Chloe & Joe

How gorgeous is Chloe's bouquet?! I love the mix of striking white anemones and coral roses, it's just so wild and whimsical. I'm having a moment over her Temperley gown too, long sleeved lace gets me every time and I love the cheeky open back detail on this one particularly. Plus Chloe just looks so happy and comfortable in her dress which is exactly how your wedding dress should make you feel - as well as beautiful of course! Chloe and Joe married at Cogges Barn, which has a really rustic vibe, but the couple have glammed it up a little with touches of gold here and there - the sparkling wall hanging is such a pretty back drop to their ceremony. Then metres of twinkling festoon lights add to the party atmosphere!

The Dress

Chloe The Bride: I did a lot of research online - I knew I wanted lace and sleeves, something light, easy to dance and have fun in with an interesting back, I struggled to find one that I could go and try on that was affordable; all of my favourites you had to order online and hope for the best which I was unsure about. My best friend then showed me a few dresses she had found on the Temperley London site, she got one of their bridal gowns for her wedding but these dresses were from one of her other regular collections but they were perfect, I found one that was everything I wanted, I went to try it on at their studio and it was AMAZING. I hadn’t tried any others but knew that this was perfect, so why bother? Plus it was in the sale, so it was a bargain at £325! I don’t tend to wear much jewellery but love Alex Monroe, my mum surprised me in the run up to the wedding with some beautiful rope bow earrings (my nickname is Bow!). They were the perfect accessory. I also wore her links bracelet as my something borrowed which I actually gave her for her graduation! My best friend got me my something blue in the form of a Rob Ryan handkerchief that he had designed for Two Birds. I splashed out on underwear from Rigby and Peller but got my L K Bennett sparkly shoes for the bargain price of £50 in the sale, double reduced in price!

The Groom

Joe decided to just buy a great suit that he could wear again; he chose a blue number from Reiss which suited him perfectly. He loves tie clips so I bought him one from Agnes B for his birthday which was just 9 days before the wedding. He also bought himself some Arsenal cufflinks as he has been a massive supporter since he was a kid along with red socks!

The Venue

We originally started looking around Surrey/London as this is where we live and grew up but couldn’t quite find the right thing. We wanted a relaxed venue where we could use all of our own suppliers. I stumbled across Cogges online whilst searching and when we went to see it we knew it was the perfect place, big red barn doors and doves on the roof! It was great as it was a blank canvass for us to do whatever we wanted to. We actually hired hay bales from them for seats during the ceremony and the guy, James, who runs the café at the farm, ran a bar in the evening. Everything else we found suppliers for or made ourselves.

The Colour Décor

We didn’t have an overall colour scheme, just natural, whites and light brown elements and then the colour from the flowers which were all corals, pinks, peaches and fresh green. We wanted lots of light which I worried about in the run up to the wedding so we hired festoon lights and uplighters fairly last minute and Joe ordered lots of real wax led candles which we had in the alcoves in the walls.

The Flowers

I really love spring flowers and I wanted these to stand out and be the main decoration for the tables. I decided on clusters of 2 jars and a bottle as I often find big centrepieces take up a lot of room. What was so great about our florist is that she grows all of her flowers on a flower farm so they are all seasonal and you get to go and choose the ones you want her to pick the week before the wedding. She arranged the most stunning bouquet with a trailing ribbon for me and lovely smaller posies for the bridesmaids along with a gorgeous fan vase arrangement which we had on the ceremony table and then moved to the head table to get the most use from it. She has such a passion for her flowers which she grows and really knows how to show them off! We hired a big milk churn from her and arranged this along with all the flowers on the tables, which was so much fun to do the day before with my family. It was nice to be able to arrange some flowers but without the stress of doing the bouquet and buttonholes too!

The Wedding Party

My bridesmaids both decided they look great in peach and we made a shared pinterest board which we all pinned to and commented on for various ones we had found online. We decided on one which incorporated lace and was nice and floaty which looked great on them both! In the end my best friend couldn’t wear hers as she ended up being pregnant and we realised the week of the wedding there was no way to alter it easily or to squeeze her in to it, she found a similar style one in a light pink through Asos maternity and it looked great. With the groomsmen we had them wear their own favourite suits, Joe then ordered some light blue slim linen ties from Asos for him, his groomsmen and my little brother to tie them all in.

The Ceremony

My little sister read a version of the Apache Blessing and Joe’s mum read These I Can Promise by Mark Twain which were both lovely. My eldest sister read Fidelity by D H Laurence, she did this last and I think all her emotion from the ceremony had built up and she shed a tear or two which made it even more special, it was such a lovely reading and it was so nice to be able to have them all stand up and be part of the ceremony. The speeches at dinner were also AMAZING, my Dad’s was very sweet, the best man’s had everyone laughing and going on about how good it was and Joe’s was hilarious and sweet at the same time. Our good friend Simon who was our Master of Ceremonies actually recorded them and gave them to me on my birthday, it was so good to watch them back and relive the day.

The Entertainment

Myself and Joe originally met through music, when he used to work at our local record shop, so he had a lot to say when it came down to what to play on the big night. He created a pre-mixed playlist on the iphone app WeddingDJ, which was honestly the best thing ever and was perfect for the night, from the first dance until the last song the dancefloor was packed and everyone was so excited when each new track came on; it was great as we both love a good dance!

The Food

I knew that I wanted street food from the beginning; it is a big love of mine and fitted in with our relaxed vision of the day. We went to a street feast and in one night sampled food from about 6 different vendors and picked the one which we thought would be best for the day, The Bowler! They made us incredible canapes and a choice of three different meatball boxes for the main, all served from a converted ice cream van covered in grass! They were a HUGE hit. I decided that dessert plus cake was too much food and we wanted people up and dancing. I wanted to do something a bit more exciting that combined them both. I love doughnuts, especially Crosstown so decided to stack these up in crates. I had them delivered to our friend’s house in North London on the day and they drove them to the venue, apparently the smell of fresh doughnuts was torture! From the moment everyone first saw them they were so excited and we did a biting of the doughnut rather than a cutting of the cake, much more fun. I then announced everyone could come and get one and they all raced out of their chairs! We also booked the Travelling Gin Company to serve post ceremony cocktails from their bicycle bar which were so delish, they came up with a special cocktail for the day made up of our favourite flavours and served this along with G&T’s and Tom Collins’. Joe also put together a selection of his favourite pale ales which you could choose from too.

The Photographer

Joanna Bongard was actually recommended to me by a friend; I checked out her website and fell in love with her style. It was so fun and relaxed but with stunning photos! Also I clearly seem to like people called Jo, my best friend is called Jo, my husband is called Joe and when I was younger my nickname was Chlo-jo! She was so great on the day as she was like having another friend around (I had her help my bridesmaids get me in to my dress which we were struggling to get over my head!!) My best friends parents actually paid for the photography and we were so happy when we saw the photos for the first time, we also got a cheeky few polaroids from her too and they all turned out so great.

Advice

I had a lot of ideas and had been pinning on a secret wedding board for a long time. When it came down to it my Mum was very good at making sure I was very realistic and created a style. We decided on a few small DIYs and one big one that we could do together, this was the ceremony backdrop and even now it blows me away as it looks just so darn cool. Me, my little sister Ellie and my Mum spent a very long time drawing out circles on gold and glitter card and cutting out which my Mum then sewed in long strips. I ordered a fairy light curtain and my Dad hunted for the best branch he could find for us to hang them from. On the day before the wedding he spent hours along with a few helpers hanging it up from the beam in the barn and making sure it looked just as we had envisioned. Me and Joe also wanted to do something fun for the name places, we wanted to tie them in to the fact that we were getting married on a farm and spent weeks tracking down affordable plastic animals on eBay and in charity shops and a few from the loft at our parents! Then my Dad and I (mainly my Dad) spray painted them all white. My best friend wrote everyone’s names out on mini tags which were then tied round the animals’ necks. These went down very well at the wedding with all of the guests! I ordered a load of calico and hessian and my mum very kindly sewed all of the haybale covers and cut the hessian table runners. My sister Nicky made my seating area outside come to fruition by lending us crates from her work and making some scatter cushions. And my sister George, who is an illustrator/artist for a living, did our invites and order of the day alongside her boyfriend Sim who is a designer, with wording by Joe! My advice would be to not take on too much DIY if you don’t have the time, simple is best but also everyone is dying to help so allow yourself to delegate which I found difficult to do at first! Also everyone is so keen to be involved and be part of the day so let them help, it really creates a truly unique and personal day.