This springtime celebration is about to bring some serious rustic pretty to your day.
Falling in love with their venue after just one visit, Laura and Martin filled the barn-style venue with countless country-cool details – we’re talking strings of fairylights, chalkboard signs and a lot of paper lanterns. The vibe? Stylish yet relaxed; the happy couple didn’t want to overwhelm the venue with too much decoration in order to let its innate beauty pop all on its own.
A fresh colour palette of white, champagne and pale green set the theme for the day, with a sprinkling of rustic-infused decor completing the look perfectly. Read on for all the details of this gorgeous celebration – including an epic cheese wedding cake!
With images by Amy Jordison Photography
Proposal
Laura says
: We got engaged on December 28th 2016. Martin had planned to take me to the beach and propose there with just the two of us (and our puppy!) but I unintentionally ruined the plan by inviting my mum and stepdad along for the day. Martin decided he wasn’t going to go ahead with it and proposed in our front room later that evening instead. He chose that date because it marked a year of us living in our house together!Setting
Our wedding date was 11th May 2019. We chose this date because the venue we chose didn’t have any availability until this year and we picked a date in May as we know the weather would most likely be good!
Our venue was Barmbyfield Barns in York, where we held both the ceremony and the reception. We knew we didn’t want to get married at a hotel, and also knew we wanted a venue where we’d never attended a wedding before. Barmbyfield Barns was the first venue we looked at and we instantly fell in love with it. We decided to reserve it there and then that weekend, and didn’t look anywhere else.
Theme
We wanted to keep the decor in keeping with the barn venue, and opted for a shabby-chic feel. We love the look and thought it gave us so many different elements to work with. Pinterest was a great help and brought lots of modern ideas forward for us to use.
Our colour scheme comprised champagne shades and nude tones. We chose these as we wanted to keep it very simple and fresh. This palette also allowed us to use white and green flowers, without worrying about sticking to a specific colour. Originally, we wanted to keep everything white – but then we fell in love with the champagne bridesmaid dresses, which was what swayed our thinking!
Dress
I chose the Fleur De Lis gown by Hayley Paige. I purchased it from the most beautiful boutique in Howden, called Chloe Jane Bridalwear. From start to finish, the whole experience was amazing – though it was a decision as they stock so many beautiful dresses! I’d spotted the gown I chose on their Instagram page and just knew I had to try it on. I always imagined I would go with a fishtail style – however, this was the first dress I tried on and I just fell in love! The other dresses I tried on just didn’t compare, so I got to ‘say yes to the dress’ on my very first experience of trying them on!
Groomsmen
Martin wore a blue three-piece suit from Marks & Spencer; the ushers wore matching suits, also from M&S. We had looked at various different places to both hire and rent the suits and we kept coming back to this suit. He wore this with an ivory tie, whilst the groomsmen wore champagne ties to match the bridesmaid dresses.
Bridesmaids
The bridesmaids wore TFNC bow-back maxi dresses. They were so flattering and suited them all perfectly! I originally wanted my ‘maids to wear white but when I saw these dresses, I instantly wanted them. They each held posies and as a special touch, we added little charms to each of the bouquets as a ‘thank you’ and keepsake.
My little flower girls wore dresses from Primark; the beauty of these frocks were they could be matched with white tights or frilly ankle socks depending on the weather.
Beauty
Jade Heaney at The Makeup Works did all of our makeup. She was amazing and prior to the big day both my mum and I had trials to make sure that Jade knew what we wanted and so we could explore different ideas that she had. We all looked and felt amazing on the day and the makeup lasted throughout without even needing a touch up.
Georgina Pugh at Georgina At Quartz Hair Design styled our hair. We had numerous trials for my hair as I was slightly unsure about how I wanted it but she made us all look and feel amazing.
Transport
We used Pullman Buses York, who provided myself with a mini bus to take me and the bridal party to the venue, as well as a large bus for Martin and his groomsmen to arrive on. With our venue being slightly outside of York, we also decided to use the same company to put on buses for our guests back into York at the end of the evening.
Photography
Our photographer was Amy Jordison Photography and she was absolutely fantastic. From start to finish, she went above and beyond to make sure we had the best memories to look back on. Amy captured everything and more on the day, and was just lovely to have around to share our special day with.
We would highly recommend Amy to anyone looking for a wedding photographer. She made the whole process fun and the final results are unbelievable. We have had nothing but compliments from guests about how amazing the pictures are, as well as how lovely Amy was on the day and how comfortable she made them feel. We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better photographer and we will definitely be using her again in the future for more family pictures.
Styling
Wedding Flowers By Kerri Bailey provided all our flowers. I was unsure as to exactly what I wanted beyond whites and greens. The flowers were sensational and better than we could have ever expected. Kerri was amazing – even when I kept changing my mind on different things, nothing was ever too much for her and she made me feel so comfortable about contacting her at any point to amend even the smallest thing. Everyone commented on how amazing the flowers were!
Favours
For the favours, we purchased small badges from The Brain Tumour Charity, with every purchase an amount of money goes directly to the charity. This is something extremely close to our hearts as I unfortunately lost my dad in 2013 to a brain tumour, so it meant that not only were we able to give something back to the charity but we were also able to share part of him on the day. It was so lovely to see every single person on the day wear the badges with pride – it meant a lot to us.
Cake
We decided we weren’t going to have the traditional wedding cake and opted for a cheese cake instead! This was provided by our caterers Baba Ganoush and it was delicious. The cake featured various different cheeses and was later cut up and used within the evening buffet alongside crackers and chutneys.
Dining
We chose Baba Ganoush as our caterers: they were really lovely to work with and helped us to decide exactly what we wanted as we were unsure to begin. We wanted a laid-back meal but with a menu that included firm favourites which we hoped would please everyone. We chose Yorkshire pudding and gravy to start, followed by a roast beef with all the trimmings, with vanilla cheesecake for dessert.
For the evening food, we decided to have something a little different that would be easy for people to graze at throughout the night. We decided on a Yorkshire picnic option, which consisted of sausage rolls, cheese-and-onion pastries, Scotch eggs and quiche, as well as the cheese and biscuits. As we didn’t have much of a sweet option, we asked Baba Ganoush to make large bespoke cookies with ‘Mr & Mrs’ spelt out across them, which were a real winner with our guests.
Entertainment
We had a band called Cover Lovers play for us at the wedding and they were brilliant – they had the dancefloor full all night! We chose this band as we had seen them play before on a few occasions and we just loved them and the music that they played. I also used to work with the lead singer and we knew as soon as we booked our venue they were the people we wanted to have for our entertainment. We certainly made the right choice!
Thanks to
I would highly recommend the venue to anyone; not only is it beautiful but the staff were amazing! Paul and Harriet were the contacts that we dealt with there were just the best; they made sure all our needs were met from the very first time we went to look around the venue to the day itself. They took the stress out of the planning completely and were beyond helpful. They also helped us set up the venue before the big day and then afterwards, they tidied up everything, leaving just the things that were going to be collected.
Best bit
My favourite part of the day – other than getting to marry Martin, of course! – was dancing the night away surrounded by all our friends and family. It really was the best feeling ever to be able to share such a special day with everyone around us.
Honeymoon
We haven’t yet booked a honeymoon as we have a one-year-old daughter and we are hoping to take her away with us too. We are looking into going on our honeymoon over our first wedding anniversary to give us something to look forward to and at the moment, we’re looking into the Greek Islands.
Advice
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be – do not stress and enjoy every moment! I understand this is easier said than done but the day comes and goes so quickly, so just try to enjoy every moment. Also, take time out on the day for you to appreciate what a fantastic day you have organised and how lovely it feels to have all of your favourite people in one place to help you celebrate your marriage.
