Dear lovely readers, I have a beautifully light, meadow-fresh wedding to share with you all this evening, a lovely barn venue in the gorgeous North Yorkshire countryside and a happy couple who wanted to have a natural and relaxed day and a delicious afternoon tea themed picnic.
Meet Melisa and William, who both work in fashion retail. They were married on the 21 August 2018 at Deepdale Farm in Keldholme, York.
“We both love the natural, earthy look that is simple and clean. We knew that we wanted a spring meadow feel to the flowers and for it to look as natural as possible. The barns are so beautiful that we didn’t want to overpower them with too much colour.”
Images by A Little Picture
Melisa chose the delicate and ethereal ‘Doyle’ gown by Watters, which she purchased from the Bridal Rogue Gallery in York. I love the botanical-inspired lace, especially the way it trails across Melisa’s shoulders – and that beautiful train!
“Bridal Rogue Gallery had so many amazing dresses! I could have had at least three. The ‘Doyle’ dress stood out the most due to the embroidered leaves and intricate floral lace. I am in love with flowers and knew they would play the biggest part in our decor so the dress would match perfectly. The low back was a must for me too. I choose the blush colour because the lace looked so vintage against the champagne coloured lining.”
“We chose our venue due to the beautiful views and the simplicity of the barns. We came across it whilst researching barn weddings and fell in love before we even viewed it. The venue is a blank canvas that you can transform into your own unique style.”
“William and I met five years ago whilst working together in fashion retail. We were friends first and within a year of friendship our relationship blossomed into love. We got engaged on 1 July 2017. William shocked me over breakfast at home when I had been joking around about him needing to pack my ring for our trip to Italy in two days. He simply said let’s go get you a ring. I thought he was then joking! Not your normal proposal!”
William wore a smart, vintage inspired cream coloured suit with a fantastic contrasting blue chalkstripe waistcoat from Clarksons of York, which he paired with shoes from Paul Smith.
“William wanted an old style look with Great Gatsby styling.”
The team at Bridal Rogue Gallery also made Melisa a frothy tulle veil in a warm shade of gold to go with her gown. On her feet she wore glittery rose gold sandals from Moda in Pelle.
“My necklace was my something old. A gold love heart that was a gift from my grandma for my 8th birthday. She had died two days before she could give it to me. I wear it everyday. It’s my oldest treasure.”
A friend styled Melisa’s hair and added pretty crystals from Topshop, and she created her own romantic make-up look using products from MAC.
Melisa walked down the aisle together with her mother to Ludovico Einaudi’s beautiful piece of music, Nuvolo Bianche, and the heartfelt ceremony was conducted by William’s step-father, Kevin.
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“I absolutely loved walking down the aisle with my mum to the man I love and then having Kevin perform such a moving, personal and funny ceremony. I could not stop smiling. He did us so proud. I’ll never forget that.”
“We asked Kevin to write our vows and entire ceremony. We both repeated our vows at the same time back to Kevin. This worked really well and felt more uniting.”
William’s brother read the poem Recipe For Happily Ever After by Ilona M. Blake, along with more poetry from Melisa’s friend Steph and a specially adapted version of The Owl and the Pussycat from Kevin.
The couple exchanged rings, which they purchased from H. Samuel.
“William went for a classic gold wedding band. We both love the old style wedding bands that remind us of our grandparents. I picked a ring to complement my engagement ring. The engagement ring is from the 1920’s so I needed to stick with a classic band too. Both gold with detail at the top. I wanted some sparkle!”
Joanna Keely from The Flower Studio created the most wonderful, multi-textured bouquet for Melisa, in shades of white with pops of yellow in the lisianthus and asters.
“I asked Joanna for a natural spring meadow styling. I only wanted greens and whites to be the main focus. I love the rustic look in my flowers, as though I had picked them myself.”
Capturing the beauty of the day was photographer Alice, of A Little Picture, whose light and natural approach radiates happiness.
“Alice Little was a delight to have with us on our day. We felt comfortable and not forced into anything we didn’t want. Alice listened to exactly the type of images we wanted and captured the day with such beauty. Our guests commented on how discreet she was too. We couldn’t be happier with how our photos have turned out.”
The warm and rustic barn space at Deepdale Farm was decorated with a cascading wall of fairy lights, as well as another wall of white flowers, and giant light-up letters spelling out ‘Love’, all hired through Love Sweet Love.
“I collected lots of paper decorations, white confetti balloons, and green leaves and vines over the year from all types of retailers. My favourite were the paper fans that we hung together. They were from a pound shop and in total cost £10.00. Loved it!”
The sweet stationery was designed by Melisa’s best childhood friend, Sarah Shipley Design. The couple gave favours of paper seed bombs, which they purchased via Etsy.
Bells of York laid on an afternoon tea style buffet feast for everyone, as well as a whole table of delicious cakes reflecting their loves and personalities – a cake with their cat’s face, a burger shaped cake as well as another in the shape of a custard cream!
The brilliant centrepiece was a brightly coloured unicorn cake created by Melisa’s aunt.
In the evening there was wood-fired pizza from a modified horse-box courtesy of Dough Eyed Pizza and live music from Monotones.
“Fantastic band! Our guests have all been saying they are the best they’ve seen at any wedding…Our first dance was ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.’ The band played it for us. We chose this song for the wording , ‘you’re just too good to be true’ and the fact that it was more upbeat and fun. We did a small routine for the intro.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Enjoy the planning as much as the day. Make sure you have everything you want on your day so that you don’t have any regrets. The day is one that will stay with you for all of your lives so make it all about you and don’t try to please others. Our guests loved how personalised our wedding was and they said it was exactly us. I loved that!”
“We wanted our wedding to be carefree, relaxed and to reflect our personalities and style. We didn’t conform to any traditions and did everything to make ourselves happy.”
Many thanks Melisa and William for sharing your totally charming day with us. Huge thanks also go to Alice of A Little Picture for her gorgeous images. You can view more stunning Watters gowns on the pages of Love My Dress right here, too.
Until next time!
With love,
Laura
Credits & Thanks
- Photography - A Little Picture
- Venue - Deepdale Farm
- Melisa's Gown - Watters via Bridal Rogue Gallery + Shoes - Moda in Pelle + Veil - Bridal Rogue Gallery + Hair Jewels - Topshop
- Make Up Products - MAC
- Flowers - The Flower Studio
- Stationery - Sarah Shipley Design
- William's Suit - Clarksons of York + Shoes - Paul Smith
- Rings - H. Samuel
- Decor Hire - Love Sweet Love
- Entertainment - Luke Howells + Monotones
- Food - Bells of York + Dough Eyed Pizza
Laura Callan View all Laura's articles
Laura is a freelance writer and content creator who loves telling stories. She has keen eye for photography and art, and lives with her husband, cats, and huge amounts of books.
