Hannah and Sian’s beautiful winter wedding wedding took place at Silchester Farm, a glorious rural escape and breathtakingly beautiful barn wedding venue, nestled in the heart of the Hampshire countryside.
This beautiful LGBTQ+ wedding was full of elegant touches that brought this already beautiful space to life. The brides opted for a pre-loved/second hand wedding dress alongside a high street bridal gown, and without having any idea of what the other was going to wear on the day, ended up complementing each other beautifully with their choice of attire.
This lovely couple have just celebrated their first wedding anniversary and we send them a tonne of love.
Silchester Farm Barn Wedding Venue in Hampshire
We were after a wooden barn, but with all the home comforts of a modern venue. Silchester Farm was exactly that and in the perfect location for our guests to travel to.
What They Wore
Hannah bought her off-the-shoulder dress online at Whistles.
Sian’s dress was found on Stillwhite.com, being sold second hand by a bride in Manchester.
All the communication was directly with the seller and they were so happy to know their dress was going to get a second day in the spotlight.
Both dresses were slightly altered by a seamstress local to us, Jayne Caldwell, mainly adjusting the length as we both wore flat shoes on the day. She also adjusted the length of our bridesmaid’s dresses.
We both wore matching white Converse – which were perfect for dancing in.
Our first look was our favourite part of the day. We didn’t see each other’s outfits until our first look and were so surprised that we’d chosen dresses that complimented each other so much. The matching lace style got so many lovely comments on the day.
Ceremony
Sian was accompanied by her father Keith, and Hannah by her mother Judy – this was to the sound of Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles.
Our rings were from Wylde Jewellers in Bath. This was the same place we designed and bought each other’s engagement rings from so was an easy choice for wedding bands. We wanted something simple that complimented our existing rings.
Our ring box was made by Sian’s father Keith, as was our jigsaw puzzle guest book.
Photographer
Our photographer Jesse of Jessica Grace Photography was an amazing addition to our day and captured it beautifully. From the first phone conversation we had we were put at ease and it felt like we were talking to a friend.
On the day, Jessica was cool, calm, and collected, managing to capture the perfect shots without making things feel staged.
We 100% recommend her to anyone and everyone!
We met working at the same marketing agency in summer of 2017 and had moved in together by October. Sian popped the question in September 2020, and we were engaged for 14 months.
Bridesmaids
All three were the same, bought from Mixbridal.com, in slate blue. All three were given the brief of flat white shoes, but all chose something slightly different.
Decor & Detail
Silchester Farm is a beautiful venue and we opted for only a few floral touches to add to it. Hannah at Ruby & Grace took our brief of simple, green and natural looking and turned it into stunning table runners, aisle chair ends, bouquets, and button holes.
The thistle in the bouquets was a lovely nod to winter and matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.
We provided white gauze runners and a large selection of candles to go alongside the greenery on our dinner tables. No other decoration was needed as the barns at Silchester Farm were gorgeous already.
Farnham Sound & Light provided the light canopies in both of the barns at the venue, and the large S & H initials near the dance floor.
We found Rachel of Rachel Gannon of Gannon & Egg on Etsy when looking for Save the Dates, and stuck with here for all of our other stationery. She provide beautiful invites, place names, the table plan, and timeline for the day.
A Vegan Wedding Cake
Amy of Relish Vegan has made wonderful birthday cakes for us in the past and was an easy choice when deciding on a wedding cake supplier. The bottom tier was chocolate and salted caramel, whilst the top tier was vanilla and caramel. Decorated with textured icing and foliage to match our flowers. There was none left at the end of the night!
The caterers, Goose & Berry, were perfect. We challenged them with a fully plant-based menu and they didn’t disappoint. It was so difficult to choose the final dishes at our pre-wedding tasting because all the options were so delicious. We knew it would be hard to please everyone with a vegan menu, but we received so many rave reviews after dinner.
Evening & Entertainment
During our ceremony, Chiqas played in their string trio and drummer format. They had a huge set list to choose from and luckily had some of our favourites in their repertoire. They played Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles as we walked down the aisle.
After dinner entertainment was from 4Pop, booked through Entertainment Nation. We were keen to have a female vocalist and songs that would get people dancing all night.
Our first dance was to ‘All About You’, by McFly. We’ve both loved this song for years and the lyrics were perfect for the occasion.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Schedule regular wedding planning meetings with your partner and try to make it fun!
Sian even set up a “The Voice” inspired band selection game where Hannah got to listen (but not see) the bands and then score them (there was a scoring sheet and wine!).
We highly recommend a ‘first look’ where you get to see each other before the ceremony. It was wonderful having that private moment together (with our photographer Jessie, meaning some great shots!) and it really helped settle nerves.
Originally we planned for approx. £20k but we did exceed this by £5-10k as we decided to invest more into certain things such as food to make the day more enjoyable for all.
Explore the Love My Dress Wedding Directory
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.
