Stacey & Carl

Stacey & Carl's wedding day is a family, foliage and festoon filled day of fun. The couple simply gathered their nearest and dearest, chose a venue they could truly make their own and threw one hell of party. Sounds easy right?! Behind the scenes, the whole family got involved in shaping their special day, and it's clear that bride Stacey has a fabulous eye for detail. They've made the already gorgeous Fishley Hall look even more magical, which is no mean feat. Images come from Luis Holden, whose relaxed style is perfectly in keeping with Stacey and Carl's big day. As well as the all important couple shots, he has captured some gorgeous images of guests just hanging out having fun, which is exactly how you want your wedding day to be remembered...

The Bride

Stacey The Bride: Finding a wedding dress was stressful, I knew what I didn’t want but had no idea what I wanted. After several trips to wedding dress shops I was still struggling. I decided to visit a bridal shop in a small village near to me which had a Riki Dilal trunk show, and found the perfect dress. A classic long-sleeved lace, with a tulle skirt sheer enough to see the nude lace skirt underneath. It was classic, simple with a modern twist and most of all very comfortable! Shoes I knew would be easy I saw the perfect pair by Valentino a white flat T-bar with studs but the price range was out of my budget, luckily for me Dune had a very similar pair which were purchased before my dress. For my accessories, I wanted to keep jewellery very simple with some rose gold Pandora stud earrings and a simple gold necklace. My headpiece I knew I wanted something that was again simple with a little difference I fell in love with a headband from Naturae Design the Ella headband in gold, with intricate gold leaves that almost looked like a crown without being overwhelming.

The Groom

Carl had his own idea about what he wanted to wear, but once he had tried his vision on it really didn’t suit him. We decided to go for a black with two dads, two best men, three ushers and three-page boys we really had to find a style that suited everyone. Carl decided on a black classic suit jacket and trouser with a white shirt and burgundy bow tie from Next.

The Venue

After spending months of trying to find the perfect venue we had nearly given up. Both of us had large families and we really wanted something that meant we didn’t have to worry about our guest list. After pages and pages on google searching for a field to rent we stumbled across Fishley Hall a working farm with an old grain barn for dry hire. We took a drive over to visit the old grain barn. We knew instantly we had found our venue. A rustic old grain barn that kept much of it features, with gorgeous views, corn fields, courtyards and wonderful owners that allowed us to pretty much use and decorate the barn to how we desired. Not only this a 2-minute walk from Fishley Hall had the quaintest little church Fishley St Mary that meant we could get married in a church whilst keeping the ceremony and reception all in the same place. One of the nicest parts of the day was us both walking from the church to the reception on our own taking it all in. Candice and Phil the venue owners were also in the process of renovating the farm house which was hired alongside the barn for us to use over the wedding weekend. The house was amazing with an 18-foot dining table, a games room in the brick cellar, TV’s in the showers, copper roll top baths and amazing décor.

The Décor

To start with this was daunting. The barn was dry hire so it meant hiring or buying everything from tables & chairs to plates and glasses. We knew that we didn’t want to have a colour scheme that dictated what we could and couldn’t have but equally we wanted to keep colours very soft and neutral so that the rustic barn was not overpowered. A palette of white, creams, light grey and light pink with some gold and copper and lots of green foliage was what we eventually decided. We really wanted our décor to be relaxed and chilled, and many of our props hired form Penny at The Little Lending Company fitted in perfectly with the venue and our vision. We had many children come to the day well 40 in fact! So, it was important for us for both parents and children to be happy we achieved this by having a little tipi filled with bits and bobs to do inside as well a big white bouncy castle which both children and adults enjoyed. Our whole wedding was very family focused with us both being very close to our family and friends we wanted them to enjoy the day as much as we did. I wanted to make use of my loved for knitting/crochet and decided to hand crochet all the white table runners which took forever but looked amazing against the wooden trestle tables. With two long runs of wooden tables each side of the barn we always knew how we would name our tables. Each table was named after family members that were unable to make our day, as well as family members that were unfortunately no longer with us to share our special day. Photos were placed in gold glass frames with the names of each person upon for everyone to see. It meant that the people we wished were there to celebrate with us were part of our day. Our tables were full of candles with many different sized bronze candle sticks and glass cylinders which filled the barn with a fabulous glow. We continued the candles around the barn and along the ledges each side of the barn. As well as candles, we lit our barn indoors with festoons which were fitted by The Festooners and had a canopy and runs of festoons outside the barn which looked amazing at night. We were so lucky that Carl’s dad is super talented. He made us personalised coat hangers, donut stands, table names, cut all Perspex for our signs and made our table plan boards which I knew that I wanted copper with Perspex but no idea how to achieve this. well he done it! We wanted to keep the barns rustic feel while adding our own touches we continued my love of crochet with crochet and knitted blankets that were laid across hay bales, as well a bohemian relaxed area with traditional Persian rugs and peacock chairs.

The Flowers

Flowers were easy to be honest. I had stalked Michelle and Megan at Swaffham and Fakenham Florist Instagram page for months. Their flowers seemed so relaxed and natural which completely fitted our idea for our whole day. I met Michelle for a meeting and again didn’t really know what I wanted other than foliage garland runners down the tables and a loose natural oversized bouquet white and creams with foliage. I pretty much left it in their hands to work their creative magic. They worked alongside Penny at The Little Lending Company who provided many props and completely transformed our tables. My bouquet was incredible it was filled with foliage and flowers that smelled divine as well as pampas grass. The girls also decorated our table plan and welcome board with foliage, as well as decorating a macramé hanging.

The Wedding Party

I really wanted my bridesmaids to feel comfortable and wear something that they would like to wear not what I made them wear. So, they were given the brief of a nude or light pink in colour and they all picked their own. My flower girls on the other hand were not that easy with two pre-teen girls their idea of flower girl dresses was not exactly wedding friendly. We spent a day shopping and the youngest decided on a traditional white dress from Monsoon. Whilst the eldest picked a crop Bardot lace top from coast with a full length nude skirt from Monsoon. Ushers were all kitted out the same as Carl apart from ditching the jackets for waistcoats. Our little page boy was adamant at three he wanted to wear shorts so he wore black shorts and braces with a white shirt and burgundy bow tie.

The Ceremony

We married in the tiny little church up the lane from Fishley Hall. A church which had a real community feel although small we managed to fit 120 people inside. We incorporated our children within our ceremony, with the girls reading a poem called a good wedding cake, and our eldest son bringing the rings. The little one wasn’t trusted with a job being a crazy three-year-old but made sure later in the day he was centre stage grabbing the microphone mid speech singing ba ba black sheep to everyone.

The Entertainment

We kept everything simple without much entertainment allowing everyone to enjoy surroundings of Fishley Hall. Kids were kept entertained with outside games and a white bouncy castle. We also had a temporary tattoo bar with a drawing of ourselves and the date which were a big hit with both kids and adults, by the end of the wedding meal many arms and foreheads were tattooed. As we led into the evening our band Georgia Falls who we have spent many nights out seeing got everyone on the dance floor!

The Food

Food was another easy one for us we had hired a fish and chip van Smallfry a few years before for our sons christening and it was a dead cert we would have them for the wedding for our main meal. The best fish & chips with mushy peas or curry sauce what more could you want. We decided against starters and decided to have canapes instead while guests were milling around whilst our photos were being taken, Billy at Purple Plum Catering made all our canapes and not only that she staffed our food and pretty much managed the running of our catering, which was amazing as it was one thing I was super worried about all flowing continually with no wedding coordinator. We finished dessert hundreds of Krispy Kreme donuts which all went within the hour and a traditional ice cream van outside in one of the courtyard serving Mr Whippy’s and old school classics like zaps. Our cake was made by one of my closest friends my bridesmaid Jackie who bless her spent the whole day before the wedding using a whopping 40 eggs to make our 3-tier cake. We hired a company to provide an outside bar which was a converted horse box called The Nags Head who served drinks on the lawn outside whilst they also supplied beverages inside. Arrival drinks were laid out on drinks station on large trestle tables in tin baths for guests to help themselves.

The Photography

After looking at many photographers work we found Luis. His work was so relaxed and caught the moments rather than posed photographers. We set up a skype call to have a chat with him and knew that we wanted him to be our photographer he was so chilled, laid back as well as super professional and clued up which took the stress of us to have to worry what shots to take. He caught our day perfectly with amazing vision of using Fishley Hall and its surroundings, as well as capturing each part of our days and our guest’s personalities in one shot. I will forever be grateful not for only capturing our wedding photos but I sadly lost my Granddad 3 weeks later and some of the photos he captured of him with myself and family were some of the last photos taken which will be forever cherished.

The Transport

Transport was sorted from the get go running a local taxi company with my father it was was the obvious choice to use our taxis since they are all new vehicles it meant we still got to travel in style.