Bohemian Vegan Hall Farm Events Wedding with Handmade Decor

Welcome to the gorgeous Hall Farm Events wedding of Jack and Emily in Suffolk! Their day was packed full of their personality and they created their day on a £10,000 budget. How amazing is that?

Being vegan, it was important for them to have a vegan wedding. They also added lots of DIY wedding decor, with upcycled and handmade items. Plus their outfits were gorgeous! I love Emily’s original 1970s vintage wedding dress, as well as Jack’s cool mix-and-match attire. Didn’t they look incredible?

Thanks ever so much to WWW wedding supplier fave, Thyme Lane Photography for sharing these sensational shots with us.

Hall Farm Events Wedding

The Proposal

Jack proposed in the Maldives (a place that’s very special to Emily as she visited many times with her family as a child). I left it quite late to decide I was going to propose (the holiday was already booked). This left me with only a few weeks to find, purchase and pick up the ring before hiding it in the case.

I waited until sunset on the 3rd night of the holiday to do it. Emily was conveniently swinging on a ring-shaped swing on the beach as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. I asked her to turn around and I was on one knee. The rest is history as they say!

The Vision

Our vision was to create a wedding that was reflective of both our personalities.

Something fun, that oozed creativity and also an opportunity to prove to our guests that you don’t miss out on anything at a fully vegan wedding. Ultimately, we wanted to get all our friends and family together who hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years to have fun, drink, dance and celebrate our love!

Budget

Originally we were looking to keep things as cheap as possible but after the postponements, we decided to loosen our belts a bit. £10k was our estimate and ended up costing around that amount.

The Venue

The venue was Hall Farm Barn in Wordwell, Bury St Edmunds. A hidden gem in the Suffolk countryside. You walk into the rustic barn (perfect space for our ceremony). It then opens up the other side to a marquee, which overlooks the edge of Kings forest.

We loved that it was basically a blank canvas for us to decorate. We loved how nice and attentive Sarah and Mike were (venue owners).

The Ceremony & Music

We booked a celebrant for the ceremony (Anthony Dowling), so that we could personalise aspects whilst keeping others more traditional. We were keen on keeping it relatively short, but more insightful and captivating than a standard ceremony. We also wrote our own vows, which were a struggle to read without getting emotional! There were a few tears.

Me and Emily are big fans of the Lumineers and other bohemian rock/indie music such as Feist, Florence and the Machine, Of Monsters and Men among others. This featured throughout the day and was played through speakers in the barn. It perfectly complemented the venue and vibe of the whole day.

Emily is also a big Twihard (Twilight fan). The aisle music was a song featured in the movies.

Aisle Song: Flightless Bird – Iron & Wine
Exit Song: Lumineers – Ho Hey
First Dance: Oh Wonder – Without You

Your Outfits

Jack’s suit – For budget and style reasons I decided I put the suit together separately. Nothing in the market worked for me and it was all overpriced (in my opinion). It proved quite tricky in the end to find everything and to get it to match!

Shoes – Will’s Vegan Shoes
Jacket – Primark
Shirt – TK Maxx
Braces and Trousers – Next
Bow Tie – Mrs Bow Tie

Emily’s dress – Emily wanted to find a second-hand dress/ex-display to save money then visited Re-Bridal (Baldock, Hertfordshire), which specialises in ex-display dresses. She found a 1970s vintage dress, which Pam did an amazing job altering to it to exactly what Emily wanted.

Shoes – New Look
Foliage Crown – Flower Hut in Bury St Edmunds
Necklace – From Emily’s Nan

The Styling & Decor

The venue was absolutely beautiful as it was when we visited so we were keen not to over-decorate. Emily’s Mum spent a lot of time going out and picking wildflowers and foliage to decorate and place around the venue (We wouldn’t have been able to do it without her!). On top of this, she made the macrame for the wedding arch and dreamcatchers that were displayed around our peacock chair!

We picked out Eucalyptus as a focal point as the muted green was the theme colour (if we had to pick one).

The cake was a stunning lemon and lavender naked cake from Trudy the Iced Vegan.

Our wedding arch was made by my friend Matt Emerick, a carpenter (Idea Tree Designs).

The signage, table favours and table plan were made by Jack using upcycled items such as pallets or photo frames.

Order of the day was designed by Jack and hand drawn onto an upcycled window.

We collected almost 100 tankards, goblets and chalices from charity shops over a couple of years. These were for guests to use throughout the day rather than using plastic cups.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our photographer was Noemi from Thyme Lane photography. We were very fortunate to have found her after losing our photographers from the first two dates. She is an absolute professional and the best in the business! We also booked a warm-up shoot, which we highly recommend to anyone as it helped us feel comfortable in front of the lens.

We planned on putting together our own wedding video using footage from family and friends. Jack’s brother filmed the main aspects of the day including the ceremony and speeches. Jack is a graphic designer so was confident in editing it into something we’d both be happy with and cherish forever.

The Honeymoon

We went to Halkidiki in Greece for 10 days to switch off and relax in the sun. The hotel was called Eagles Palace. A stunning hotel with an amazing private beach and spa. The staff were exceptional but unfortunately not the best for vegans.

Memorable Moments

Although it flew by (as we were told it would). It was so good to see both families and all our friends get on so well, eat drink and have fun.

After speaking to many of our guests after the wedding, everyone was very impressed with all the food provided by Allison’s Eatery (Bury St Edmunds).

The speeches went down really well and we managed to get everyone laughing!

There were some funny moments during the photoshoot. One of which involved a race to get a tankard full of beer.

Advice For Other Couples

Everyone says it, but we’d advise to have the odd moment alone together to breathe it all in. It’s the culmination of years of planning (and stress) and important to realise that you did it.

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to talk to everyone. Your guests understand that you’re very busy throughout the day and it’s okay if you only manage to speak to some people for only a minute or two.