Rustic Countryside Barn Spring Wedding

We do love a rustic barn wedding here at Whimsical Wonderland Weddings, so we are just thrilled to be sharing Emma and Mark’s wedding story today. They were hitched on the 6th April 2019 at Owen House Wedding Barn in the stunning Cheshire countryside and they told me it was “the best day of our lives.” Isn’t that just wonderful?

I love their day for many reasons, firstly though the styling of their day was totally on point. With lighting making a statement in the glorious barns, think letter lights behind the top table and an Edison light bulb installation hanging above the top table. It makes great impact and the lighting alongside the lush florals and personal touches really make the venue their own. The cake really makes a statement too, especially on the towering log stand which is something I’ve not seen before. So cool!

Not only were there sensational outfit choices and pretty details, but there were also some lovely moments too. I love that they headed to the pub for a drink alone to soak up the day and I do love their confetti moment. Huge thanks goes to the brilliant Nessworthy Photography for sharing with us these fantastic shots of a beautiful day.

The Proposal

01/10/17 – the night we were going out for a meal to celebrate 4 years together. Mark engraved a dog tag saying “Will you marry my daddy?” and put it on our dogs collar (Willow). He got her to walk over to me and show me the tag just before we went out. As I was reading it and looked up Mark was down on one knee.

The Vision

We wanted a rustic countryside wedding, we looked around a few venues and when we visited Owen House Wedding Barn we fell in love with its unique style. Once we looked at their few remaining Saturday dates still available for 2019 we loved the idea of a spring wedding and set the date for April. We knew we wanted to work with the rustic look the barn had and keep the colour scheme simple and elegant, so we went for white, green, and mauve.

The Planning Process

Once we had chosen the venue and colour scheme the rest of the plans fell into place. We went to venue’s open evenings and took inspiration from all the recommended suppliers there. We had 16 months to plan so plenty of time. Mark’s suit and Emma’s dress where the first things ticked off the list. We set up a Pinterest board to get more ideas and with Emma being an interior designer she had a vision on how to dress the barn. We brought a personal touch to the day and made/sought a lot of things ourselves – including the favours which the mother of the bride made. We gave homemade jam to the men and homemade marmalade to the women.

The Venue

Owen House Wedding Barn

Your Outfits & Accessories

Emma

Dress & Veil – Love Bridal Boutique in Altrincham, designer Made With Love Bridal.

Shoes – Karen Millen

Bracelet & Earrings – John Lewis

Mark

Ties – Swagger & Swoon – Frosted Fig

Suit – Ted Baker, loved the navy blue with purple stitching and purple checked pattern

Shoes – Ted Baker – Dark Red brogues, wanted to be different to the ordinary brown shoe

Shirt – TMLewin

Beauty

Emma’s Hair – Jodie A Smith (Penny was my hair stylist on the day)

Emma’s Make Up – Maxine Smith

Mark’s Hair – Joe at Esquire Barber’s, Burscough

The Readings & Music

Reading 1 – Love is like owning a dog

Reading 2 – On Your Wedding Day

Music – had an evening band called The Royale

The Cake

Bloomsbury wedding cakes, Altrincha. 3 tiered cake with bottom tier Victoria sponge, middle tier chocolate and orange, top tier red velvet.

The Flowers

Gillian McKeever (family friend that does weddings on the side)

Table centrepieces – White hydrangeas with trailing amaranthus and twigs

Small vases – Memory Lane roses with gypsophila

Ceremony room and top table – green garlands of eucalyptus, ivy, ruscus and trailing amaranthus.

Men’s buttonholes – Ivory rose, eucalyptus, lavender and veronica

Bride bouquet – memory lane roses, lavender, wax flower, eucalyptus, ivory veronica, ivory stocks and ivory roses.

Bridesmaids bouquet – smaller versions of the brides.

Bridesmaids

ASOS – TFNC. All mink colour with my maid of honour in a different style.

Groomsmen

Groomsman suits – Moss Bros – Blue Sharkskin Suit with Dark brown shoes

Ties – Swagger & Swoon – Frosted Fig colour

Your Photographer

Nessworthy Photography

The Details & Décor

The Word Is Love – E&M initials behind the top table.

Personalised chalkboard backdrop used as a DIY photo booth. We put a polaroid camera and props next to it with our guest book for guests to stick their photos in and leave a note.

Luminate Events – Suspended Edison Bulbs above the top table.

Log slices of varying sizes used on all the tables.

Cylinder vases – 30cm & 45cm with floating candles in placed down the aisle in the ceremony room.

Large cylinder vases for table centrepieces.

Seating Plan, welcome sign and table numbers – The Wooden Knot.

Crate display at entrance – Crates used from Owen House, filled with order of the day, flowers, sign and tealights.

The Honeymoon

Florence for a minimoon. We went straight after the wedding for 4 days.

South Africa for a safari and Mauritius for main honeymoon booked for September.

Memorable Moments

Seeing each other for the first time whilst walking down the aisle.

Emma’s dad seeing her for the first time in the dress.

The confetti being thrown.

Weather was perfect – first sunny day in April.

The speeches – Emma’s dad delivered a tearjerker.

Our first dance – Paradise by George Ezra, performed by the band The Royale.

Going to the pub for some alone time. After the meal and speeches and before cutting the cake we were whisked off for some photos in the surrounding fields. The venue suggested driving on to a nearby pub for a drink which we loved. We got chance to reflect on the day so far and have a tequila shot to celebrate.

The food was incredible from our caterers – Vanilla In All Seasons. We put the menu together ourselves with 3 of our favourite courses including Lemon Pie for dessert.

Advice For Other Couples

Savour every moment, the day goes so quickly.

Take time to get away from your guests to take it all in with each other.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh so perfect.

Emma and Mark, thank you both so much for sharing your utterly gorgeous wedding with us today xo Lou