A Cosy Winter Barn Wedding for a 1920’s Inspired Bride in Eliza Jane Howell

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Oh boy, have I got a treat in store for you lovely readers today! Meet Zoey, a digital graphic designer and blogger – see her Zoey Olivia blog here – and Joe, who is a software engineer. They tied the knot on the 6th of November 2016 at South Farm in Royston, Hertfordshire.

Zoey had her heart set on a barn venue and a location with a lot of character and charm, so the farm suited them to a tee – and adding lots of 1920’s touches gave their big day the most glamorous feel. We adore the muted wintery tones throughout this wedding, the whole day oozes that kind of effortless winter wedding glamour we adore on this wedding blog.

“The venue really suited us as a couple as it has that cosy barn/farm feel. It also has really cool features like the vintage caravans that guests were allowed to stay in, as well as beautifully decorated barns, and farm animals outside – the piglets definitely won me over! I loved the idea of having a 1920’s themed wedding, so my dress, my shoes, my accessories, my hair and the bridesmaid dresses all had 1920’s touches. Styling our big day was one of my favourite parts of the wedding.”

Photography by Cat Lane Photography

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Zoey’s drop-dead gorgeous and glamorous gown paying tribute to the fabulous 1920’s era was the ‘Clarissa’ style by Eliza Jane Howell – you can read more about the designer via the Little Book for Brides directory listing. The beautiful bride purchased her dress and veil from Morgan Davies Bridal.“Oh my gosh, choosing a dress was so difficult. I must have tried over fifty on! I went to almost every bridal shop in Hertfordshire, ha! But I knew this was the ‘one’. I loved how beautifully intricate it was and it fitted like a dream. It also had that 1920’s feel to it which was a must for me. I also wanted something that wasn’t too ‘OTT’ and that I could walk around the barn/farm easily, so a small train and light-weight fitted gown was a must.”

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The maids donned glitzy grey Lace & Beads floor-length gowns, paired with ASOS shoes, earrings from Accessorize and stunning shawls via ASOS to keep any chills at bay. How fabulous do they look? I love how they complement the bride’s stunning roaring 20’s look so beautifully.

Are you currently researching perfect lipstick shades and foundation colours for your big day with the plan to do your own make-up? Creative Zoey did her own – for all her tips see her blog post here – whilst she had help with her stylish do, as did all of the ladies.

“Denise from D&D Hair & Make-up was incredible. She managed to do my hair, my mum’s, my nan’s and my five bridesmaids’!”

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Joe was equally stylish in a Hugo Boss suit, tie and braces from NextTed Baker shoes, and shirt and cufflinks from T.M.Lewin. His groomsmen sported suits from TK Maxx, braces via Next, a T.M.Lewin shirt, and funky bowties via Hawes & Curtis. What a handsome bunch!

“I would highly recommend Cat Lane Photography. Cat and Graham were complete professionals, so lovely to work with and made us feel at ease on the day. Their photographs are stunning. We’re still in awe of all the beautiful moments captured.”

“I opted for a wild bouquet with burgundy, soft pinks, white and lots of foliage. I thought these colours were gorgeous for the winter season and worked beautifully in contrast to the grey bridesmaid dresses and blue groom suits. Julie Cambridge did such an incredible job!”

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“Joe and I met through friends back in 2009, which is crazy as it was so long ago now. We’ve been best friends ever since. The engagement was really sweet. He booked a holiday for us in Turkey which was over my birthday – and I had no inkling that he was going to propose then!”

“He treated me like an absolute princess – we had turkish baths, massages and the most incredible three course meal with rose petals and candles everywhere. After dinner we walked along the pier, he read a little speech and he asked me to marry him. It was all very romantic and sweet. We were engaged just over a year before our big day.”

A wee Tuk-Tuk was supplied by the venue for the couple to trek around the farm. Zoey was accompanied by her father for the aisle walk to the Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of Foo Fighters ‘Everlong’. They chose not to tailor their vows, as the day was special enough already and spent a lot of time going through readings; wanting them to be quite light-hearted and not too mushy.

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“When we came across ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton, we thought it was a nice way to sum up meeting each other, learning about each others habits and loving one another. We felt like it summarised our relationship perfectly. Our other reading, ‘Time Travelers’ by Terah Cox, was also special to us and tied in nicely with the ‘travel’ theme.” 

David Lawes designed my engagement ring and my wedding ring. He is a friend of a friend who works in Hatton Garden, London. It made the process really special and personal to us. Joe got his ring from Beaverbrooks because we’d already blown our budget by that point.”

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With Zoey and Joe both being big lovers of travel, they loved the idea of having a ‘world/travel’ theme for the seating plan, where each table had a location of where they have visited in the world – their main table was ‘Antalya’ which was where the couple got engaged. So much work went into the stationery – and how sweet are the little airplanes?

I created all of the stationery – the invitations, table plan, table names, wedding plan, chalk stickers and so forth. The airplanes (name cards) were designed by my lovely maid of honour, Nicol and were also the wedding favours. A lot of love went into them.”

“The decor included Kilner jars, floating candles, ‘just married’ hessian bunting, photographs of us on twine, frames, quotes, log slices, and a travel map. The props in the jars were also hand-cut and put together by myself, my bridesmaids and Joe.”

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Warning: you may get an immediate cake craving when you view these four tiers of heaven; the couple’s naked wedding cake, made by a talented member of the family, Claire Davis.

“Claire makes cakes in her spare time and I cannot rate her baking skills enough. Every tier tasted AMAZING! I’ve always dreamed of having a naked cake, but instead of having a traditional Victoria sponge on every layer, we wanted to mix it up and have interesting flavours throughout.”

The top tier was lavender and honey sponge cake with lavender and honey buttercream, the second tier Victoria Sponge with vanilla buttercream and homemade jam, the third tier was chocolate cake with an oreo buttercream, whilst the bottom was pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese buttercream. Claire also complimented the cake with a selection of earl grey cupcakes; mine and Joe’s favourite tea!”

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The Titan Roadshow entertained with groovy tunes into the night and the newlyweds danced to a firm favourite for their first dance – ‘We Found Each Other in the Dark’ by City and Colour.

“This song and the band has a special place in mine and Joe’s hearts. We’ve seen the band together several times over the years and we just knew we had to have one of their songs for our first dance. We loved EVERYTHING, seriously everything, about our day. We had everyone we love there, the food was incredible, the music was incredible. It was an all round magical day. We wouldn’t have done anything differently, it was beyond perfect and South Farm did such a fantastic job with organising the day and ensuring it ran perfectly.”

Zoey found her beautiful heels via Rachel Simpson – another lovely member of our handy bridal resource – and to finish off her stylish look, she added earrings by Katharine Swaine, a beaded Accessorize bag, and a spritz of her favourite perfume, Chloe.

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I loved looking at Love My Dress for inspiration and seeing what other couples had done for their big day at our chosen venue. So helpful 🙂

Wedding planning can be super stressful and it’s important to be calm and collected in your final days leading up the wedding. Once you’ve ticked off your to-do lists, make the most of pampering yourself, get a massage, breathe, spend time with your family and friends and relax. All your hard work and everything will fall into place on the day, so try not to worry too much.”

Also, don’t worry about the weather! The weather in the UK is so unpredictable and it rained all morning and throughout our ceremony, but it didn’t affect our day at all. If anything, it added character.

I’d also suggest investing in a really great photographer and videographer. I’m so glad we opted for a videographer alongside our photographer on the day, as we can watch snippets of the day over and over again.

And lastly, take lots of deep breaths, try to take in every single moment of the day and have fun. It’s your day!”

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These are such wise words – so be sure to take note lovelies! Thank you so much gorgeous Zoey and Joe for sharing your incredible day and a very big thank you also to Cat for these joy-filled images – you’ve beautifully captured such special memories for the newlyweds.

Let’s finish with the couple’s wedding video by Tim from Spatz Film – who Zoey and Joe highly recommend. Settle back and enjoy lovelies!

Youtube video link here

Love Jo -xo-

 

Credits & Thanks

Jo Singletary

Jo Singletary View all Jo's articles

Jo hails from and lives in sunny Australia, is currently working towards her dream of being a career coach and a few of her favourite things are watching the sunrise over the ocean, morning walks on the beach, butterflies, and supporting the guide dogs charity.

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