{"id":244848,"date":"2018-12-12T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T07:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=244848"},"modified":"2024-05-07T13:58:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:58:17","slug":"windmill-barn-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/windmill-barn-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilled Out & Rustic Barn Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Windmill<\/p>\n

WWW readers Hayley and David’s super chilled out barn wedding<\/a> is sure to give you a warm, happy kind of feeling today. Their day radiates love, joy and warmth all round<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They chose to marry on the 19th May 2018 at Windmill Barn<\/a> near Edinburgh<\/a>, with an outdoor ceremony in the Spring sunshine, followed by a reception in the characterful barns. They didn’t really need to add much to the d\u00e9cor, so they focussed on the stationery, the music and the atmosphere of their celebrations.<\/p>\n

There is so much to take in; the stunning attire and the greenery flower arrangements, not to mention the exquisite photography by Pocket Square Photography<\/a>. Huge thanks to Neil for sharing these remarkable captures with us, such joy!<\/p>\n

\"Buttonholes<\/p>\n\n

\"Groom \"Windmill<\/p>\n\n

\"Bouquet \"Shoes<\/p>\n

The Proposal<\/h3>\n

David: We had a holiday to New York booked. We both love the city and were really excited to go. I had known for a while I was wanting to propose to Hayley and thought New York would provide a beautiful, memorable setting. Hayley and I love good food so one day we had a trip planned in Williamsburg. There was a food festival on so we walked into Brooklyn and down to Williamsburg, enjoyed some lovely food and as we enjoyed views of Manhattan. We then walked back into Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge. This is were I knew I wanted to propose. However it seemed half of the city was on the bridge that day so my nervous were jangling. We made our way over the bridge, with me stopping every two minutes trying to find a gap in the crowd. We were nearing the end of the bridge so I decided now was the time. Hayley had turned away to take a photo and when she looked back I was on one knee asking her to marry me. What felt like 20min later she said Yes! A few swear words might have been said and a lot of \u201cwhat are you doing, get up\u201d but I was delighted she said yes. We received some cheers and claps from people passing by which was great.<\/p>\n

\"Bride<\/p>\n

The Vision<\/h3>\n

We were looking for quite a chilled out vibe. We knew that we wanted to have a barn venue which would fit in with this style. Most barns are DIY so you can really put your own stamp on things. We had sharing style platters for our meal to keep in line with this chilled out family style wedding. It meant it instantly got people taking and sharing. We didn\u2019t want a really \u201ctraditional\u201d wedding. We had the basics in place such as the times of things, ceremony and what we were eating but we were wanting everyone to just enjoy the day and relax. Not be told every second of the day what to do. We think we achieved this and loved the vibe we had on the day.<\/p>\n

\"Bride<\/p>\n

The Planning Process<\/h3>\n

We got engaged in 2015 so had a couple of years to plan. We took our time with things and didn\u2019t want to stress ourselves out. We both had the same vision so it was really quite easy to agree on things. David took care of all the stationery and his side of things like kilts and music. We both researched what we wanted to have for the venue, food, cars and humanist and I took care of my dress, bridesmaid dress etc. I took David and my maid of honour to pick out the flowers which was nice to do together.<\/p>\n

\"Dress<\/p>\n

Budget<\/h3>\n

We never set out with a budget. Probably not the best idea but hey. We by no means have an endless supply of money but we also wanted to make the most of the day. We were fortunate to have family help with the cost which allowed us to get the things we wanted. We did take a note of it all before we booked some things but for suppliers like photographer and videographer we knew they were the ones we wanted and that they would be worth every penny.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Wooden<\/p>\n

The Venue<\/h3>\n

As soon as we visited Windmill Barn we were hooked. It was the most beautiful and peaceful looking venue. Set amongst farmland with a long winding pathway up to the barn. The venue aisles features a lovely pond with a jetty which was great for photographs. The venue owners Clare and Alan were amazing, nothing was too much hassle and they were great on the day as well helping set up our garden games and making sure catering etc were on point. If we needed anything all we had to do was ask. It was a DIY style venue so we went up on the Friday afternoon to set up everything how we wanted it and Clare ran through the proceedings with us to make sure we knew how the day would all can out. Also to check with us what our vision was and made sure it was stuck to. The barn itself is L – shaped. The smaller section was where we had our bar, DJ and dance floor. You can get married in this area but with the gorgeous weather we had we got married outside. The longer section of the barn was where we had our tables set up. Big long banquet style tables, every seat was different as well which we loved, it really set the ice of the venue. The barn also has lovely wooden beams with fairy lights on them which looks stunning, especially at night.<\/p>\n

\"Peg \"Map<\/p>\n

Your Outfits & Accessories<\/h3>\n

David: My kilt was from Kilts 4 U. Being Scottish there was no way I wasn\u2019t getting married in a kilt. I love wearing them and think they look really smart. I have my own kilt but for our wedding I wanted something di\ufb00erent, something I\u2019d not worn before. I\u2019d been to a couple of kilt shops but when I went to Kilts 4 U I had seen this beautiful tweed kilt. It was called Cairngorm Blue. It was perfect as I have a blue fur sporran which I wanted to wear. I bought a pair of tan brogues to go with the outfit.<\/p>\n

Hayley: I go my dress from Wed2be. I’m not one for being the centre of attention so wanted my dress to be a little more understated. I tried on lots of di\ufb00erent styles. Before I went I thought I knew I wanted a tea length dress but after trying on the one I went for I fell in love with it. It had really lovely sequins on it and had a kind of 1920\u2019s vibe going on and thought it went with our venue and style for the day. I loved it!<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Wooden<\/p>\n

Beauty<\/h3>\n

Hayley: For my make up I went for Lesley Neil Makeup Artist. She was amazing from start to finish, from my trials to on the day I couldn\u2019t think of having anyone else doing my make up. She knew exactly what would suit my eye shape and colour, Lesley got it spot on first time. I just felt like a princess. She is very experienced in what she does and even gave me amazing pointers on how to stand and even hold my flowers, which instantly made me feel at ease. All my bridesmaids and mum loved their flawless make up too!<\/p>\n

Rachael Elizabeth Hairdressing sorted us out for our hair. I had a good few trials with Rachael before the wedding as I knew what I wanted but hadn\u2019t had it done before. On the day was the first time I had seen my amazing floral crown, Rach got it perfect first time putting it on and I just loved the laid back look she did my curls. Each went over and above helping me with my shoes and making my morning so easy.<\/p>\n

David: I\u2019ve been going to the same barber for around 4\/5 years. So on the Thursday before the wedding I took my best man, brother in law and two friends down to Safehands Barbers to get our hair cuts, shaves and beard trims from my barber, Ryan Costello. It was great as Ryan and the guys had some beers ready for us and we spent all day in there just having a laugh, having some beers and getting our haircuts. I can\u2019t recommend Ryan and the guys at Safehands enough.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Naked<\/p>\n

Groomsmen<\/h3>\n

David: I had my best man and two ushers. We all wore kilts and hired them from Kilts4U. I had decided that instead of everyone wearing the same kilts that Hayley and I preferred everyone to pick what kilt they liked and felt comfortable in. Because of the style of venue we had we felt it looked great everyone being a bit miss matched. The only thing that tied the best man and ushers together was they wore the same colour ties.<\/p>\n

\"Naked \"Dress<\/p>\n

Bridesmaids<\/h3>\n

I got my bridesmaid and maid of honour dresses from Debenhams. They were a lovely duck egg blue kind of colour. They were great as they could be customised for each person depending on how they wanted to wear them around the neck.<\/p>\n

\"Bouquet \"Page \"Bridesmaid \"Windmill \"Windmill<\/p>\n

The Readings & Music<\/h3>\n

We both thought long and hard about the readings. We knew that we wanted to include members of family and friends. Our readings fitted in nicely with our lifestyle and ceremony. Our first reading was by our friend Natalie who performed a quote from Bob Marley. It doesn\u2019t have a title really but it is about not being perfect and loving each other for who they are. Our second reading was read by David\u2019s mum Caroline. We have a dog, Travis, and he is a big part of our lives so our second reading was called \u201cfalling in love is like owing a dog\u201d by Taylor Mali. The words fitted perfectly with our lives. Our third reading was read by David\u2019s friend from Canada, Jordan. It was Johnny Cash\u2019s love letter to June. The words are so romantic and we thought it was the perfect reading to include for us.<\/p>\n

Music was a big part of the day. David is in a band, Saltire Beat, and we go to a lot of gigs together. We wanted our music to not be so traditional and be a little quirky. Have people smile and laugh rather than tears of joy. For going down the aisle I had \u201cSend me on my way\u201d by Rusted Root. Probably made most famous for being in the movie Matilda (Hayley\u2019s favourite) it is a really quirky song, nice and upbeat and the words are also quite appropriate. We had two songs to play while signing the register. The first was \u201cThe book of love\u201d and the second was \u201cnervous\u201d both by Gavin James. These songs are great and we really wanted to include them. For coming back up the aisle we had \u201cOn Top Of The World\u201d by Imagine Dragons simply because that’s how we knew we would feel.<\/p>\n

During the drinks reception we had an acoustic guitarist, Paul Crawford, playing our favourite songs. Paul is an incredible musician and entertained our guests throughout. He just asked us for a list of our favourites and some genres we particularly like and he took care of the rest. Paul was also our DJ for the night and kept the dance floor packed. To top o\ufb00 the night David\u2019s band, Saltire Beat, made an appearance which was just perfect. A few of our guests hadn\u2019t seen David play live before so it was a real treat and everyone loved it.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Confetti<\/p>\n

The Flowers<\/h3>\n

Our flowers were simply stunning! We got them from Narcissus Wedding Flowers by Susan. David is a wedding stationer and has worked with Susan before so he showed me some of her work. When I got in touch Susan was perfect. I told her the style I was going for and she certainly delivered. I wanted wild flowers, nothing too bright and wanted to keep it fitting to our venue and my dress. My bridesmaids all had Gypsophila bouquets, I had a beautiful wild flower and Gyp bouquet as well as a lovely floral crown and David, his best man, ushers and our dads had lovely Scottish Thistle buttonholes.<\/p>\n

\"Bouquet \"Windmill<\/p>\n

The Cake<\/h3>\n

David\u2019s mum is extremely talented and o\ufb00ered to make our wedding cakes. She created three semi naked cakes. One was a classic Victoria sponge, one was lemon and elderflower and the third was carrot cake. We got married on the same day as the Royal Wedding and apparently their cake was going to be Lemon and Elderflower so we just had to have that (we had our date booked first haha).<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Windmill \"Windmill<\/p>\n

Your Photographer<\/h3>\n

We had thought that this was going to be one of the harder suppliers to chose but it was a breeze. We did have a meeting with a photographer and contacted another couple but once we sat down and had a chat with Neil from Pocket Square Photography we knew that we wanted him to shoot our wedding. Neil is so relaxed and made us feel so comfortable. When we met for a coffee it didn\u2019t seem like we were meeting a potential supplier for our wedding, he was just really easy to get along with. His work speaks for itself, simply amazing! It is exactly the style we wanted.<\/p>\n

Included in our package was a pre wedding shoot. This was great as it helped us get comfortable in front of the camera and it was also at a location of our choosing which was great as we went somewhere really meaningful to us both. Neil also let us chose our favourite photo from the shoot, printed it and framed it for our guests to then sign at our wedding.<\/p>\n

We wanted more of a documentary style of photographs, more candid and less posed shots. We of course knew we were going to have some posed ones but they didn\u2019t seem forced or unnatural. Neil was chatting with us the whole time, making us feel at ease and almost like there weren’t any photos being taken. The end result was priceless. Very natural photos with amazing lighting and mood. Neil captured the day exactly how we wanted him to. We were over the moon with the photos.<\/p>\n

We also had a second shooter included in our package which really helped allow Neil to capture things like Hayley and I getting ready, little details around the venue and different angles during the ceremony and couples shoot.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Windmill<\/p>\n

Your Filmmaker<\/h3>\n

Worldly Nomad Films! Unbelievable! Barry calls himself a film ninja and this is so appropriate for his style. We really didn\u2019t notice he was even there! But the video was just beautiful. It captured our day so perfectly we can\u2019t stop watching it.<\/p>\n

We met Barry for a co\ufb00ee and a chat. Hayley and I got back to the car, turned to each other and both said \u201clets book him\u201d. We didn\u2019t need to have a discussion we just knew Barry had to film our wedding. He was great in communication all the way up to the day and very professional on the day. We had lots of comments that they didn\u2019t really realise he was there which we loved as it meant for us people were just enjoying the day and Barry was sneaking around capturing those candid moments we were after.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Groom \"Windmill<\/p>\n

The Details & D\u00e9cor<\/h3>\n

David owns a wedding stationery company, Bottled Love Wedding Stationery, so we were sorted for lots of great details around the venue. David created almost everything. Save the dates, Invitations, seating plan, table talkers, place cards, welcome sign, order of the day, reserved signs and lots of great wee touches around the venue. We are both creative people. I am a jeweller and David a graphic designer\/wedding stationer so we were both on the same page throughout which was great. I kind of left David to do his thing but everything he came up with was exactly what I had imagined.<\/p>\n

David brought this great distressed table for us to display our seating plan on. We also had a nice wooden card holder to hold our wedding magazine, another great piece of stationery our guests loved.<\/p>\n

In the toilets we had little wicker baskets and put some essentials in there. Deodorant, hair wax, chewing gum, mints etc.<\/p>\n

We are big fans of rum and gin so for our table decorations we had gin and rum bottles and put little corks in them which had lights hanging from them, we picked them up on Amazon. We also included little mason jars which we collected over time and filled them with fresh flowers. Along with the place cards and table talkers. We didn\u2019t want to have too much going on with the tables as we were having big sharing plates for our meal and knew they would take up a bit of room.<\/p>\n

We had quite a few kids coming to our wedding so we thought why not get some garden games. There is a nice square of grass at our venue which we put a little teepee on, bubbles for the kids, ring toss game, mini basket ball and giant jenga. It was great because all the kids got involved, as well as a lot of adults.<\/p>\n

A really lovely touch was our wedding magazine which David designed. Its one of the products he designs. We used it as a magazine filling it with stories of our engagement, over the years section, an \u201cother news\u201d section as we had some important things such as the Royal Wedding and our nephew’s birthday the day before, a Mr & Mrs question section and a thank you section. We also included our order of the day in there. We used a lot of our own photos from over the years but a good number of them were from our pre wedding shoot with our photographer. Our guests loved them and all of them took them away as a keepsake of the day.<\/p>\n

Our venue was perfect and we didn\u2019t feel the need to touch it. Clare and Alan at our venue had styled it great already with fairy lights on the wooden beams, little candles in alcoves in the wall and a beautiful wooden pallet bar. We just added little bits of signage, fun balloons spelling our last name and that was it.<\/p>\n

\"Bouquet \"Windmill \"Windmill<\/p>\n

The Honeymoon<\/h3>\n

We decided that we were going to go on a short city break after the wedding, somewhere neither of us had been before so we went to Prague for 7 days. It was a perfect trip and just what we needed to unwind after the wedding. We are planning a more exotic honeymoon in 2019 to Japan but for now our city break was great.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Bridesmaid \"Bouquet<\/p>\n

Memorable Moments<\/h3>\n

The whole day was unbelievable, we really do wish we could do it all again as we had the most perfect day. Having all of our friends and family there with us was very special but we would both say our favourite part was actually when our photographer took us away for a couple of photos then left us to be by ourselves. At our venue they have a kind of hammock swing. We climbed into that and just lay there for a wee cuddle and took in the whole day. Taking a few selfies and just enjoying being alone for the first time all day. It was great because the barn wasn’t that far away so we still heard all our guests having a great time.<\/p>\n

\"Windmill \"Windmill \"Windmill \"Windmill \"Windmill \"Windmill \"Bride\"Windmill \"Windmill\"Kids \"Windmill<\/p>\n

Advice For Other Couples<\/h3>\n

You will no doubt hear lots of pointers and advice but our number one thing would have to be to make sure to take 5 mins alone. You will be overwhelmed with guests wanting photos as well as your professional photos being taken it can be a lot and taking just 5 mins to be with each other and take it all in is really special. Our photographer Neil could see we were struggling with it so took us away for a couple pics and then just left us for 5\/10 mins. It was perfect.<\/p>\n

\"Sparkler<\/p>\n

Credit Where Credit Is Due<\/h5>\n
\n
\n

Photography
\nPocket Square Photography<\/a><\/p>\n

Venue
\nWindmill Barn<\/a><\/p>\n

Videographer
\nWorldly Nomads Film<\/a><\/p>\n

Humanist
\nEvonne McLaughlin<\/a><\/p>\n

Cars
\nRennicks Wedding Cars<\/a><\/p>\n

Stationery
\nBottled Love Wedding Stationery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Kilts
\nKilts4U<\/a><\/p>\n

Dress
\nWed2B<\/a><\/p>\n

Flowers
\nNarcissus Wedding Flowers By Susan<\/a><\/p>\n

Makeup
\nLesley Neil Makeup Artist<\/p>\n

Hair
\nRachael Elizabeth Hairdressing<\/a><\/p>\n

Evening Entertainment
\nSaltire Beat<\/a><\/p>\n

Barbers
\nSafehands Barbers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Just beautiful.<\/p>\n

Hayley and David, thank you both so much for sharing your wonderful wedding story with us xo Lou<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WWW readers Hayley and David’s super chilled out barn wedding is sure to give you a warm, happy kind of feeling today. Their day radiates love, joy and warmth all round. They chose to marry on the 19th May 2018 at Windmill Barn near Edinburgh, with an outdoor ceremony in the Spring sunshine, followed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,48],"tags":[234,1814,863,5774,214,594,5063,4686],"class_list":["post-244848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-weddings","category-rustic-wedding","tag-barn-wedding","tag-edinburgh-wedding","tag-kilt-groom","tag-our-readers","tag-scotland-wedding","tag-spring-wedding-ideas","tag-wed2b-wedding-dress","tag-windmill-barn-wedding-venue"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":244885,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/whimsical-cdn.wedissimo.com\/2018\/11\/Pocket-Square-Photography-Windmill-Barn-Wedding-37-300x451.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}