Country Rustic & DIY Converted Farmer’s Barn Wedding

I was blown away when I read today’s real wedding story. Couple Antony and Andrea set upon renovating the ‘shed’ Antony handbuilt over 15 years ago on their farm to host their day. They totally transformed the space into the perfect rustic converted barn for their reception.

I love that they already held dear memories of the barn and are now able to relive all the fun for years to come too. The barn looked amazing complete with wooden pallet tables, haybale seating, a stone bar, a stage area and even a homemade chandelier made from wine bottles. Honestly, if you are planning a DIY wedding, you’re going to want to see and hear all about their creative ideas.

Then there was the stunning bridal boho hairstyle, stylish outfits, pretty faux blooms and two delicious cakes. Not to mention live music from two bands, just epic!

Thanks ever so much to Rebecca Jones Photography for sharing with us these tremendous images of one very special celebration indeed.

Renovated Farmer’s Barn Wedding

The Proposal

I’ve always wanted to visit Edinburgh, so as a Christmas present, Antony decided to take me for New Year’s Eve to bring in 2022.

Due to the festival of fire being cancelled (due to Covid), Antony arranged for us to do the last night tour “Castle of Light” around Edinburgh Castle. As we walked around he kept walking slow and taking his time around the exhibitions making sure we were the last ones and alone when we made it to the top of the castle.

As we stood there looking out over Edinburgh, Antony got down on one knee and proposed, which was a total surprise and resulted in me crying my eyes out. I later found out as I rung my family in tears to tell them, he had worked with my family to find out my ring size.

The Vision

When we first spoke about the wedding, Antony was very passionate about getting married in his “shed” a 30ft by 60ft outbuilding he had single-handedly built. I was over the moon with this as for the 5 years we’d been together we’d held a family bonfire night and our aim was to just go a bit bigger and better than that.

All I wanted was to have the ceremony in a church and that my dad was to drive me in my own horse and cart to the church (which didn’t happen due to the horse damaging her leg). So with us both having a love of Defenders, we used Antony’s late brothers’ Defender as our wedding car.

Budget

There was no budget but we’d agree for as much as possible to be hand-crafted by ourselves.

The Venue

Slowly over 2022 and 2023, we set on the mammoth task of emptying the shed that was filled with old cars, farming equipment, old school equipment, floor-to-ceiling piles of “good” wood (all farmers have them), filing cabinets and quite a few leather settees.

Once that was done we were hit with some stormy nights that blew the roof completely off, ripping all the electrics from the building. We took this as an opportunity to level out the roof and improve some of the panelling and upgrade and neatening any of the electrics Antony had done when he built the shed 15+ years ago.

We then had to wait for the weather to brighten up, March 2023, and the wedding was soon approaching we could finally start the big dig needed to level out and put a concrete floor down. With lots of help from family and work colleagues, we spent the Easter half term learning how to use a mini digger. Long late nights doing the many layers needed and the back-breaking job of putting the 1000s of tiny little concrete blocks under the wireframe needed in preparation for the concrete.

Once that was done the fun task of creating could begin for me while Antony cleared and cleaned up the field. I can honestly say without the help from friends and family, most importantly Antony’s brother Andrew I don’t think we would have been ready in time.

Your Outfits

Worried that my sisters and daughter would take over the appointment me and my best friend Kim decided to do a sneaky wedding dress shop alone. Just so I could get some ideas of what I liked and what suited me. After driving round a few shops from Saddleworth to Prestwich and realizing you needed an appointment we decided to try Wed2B in Manchester Arndale.

The consultant was amazing helping me and Kim pick dresses. In the changing room, the consultant told me which order she was doing the dresses in as she knew which one was “the one”. She was right I completely fell in love but was dubious about buying it as I’d not brought my family. The only downfall to Wed2B is you have to buy there and then!

Once I’d left the shop and got home I couldn’t stop thinking about the dress, so Antony told me to ring up and see if I can buy it. They allowed me to put a deposit down and hold onto the dress for 2 weeks. Meaning I had 2 weeks to get my family together to go dress shopping.

The following Thursday after work me and my family, Kim and her daughter got the tram into Manchester. The shop assistant was great acting like we’d never met keeping it a secret that me and Kim had been there 5 days earlier. They let everyone pick dresses they thought would suit me and brought mine out. I tried loads of dresses of all shapes and size, none giving me the feeling mine did.

Once my family had stopped bringing dresses I finally put mine on. Stepping out from behind the curtain I was a nervous wreck, what if it had the same reaction as the rest? I came out and they all started smiling, tears in eyes adamant that was the one and when the consultant dressed me up with a cathedral veil the tears kept coming.

A last-minute buy from Amazon I bought a bolero the night before the wedding as we were forecast rain on the day. Everyone complimented me on it and thought it came with the dress as it had an open back and showed off all the beaning on the back of the dress.

As for the groom that was a manic day out shopping with my dad, son, Antony, and Antony’s brother and his family 2 weeks before the wedding all trying to get fitted and agree on a suit. In the end, my son Thomas chose the final design of a navy 3-piece suit from Next.

As for our wedding rings we searched the internet looking for a Celtic design. I wanted rose gold but thought that would be too feminine for Antony. But we managed to find this lovely design on Etsy. Where mines rose gold. Antony’s is rose gold but made with rough faceted finish and plated with black rhodium. It has my ring engraved on the inside to give the impression that my ring was crafted out from Antony’s ring to symbolise how each part completes the other.

The Ceremony & Music

Antony loves all things Irish so from the start we’d agreed that there had to be an Irish band so spent many weekend nights going out watching some in action. A friend from when my family ran our own pubs recommended Parcel O’Rogues. So, after a night in Royton watching them the next day I contacted them and booked them.

Also, a good friend and ex-colleague offered to play at the wedding as he is in a band called Fool and the Gang after going to watch them I was over the moon as they were amazing.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Rebecca Jones Photography is an absolutely amazing photographer recommended by work colleagues who’d had her do their weddings. She walked into total chaos and craziness at my house on the day of the wedding, but that didn’t faze her one bit.

She guided us through the day, as I didn’t have a wedding planner. Both me and Antony have both never been married so wasn’t sure of how and when things are meant to happen. When we realised that one of the bridesmaids had forgotten her dress 10 minutes before we were due in church (can you tell which one it is?).

She managed to keep everyone calm and took the opportunity for an extra photo shoot while the issue was rectified by my future sister-in-law Ann who had a similar dress in her wardrobe.

The Styling & Decor

We’d agreed that we were to make as much as possible. The colours we went with were deep red, blue and white. Centrepieces were all hand-crafted by myself to put on the pallet tables. The bar was completely made by myself using a gabion frame, stones from around the farm and scaffolding planks for the top.

The buffet tables were some old school workbenches Antony had collected over the years. Pillows and throws were either donated from friends and family or bought in the sale. Me and Antony both built the stage using old pallets and some old decking a work colleague was throwing out.

The light on the back of the stage I bought of Esty from VibeyDesignCo which was a custom wedding neon sign reading “Mr & Mrs Gumbley”. I made a chandelier out of old wine bottles, LED lights and cable reels for above the dance floor. Also, at the top of every pillar I had fake foliage that I had bought from Shein.

To pay tribute to Antony’s late father Antony I found a piece of his old workbench and suggested I make something with it. I used this to make the welcome sign to our wedding and will be reusing it to put one of our wedding photos on to hang in our home.

The wedding cake was made by Antony’s niece Emma with a cake topper that I bought on Etsy. The tractor is like a mini version of Antony’s vintage Massey Ferguson 65. The cake consisted of my favourite cakes red velvet and carrot cake.

The wedding cheese cake was bought off Antony’s late mother and was purchased at Costco. The buffet was supplied and made by our families and consisted of my brother Neil slaving away in my kitchen for 6 hours. The cakes on the buffet which were absolutely gorgeous were homemade my Antony’s sister-in-law Elizabeth.

The bridesmaid’s bouquets I bought from Etsy FloralDate along with the buttonholes. For my bouquet, I wanted to go bigger and have more wow factor so also bought this on Etsy but from a different seller BeauBouquetsWeddings which was the same colours and flowers just with extras like thistles, diamantes and pheasant feathers.

As well as the buffet we decided to have a hog roast and other roasted meats. The company went above and beyond in making sure we didn’t have to worry about anything. As they had also supplied the bar equipment and sourced the alcohol. They then also supplied the bar staff, making it so my friends and family who had offered to do the bar could join in the wedding party.

The Honeymoon

Antony’s love of the Irish and my want for touring we decided to do the Wild Atlantic Way. Trying to get as many of the discovery signposts in, while also visiting Antony’s godchildren, in the two-week slot.

Out of the 180 signposts along the wild Atlantic Way we managed to visit over 120 of them. Flying into Kerry, then travelling down to Cork for a night there before we began the mammoth 20,000 steps a day and 2000 miles we eventually drove.

Stopping in B&Bs, camping in our tent, or stopping on our blow-up bed in the car which allowed us to watch the sunset and sunrises by the most beautiful of sceneries. We finished the tour at Dublin where we had an amazing night out.

Memorable Moments

My hair stylist and one of my oldest friends Suzi was doing my hair. She’d had no problem doing all the bridesmaids but when I sat in her chair nerves got the better of her, stood blank not knowing where to go or what to do with my hair. As with everything in the wedding there was no practice run, with some words of encouragement that “I know I will love whatever she does”, she gave me the most beautiful bohemian hairstyle, in keeping with the farm theme.

The joy that was felt throughout the day, I feel it every time I look through my pictures. I love how within 10 minutes of arriving at the venue all the ladies changed out of their heels into wellies, trainers, crocs etc including myself.

When the Irish band was playing Maddie, a friend but also a student at the school we both work at got up on the dance floor and performed some Irish dancing. She was amazing to watch and got everyone up dancing.

When the weather took a turn for the worse Antony, his brother Andrew and friend Pete started grabbing bales of hay and within minutes they had built walls on the open side of the shed. Protecting everyone from the elements and warmed the place up. It was amazing to watch and helped in creating a cosy atmosphere.