Jade & Matt

Tissues at the ready folks because this adorable wedding at Upwaltham Barns is most definitely a teary affair and will not only leave you swooning with delight but also feeling all fussy inside. The wonderful write up comes from groom Matt who speaks about his Youtube Vlogger bride Jade, their love story and wedding in the most heartfelt way. Keeping with the romantic theme is the gorgeous blush colour palette seen in the wedding flowers and bridesmaids gowns chosen because Jade's mum also had this colour scheme. Told you it was sentimental. Jade & Matt are not only absolutely gorgeous (especially in their Watters gown & Marks and Spencer suit!) but genuinely sweet too; a perfect match, with all the details and love captured beautifully by White Stag Wedding Photography.

Dress

Matt The Groom: Jade and I got engaged on the 8th October 2016 and got married on the 24th April 2017. This gave us less than 200 days to plan our wedding. On the day that we got engaged, I surprised Jade with a trip to view Upwaltham barns in Chichester, the second that we got there we fell in love and had to get married there. We had always wanted a barn wedding but Upwaltham Barns ticked every single box and more. We then spent each and every night on Pinterest and wedding websites searching for inspiration and ordering everything we needed. We had to move fast and made quick decision together and because we didn't have time to faff around it helped the day look and feel perfect. We did almost everything ourselves, from invites to creating the jam jars that hung on the beams in the reception barn. All we can say is “Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!”

Dress

Jades wedding dress was actually the first dress that she tried on! She knew that she wanted a dress by Watters and had her heart set on a particular style, so when she got to the shop, she chose to try a different dress on as a build up to what she thought was her dream dress. The second she tried it on she fell in love! Jade tried on 2 more dresses, one of which was her dream dress but neither of them blew her away like the first. The dress that Jade chose was a flowy, princess ivory gown with a sweetheart neckline, it had additional light floral detail throughout that gave a very girly, yet elegant and romantic feel. When I turned to look at Jade walking down the aisle in her Warren Dress by Watters with a veil hand made bespoke for her by her seamstress I knew that there wasn't a luckier man in the world than me.

The Groom

I always knew that I wanted a traditional 3 piece suit with a vintage but timeless style. I also knew that I wanted to buy it so I always had the memory to hand whenever I stepped inside my wardrobe. Jade found the perfect suit in Marks and Spencer, we coupled it with a crisp white shirt also from M&S and tanned brogues from Next. My tie was bought online and my watch was a birthday present from Jade with the very fitting engraving “Love you always, Jade x”. The groomsmen wore matching suits, ties, socks and shoes.

The Venue

Along with the dress, Upwaltham Barns were the first venue we saw. In fact the day that we saw it we booked a date there and then. The whole feeling of the place was exactly what we wanted, a family run business that made you feel like an extended part of the family, a place that was just for you and your party as well as the actual buildings looking like they came out of a Disney story. Our ceremony was in one barn and the reception in another with a Stable Barn and a beautiful courtyard in between.

Colour Scheme and Décor

The colour scheme for the bridal parties was peach, Jade chose this as her mum had this colour for her wedding and she wanted to start a family tradition. Both bridesmaids wore peach lace and tulle floor length dresses from Chi Chi with simple bows added to the waistline. The gentlemen had ties that matched the colours of the dresses exactly along with the same vintage suit as the groom. Each of the groomsmen as well as the groom had matching tie pins with their initials engraved. For our décor we took inspiration from the barns themselves, as they were such a beautiful venue we added our personal touches throughout to make the day our own. The chalkboards were handmade by Jades cousin of LA Kemsley Fine Art, we found the font and design that we wanted and she created something that was better than we could imagine. The afternoon before the wedding, we were able to get into the venue and decorate, so along with Jades family we hung hessian bunting, decorated the stable barn with photos of us through the times and hung jam jars with flowers in them off of the beams above the top table. We wanted a rustic, whimsical theme with rural textures throughout.

Ceremony

The ceremony felt extremely intimate and there wasn't a dry eye from start to finish. We wrote our own vows together and practiced them at home weeks before. We had one reading that was read by Jades father which was a short story from Winnie The Pooh by AA Milne, it tells the feeling of our relationship in just a few sentences and made me cry when I first read it on the commute to work! We were originally nervous about being loud enough for the people at the back of the barn to hear but when we turned to face each other we sank into our own bubble and all I could see was Jade. It was the most incredible feeling to promise the love of my life that I will always be by her side and to share our love in front of all of the people that matter in our lives. The reading that we chose

WINNIE THE POOH By AA MILNE     If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you. Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” He whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” “We’ll be Friends Forever, wont we, Pooh?” asked Piglet. “Even longer”, Pooh answered. If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart... I’ll always be with you.

Entertainment

During the ceremony and afterwards in the courtyard we had a string duo play called The Chapel Hill Duo. They won our hearts during a wedding fair just 3 weeks before the wedding when they played the Jurassic park theme tune followed by Harry Potter. Our evening entertainment was a DJ called Tom Hayward of Ringmer, he provided all lights, and set up without us even noticing he was there. Nothing was too much for both companies, they were on the ball and made us feel extremely relaxed at how professional they were.

Food

We knew from the start that we wanted a naked cake from the Angel Food Bakery in Brighton. Whenever we pass there we have to stop at their window and most of the time end up inside! A naked cake went perfectly with the country feeling of our wedding, we had fresh strawberries, raspberrys and other fruit around each of the 3 tiers and bunting that we bought from Hobbycraft as a topper. After it was dusted with icing sugar it looked better than we could imagine! Our main meal and extra hot food was provided by Nibble2Nosh who are the caterers at Upwaltham Barns. We chose sausage and mash for our main meal because we wanted something that we knew everybody would love and it is one of our favourite comfort meals.

Videographer

Our videographers on the day were Natalie and Elliott at Blush Wedding Videos. Not only did they create the most incredible videos but we couldn't have have enjoyed our day as much without them. Natalie would often help Jade with her dress and hair throughout the day and offered advice and help while the girls were getting ready. Most of the time we didn't even know that they were filming and Elliot was practically invisible which is a huge testament to his skill. They captured the romantic and whimsical feeling of our day and we knew when we met Natalie that they really cared about creating something special and bespoke for us. Jade is a YouTuber and they kindly created a separate 3 minute video for us to share with her viewers which is here . When we received the fully edited versions, I started to cry within seconds and continued the whole way through!

Photographers

Our photographers on the day were Catherine and Andy of White Stag Weddings who were absolutely invaluable. Not just as photographers but as wedding experts! Andy helped all of the grooms party put their button holes in their jackets along with helpful words of wisdom and Catherine was an absolute saint, she kept Jade calm, helped to do her dress up and was like the best bridesmaid you could ever have and at the same time she took the most incredible photos. Catherine and Andy feel like people that you have known for years and they both put us completely at ease throughout the whole day and we couldn't recommend them enough.

Extra: Advice

If you are decorating your venue yourself, be prepared to spend A LOT of time in Hobbycraft! They have the best selection of wedding decorations and usually at the best price, we found ourselves going into our local store every weekend from engagement to wedding as well as buying from them online. Write a detailed itinerary and timeline of what all of your wedding party is doing on the day so that everybody knows their jobs and don’t need to ask you questions on your big day. Just enjoy your day and try not to stress, this is a happy occasion and though you want everything to go right, just laugh it off if anything does go wrong. Remember, people are at your wedding because they love you and want to celebrate you and the love of your life; they are not their to judge you on your centre pieces.

DIY

The barns were already such a beautiful place to start with but we had freedom to make it how we wanted our day to be. We were able to get into the barns the afternoon before and hung bunting, arranged all of the snacks, light box etc and hung the jam jars with flowers in. All chalk boards were created by the brides cousin Lesley Kemsley of LA Kemsley Fine Art.