Today’s stunning wedding – a masterclass in modern rustic bridal styling – was brought together thanks to an array of carefully-executed crafty ideas for one dreamy celebration.
From a soft colour palette of shades of taupe and cream with shimmering golds, to armfuls of foliage adorning the venue, it’s certainly is a treat for the eyes.
Talented bride Laura hand-made a huge chunk of the wedding decor herself, including the beautiful bouquets and thoughtful favours, plus much more, and so there’s inspo galore for those of you wanting to add a bespoke crafted touch to your own nuptials.
A rather sweet highlight for us has to be the gyp-wearing Dachshund, though there are plenty of elements to pore over and so be sure to scroll on for the full deets and adorable pics!
With photography by Carn Patrick
Proposal
Laura says
:We got engaged at my birthday party on 16th November 2018, in front of all of our family and friends. My older sister Victoria blindfolded me to play a game of ‘find the gift in the audience’. She spun me around and then sent me off into the crowd where, after a lot of direction, I was told to stop. I took off my blindfold and there Alex was, down on one knee and with my beautiful ring in hand. It was magical!Setting
We got married on 27th July 2019. We chose a date that was so soon after the engagement as my dad was extremely ill and we wanted to make sure he would be able to make it. Sadly, he passed away just under seven weeks before our wedding, which was devastating.
We got married at Northside Farm in Horsely. This was the first venue we went to see – and the only venue, too! As soon as we saw it, we booked it. We fell in love with the place and knew that the farm-type buildings and lovely rustic barn would suit our laid-back personalities and style.
Our wedding ran across Saturday and Sunday as lots of our guests camped in the on-site wigwams. On the Sunday, we had a huge barbecue and my brother-in-law set up guitars, drums and microphones so we had a full day of busking, drinking and eating. I would definitely recommend a full weekend wedding as the day itself just flies by. It was the best weekend ever.
Theme
We had a rustic woodland theme and made everything ourselves. What with rushing the wedding, our budget was small so I saved every penny I could by making the decorations, favours, seating plan, bouquets and buttonholes myself. With the help of my lovely friends and family, of course!
Our colour scheme was green, white and gold. I chose this theme as I have always loved how clean, simple and effortless it looks. I love foliage and greenery and planned to pick as much of it as possible myself to save costs. My mam and I went into the woods and picked loads of wild ferns to make a huge hanging centrepiece – it was so much fun and meant we could spend some quality time together.
Dress
I went to YAP Bridal in Newcastle and chose a Rosa Clara gown. It was amazing and made me feel like a fairy tale princess! I loved how it was floaty from the waist down and packed with detail on top. It even had tiny leaf detailing, which tied in amazingly with our woodland theme.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids wore a taupe coloured dress by Maya, purchased from ASOS. I loved them as they had a similar fit to my dress – detailed on top and floaty from the waist down.
Groomsmen
Alex wore his army no1 suit, complete with his medals and beret.
The groomsmen wore a navy tartan suit from Slaters in Newcastle, which Alex changed into later on as his army suit was really thick and hot!
Beauty
I used Georgia May Studio based in Swalwell for my make-up and Katie Rouse from Keep It Pinned in Dipton for hair – they both came to my house at 6am!
Transport
I travelled in a light blue MK 1 Ford Escort with my twin brother James, whilst my bride squad and mam travelled in an old Leyland Leopard Coach.
Photography
Our photographer was Carn Patrick and he was absolutely outstanding! I knew I was going to use Carn on my wedding day before I was even engaged – I had found him on Instagram and instantly loved his style of photography. He makes everything look so light and airy and despite the fact we had rain all day, you would never know it from the photographs!
Carn was brilliant and gelled so well with my family and friends, everyone loved him. I feel like I’ve made a friend for life in Carn and I will be recommending him to everyone I can.
Videography
We used a lovely videographer called Angus from Northern Goose. I also found Angus on Instagram! He had never filmed a wedding before but the quality and skill I could see on his page made me send him an enquiry and I am so glad I did. He beat any expectations I ever had with a wedding video and I could not be more thankful for what he produced for us. This guy will go so far!
Styling
I made my bouquet myself and it consisted of Gypsophila, home-grown Eucalyptus, white Roses and Calla Lily. I spent the day before my wedding visiting every supermarket in the land and spent £80, which allowed me to make my bouquet, ten bridesmaid bouquets, a flower girl bouquet and twelve buttonholes. I also had plenty left for the centrepieces, too!
My mam, sister and bridesmaids helped me decorate the venue. I used old Hendricks bottles, which were donated to me over several weeks for the centrepieces and added the leftover bouquet flowers and ferns to fill them.
I also made a miniature beret for each table to tie in with the military theme, too.
My sister and father-in-law also made us a ‘stairway to heaven’, which was an old painted stepladder complete with photographs of everyone that couldn’t be with us. It was finished off with candles and a great big picture of my lovely dad on the top step. It had everyone in tears!
Favours
I work in print design, so I ordered 85 small hessian bags and individually printed them with each guest’s name; these also doubled-up as place cards. I filled each bag with a hand-iced biscuit. I iced them all myself and used a ‘Mr & Mrs Barrass’ stamp to finish them off.
Cake
I chose a naked cake from Waitrose. It was a chocolate cake with salted caramel buttercream and salted caramel sauce – it was delicious! My sister Victoria laser cut a ‘Mr & Mrs Barrass’ cake topper; she’s a design technology teacher so that was very handy!
Dining
We had canapés straight after the wedding reception, which consisted of things like sticky barbecue sausages, mini fish and chips, mini cheeseburgers and cheese tarts.
We also chose Prosecco, Pimms and local beer for our drinks reception, which went down a treat.
Entertainment
We had a great band called Trilogy in the afternoon – they’re triplets and are so talented! For the evening, my friend Kieron Deane – who is a DJ – played long into the night for us and got everyone dancing.
Best bit
My favourite part of the day had to be walking down the aisle and seeing my handsome husband looking back at me. I have never felt love like it!
Honeymoon
We are saving up to go to Thailand and New Zealand next year, so we just had the week off and spent it with family and friends, having barbecues, going for walks, relaxing, eating… we even squeezed in a spa stay at Ramside Hall’s celebration suite!
Advice
I would pass on a tip given to me: when you sit down at the top table with your husband, make sure you take a minute to look at each other and take everything in as it may be one of the few chances you get! The day is a whirlwind and goes by so quickly, so taking a bit of time out together helps to slow the pace down.
