Quirky Crafty Rustic Barn Wedding

Hold on to your seats WWWers, you are in for a real treat today courtesy of Hannah and Luke’s epic wedding celebrations.

Hannah and Luke were hitched on Saturday 9^th July 2016 in a church ceremony followed by a reception at Pimhill Barn in Shropshire. Their vision was to create a quirky style of wedding and to let their creative juices flow by crafting their day. The rustic touches were just amazing. Pretty pink hues worked alongside floral fabrics, hessian and wood. Some of my favourite touches include the key seating plan, magical fairy lights, which festooned their reception space and the gorgeous cake. It all worked so well together and was well worth the 2 years of planning that went into creating the whole affair.

Hannah looked so gorgeous in her lace Mori Lee gown teamed with Hermione Harbutt hair piece. Luke meanwhile chose a tweed grey suit, floral tie and gypsophila buttonhole for a really handsome look. Look out for a super cute wedding car, their sweet pup and all the emotional moments.

Bridgwood Wedding Photography, thank you so very much for sharing these amazing images today.

THE PROPOSAL | I proposed to Hannah at a beautiful, secluded log cabin in the Cotswolds. The cabin has its own rowing boat, which I used to take Hannah out on lake and stop off for a waterside picnic before popping the big question! Then we watched the sunset in our private hot tub. This was April 2014.

THE VISION | We wanted to create a quirky wedding that wasn’t really the norm. I (Luke) am a wedding photographer so I see so many weddings and we wanted to have something a little different and also do it together, as a team… to be crafty… build stuff, make stuff and be creative together as a couple.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We only viewed two venues and booked Pimhill as soon as we saw it. We drove up to a lot of venues and also googled a lot but as they say… you just know when you know! We booked it shortly after the engagement (so two years in advance) and that gave us plenty of time to make stuff, decided on the way we wanted to dress the barn etc. We booked the DJ very early on and a DJ makes or breaks a wedding in my opinion… and he absolutely nailed it! Mikey Buzzard was the DJ from Birmingham and I had worked with a few times across the years and he always delivers! Top guy!

Then we booked Steve Bridgwood from Bridgwood Wedding Photography. This was a massive one for me as a wedding photographer myself! However I had always admired Steve’s work. Steve has a lot of experience and has created his style and brand over many years. I had no doubt that Steve would do an amazing job!

Next up was deciding the food, which was the awesome, Hungarian caterer Peter Baka. We decided for a quirky choice of Tapas for the main meal! It was paella and lots of beautiful dishes to accompany it. The night-time food was a traditional Hungarian langos with pulled pork, haloumi or chicken.

Then we booked our showpiece… our lights! The barn was lit up with a fabulous lighting set up from Birmingham based Marklew Productions Lighting hire. See the photos! They made dressing the rest of the barn easy!

BUDGET | We set a budget of around £15k but it was closer to £20k in the end :/

THE VENUE | We got married at our local church and then I drove Hannah and I over to the venue (45 minutes) in our vintage, Nissan Figaro. I have mainly covered it in the planning bit. We also had a seating area in the marquee made up of old vintage chairs. A typewriter guest book (see Steve’s photos). A rustic bar. Football and air hockey tables. Space hoppers and lawn games.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Dress – Mori Lee.

Headpiece – Hermione Harbutt.

FINDING THE DRESS | She found about 2 weeks after the engagement! She only went to ‘take a look’. Fell in love with it and that was that!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Duncan James, Walsall.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Church Entrance – Sleeping at Last – Turning Page.

Signing of the register – John Mayer – XO.

Church Exit – UB40 – (I can’t help) Falling in love with you.

First Dance – Ben Howard – Only Love.

THE FLOWERS | The flowers were done by Rachel at Floribunda in Bloxwich, Walsall. (Next door to our photography studio).

THE CAKE | Hannah’s mom made the cake. She is awesome and does wedding cakes on the side. Karen’s Cakes Cannock on Facebook.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Steve Bridgwood from Bridgwood Wedding Photography. We are over the moon with the photos and Hannah even cried when we received the final images she loves them that much. Steve was like some kind of ninja on the day, capturing the special moments without even knowing he was there. We are so glad we booked Steve! He is a top bloke and extremely good at what he does. We can thank him enough.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We made a lot of stuff ourselves. However we did have help dressing the venue and hiring a lot of the stuff from Honey Bee’s Vintage Teas. Helen the owner is amazing!

THE HONEYMOON | Mexico! Rivera Maya… two weeks of luxury. We swam with the sea turtles and 30 ft whale sharks, visited the Mayan pyramids of Chitza-Nitza plus much much more!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Me crying like a baby as Hannah walked down the aisle.

Our pet dog Oscar spending the day with us at the venue.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Enjoy every minute of the wedding. Not just the day but the build up and the planning. We loved our wedding day so much because it was the result of team work as we worked together as a couple for nearly two years planning it. We had such fun making things and laughing together, getting excited together, picking our songs for the day and for our wedding video! We would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Loved it!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Bridgwood Wedding Photography

Videography | David Boynton Wedding Photography

Venue | Pimhill Barn

Venue Dressing | Honey Bee’s Vintage Teas

Dress | Mori Lee

Headpiece | Hermione Harbutt

Honeymoon | Helen Davies – Travel Councillors

Wow, so gorgeous.

Many thanks to Hannah and Luke for sharing their super special wedding story with us xo Lou