Fun & Colourful Hertfordshire Barn Wedding in the Country

Chris and Zoe are here to share with us their colourful Hertfordshire barn wedding set at the stunning The Barns at Redcoats. Their day is a feast for the eyes, with bright and beautiful florals, a stunning barn reception and stylish outfits. Wow.

I love how Chris and Zoe ditched the things that didn’t work for them, such as a cake cutting, first dance and bouquet toss. They also chose music choices that were meaningful to them as a couple, to add their personality into the day. Isn’t that amazing?

On hand to capture all the fun and joy was the amazing Sally Forder for Binky Nixon Photography. Thanks so much, Sally for sharing with us these epic images.

Colourful Hertfordshire Barn Wedding

The Proposal

Relaxed and low-key. Neither of us were keen on a public proposal and preferred the idea of something intimate and true to us.

So one February Friday, I came home from work, walked through the door talking about how I was excited for a Friday beer and there was Chris on one knee with the most perfect ring! We celebrated with some champagne before heading out for dinner and drinks at our local restaurant.

The next day we had family over to continue the celebrations. It allowed us to spend time with just the two of us, but then to celebrate with our families too!

The Vision

We wanted our wedding to feel relaxed and fun, comfortable and colourful.

Whilst our wedding followed what you would class as your “classic” wedding day set up (ceremony, drinks reception, sit down dinner, dancing) there were some aspects we weren’t so keen on. Stopping to cut a cake, do a first dance or toss a bouquet felt to us like the flow of the day would be interrupted, so we simply left them out.

The Venue

From the offset of planning, we knew we wanted a more rustic venue; a barn or similar over a manor house. We also knew that onsite accommodation was important to us and somewhere fairly close to our hometown. When we found Barns at Redcoats online it had everything we wanted on paper so knew it was a definite to visit in person.

I think we both knew as soon as we visited that it was right for us. An outside area for the drinks reception, a beautiful barn for dinner with the bar not too far from the dance floor and the hotel accommodation just across the Courtyard (complete with a tractor for pictures!). We’d only seen one other venue in person prior to that but the Barns ticked every box and we just had that feeling it was right.

The Barns events team and all of their staff were absolutely amazing throughout! Our wedding planner Charlie was extremely supportive and made us feel totally at ease through the process.

The Ceremony & Music

We loved picking our music for throughout the day. We found it a great way to incorporate more of ‘us’ into the day.

Ailse song: Zanarkand – Nobuo Uematsu (Harp version). This piece of music is from a game franchise which Chris loves. I loved that we could subtly make this moment so personalised.
Signing music: Lovely Day – Bill Withers and Romeo & Juliet – The Killers cover. Once again, we chose pieces of music that we love and listen to regularly. It’s such a lovely reminder of our wedding day now when they come on shuffle!
End of Ceremony song: You Shook Me All Night Long – ACDC. We wanted something upbeat and fun to finish the ceremony and really set the tone for the rest of the day. Although a lot of our family members mistook the song for ‘Highway to Hell’ which they found amusing!

Drinks Reception: The Mariachi Reys. We decided on live music for our drinks reception. It was something we ummed and ahhed over for a while but we are SO glad we did! We kept it as a surprise for all of our guests so it was a picture seeing their reaction as the band started playing. The Mariachi Reys are a roaming band so they walked round to different areas of the venue throughout, interacting with different groups of people along the way. Seeing our friends and family forming a circle and dancing to ‘tequila’ was a real highlight.

Wedding breakfast entry song: Harry Styles – Music for a Sushi Restaurant. Our guests each had a ‘hooray stick’ at their dinner place – something Chris’ brother had at his wedding which we loved. Our friends and family kindly pooled together to make one for each guest with coloured ribbons to match our décor. When we entered the room, everyone was waving them and dancing; a definite highlight memory of our day!

Evening music: We decided against hiring a band or DJ in the evening. One of our close friends is a music buff and he compiled a playlist for us which worked perfectly. This was quite a controversial decision seen by our suppliers which did make me worry slightly (considering they are the professionals) but we knew our friends and family would fill the dance floor all night and they did! It allowed us to curate exactly what music we wanted with the help of our close friend and was the right decision for our day.

Your Outfits

Zoe

Dress: Coral Dress by Love Story Bride. Bought at Bustle & Bow Berkhamsted. I was fairly open-minded when it came to trying on styles of dresses, I just knew I didn’t want anything too sparkly. My dress made me feel like the best version of myself; it was simple and elegant but still with some features like the bodice applique and longer train that made it special.

Veil: Natalya James Bridal. “Grace” veil. Cathedral length with edge. A simple, elegant veil to complement the dress but not distract. I tried both my mum’s and sister’s veils to be my ‘something borrowed’ but unfortunately, they weren’t quite right for the style of the dress I had chosen.

Necklace: Grace & Kin. Earrings: Orelia

Hair & Make-Up: Melissa created exactly the look I was after. Simple, elegant, special. She’s incredible at taking what you’ve discussed and creating it and was such a calming presence on the morning of the wedding. Incredibly talented!

Chris

Jacket, Waistcoat, Chinos and Tie: Next.

Chris wasn’t looking for anything too formal so it would be in keeping for our day and what he felt comfortable in. After trying on full suits in both navy and stone colours, it wasn’t feeling quite right. We did some pinteresting and started to explore a split colour, which is how he landed on navy chinos and a stone waistcoat and jacket. Chris felt comfortable and smart, but in keeping with the vision of the rest of the wedding – and not too hot for a summer’s day!

Your Photographer

From the beginning, we knew we wanted a relaxed feel from our wedding pictures. Not too many posed shots, lots of candid ones. We found Binky and Sally at the venue’s open day and knew as soon as we saw their shots we wanted to work with them.

Sally was absolutely incredible! The photos she took perfectly capture the feel of our day which is so special for us to look back on.

The Styling & Decor

We had a colourful wedding; it was so great to incorporate this within certain elements of our day. From coloured ribbons on the backs of chairs, to subtly coloured frosting on top of our cupcakes (made by Chris’ amazingly talented sister).

The welcome sign I created myself with a chalkboard and chalkpens which kept the personalisation running through the day. We had coloured pillar candles on the tables as well as smaller bud vases of flowers.

The flowers are what really brought the whole vision together; Tanya is a flower magician! From the first discussion, she had a great grasp of what it was we wanted and boy did she deliver! We knew we wanted some small sunflowers and a variety of sizes and colours but let Tanya take it from there. The selection of flowers she chose were absolutely beautiful and all complimented each other; each can be grown in an English garden as well which was a perfect tie in to our English country summer wedding!

The Honeymoon

We haven’t booked our honeymoon yet but had a few days in Bath after the wedding; it was a lovely way to extend the celebrations and enjoy some time together after a busy wedding!

Memorable Moments

Hooray sticks and Harry Styles (as above in music) and The Mariachi Reys.

Photobooth: Having a photobooth was something we (and our guests) LOVED. It was a great way of adding entertainment into our evening. There were two printouts of each photo; one went to the guests and one was stuck into our guestbook for the guests to sign around. We loved that we could make our guestbook a little more interactive! It’s also amazing looking back on the photos of all your different groups of friends and family (who don’t necessarily know each other) having fun in a photobooth together!

Advice For Other Couples

Don’t sweat the small stuff – as much as it seems important to you when planning, you won’t think about it on the day so take that extra stress away from yourself.
This is your day – do what’s important to you as a couple, regardless of other’s opinions.
Take a moment – grab a moment that’s just the two of you somewhere in the day