Elizabeth & William

What can be more special than having your wedding in the same place as your proposal? And that place just so happened to be a fabulous rustic barn on the Brides parents farm, making it an EXTRA special location to say I do. Family and friends all chipped in to transform the industrial shed into a rustic haven, using hay bales, fairy lights and an abundance of gorgeous yellow blooms in milk bottles and milk churns, plus there was an actual tree to display 'the family tree' portraits. There are so many more cheeky nods to the farm theme including cow cake toppers, cufflinks and of course a tractor but I can not leave without mentioning how utterly stunning Bride Elizabeth is, her flowing natural locks and gorgeous billowing Naomi Neoh gown, all captured perfectly by Michelle Wood Photographer have me green with envy.

The Dress

Elizabeth The Bride: I had no idea what style dress I wanted and had expectations of visiting many wedding dress shops. However when my Mum and I visited this little boutique on a cold winters morning I could never had imagined how lucky I was to find the one. I tried on six dresses in total, and fell in love with this beautiful Naomi Neoh gown, completed with a beautiful delicate lace jacket.  The dress was completely out of my budget, and I couldn't believe my luck when my Mum snuck off and brought it for me. The dress itself was so comfy and floaty, it truly suited our country theme that we wanted.

Shoes

I always imagined wearing flip flops, and hadn't put much thought into wedding footwear. And then found this gorgeous little shoe shop in my local town that dyes shoes to match any colour you want, and so I had these beautiful little satin shoes dyed to a lemon yellow shade to match my bridesmaid dresses. Alas I ended up in my faithful flip flops by the end of the night, comfort over style won the battle of footwear choice.

Flowers

It was always my dream to use natural hedge row flowers, and when a incredibly talented friend of ours Oonagh O'neill offered to do our wedding flowers for us, I knew I could trust her with my vision. How utterly lucky we were, it was like waking into a fairy tale, she went above and beyond and it truly was magical. We also had a very good friend of ours with amazing vision decorate the barn with plants and hanging baskets, we were so lucky to have friends with such talents.

Venue

I always wanted to get married on the family farm, and when we thought about what we would use for a venue we always thought we would hire a marquee. Until after a long day of lambing the ewes in the sheep shed we both said to each other, “Shall we use this barn?” It was far from the vision of a beautiful wooden beam barn… picture a huge, industrial shed with metal sides. However it was were Will proposed to me, and it would then always be a special place for us.

Decor

Turning the barn into a wedding venue was a huge family affair, we were so lucky with the help that we had bringing it all together. The week before the wedding we had Wills Mum and Dad help us to drape a hessian and fairly light ceiling. We stacked straw bales around the side to make the shed more of a managed size. We towed a trailer into the barn as a stage for the band, and brought some old potato boxes to use as the bar. Will also has a posh toilet company called Royle flush so we were really lucky with the toilet facilities. We also really wanted to have memory of past loved ones with us on our special day so we bought a huge tree from a local nursery and turned it into a family tree completed with photo frames of our parents’ wedding day photos and our grandparents’, it meant so much to us to have our grandparents with us on our special day, and it was a way to celebrate the two families coming together.

Cake

We made the cake ourselves, it was three Victoria sponges stacked on top of one another completed with summer berries, a dusting of icing sugar and two toy cows dressed up as a bride and groom.

Food and Drink

We were really keen to do our own catering as being farmers we wanted to use our own produce. We have a farm shop and tea room on the farm, so when our chef Richard agreed to provide the most amazing buffet for our guests we could never have imagined the spread he put together, there were cup cakes galore, a cheese wedding cake and my Mum very kindly got us a pork pie wedding cake.

Groomsmen Fashion

We found it really hard to find a yellow tie to match the bridesmaid dresses, and probably ended up with about 30 shades of yellow ties. In the end we couldn't believe our luck when the week before the wedding I found the most amazing colour match in Next.

Bridesmaid and Mother of the Bride Fashion

Finding yellow dresses proved to be a hard challenge, and a few times I thought about changing my colour theme so I could find my sisters pretty bridesmaid dresses. Nevertheless I found some beautiful yellow dresses in Coast. We also managed to find my Mum the most beautiful dress at St Pancras train station it was perfect for the day it was yellow white and grey with the most delicate yellow flower detailing, it matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly and my Mum looked absolutely stunning. I was so proud of how beautiful they all looked.

Entertainment

The band ‘Cover Your Tracks’ was a recommendation, and they were outstanding. They learnt our first dance song which was Coldplay Magic, which they played incredibly. They then kept the dance floor going till the early hours. We also had a DJ called Ronnie Tannis who was a true entertainer, and played some amazing classics to keep the dance floor full with all ages.

Transport

With Will being a farmer he always wanted lots of tractor involvement on the day, so when he organised a tractor and trailer ride to and from the church we thought it would be a brilliant compliment to our day. We also used Will’s vintage Land Rover which was a nice excuse to clean it up and take it out for the day. My Dad took me to the church in a Land Rover defender and we drove around the village block several times before we got to the church. It was such a nice opportunity to spend time with my Dad before he walked me down the aisle, he is such a kind and calm man, and knew the right things to say to prepare me before going into the church.

Photographer

Michelle Wood was our wedding photographer she was outstanding, she managed to catch some incredible moments without being intrusive, and organize the most amazing group shots. She was truly very talented. We wanted someone who matched our relaxed and natural style. We both loved her rustic yet modern style, and we cannot thank her enough for what she provided, complete with some incredible sunset shots.

Videographer

Our wedding videographer Neda Lahrodi was also wonderful. She hadn't done a wedding video before and what she produced was utterly exceptional. We both initially didn't think about having a wedding videographer but now we are incredibly grateful, we just love what she produced. We were so lucky with both our wedding photographer and videographer they were both like good friends who were so friendly, comforting and approachable, it was a pleasure to have them with us on the day, and we were blessed to have found such lovely talented ladies.

Planning

Planning the wedding was so much fun, some of the best parts were the special moments with family and friends getting ready for the big day, it really brought together the love of one another and was a wonderful warm feeling having everyone around you help to bring together your visions to make it what it was. We are both so thankful to everyone involved in the big day it's overwhelming to have everyone that you love and care about most all around you.