Real Weddings

Pronovias for a Magical Autumn Wedding at The Barns – Sheredan & Sam

Sarah Symonds

We’ve done it again! And although we can take no actual credit, we’re patting ourselves on the back for this one anyway because we’re getting to bring you utter real wedding goals! The wedding of the gorgeous Sheredan and her Sam is rustic, autumnal wedding magnificence.

From a ‘picture perfect’ beach proposal story we’ve fallen in love with, to the amazing tweed and flower crown dress code for guests, the autumnal colour palette to the fire pit and sparklers, there’s just so much to inspire you guys here. And an autumn wedding wouldn’t be complete without a few pumpkins and a bright orange tractor, so if that’s your jam (and why wouldn’t it be) read on for all the beautiful deets!

We also adore those couple shots against the epic sky – not something you can plan for but when it happens it’s absolute wedding photography magic. What a way to end the day!

With photography by Abraham Photography

Proposal

We got engaged back in August 2018 in our favourite place, Porthmelgan Beach in Pembrokeshire, surrounded by the wild Welsh mountain ponies. Sam proposed with my grandmother’s emerald ring and a painting he had commissioned of the beach (by my favourite artist Warren Heaton) with “Will You Marry Me” painted in the sand. He had also brought our families along and they wrote “Will You Marry Me” in the ‘real’ sand.

Setting

Our wedding date was the 30th October 2021, which was postponed from 2020 due to Covid. We really wanted an autumnal wedding, hence choosing October.

We had both the ceremony and reception at The Barns, East Yorkshire in Faxfleet. We wanted a very boho, barn wedding and the venue was perfect for this style – rustic and beautiful.

Theme

We had an autumnal style with lots of pumpkins and autumn colours including reds, oranges and yellows with emerald green. We also had a few Harry Potter touches as we are both huge Harry Potter fans.

We had a dress code for our guests of tweed and flower crowns, to add to the rustic, country feel of the day. As mentioned, the colour scheme was autumnal – we both love autumn and wanted to incorporate as much as we could into the day.

Dress

I purchased the dress from Pronovias on New Bond Street. I wanted a very boho wedding dress that, although still a wedding dress, wasn’t a traditional ball gown or fishtail. It was elegant with a bit of boho, relaxed style.

Groomsmen

My husband wore a tweed jacket, which he had made for him by a tailor from Roderick Charles, Jermyn Street in London, paired with burgundy chinos. The father of the groom and best man also had tweed jackets made from Roderick Charles. The two groomsmen wore tweed jackets from Charles Tyrwhitt.

Bridesmaids

My bridesmaids wore emerald green dresses from Wed2Be.

Beauty

Our hair and makeup was done through a company called Lipstick & Curls.

Transport

We hired a car from Hull Cars.

Photographer

We used Abraham Overvoorde who was fantastic and we highly recommend him. We loved the group and natural shots but we especially loved the dramatic shots at sunset and with sparklers in the evening.

Styling

My bridal bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets were from the fantastic Amanda at Just To Say, York. Amanda is an old friend of the family and she does the most beautiful flower decorations. Again, I chose very autumnal colours and some of the flowers included roses, kangaroo paw and calla lilies.

Amanda at Just to Say also provided all the flowers for the tables. All decorations were handmade by myself and other members of the family. We spent an evening carving out the pumpkins and my talented uncle carved Mr & Mrs into a ghost pumpkin.

Cake

The cake was made by my mother-in-law, Mandy Downer and consisted of both a fruit cake and a madeira sponge, and decorated with leaves, vines, acorns and fircones made from icing.

Dining

We chose pie and mash from UNVEILED Network Member Babaganoush, an absolutely fantastic caterer. We chose pie and mash because we both love pie, but also because it was a cold day in Yorkshire and we knew our guests would want something hearty and warming.

We chose Rioja and Chardonnay as our wines as they are both our favourite grapes.

Entertainment

We had a band called Under the Covers. We had seen UTC at another two weddings and thought they were very talented. It was more like being at a concert than a wedding and they were fantastic at interacting with the guests and getting everyone excited and up on the dancefloor. They made the dancing really fun.

Special touches

We had some Harry Potter touches including an “Owl Post” postbox for cards and a Sorting Hat themed seating chart. We had four long tables for dinner with each named after a Harry Potter house.

Thanks to

We highly recommend all the suppliers we used; we felt listened to and each supplier added value and ease to what is a stressful time. The venue is beautiful and a good size with lots of space both inside and outside. There are lots of lovely small touches like a fire pit (ideal for an autumn or winter wedding as it gets cold, and as a bonus you can roast marshmallows!), fairy lights etc. Also, the owners act as the event planners on the day and they made it run so smoothly with absolutely no stress.

Best bit

A tough one to answer but I think both the vows and the first dance. The vows of course made our relationship a marriage, and the first dance was fun and silly. We danced to Taylor Swift’s Love Story as I am a huge fan.

Honeymoon

We went to Newquay in Cornwall for a mini-moon. We hope to go on a bigger honeymoon abroad next year (travel restrictions allowing) to Hawaii.

Cornwall was stunning, we stayed right by the beach and had lots of walks, shell hunting, sunsets and cake.

Advice

Choose your suppliers wisely and your day will be very smooth! We loved each company we used as they made it really personal, gave a lot of time to us and even when we had to postpone, they made the process easy for us.

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