Styled Shoot

Wild Styled. A Rustic Wedding Shoot at Woolas Barn

Sarah Symonds

A restored barn venue near York becomes the backdrop for today’s colourful and quirky rustic styled shoot, with vibrant pops of pink and yellow.

With an undone feel and touches of sophistication, this wedding bridges the gap between the traditional barn wedding and something altogether less… well, traditional. Wedding planner Emily of Emily K Weddings and her fellow suppliers wanted to create a scene that shows how not all barn weddings have to be casual, but can instead embrace the extra and the glam side of wedding styling. It’s your wedding after all, you’re free to have it your way, whatever that may be. There are no rules here!

We’re so into the tumbling heaps of wildflowers and cheerful shots of colour cropping up here and there against the old exposed brickwork, and the good old fashioned romance of the lace on both of the dreamy gowns featured. The character of the venue, Woolas Barn, really comes alive dressed like this, and the eclectic mix of textures, colours and materials in the tablescape is the ideal combination to showcase the suppliers combined skills. The way the cake and the stationery complement each other, for example. That’s some excellent use of wedding supplier skills, right there.

We speak to Emily herself and find out how she’s keeping the excitement levels high and the momentum going in 2020.

With images by Sarah Beth Photography

CONCEPT

Emily says: We wanted to move away from the casual barn wedding feel and create something more glam with a sophisticated, rustic style. We love a barn wedding and wanted to show couples that a barn wedding can be elegant, romantic and colourful.

“She was full of wild flowers in notebooks

Smoke scented beaches

Skipping town and a little bit of save the world”

LOCATION

Woolas Barn is full of character and a perfect rustic backdrop for a wedding day. Throughout the venue are stunning backdrops, natural light and beautiful gardens for reception drinks and couples’ portraits.

STYLING

Daisy Hoban, a Leeds based floral designer with a quirky colourful style, was involved in our shoot. Woolas has such a rustic backdrop, but we wanted to really make it more chic and showcase how the stunning space can be styled to create a more floral, luxury feel. The warm mustard tones and pops of soft pinks, teamed with contemporary black details on the table, created an elevated rustic look.

Daisy says: “Artistic modern shapes mixed together with vibrant locally grown Yorkshire flowers – just the absolute perfect combination! I love showing how fun and free-spirited floral design can be. Allow your imagination to run wild and create breathtaking bespoke installations. I am a sucker for using colour and in this styled shoot, we focused on wild organic visuals with a big punch of sunshine yellow running throughout the styling and flowers. Ceremony backdrops and the aisle decor are the most special areas on a wedding day so I wanted to show you something a little different – a deconstructed levitating archway, full of personality and wow factor – whilst showcasing how to create designs that use sustainable locally grown wild flowers and are eco friendly as possible, with no floral foam or plastic packaging. This is luxury in technicolour!”

UNVEILED Network Member Raspberry Toast, a super friendly stationery designer based in Manchester, is a perfectionist when it comes to the quality of her work. The cake from Two Forms and the stationery by Raspberry Toast were a total match. The modern geometric curve and clean lines really added that modern look to the details amongst the shoot.

Typical Type is a Yorkshire lighting company specialising in modern lighting installations to bring atmosphere and ambience to a venue. Whitehouse Crockery supply beautifully detailed tableware to create the ultimate luxe feel to a tablescape. Special Occasions Linen offer alternative linen to create a different look, in this case a pop of colour to the table.

 

ATTIRE

The stunning dresses from UNVEILED Network Member The White Yard in Barnsley were the perfect match of boho and elegance. This style suited the venue and the rest of the details.

The Daalarna Couture dress was cute and had an almost innocent look to it. The sweet capped sleeves are a beautiful detail.

The second dress was by Stelfox by Shikoba Bride and the third, Willowby by Watters. A stunning lace detail and simple silhouette shape was teamed beautifully with the punchy bouquet from Daisy Hoban. The bridal portraits of this dress on the staircase looked amazing with the mix of rustic wall textures and delicate lace.

UNVEILED Network Member Tweed & Groom offer grooms a modern alternative and some really lovely quirky styles to suit a barn wedding.

BEAUTY

The hair was kept informal and casual with two looks created by Leeds-based Ella Warner. The loose waves looked great with the delicate floral lace capped sleeve on the Daalarna Couture dress. A braid really showed off a different look with a more striking lip colour.

RESULTS

When I plan a shoot, I have an ethos of ‘go big, or go home’. There was lots going on during the day, lots of suppliers to showcase and different areas to set up. I feel like suppliers commit a lot of time and effort to shoots so I always want to get the most out of it for everyone. That often means lots of rushing about to try different things but it’s all worth it in the end. They’re often more exhausting than an actual wedding day!

The food by Blue’s Catering created an extra detail on the day and showcased how their delicious food would look on the tables. Something I often get asked as a planner, is how the food would work with the rest of the table décor. Although it was a styled shoot, I wanted the details to be relatable and realistic for couples to see. Aspirational but totally attainable.

Louisiana’s Mobile Bars provided the fairy lit whisky bar to the first floor of the barn, creating an extra highlight in the venue; a lounge area with a quiet bar set up. Again, giving couples ideas on how to use the space.

The wedding industry is hurting at the moment but together we are all stronger and I feel very lucky to be part of the Yorkshire wedding industry where everyone supports each other. I can’t wait to get back to what we all love doing and helping our clients have THE best day ever. Fingers crossed it will be soon.

To all the couples going through heartache and postponements, your day will be worth the wait. Whatever your wedding looks like, might not be as planned, but it will still be the most amazing day. Keep positive and please keep being excited about your upcoming wedding day.

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