A Pronovias Gown for a Relaxed Barn Wedding in Shades of Green and White

Venues are like buses, you wait and wait and… Oh no, that’s not quite the phrase, but until recently I had never heard of the lovely venue we’re featuring today and now I have had the pleasure of writing up two beautiful weddings here within the space of a few weeks.  Its fast becoming one of my favorites.

Meet Amy, a French teacher and Matt, a joiner, who married on Tuesday 15th August 2017 at St John’s in Baildon, West Yorkshire, followed by a reception at the gorgeous Chilli Barn in nearby Otley.  The couple met online and quickly knew this was something serious- a true modern love story. Amy looked wonderful in Celine by Pronovias, which she purchased from Dotty Bridal in Holmfirth.  I absolutely adore the mix of tulle, lace and embroidery.

“Celine had just come in and was on display in the window.  My first reaction when I tried it on was ‘wow’ and I just couldn’t believe how comfortable it was to wear and how soft the tulle felt.  I loved going for my fittings and Shannon, Molly and all the women there made me feel so special.”

Images by Charlotte White Film and Photography

“We met, fell in love and were living in Yorkshire so wanted a real Yorkshire wedding.  I had secretly always thought about a wedding at The Chilli Barn and when we went to visit it just seemed ideal.  It was a perfect size, it was local and the whole atmosphere was really relaxed.”

Amy’s usual hairdresser, Rebecca of Redheadz Hair Studio, styled everyone’s hair, while make up was the work of Leanne Marsh, who Amy found at a wedding fair at the Chilli Barn.

“Bex, from Oakleaf Weddings (who was our coordinator at the Chilli Barn) is also a wedding planner in her own right.  She was great in the run up replying to our questions and making us feel special and on the day we barely noticed things happening as everything was so slick.”

The adult bridesmaids looked lovely in green gowns from Oliver Bonas, while Amy’s niece looked pretty in a shortened Jenny Packham for Debenhams dress.  The ladies accessorised with bracelets gifted by Amy, from Etsy.

On her feet Amy wore Joy by Pink Paradox, while for accessories she chose some butterfly hair pins from Accessorize, keeping her accessories simple and letting the embellishments on her dress do the talking.

“I stumbled across my wedding scent, Belle Cherie by Fragonard, by accident one day when out shopping.  When I smelt it I had a weird sense of déjà vu and I realised I had visited the factory the summer that Matt and I met.  It seemed like full circle to be able to wear it on my wedding day.”

“My talented sister-in-law has her own business (Fabulous Tutu Dresses) so I knew she would make me a gorgeous veil.  It was a very windy day so it did go everywhere but it was so long and luscious and looked perfect with my dress.”

“We got engaged whilst away in Suffolk for the weekend.  Matt had only decided the day before that he was going to propose and thought you could just pick a ring there and then.  Luckily he found a jeweller who had the ring sent directly to the pub where we were staying.”

“I had no clue about any of this and so when Matt suggested we go for a walk it seemed innocent until he got down on one knee in a field and popped the question.”

“After changing his mind several times Matt eventually settled on a Ted Baker Lizard Lounge suit hired from Moss Bros for himself, the ushers, his stepfather and the mini ushers.”

Matt also wore a tie and pocket square from Mrs Bow Tie, a shirt from Charles Tyrwhitt, shoes from Topman and a waistcoat from Ted Baker.  His windmill cufflinks were a present from Amy that morning, purchased from The Cufflink Store.

“I really wanted local flowers and was recommended Rachel at Owl House Flowers on the Love My Dress Facebook group.  Rachel was lovely and all her flowers are grown in her garden in Bingley.”

“We did a ‘bouquet and buckets’ package so Rachel made the buttonholes and my bouquet and my sister and sister-in-law put together the bridesmaids’ bouquets and the reception flowers with Rachel’s flowers.  I didn’t know what I was getting until the day but the variety was beautiful.”

“My dad got to walk me down the aisle and as the baby of the family it was a lovely moment to share with him.  We walked to Salut d’amour by Elgar.  My dad loves Elgar and I used to be able to play this on the violin so it was quite special.”

For readings Amy and Matt chose Romans 12 9 – 18, read by Amy’s sister, while Matt’s step-dad read the words to ‘Numbers and Words’ by Beans on Toast- really lovely lyrics.

“Our wedding rings came from McSorleys Wedding Ring Shop in Pudsey.”

“Our favourite part of the day was the ceremony.  We couldn’t stop smiling.  My brother in law and brother also played an organ-piano duet during the signing of the register and had kept the music a surprise.  It was all these personal moments that made our day so special.”

“Our photographer and videographer was Charlotte from Charlotte White Film and Photography.  We couldn’t praise her more highly. When we were looking for a photographer, I was adamant that having a video was more important to me than photos.  When I came across Charlotte’s videos every single one made me cry.  The fact that she could film and photograph was ideal.

From the moment I met Charlotte she felt like a friend.  At every step of the journey she was a great laugh and on the day itself she moved around filming and photographing so surreptitiously, you couldn’t tell.  We are over the moon with our photos.”

Buses from the Yorkshire Heritage Bus company took everyone from the church to the reception, as well as bringing Amy and the bridal party to the church.  Such fun.

Entertainment came courtesy of acoustic wedding guitarist Steven Heath, as well as Amy’s own family.

“Steven interacted brilliantly with the crowd and we are so glad we had him.  He performed for us from arrival at the drinks reception all the way through to the end of the night.”

“My brother composed a song for Matt and I which he performed on piano with my ten year old nephew singing and my twelve year old niece playing the clarinet.  It was a complete surprise and a beautiful moment.”

 

“The aesthetic was really important to us and we spent so long thinking about what we wanted the spaces (both inside and out) to look like and imagining how people would use it all.”

Matt spent hours making paper flowers to string up across the field and Amy’s sister did all the drawings on the table names, as well as turning IKEA fabric into beautiful napkins (and even a bib for a very small guest).  Further touches included cake stands hired from Add Vintage in Horsforth and a seating plan made from mini buckets of herbs.

“We also had a photo booth area using a Polaroid camera, an Eiffel tower backdrop from Etsy and French props from Typo.  There were some cracking photos and everyone put their polaroid in a large frame for us to put up in our new house.”

For cake, Amy really wanted a croquembouche and the wonderful Patisserie Viennoise delivered a masterpiece.  I absolutely adore the photo of her seeing it for the first time.  She also made her own cake for guests to take slices home- Matt iced it at 4:30am on the morning of the wedding! Catering was all vegetarian and made in-house by The Cheerful Chilli.

“We served everything sharing style and they supplied cute lunch boxes for the younger ones in the shape of the Chilli Barn.  Nothing was too much trouble and it all tasted delicious.  For evening snacks we had sausage rolls, bread and cheese and hummus from Pickles Deli in Baildon.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Savour every moment.  Every bride says it, but the day goes so quickly.  

Make sure you go around and speak to everyone at some point during the day as your guests will really appreciate getting to chat to you. We greeted everyone outside the church and that was a lovely moment.

Finally, do a speech!”

So many thanks to Amy and Matt for sharing this glorious day, full of smiles and laughter.  I’m completely in love with it and off to see how far it would be to go to the Cheerful Chilli for lunch one day…

Much love,

Shona x