Good afternoon. I hope your week is going well, this January feels like it’s flying to the end. We have the beautiful July 11th wedding of Love My Dress reader Elise, a HR Manager to Consultant Michael today. They chose beautiful shades of pinks, peaches and corals and incorporated both a rustic and contemporary feel to the day and it’s gorgeous. I love the customised boxes filled with flowers and the huge coloured lanterns and balloons hung up around their venue Healey Barn in Northumberland.
Elise chose a stunning Suzanne Neville gown, the back detail is a showstopper! She paired the dress with a baby pink pair of Lucy Choi shoes.
“It has to be the most beautiful dress I have ever worn! They were so lovely at the boutique and made me feel really special on the run up to the day. I knew that I wanted something that wasn’t strapless so when I saw this dress, with the embellished back and cap sleeves of incredibly beautiful crystals and pearls, I knew it was perfect for me! I didn’t want to take it off at the end of the day!”
Photography by John Hope
“Having scanned the area of Northumbria for wedding venues we couldn’t find anything that matched what we were looking for – a relaxed, fun and intimate venue, until we came across plans by the owners of Cripps Barn in the Cotswolds to renovate an old farm in the tiny town of Healey – this would become ‘Healey Barn‘, our wedding venue.”
Helen from Bels Flowers took the couple’s vision of relaxed arrangements full of colourful peonies and roses and turned them into a beautiful reality. She took care of everything from the stunning bouquets to the jam jars full of blooms and the wonderful arrangements around the barn.
“We both grew up in a small town in the North East of England called Whitley Bay literally a few hundred yards from each other but didn’t actually meet until fate brought our paths together in London where we currently live. Michael proposed exactly one year before our wedding day on a surprise weekend away to Cornwall.
He had booked a little luxury beach cabin, accessed only by foot, overlooking the beautiful beach of Porthkidney in Cornwall. He got down on one knee overlooking the most breathtaking views of the sea. It was perfect.”
“On first visitingHealey Barn – we were given wellies and hard hats as they were renovating. We were shown inside an old cattle barn in a farming field at the time. Although we were trudging through the mud we knew right away this was the place. Little did we know however just how stunningly beautiful the barn would be.”
“I have to say Healey Barn was the real highlight of our day. We watched it develop from a working farm into the most stunning venue and were so welcomed into being part of its transformation, seeing the new barn roof installed and standing in the dining area before it even had walls! It just shows how with a little bit of imagination (and trust in what feels right for you) you can get your dream venue.”
“Michael’s brother made us a sweet shop in the back of his VW campervan and also did a very memorable and funny this is your life (along with red book) speech! He had everyone crying laughing!”
Elise kept her accessories simple with some diamond earrings from Michael. She also wore her mum’s wedding garter from 1972!
“My bridesmaid recommended Lucy Pearson for hair and make-up, she really was so amazing! The best thing was that she made me, my mum and Jenny feel so confident and at ease on the day. She is such a lovely person and had such a calming influence, going over and above helping us on the morning of the wedding, even helping to get me and my dress into the car!
My other bridesmaid Jenny gave me Jo Malone Jasmine and Mint body crème as a gift so I wore that on the day. Now every time I wear it I think of our amazing day!”
“Michael got his suit made at Charlie Allen in Islington, they did a brilliant job! We bought the groom and ushers dotty ties at J.Crew and got them all socks in pinks, peaches and corals.”
“My dad walked me down the aisle to ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri, it is a memory I will treasure forever.”
“We had three readings at the wedding. ‘Maybe’ by unknown who we dedicated to one of my best friends Sarah who tragically passed away close to the wedding. We also had ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton. Michael also had an idea to create a reading of love song quotes – it was a really funny touch to the day; ‘Tina asked what’s love got to do with it? Well on Elise and Mike’s big day. I know that love is in the air. And when a man loves a woman, and a woman loves a man, it seems that love conquers all’.”
Michael and Elise also added some personal and humorous promises to the vows they made.
“The moment we said our vows was our favourite moment of the day. It felt so amazing and special to make the commitments we made in front of our close family and friends. We felt like we were the only two people in the room in that moment.”
“We still can’t quite believe that she’s not a professional but Kathleen, one of the usher’s mums, took our vision for a pink swiss dot cake and made it into the most magnificently pretty four tier fruit wedding cake. The amount of time and detail she must have put into the cake, individually placing over 500 dots and creating incredibly realistic peonies and roses to decorate, was so incredibly touching. We really couldn’t thank her enough.”
“We ordered all our stationery from Project Pretty. They produced bright and cool invitations, menu cards and little signs I used around the venue. As well as the table plan which looked brilliant!”
“Wedding favours were one of the first things we bought. I may have been slightly confused and overwhelmed about the real priorities of wedding planning ha ha!!! I spotted cute little chalkboard pots on sale online and just bought them without thinking of the drama of getting 3 boxes of pots from the US to the UK, unbelievably they were undamaged! They not only doubled up as our place setting names which my mum kindly and patiently wrote over a period of weeks, our guests took them away and are now using them at home.”
Like many couples, Elise and Michael didn’t know where to start when choosing a photographer. Luckily a friend at work recommended John Hope Photography to Elise and they didn’t look back.
“A friend at work had recently got married and her pictures by John Hope were really beautiful. He turned out to be one of the best decisions we made! John fitted perfectly into our day, he had a wonderful way of capturing those special moments, unobtrusively capturing the day as it unfolded. We really can’t believe how beautiful our pictures are!”
“It was really important that my bridesmaid Jenny felt comfortable and happy on the day, particularly as she was expecting. She looked incredible in her Ted Baker dress and sparkly flats from Accessorize with flowers in her hair.”
“Michael’s nieces were flowers girls, three year old Emily and eight month old Ivy wore pretty pink dresses and little shoes from Next with Emily wearing a flower crown tied with colourful ribbons.
“The food completely surpassed our expectations! Our guests are still telling us how good it was. Healey Barn’s philosophy is ‘buy the best, cook it simply, serve it generously’, and they did!”
“We wanted to avoid the cheesy wedding DJ cliché so Discowed were a perfect choice because they are used to covering the festival scene. They helped us mix different styles together seamlessly, playing everything from old school party classics to pop and party smashers. We were still on the dancefloor at 1am.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Everybody tells you the day will go fast and you don’t appreciate just how right they are! Luckily, someone had told us to take a moment and appreciate possibly the only moment you will have everyone you love in one room together. If I could go back I would’ve done this more during the day…it really is wonderful to take it all in.
Everyone was so amazing in making the day what is was…we were so overwhelmed. Also share the load of planning as a couple, it’s a lovely way to get excited for your big day together.”
Thank you so much to Elise and Michael for allowing us to show off your beautiful day. Also many thanks to John Hope for the gorgeous images, I love how he has captured the couple smiling all day. If you need to see more gorgeous Suzanne Neville brides (of course you do!) find them here.
Love Caoimhe xx
Photographer – John Hope Photography
Venue – Healey Barn, Northumberland
Wedding Dress – Cherish by Suzanne Neville
Headband – Suzanne Neville
Shoes – Lucy Choi
Bride’s Scent/perfume – Jo Malone
Groom – Charlie Allen + J.Crew
Bridesmaid – Ted Baker Dress + Accessorize Shoes
Flowergirls – Next
Florist – Bels Flowers
Entertainment – Discowed
Rings – Rennie and Co.
Stationery – Project Pretty
Hair Stylist + Makeup Artist – Lucy Pearson
Caoimhe Anderson View all Caoimhe's articles
Caoimhe will never tire of beautiful wedding dress and a blooming flower crown. When she's not lusting after a gorgeous wedding she will be trying new vegetarian recipes, knitting very slowly or capturing a pink sunset from behind a camera lens.
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