Wild Flowers, Camping and Vintage Inspired Dress For A Laid Back Humanist Barn Wedding

Hey afternooners, we have something rather lovely to share with you this otherwise cold and dreary October day.  Something that should brighten things up a little, wherever you are.  Hannah and Paul's beautifully relaxed and rustic style country barn wedding took place on 29 June 2013 at Brick House Farm in Kent.

I really love Hannah's vintage inspired bridal gown, a beautiful find from Charlie Brear (who has now made two appearances on our blog today!) and I love this couple's relaxed and local-focus approach to their big day…

"Paul works in the music industry and lots of our dates have been at
gigs, and going to music festivals.  We wanted a day that our friends
could camp, relax and have fun over the weekend. We wanted a relaxed
atmosphere, in which our guests could relax into the ceremony, but not so
relaxed that the reason they are there is forgotten."

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Charli

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"Paul and I met in 2008, at a ‘Reclaim the beach party’.
We met on the beach outside Royal Festival Hall London.  I was drinking
a bottle of wine from the bottle and Paul’s chat up line was:  "Do you
want to walk down the beach so I can have a wee!"

Hehehe! No romance lost there !

"Paul proposed in 2012.  We were staying in a yurt which had a horse box as a bathroom, the view was of the forest and Paul proposed in the bath
with a bottle of Vintage champagne! We had been engaged for 13 months
when we finally got married."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"Our venue Brick House Farm in Kent
did everything we wanted – lots and lots of outdoor space, a beautiful
barn to hold our ceremony, a camp fire at the end of the night, local
produce – we could invite our guest to camp. Everything. They were
brilliant.

Brick House provided lots of decor and styling.  My sister made
extra bunting and my work colleagues brought Ivy and flowers from a
hedgerow and decorated part of the barn. We made our own vases too,
using lots of jam jars with gingham ribbon.
We pitched our large tent so camping guests could have a ‘dressing area’
we put a clothes rail inside and a full size mirror."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"We designed all our wedding stationery using Photoshop – Paul’s sister, Alice, drew the silhouette of the farm at the bottom of all the designs."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"We picked our own flowers on the Friday morning from Blooming Green Flowers
We decided that picking and arranging the flowers ourselves would be a lovely thing to do
with our family and friends the day before we got married – this was a
highlight of the weekend and really brought everyone together during the
wedding preparation.

My sister Jennie, mum and sister-in law Alice made
the button holes (they had a quick demonstration at Blooming Green Flowers
and watched a few You Tube clips!). Paul’s dad, made my bouquet!  And Jennie made the bridesmaid bouquet. We wanted lots of wild flowers on the day and were delighted with the results."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"My dad gave me away – we walked down the aisle to the sound of
Sigur Ros' ‘Festival’ – it’s a really long song, so we had the first
two minutes played out.

We had a humanist ceremony conducted by Pat Jay.  With Pat’s help we wrote our own vows so we had vows that were very personal to us."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"I got my dress from the Charlie Brear
in London.  I wanted a vintage style/type dress, and before I went
shopping I decided I wanted a skirt and top as my ‘dress’. When I went
into the shop I saw what would become ‘my dress’ on a manequin.  I liked
it instantly but as it was the first dress I saw I didn’t do anything
instead I tried a few others on in the shop, and then went back to the
one I first saw when I walked in. I tried it on and loved it!

As
it comprised a skirt and top and was original vintage it seemed
perfect. I loved the way the dress moved, the colour and the fact it
came in 3 parts, two tops and a skirt."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"My
sisters, Jennie and Rachel, were my bridesmaids
– they wore dresses from a pop up shop in Greenwich – I
can’t remember what the shop was called, but it doesn’t exist anymore.

The girls wore nude pink court shoes from NextThey also wore necklaces which were worn at my older sister’s Rachel wedding."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"Blueberry Hill
designed and made a beautiful fruit cake shaped as a Yurt with us standing outside the Yurt door with lots of farm yard animals
and our cat.  Paul proposed to me during a weekend away staying in a
Yurt so it seemed appropriate!  Blueberry hill also made a separate
chocolate cake."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"Our photographer was the wonderful Charli. Where do we start? Right from our first e mail contact with Charli
everything was made easy and stress-free. Charli answered all our
questions and made really helpful suggestions. Our pre wedding meeting
was in a convenient location and gave us another opportunity to run
through our questions and get to know her.

On the
actual day Charli's calming presence and gentle manner was noted by lots
of our guests. Charli. had clearly sussed out our venue and took
advantage of the best light, views and understood the atmosphere we were
aiming to achieve.

We now have a truly wonderful set of
wedding photos which we will treasure for life. Looking at our photos
brings back the emotion and fun we had on our way, we adore them all."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding


Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"Paul had his suit tailor made by Tweed Addict. He doesn’t usually wear suits and after trying on a couple he decided having one made would be the best option."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"My dad randomly bought a Rolls Royce a year before the wedding so we used that (He is a classic car fan)."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"We had three readings – all picked simply because they felt relevant
to us as a couple and for our future; 'Love' by Roy Croft, Marriage Joins
Two People in the Circle of Its Love, by Edmund O’Neill
and Love is Not To Possess, by James Kavanaugh."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"My engagement ring was designed by Paul and used a stone from Paul’s grandma’s engagement ring, plus the added expertise of Simon Wright.

We had plain wedding bands also made by Simon Wright."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"We had ‘Rave On’ by M Ward (a Buddy Holly cover) for our first
dance – we decided this was one of our songs when we were at 'End of the
Road Festival' watching M Ward, we were slightly worse for wear (!) and
liked the lyrics.

We had so much fun and energy in the evening – at the end of the night everyone was on the dance floor dancing to Jungle book followed by a Hoedown!"

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

"There were so many favourite moments, some of them include the ceremony –
it was totally amazing.  We had ‘Love Me Do’ by the Beatles  and Dusty
Springfield – ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ as our ceremony songs. My
cousin, Steve, learnt to play the harmonic and our friend Andy played the
guitar and Usher Ollie played the Tambourine during songs. Watching all
our guests join in and have a dance during the songs really felt
special.

Pauls sister played and sang Nick Drake’s ‘Northen Sky’ – that was incredible and the barn was so quiet as she sang.  And saying our vows was also so special and the easiest and most wonderful thing to do."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Plan your day to reflect you and
things you like as a couple.  None of our planning or organising felt
like a chore. keep it simple and have fun.  Accept help when its
offered! Plan your speech (Bride!).

On the evening of the wedding we stayed at Brick House Farm in a fishing shack overlooking a lake. The following morning we
joined our camping guests for bacon and egg butties and mugs of tea."

Charlie Brear, vintage inspired weding dress, country barn wedding, rustic wedding

This is lovely!  A completely relaxed and entirely fuss-free wedding day. I just can't picture Hannah being stressed about anything in relation to her wedding. Perhaps her standing as a Midwife helped on that occasion!  Either way, I really do love the way this lovely couple prioritised the aspects of their big day, putting the enjoyment of their friends and family first.  Lovely lovely stuff.

Huge thanks to photographer Charli for sharing these lovely photographs today.  Who else might be planning a rustic style barn wedding? You can see more weddings and events at Brick House Farm on Love My Dress here.

With much love,

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Charli
Humanist Celebrant/Officiant – Pat Jay
Venue – Brick House Farm in Kent
Wedding Dress – Charlie Brear
Brides Shoes – Rainbow collection
Grooms Suit – Tailor made by Tweed Addict
Bridesmaids – Unknown popup shop + shoes from Next
Flowers – Blooming Green Flowers
Cake – Blueberry Hill
Transport – Dad's Rolls Royce
Entertainment – The Watling Street Band
Favours – Seed packets
Rings – Simon Wright
Stationery – the bride and groom
Hair Stylist – Shaun Mcgrath

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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