Fun & Silly Stylish Modern Wedding with Sequins & Personalised Jackets

What’s not to love about this gorgeous Maidens Barn wedding? I mean hello crystal crown, celestial earrings, sequin bridesmaid dresses, personalised faux leather jackets and modern wedding style. It’s time to share WWW followers Sophie and Alex’s awesome nuptials held in Essex on the 2^nd November 2019. I love that they described their day as “Fun! Silly, Relaxed.” and they also scrapped traditions that didn’t matter to them like the cake cutting; instead they went for vegan doughnuts… yum!

Other fun elements included a glitter bar come evening, ditching the top table and instead having round tables for everyone and a sparkler exit, which looked super romantic by the way. I love the animal table names, teamed with brilliant drinks covers on the place settings, then there were the sock favours, which is a genius idea for an autumn wedding not to mention the pretty terrarium centrepieces.

Also check out the gorgeous florals featuring pampas grass and dusky pink roses, flawless hair and make up and some very stylish attire. Sophie Oldhamstead Photography, huge thanks for sharing with us these totally amazing images!

The Proposal

Alex proposed on the 23^rd December 2018 – we normally do an early Christmas present every Christmas Eve but I was working that day so he asked if we should do it then. We were at home and he gave me the ring as an early Christmas present – I felt quite bad that I had given him a shirt! I also remember worrying that I was in my dressing gown!

The Vision

When we thought about our wedding day we really wanted to just make sure the day was going to be loads of fun for everyone. We cut out bits of the day that didn’t suit us like cake cutting and added bits we wanted like a glitter bar.

The Planning Process

We were pretty decisive about the planning and got things done quite quickly. I didn’t feel particularly stressed about planning except for about a month before when I started worrying I’d forgotten things which of course I hadn’t.

The Venue

The venue was Maidens Barn in High Easter. It was the first venue we saw and we loved it right away. We saw a couple more afterwards but none of them fitted us quite as well. As we got married in November we needed somewhere that would look beautiful inside not just outside. We loved Maidens Barn because everything was in one place and the bar, dancefloor and seating were in one room so anyone that wasn’t able to dance could still feel part of it.

Your Outfits & Accessories

My dress was from Blush Bridal Gowns. My sister in law (And bridesmaid) saw it on Instagram as they were having a sample sale. We went to the sale and tried it on and I didn’t want to take it off. So I bought the first and only dress I tried on! It was not at all what I or my friends thought I would get but when else can you wear a big dress! I found it so hard to find nice vegan shoes for me but found mine from Dune in the end and they also acted as my something blue. My crystal crown for the ceremony was made by Twin Flame Styling and my jewellery was Victoria Percival.

Alex’s suit was tailor made by Henry Fashion, he makes all of Alex’s work suits and is an excellent tailor.

Beauty

Chloe from the Beauty Spot did all our nails and gave us a little pamper session with bubbles the day before the wedding! Then we had a yoga session by my maid of honour, Serena to really chill us out.

Evie Smith did mine and the bridesmaids hair for the wedding. She was so relaxed and lovely. I wanted my hair down with curls to go with my crown for the ceremony but knew it would drop out super quick so she showed my bridesmaids how to put it half up half down for the wedding breakfast. Plus this meant I got to change my accessories too.

Elizabeth Joseph-Love did all the beautiful make up for me, the bridesmaids and my mum.

The Readings & Music

Alice read Love is a temporary madness by Louis de Bernieres and Dan and Steve read A lovely love story by Edward Monkton (all about dinosaurs!).

Our first dance was Grow old with me – Tom Odell. We had A Thousand Years – Christina Perri as our entrance music and Just You and I by Tom Walker as we exited the ceremony.

The Cake

I didn’t like the idea of the cake being wasted at the end so we didn’t have a cake but we had a vegan doughnut wall by crosstown doughnuts! There was certainly none wasted by the end of the night.

The Flowers

The beautiful flowers were done by Elegant Stems. I knew they were the ones for me when they were looking at a flower and said ‘no, I think this ones a bit too normal!’ I asked for texture and lots of foliage, and pampas grass! I loved that we had different styles for each table and the flower hoop in the ceremony is gorgeous. The flowers were so beautiful that I am getting them made into a paperweight so I can look at them forever.

Your Photographer

Our photographer was Sophie Oldhamstead – we chose her because of her more natural style photos and because having her there was just liked having another friend at the wedding. We hated the idea of our guests all being inside whilst we were posing for loads of photos. Her photos captured the day perfectly, just lots of us all having a great time.

Your Filmmaker

Chris from First Kiss Films was our videographer, he fit right in and we barely even knew he was there.

Bridesmaids

The bridesmaids (Serena, Rachel & Hannah) wore dresses from ASOS by a brand called Maya. They each had a slightly different style so they could have what suited them best. We even managed to fins a mini one for our flower cat-girl (Kyla) Her flower cat ears finished the outfit perfectly.

Groomsmen

The groomsmen (Olly, John Mike & JP) suits were also made by Henry Fashion. They all had the same suit but chose different linings, ranging from blue paisley to gold skull and cross bones.

The Details & Décor

My friend Beca made us some gorgeous macrame. We had to have a Lego element because we weirdly bought each other the exact same Lego for our first valentines together so we had us and our two cats made out of Lego by Heart of Bricks (Etsy).

My friend and bridesmaid Hannah made the invites and table plans, which were drawn by my mum. We had to have animal themed tables because we are animal lovers. We had tiny little finger puppets for each child, depending on the table they were sitting on. My mum also made a hand drawn individual coaster for each person at the wedding that they could put over their drink that said, ‘Please don’t take my drink, I’m dancing.’ My mum and I made the geode style place names. We even had cocktails available which were based on our two cats Socks and Bella- Dark and Stormeowy Bella and an A-purr-ol Socks!

I knew from the beginning that I wanted a woman involved in the speeches so as well as the groom and best man speeches, my mum and dad did a joint speech and my maid of honour also made a speech. Speeches involved my dad putting a match out on his tongue and my mum putting a dinosaur mask on at one point!

We also had faux leather jackets from Primark which my mum personalised the back of for me and my bridesmaids. They came in very handy in the cold and wet weather.

Luna Glitter bar hosted a very popular glitter bar for us. They were really lovely and made sure all of our guests were suitably glittered!

The Honeymoon

We are honeymooning in the Maldives – it is beautiful and we feel very lucky.

Memorable Moments

Sparkler shot – my brother asking if my dress was flammable was quite scary!

By the end of the night I was on a guests shoulders and all the guests had a tie round their heads.

My mum putting a dinosaur mask on during her speech and my dad putting a match out on his tongue.

Advice For Other Couples

Make your wedding really personal to you, don’t worry about tradition and remember it is your day! Don’t feel obliged to do things you don’t want to do. We didn’t have a top table, we just had a round table like everyone else and had our bridesmaids and groomsman on our tables with us, then our families on round tables next to us. Don’t try to please everyone, we had an all veggie wedding and no one complained, at least not to us!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

So much personality, I just love it all!

Sophie and Alex thank you ever so much for sharing your epic wedding celebrations with us xo Lou