographer

We worked with Larissa Joice Photography for our wedding. Larissa was excellent at understanding what we wanted from our wedding photos and the briefing before the wedding was really helpful. She captured some lovely shots of our friends and everyone has commented on the lovely and happy photos from the day! Larissa also sends a very informative welcome pack when you confirm the booking, as well as a lovely gift box after the wedding, which was really exciting to receive in the post a few months after the wedding.

The Honeymoon

We went to Puglia for our honeymoon and stayed in a little haven called Borgo Canonica. It was very relaxed and quiet, which was just what we wanted. We talked about the wedding for the entire week!

Memorable Moments

• Getting ready in the morning with my bridesmaids and parents
• Walking down the aisle and seeing Alex for the first time
• Espresso Martinis which went down a treat!
• Our first dance to Prince, Wanna Be Your Lover
• Mac and Cheese served throughout the evening

Advice For Other Couples

Enjoy every moment 🙂

Credit Where Credit Is Due

How very lovely.

Alex and Mel, thank you both so much for sharing your amazing wedding celebrations with us xo Lou