Bright Colourful Sparkly & Fun DIY Hitchin Barn Wedding

Ready for an explosion of colour, fun, sparkles and love? You’re in the right place as we are joined by WWW readers Karys and Nick for their Hitchin barn wedding at Barns at Redcoats. Hoorah!

There really isn’t much NOT to love about their cracking day. First up the outfits were sensational (hello sequin wedding dress of dreams), then there were the colourful blooms, modern cake design and elegant styling. Oh my.

There were sparklers, confetti, smoke flares and gorgeous golden hour moments, which were all captured beautifully. Not to mention a ton of smiles from morning to night. I also love that Karys and Nick took secret dance lessons to nail their first dance. What a day.

Thanks ever so much to The Wardette Studio for sharing with us these totally epic shots. Enjoy them all below.

Hitchin Barn Wedding

The Proposal

Nick needed 4 visits to jewellers Chapter 79 to design Karys’ engagement ring, knowing that she ideally wanted a coloured stone rather than a diamond as the centrepiece. Andy and Jackie were brilliant with their advice and Karys loved the end result.

Nick proposed on a walk along a river at one of Karys’ favourite spots close to her family home and they were able to celebrate with her parents and auntie and uncle at a lunch immediately after.

The Vision

We wanted the day to be really personal to us and we didn’t want to feel confined by traditions that didn’t suit us.

We loved adding our own take on things and including as much fun as possible – Uno cards as place settings; cutting the cake with an axe; colourful smoke bombs and sparklers; and a bride’s speech rivalling the best men’s speech for laughs.

The Venue

Redcoats was the perfect venue for us – the stylish but relaxed vibe was just what we wanted. It’s local to us and we loved that there was so much accommodation available.

Sophie and the whole team looked after us incredibly well, and were so helpful in ensuring the day ran smoothly; we were able to relax and enjoy every moment. The little touches like having a glass of bubbly ready for us after the ceremony, and saving us a plate of canapes while we were off taking photos, were really appreciated.

The Ceremony & Music

We didn’t choose our aisle entrance song until we found Athena (guitar and vocals duo). We heard Dilys’ voice and saw ‘I’m Kissing You’ by Des’ree on their set list and knew that would be a real goosebumps moment for the first time we saw each other on our wedding day.

Our entrance music for dinner was ‘You make my dreams come true’ by Daryl Hall & John Oates (which is also what we had made into a neon sign as part of our décor), and we had a little dance as we walked into the barn as husband and wife.

We hadn’t intended to do a choreographed first dance but Sue at Mirrors Dance created a lovely routine for us when we went to seek her help for how to not look awkward in front of everyone. It was one of the most fun things we did and we’d kept it a secret from our guests so everyone was very impressed!

We danced to ‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana del Rey from the Great Gatsby film soundtrack – which brought back memories of our early years together. Gabriella from Vivo (our evening band) sang it beautifully and the band were fab at keeping everyone on the dancefloor all night (including a dance-off featuring their guitarist…!).

Your Outfits

Karys had quite a search for her dress as an indecisive bride looking for something a bit different, but 9 dress shops later it was this Zavana Couture dress from What Alice Wore in St Albans that was the clear choice (big shout out to Fiona for her patience and support!). The movement, the sleeves and the sparkle were really unique and like nothing I’d seen before.

Little to his knowledge, Karys had chosen Nick’s suit in HRH Holmes & Son in Hitchin the previous year when Nick was picking up his suit for another wedding – thankfully he agreed when he tried it on! We both loved the summery light blue colour and the fact that he could wear something different to the groomsmen too.

Karys also found the “getting ready gown of dreams” from The Bridal Shop Ldn on Etsy and had great fun swooshing round the garden to burn off a little bit of nervous energy!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Gemma (The Wardette Studio) was one of the first suppliers we booked as we knew that our photos would be the main way we would look back on the day for years to come. She captured so much joy, colour and beautiful moments.

We found Toby our filmmaker through friends who had used Neon Trifle Film for their wedding, and we knew it would be really special to be able to watch back moments from the day like our first dance and the speeches.

Gemma and Toby were brilliant on the day, putting us at ease and working so hard to capture little details throughout. Even scaling a fence with all their gear (although Karys had to do it in heels!) to capture the magical light at sunset.

The Styling & Decor

Karys has always loved bright colours and sparkle (can you tell?) and Nick was luckily supportive of the colour scheme – limiting the brightest colours to pop out against more neutral blues through the flowers, décor and groomsmen’s ties and pocket squares.

Fen Florals produced the most stunning flower arrangements we could have hoped for, and using vases passed on from a friend’s wedding as the table decorations meant that we could turn them into favours for our guests to take away, and reduce waste.

We also used the flowers in an acrylic cake tier as part of the wonderful (and delicious) creation from Claire at At Your Wish Cakes (flavours were sticky toffee, orange salted caramel and blackberry prosecco & vanilla).

Our exceptionally talented friend and groomsman Hiren hand painted our signage from a recycled pallet and two old mirrors, and Nicole Dot Beauty even matched the colour scheme with dainty orange and pink flowers for Karys’ nails.

Karys handmade around 180 pompoms to decorate the bunting (reused from a friend’s wedding the previous year), and around the frame for our neon sign which we will be reusing as interior décor – the neon sign that is, Nick has had enough of pompoms strewn across the house!

The Honeymoon

We had both always wanted to visit New Zealand so decided that our honeymoon was the perfect opportunity. We had 3 and a half weeks travelling around, having new adventures and exploring the incredible scenery – it was brilliant.

Memorable Moments

So many! We hadn’t expected to enjoy the ceremony itself so much – having both our mums give readings and one from Nick’s sister that she had written herself was so special.

One of the groomsmen suggested having a picture with the groomsmen picking up the bride for a photo, which Karys obliged to, but then – not wanting to be left out – the bridesmaids went for it and picked Nick up too! Although it didn’t quite go to plan, Gemma captured the hilarity of the moment perfectly.

A special keepsake from the day was the messages that guests left for us using a vintage typewriter we hired in, in lieu of a guestbook. We received a scroll of paper with everyone’s messages at the end of the night and it’s now hanging up in our living room.

Advice For Other Couples

It’s easy to say but just do whatever you want! If there’s something you really want (or really don’t want) as part of your day then don’t worry about anyone else. If it’s special to the two of you as a couple then you will love it and have the best time.

If you’re worried about doing a first dance we would really recommend learning a short routine – it gives you something to do while all eyes are on you and if you can finish with a dip or a lift or something then there’s a clear end and you can get everyone to come and join in quickly afterwards.