Romantic & Boho Earthy Woodland Autumn Surrey Farm Wedding

Welcome to the Surrey farm wedding of SJ and Joe who were married on a glorious autumn day at High Billinghurst Farm. I really think you’re going to love their day, their story and all of the fun images by Rob Tarren (big thanks for sharing Rob!). Let me share why.

SJ and Joe’s wedding planning wasn’t without its tough times, having to find a new venue couldn’t have been easy by any means. But massive kudos to them both for sticking with their plans and making one heck of an awesome celebration of their love. It was all epic.

Think woodland ceremony, barn reception, smoke bombs, confetti, cool attire, autumnal orange tones, masses of DIY wedding decor and so so many smiles all day long. So great to see WWW member Entertainment Nation providing them with amazing entertainment too. Enjoy every gorgeous moment.

Surrey Farm Wedding

The Proposal

18th January 2019: I (SJ) was on the train home after a very usual Friday at work and asked Joe to pick me up from the station (rather than walk back) as it was very cold and wet outside. Usually, Joe would be there without fail but this time he asked me to walk back.

I was a little confused when I asked why, he said it was because he had lit our fire. I was quite confused by this as we NEVER light the fire so got a little annoyed (I was hangry) that he couldn’t pick me up especially when I had no umbrella haha. Anyway, I walked back and when I arrived home, instead of getting my keys out to let myself in, I thought I’d ring the doorbell.

But there was no answer. I then took another take at the house and noticed all the lights were off. How strange I thought! So I got my keys out to let myself in and I saw that our living room door was shut with two candles outside it. I thought to myself, oh that’s what he meant by lighting a fire, and proceeded to walk into the living room to find Joe.

Joe was standing in the middle of the living room amongst hundreds of tea beautiful tea lights all around the room. At this point, I didn’t quite register what was going on and thought he just felt bad for not picking me up, so I walked straight over to give him a hug (stepping on a bunch of roses I hadn’t seen on the floor) to cheekily place my cold hands on Joe. I was oblivious and thought he just felt bad – oops!

Joe looked a little nervous and asked me to stand in the centre of one room, at that point, the penny started to drop and I started to ask what was going on. Joe got down on one knee and said ‘Can I keep you warm for the rest of your life?’ and asked if I would marry him. I said yes without a moments hesitation and then I think my mouth fell to the floor.

It was TOTALLY unexpected but such a magical and beautiful surprise. Once I had a moment to take in the whirlwind that had just happened, I noticed all the other thoughtful things Joe had arranged; he proposed in our favourite place to hang out, had made my favourite cocktail (Mojito), my favourite snacks, my favourite dinner, got a bridal magazine, a wedding piggybank (we since named Geoffrey) and a lovely gift to be whisked away that weekend to Ockendon Manor Hotel & Spa the next morning.

Joe is so thoughtful, he’d spoke to my dad about asking to marry me and even had gone to my late Grandad’s cemetery rose bush (as he was so important to me too) to let him know the plan… so cute!!

The Vision

Everyone must have a lot of fun! A big happy celebration with lots of love, enjoyment and dancing!

It needed to look visually amazing – rustic, boho and earthy vibes with lots of attention to detail and cute little extra touches. The colour theme was green (sage, olive seaweed shades), golds, burnt orange/copper/bronze, white, pale pinks.

We loved the idea of a DIY wedding so we could really personalise it and do what WE wanted. It’s a lot of hard work but we loved every second of planning it, we had lots of wood/log decorations, dream catchers, fairy lights, pampas grass, foliage, rugs, cushions, velvet materials, vintage furniture etc! Outside ceremony was a must (weather permitting!). We wanted it to be a wedding to remember!

The Venue

It was meant to be at a different barn venue for a September 2020 wedding but due to covid, this fell through. The owner conducted himself awfully during the pandemic – he kept the venue fee which we had paid for in full but refused to offer a feasible postponement date. It was very stressful and emotionally draining.

After a long battle with our insurance company to regain the money we had lost, we managed to find the only like for like venue with availability for the following year – High Billinghurst Farm in Dunsfold. And what a delight that place was!! They say everything happens for a reason and we are SO pleased we ended up here. It was a blessing in disguise.

It’s a DIY venue so everything that went into the day, was planned and organised by Joe and I. The only thing it came with was wedding breakfast tables/chairs, everything else was our vision/suppliers. Our wedding stylist, Lauradana from Wedding Creations was AWESOME on the day, bringing our ideas to life.

It’s got a main barn with a smaller side barn (where we had the wedding breakfast and dancing), a courtyard (where we had the reception) and plenty of fields/woodlands for outdoor ceremonies. They’re a super helpful, accommodating and lovely team there. Nothings too much trouble.

The Ceremony & Music

We had the wonderful Hannah Osmond as our celebrant. We wanted our ceremony to be wrapped up in nature, totally unique and personal / true to us. We wanted to take aspects from other civil & religious weddings we had experienced and loved, and create our own bespoke version to reflect us as a couple – both epic and intimate. And Hannah was great at helping make this happen.

The ceremony was held in High Billinghurst Farms woodland area, dressed with autumnal bohemian flair including wild meadows, gorgeous flowers, rustic pampas, ribbons, macrame. Everyone said they felt like they were in an enchanted forest and kept expecting fairies to pop out of the trees!

We had the guests sit on benches, and the aisle was made up of lots of ‘vintage’ rugs. The ceremony had a beautiful wooden arch dressed with flowers which Joe had made, which was the centrepiece we got married in front of. And Joe and I had two peacock chairs to sit on throughout the ceremony when our story was being told by Hannah or someone was doing a reading. We felt like bohemian king and queen!

The guest arrival, entrance music, songs and exit music was performed by some of our band (Tux Fizz) and included a keyboardist, violinist and chello. The entrance music was Moon River (to link in SJ’s Grandad to the day, as that was his funeral song) and our exit music, Queen of Sheeba as that’s what Joe’s grandparents had.

Then we had two readings; SJ’s mum read a beautifully personal poem she had written for us about us, and Joe’s dad read the lyrics to Otis Reading, That’s how strong my love is, which was suggested by us as we love the song and it felt very relevant.

We had two ‘singalongs’, one emotive and one fun. They were Sting, Fields of Gold and Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. We had everyone crying and then everyone up on their feet singing, being led by our amazing band’s singer, Chris.

Joe and I had our story shared by Hannah, personal vows that we had written ourselves and formal vows (including a silly group promise for the guests!). There was lots of emotion!

Your Outfits

SJ – “Elora”, Madi Lane Bridal from The Wedding Gallery in St Albans.  I tried on hundreds of dresses but this was one of the first and it felt like every other dress I tried on after, I would try to recreate it. It was floaty, romantic, ethereal, botanical, lacy, boho inspired gown.

I felt so elegant and magical in it, plus very comfortable – which was so important as I love food and dancing and didn’t want to feel constricted and not myself on the day. I tried on lots of different styles, but this one was something DIFFERENT and I knew I’d never get the chance to wear something as beautiful as this again – I felt like a BRIDE.

Interestingly, after I bought the dress, I came across a Pinterest board I started way before I went dress shopping and then went on to forget about, and I had pinned this dress as my favourite!

Joe – Slim fit Sage Tweed Suit from Moss Bros worn with a waistcoat from Next, and a burgundy velvet bowtie that was his late Grandfather’s. Brown shoes from Bertie and bright yellow (his fave colour) socks from Fenwicks. Joe would never wear a formal black/blue suit, he wanted something traditionally rural and timeless, that fitted with the day and represented his chilled relaxed personality.

This suit went amazingly with the colour theme, was stylish, comfortable and looked great.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Photographer: Rob Tarren

Filmmaker: Adam MacInnes, Rota Films

The Styling & Decor

Where to begin!! Highlights were:

Home dried petals for confetti which included petals from SJ’s grandad’s rose bush for her family to throw so he was included on the day
Peacock chairs used for SJ & Joe throughout the ceremony and at the head table during the wedding breakfast
Pick a seat not a sign at the ceremony
‘We have waited 967 days for this to please party accordingly’ sign
Beer bath during reception drinks!
Firepit with hay bales, blankets, get cosy sign and smores station
3 x fabric banner quotes (you are my favourite person, nothings gonna stop us now, I have found the one whom my soul loves)
Photos of SJ & Joe growing up hung around the side barn
Memory corner with pictures of those who are no longer with us
Mini ‘hooray’ flags for people to wave at the wedding breakfast as entered
Toffee vodka favours that Joe made
Sweet station
Giant balloons with ivy tails
Vintage table setting with mix-matched vintage bone china/cut glasses and champagne coupes/gold cutlery/gold brass candlesticks and bud vases
Espresso Martini bar for after wedding breakfast/before cake cutting/dancing
All men of the families wore bow ties
Fire lanterns outside in the evening with the firepit
The vegan options being just as important as the meat options! We made a very scrummy menu as SJ is vegan and Joe a meat eater and it was important that the vegan/veggies were NOT an afterthought or second best as they often are at weddings!

Flowers: modern relaxed florals with an edge! Lots of foliage, dried materials and grasses.  Bouquets: Slightly rounded with foliage and oak leaves giving it a more linear vibe. Roses in champagne, peachy and white colours similar, chocolate cosmos, wheats, grasses and bunny tails and all the yummy things we could find. Trailing burgundy ribbon. Aisle Meadows: White delphinium, ammi, eucalyptus, pampas. Triangle arch Dressing: Pampas, greenery, roses, dahlia, wheats, Astillbe, stocks. Trestle tables: lovely wild foliage draped on the table and bud vases.

Cake: Natural rustic naked all-vegan cake with 3 tiers (lemon, chocolate, vanilla and raspberry). Dressed with real flowers and a foliage hoop.

The Honeymoon

Mini Moon to Majorca for a week the Monday after the wedding. We stayed in a traditional, sleepy quiet town of Sineu at Can Joan Capo Hotel for 4 nights and then headed to Palma for 4 nights at Posada Terra Santa.  Sri Lanka/Maldives to be booked for next year for our 1 year anniversary!

Memorable Moments

The speeches were charming, funny and sensitive. We had Joe, FOB, BM and sisters plus SJ did a mini-speech before cutting of the cake. A real mix of voices, humour and lovable stories 😊
The woodland looking just spectacular and the sun shining through the trees after a week of thunderstorms and rain! We got so lucky, I never thought I’d be seeing people at the reception with their sunglasses on! So pleased with the weather turn out.
As we left the ceremony, we went to hide in a rustic outhouse next to the woodlands as the guests formed a confetti line. It gave Joe and I some precious moments together and we came out to a huge line of smiling faces. As we reached the end of the confetti line, we continued walking through the fields up to the main barn. We had a processional of guests following us in a curvy line through the fields, it looked amazing!
Having fun with smoke bombs with the bridesmaids and groomsmen, creating some epic photos!
First dance, we danced to the song that Joe had playing as he proposed.
The bridal bouquet throw was planned for my best friend to catch but out of no where my mum pushed everyone out the way to grab it, was hilarious!!
Entering the wedding breakfast to one of our fave songs ‘we fell for miles’ by a small Irish band called toucan as everyone waved their flags.
Our family dog passed away in July, but she got lots of mentions throughout the day in speeches which was lovely and I had her collar in my ‘something blue’ bride bag.
All of our friends drinking nostalgic VKs from our free bar we supplied all the booze for, and there was lots of it!
The reception drinks, we wanted the classic bubbles everyone has but Joe and I aren’t that fussed about it, so we wanted to include our favourite drinks too … so everyone got to choose from bubbles, mojitos, beers and soft cawston press.
We were staying in a cottage on site, so once all the guests had left, Joe and I walked around the barn and courtyard, reflecting on how great the day was and looking up to the clear night full of stars.
If you can during the breaks in meals, make your way round all the tables to say hi to your guests as it is hard to feel like you have spoken to everyone!

Advice For Other Couples

All that truly matters on the day is marrying each other. When it came down to it, anything else is just a bonus
Timings don’t go to plan! If you run behind with the schedule, be prepared to cut something out or down and agree beforehand what you want that thing to be.
Make sure you have a list of the key wedding shots you want, these are your memories!
Make sure you spend time with the people you love most. If you had a big wedding you often feel compelled to spend time with distant family members/friends to thank them for coming but also remember to spend time with those who mean the most to you as they are the people you tend to neglect when you’re busy/being pulled in a million different directions but those are your special people who need to be in your precious wedding moments
Make time for you and your husband/wife to spend 5 minutes together now and again throughout the day, to take it all in and ENJOY being married.
Create lots of lists and spreadsheets and delegate tasks on the day! The last thing you want is to be event managing your own wedding, you want to be enjoying it!
Don’t underestimate what a big job the Master of Ceremonies can be – they have to control a big crowd of people and be on the ball to introduce different sections of the wedding. Our MC was our HERO on the day when things didn’t run to schedule
Factor in time for ‘golden hour’ photos.
Remember to eat some of your cake! We were so busy we didn’t get any!
Remember to eat and drink throughout the day to keep energy levels up, even if you don’t feel hungry because of adrenaline!