Kate & Rich

Gorgeous bride Kate married Joe Jonas, opppps I mean Rich, at Stone Barn, one of our all time favourite wedding venues. Filling the barn to the rafters with gorgeous blooms, rustic details and lots of live music, their wedding day looks like a proper party from start to finish. Kate looks absolutely stunning in her floral crown and relaxed up do, I've never seen such a radiant bride! And Rich looks rather dapper in his braces and light blue suit combo too, even taking to the stage a la his doppelgänger Joe Jonas. Images come from the wonderful Harriet at Weddings Vintage. Make sure you soak up those couple portraits - THAT light!!! Swoon!

The Bride

Kate the Bride: Some girls have a very clear image in their head of what they want to look like on their wedding day. The only thing I knew for certain, I wanted flowers in my hair, a long train (can thank the sound of music for that one) and a veil. So I went dress shopping fairly open minded, and ready for the dress to find me. Being only 5ft3, I was steered towards smaller silhouettes and form fitting styles, I felt a bit self conscious as its not my personal style to wear fitted dresses but unsure if I could get away with a larger style. I found my dress at All About Eve in Chepstow. After trying on many beautiful dresses, but none quite right, I had one last look and then found my dress which I had originally overlooked. It had the lace bodice and lace trim and a super long train, it was perfect for me. My veil was cathedral length and plain as I felt it looked the best with the dress. And as plain as it was, it was probably my favourite thing to wear on the day. I wore a necklace I had from my mum and sisters for my 30th birthday, as I am never without it. And my mums original wedding ring that has been the 'something borrowed' to my sisters and I. My shoes were a glittery number from Dune, due to the size of my skirt they were seen very little and I later changed into my White cons to dance the night away! My make up was done by the fabulous Emily Tarrant, she is truly amazing at what she does and I felt a million bucks! My hair was by Sheena, she managed to create a soft updo with my masses of rather unruly hair. She was a super star and has the most contagious smile!

The Groom

Rich picked an unusual blue suit from Paul Smith, he's not one to shy away from something a little different. He teamed it with a light grey waistcoat (which we had to change the black buttons to brown, as it impossible to find grey waistcoats with brown buttons!) and a bow tie and pocket scarf from Mrs Bow Tie. His tan brogues were from Dune. Not to be out done, he bought leather braces from Etsy for his evening change!

The Venue

We wanted a venue that was relaxed rustic country, but with amazing food. Stone Barn blew us away. We loved the traditional barn with its cut outs in the old stones for candles, and its old creaky wooden doors. Then the open space with large glass windows and those fairy lights in the tunnel, which look so beautiful at night!

The Flowers

Beth our florist did such an amazing job with the barn. We choose British summer flowers that were in season, and all colours. We had three massive flower balls, two hung in the old barn and one in the reception area. They looked amazing, and everyone still comments on them now. We had the banister and pillars covered in foliage which helped bring the outside in. On the tables we had old wooden boxes filled with a mixture of flowers in all colours. My flower crown, was a mixture country flowers, gypsophila and a little foliage. I asked for a very natural but large bouquet, which looked like it had been picked from a beautiful country garden, my gorgeous bridesmaids had the same but slightly smaller. I bought a mixture of ribbons and sent them all to Beth and she worked her magic. I loved that even though it was a real mixture of colour it all blended together and felt natural in the barn and surroundings of rolling countryside.

The Decor

We went for a rustic décor, as felt it suited us and the barn best. I did a fair amount of DIY, my parents were superstars in scouting out and collecting all the brass candlesticks for the tables, which I paired with a mixture of pink and green candles. We had vinyls as table names, as music means a lot to us. We used crates (which we owned already) to form our table plan, and used tin cans and brown bottles with flowers to soften it up a little. We had a humongous wood cake stand, provided to us by my sister Gemma, along with the wood slices around the barn, which she bought all the way from Yorkshire. My lovely sister Rachelle helped make our signs, knocked up out of pallet wood. I made our favours, which were clay hearts stamped with our initials and tied with string. And made the place names out of natural paper and stamped names. I also made our aprons, as we thought it would be fun for the guests...they went down a treat and were popular for photos!

The Bridesmaids

My bridesmaids wore pale pink dresses from ASOS, they both loved the style and it looked beautiful on both. They chose their own hair styles and had fresh flowers placed in their hair. My lovely flower girl, my niece Eva, wore Monsoon and a flower crown to match my own. Our page boy, my nephew Charlie wore a blue suit short and waistcoat from H&M and pink bowtie to match the boys. The groomsmen, we asked to wear grey and provided them with bow tie and pocket square.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was our favourite part of the day, saying our vows to one another was the most special moment. I had been very relaxed all morning, as soon as the doors opened and I saw Rich I had to hold back the tears and take a deep breath. With all the wedding prep, the ceremony itself can sometimes be over looked. But actually saying our vows to one another, exchanging rings, becoming one and declaring it for everyone to hear is amazing. My dad walking me down the aisle was very precious too. We had 2 readings read by close friends. I Love You By Johnny Cash, which is a personal favourite, and I Will Be Here by Steven Curtis Chapman. Both resonated with us as a couple, and felt they were a good reflection of our love.

The Entertainment

After the ceremony we had canapés (bruschetta, cocktail sausages coated in honey & sesame with spicy ketchup dip, padron peppers and seared tuna with thai dressing), sangria and beers outside. We had a wonderful swing band called Swing From Paris, who play French Gypsy Jazz. They were true professionals and added an up beat relaxed atmosphere, and also helped to keep people in one place, which can be difficult in open spaces! Our evening band the fabulous Rocket Joe Joe & The Old Time Bangers. We had seen them a few times locally as the drummer is an old school friend, and they play good ol rock'n'roll to get everyone dancing. They were even lovely enough to play 'foxy lady' with Rich, as an amazing surprise. After we played our own play list of tunes we love.

The Food

Stone Barn blew us away with the food. We had Charcuterie Boards to start. Followed by BBQ triple thickness Sirlion steak bricks carved at the table by a selected guest, goose fat roasties with rosemary and garlic and green beans. For pudding our absolute favourite, Churros with the most delicious melted chocolate dipping sauce! Jason the chef is fantastic, food was so important to us and they didn't let us down. Our wedding cake was four tiered, a mix of coffee cake, vanilla victoria sponge and chocolate sponge with a buttercream coating. Hannah was lovely and professional, it looked gorgeous and tasted even better! My mum makes the best welsh cakes, so she made us some to put out with the cake.

The Photography

I must say I have been a dedicated follower of RMW for some time now, and this is how I found Harriet. I saw one of the weddings she shot and it was a no brainer. We both loved her style and the softness of her photographs. Very professional but personal, like having a friend around, She is the most lovely person to have around on the day. We are both camera shy but Harriet made us feel at ease and we couldn't be happier with our pictures. We will treasure them forever.

Advice

After being to a fair amount of weddings it easy to get swept up in what you 'should' or 'shouldn't' do, but do what reflects you as a couple. We raised a few eyebrows with some of our choices, but we are thankful we chose our own day. Things can go a bit awry, I was almost 30min late due to terrible traffic, one of our flower balls was dripping onto my mums chair (lucky we were running late lol!) and our first dance cut out 3 times before we had a full run though the song. We wouldn't change a thing, as it made the day 'our' day, may not be perfect on paper but perfect to us.