I adore this wedding, it is such a beautiful, bright and colourful wedding. Claire and Huw were married in Wales on the 8th April last year, happy First Anniversary you two for yesterday! I love the indie vibe to their day, the bold spring colours throughout and the music that played a big part in the celebrations.

These gorgeous colourful wedding images have been captured by very lovely Jess Yarwood Photography, she has a really fabulous natural story telling quality to her images. I love the way the day unfolds through the photographs from getting ready right through to the party at the end.

Also incredibly lovely is Huw’s proposal to Claire;

The Proposal

We met on a night out through friends. For our engagement Huw took me on a weekend to Edinburgh. He’d booked us a table at our favourite restaurant ‘The Kitchin’ by Tom Kitchin. All of the staff at the restaurant knew that Huw was going to propose!

Before going to Edinburgh Huw had created a photo album full of photographs of our years together. On the last page it said ‘will you marry me?’ Huw had sent the photo album to the restaurant in advance. The staff at The Kitchen brought the photo album out as if it was the dessert menu, I didn’t have a clue what was going on!!

I looked through the photo album, got to the last page and said ‘yes’. Huw had the ring in his jacket pocket! The staff at the restaurant were on hand to bring over champagne to celebrate!! We had a great weekend.

Rustic, Colourful Wedding Inspiration

For the day itself we wanted a rustic, natural style. We really just wanted the day to be a fun and colourful wedding celebration!

The Dress

As soon I walked into Dolly Blue Bridal and met Adele I knew it was the place for me as it was such a relaxed and fun place . The shop is absolutely stunning and the dresses even more so.

I eventually decided on my dress due to my sisters reaction when I put it on. Although it was my favourite, as I wanted a plain dress with minimum sparkle, when she saw it she gasped and said ‘that’s the one!!’.

We opted for fresh flowers fairly last minute as hair accessories. So it was a surprise on the day what they would look like. I then found a bright blue pair of heels from Asos.

Bridesmaids

The Bridesmaids dresses were for Asos with gorgeous fresh flowers flowers in their hair.

Hair and Make-Up

Head Office Hair Studios did our hairstyles. We all wanted individual styles and Vicky created these perfectly. I like to think we were pretty easy going so we just let Vicky do her thing.

Made Up by Harriet Morris did our make up and Harriet was just fantastic. We wanted to look like ourselves but better and she achieved that perfectly.

Photography

The couple chose talented photographer Jess Yarwood to capture their day, you must check out her work if you are looking for your own wedding photographer. Claire and Huw were so happy the chose Jess for their colourful wedding day as she captured it perfectly;

Jess came recommended to us and we liked her laid back, informal style of photographs.

Groom’s Attire

Huw looked really smart in his bespoke suit and colourful wedding tie that fitted the vibe of the day perfectly. His suit, shirt and Tie were all from Richard Smith Bespoke in Manchester. His shoes were from Barker Shoes.

Best Man’s Attire

The best man’s attire was from Pretty Green.

Wedding Ceremony and Venue

Claire walked down the aisle with her dad Paul. The couple had selected ‘It’s about time’ by Jamie Cullum for the service.

We were married at Minera Church. It is our local church in a beautiful setting. We the had our wedding breakfast and Evening Reception at Plas Isaf Country Barn and Gardens.

Wedding Rings

We wanted something simple and chose rings from Powells the Jewellers. Huw also bought my engagement ring from here. It is a vintage, diamond engagement ring.

Wedding Wheels

Claire and Huw had some awesome wheels for the day including their VW Camper and 2 Jaguar Mk2 cars as well.

Flowers

The gorgeous colourful wedding flowers were by Vivid Floral Design;

We wanted a rustic theme and basically asked the florist to create bouquets that looked as if it had just been picked up from a field.

The Cake

Our cake was from  NV Cakes . It wasn’t a traditional wedding cake. We had a naked cake with buttercream. The bottom tier was chocolate sponge with baileys buttercream. The middle tier was vanilla sponge and white chocolate buttercream and the top tier was chocolate orange sponge and orange buttercream. It was divine!!!

Stationery and Favours

We created the table plans ourselves in a crate full of herbs.

We also had favours. All guests had a miniature drink and mixer. They ranges from gin & tonic, Vodka, whiskey etc. All top table guests had their personal favourite drink. The children had a ‘goody bag’ to keep them entertained.

Entertainment

Music was a big part of Huw and Claire’s day and they had some fantastic entertainment for their guests; their friends band Blue Genes and the Snowdonia String Quartet in the day and at the church and then in the evening the amazing Marblehead Johnson, (A Bluetones reference..I LOVE the Bluetones) an indie covers band.

Honeymoon

Huw and Claire has a mini-moon to Edinburgh;

We then honeymooned in New York and Sorrento, Italy. It was amazing.

Favourite Moment

It was all fantastic! Our friends, Blue Genes wrote us a song to be performed in the church called ‘you make love look easy’. It was so thoughtful and personal and it’s not everyday someone writes a song just for you! The Best Men’s speech was great too!!

First Dance

Claire and Huw chose ‘Baby I’m Yours’ by the Arctic Monkeys as their first dance;

When we first heard it in 2006 we said that if we ever got married that would be our ‘first dance’.

Advice from the Couple

Relax! Don’t let it stress you out! Don’t aim for perfection as it doesn’t exist, just enjoy everything as it comes. Enjoy preparing your special day!

Congratulations to Claire and Huw and I hope your first anniversary celebrations this weekend were amazing. Thanks for sharing your beautiful welsh wedding day with us and every happiness for your future.

Massive thanks to wonderful Jess of Jess Yarwood Photography for these amazing images of the day too,

with love

Such a stunning rustic meets contemporary wedding for you on the blog today!  Gorgeous Jade and Dom were married on the 29th of April 2017 at  Owen House Wedding Barn , a really cool event space, on a farm in Cheshire. It’s just a bit different to your usual rustic barn and Jade and Dom fell in love with the space and knew it was perfect for their modern rustic wedding day. Gorgeous blooms by Dreamweavers, a stunning cake by Bloomsbury Cakes, sparkly glam bridesmaids dresses in peachy pink blush and sequins and THAT dress!

These amazing images are by talented (and very lovely) husband and wife team Paul and Kel of Paul Joseph Photography. I really love the work of these two and was so happy when they sent over this beautiful day. You need to check out their website, their top tips for weddings include this   ‘Forget traditional, you’re cooler than that”, yes you are!

Here’s beautiful bride Jade to tell us more about how she and Dom met and all about their wedding;

The Love Story

I am from Northern Ireland and Dom is from Manchester. We met in Edinburgh in ‘The Candy bar’ on George St. I was over for the weekend apartment hunting as I was moving there in a few weeks time and Dom was on his cousins stag party! We caught eyes across the bar and it was love at first sight!

Dom flew to Belfast to take me to dinner the weekend before I moved to Edinburgh and even though he spilled wine all over me (!) it was so romantic and I knew that this was something special! Needless to say my stay in Edinburgh was short lived!

The Proposal

Dom proposed to me at Lymm Dam; we made a wish on the wishing bridge then he took me to a little bench and much to my surprise, pulled out a scrapbook he had made. As I was reading through all the memories and pictures, he got down on one knee (into the mud!) and I said YES!!

The Dress

My dress is by Kenneth Winston at Ella Rosa. I found it in Forever Bridal boutique in Belfast.

I initially booked the appointment as a bit of fun, and when I took a look at the dresses I was overwhelmed and didn’t think there was anything that I liked. I had a look by myself and picked out a couple to try and to my surprise I was completely blown away. My dress was the second option I tried on and I kept putting it back on and just staring at myself – I felt so amazing. I didn’t bother going dress shopping after this, I knew it was ‘the one’ and eventually went back and got it.

My shoes were Dune bridal collection, with Rose Pearl earrings from Links of London.  I chose to wear Elie Sabb ‘Le Parfum’ as it is such a gorgeous, romantic scent and I wore it a lot when I first met Dom.

The Rustic Venue

When we found our venue, we knew that we wanted everything about the day to just be very ‘us’. I was always on Pinterest seeking inspo! We wanted the style to be very relaxed and effortless, not quite ‘Boho’ but just really dreamy and pretty, ultimately we just wanted everyone to have fun and it to be an amazing day.

I had looked online for ages but as soon as I saw Owen House, I had to go see it. It was the only venue we saw and we booked it as soon as we got home!

Owen House Wedding Barn were so great on the build up and on the day. Vanessa and Dan were more than helpful and really couldn’t have done enough to ensure it all went perfect on the day. We really didn’t have to think about anything other than enjoying ourselves and that was just amazing.

The Ceremony

We had a lot of family meet with us the night before for some drinks to mingle etc then Dom went to stay with his family and I went back to our house. It was so special when I saw him at the top of the aisle!

My mum came with me and the bridesmaids in the car to the venue and took me to my dad who walked me down the aisle

Rachael Gladwin the harpist played Pachelbel – Canon in D. It was so romantic and I felt so emotional and happy when I was walking down the aisle towards Dom. It was such a special moment I will never forget it.

The Photography – Paul Joseph

The couple chose the brilliant Paul and Kelly of  Paul Joseph Photography for their big day;

We saw some of the guys work in connection to Owen House on social media, then met them at a wedding fair at OHWB and they were just fab. They were really fun and we just knew they were the right fit! On the day they were just brilliant, so great with all the guests and we just felt at ease with them, they did such a great job!

Hair and Make-Up

I’m actually a make up artist myself so I did my own make up and a good friend of mine Shealeen Savage who I used to work with at Bobbi Brown, did my bridesmaids and mum’s make up. Shealeen, who is now a make up artist for Charlotte TIlbury, did an amazing job – I didn’t have to give her much direction, I completely trusted her to make the girls look flawless!

For my own make up I was conscious to choose a look that would be timeless, so I kept it simple – glowy skin and pretty pink lips & cheeks. I absolutely LOVED the So Sue Kim lashes I wore they were gorgeous and completed my make up perfectly.

Terence Paul in Hale came out to the house and did our hair. The girls were amazing they really did above and beyond on the morning, helping with bits and bobs to make our morning run smooth! I wanted mine and the girls hair to be just very pretty and in a relaxed style.

The Bridesmaids

I wanted something different for the girls. I had seen something similar featured on a fashion boutiques social media and just knew it would be perfect.  The skirts are Little Mistress which I found on ASOS and the tops I found on an online retailers website. (sorry I can’t remember where) The girls got their own shoes, they were both different but similar in style – strappy and rose gold!

They wore some pretty gypsophila flowers in their hair, and  I got the girls a stunning pair of SWAROVSKI crystal studs to wear too.

The Grooms Threads

Dom found a gorgeous Ted Baker suit in Slaters in Manchester – the team there were absolutely brilliant with everything from fittings, alterations and so on.

Dom’s shoes were brown Dune brogues which looked amazing with his navy suit. His cuff links and tie pin were a wedding gift from myself for him to open on the day, they were from Moss Bros Manchester. The Best Men and groomsmen all had the same suit as Dom – a navy Ted Baker fitted suit.

Catering

We had Barretts Event caterers – who were really just fab. The food was absolutely delicious and they were such a great supplier to work with.

The Cake

Our cake was made by Bloomsbury Cakes in Altrincham.  Marise did an amazing job – it was 3 tiered, each tier was a different flavour! We had lemon curd, raspberry and white choc and chocolate orange – DIVINE! It had a buttercream finish and was so pretty with some of our flowers placed around the tiers.

We got a lovely little cake topper from Ginger Ray online which Marise placed on top.

Wedding Rings

Our wedding rings are from David M Robinson in Altrincham. My engagement ring is from there so it was natural that we went back there to get rings to match. 

Honeymoon

We went to Aruba in the Caribbean. It was the most amazing and special place ever. It was a long plane journey but well worth it. The weather was hot, the sea was an incredible turquoise with fish swimming right up to shore and the people were just so friendly.
We really had the most romantic time. Our resort was the Riu Palace Aruba. Wow – check it out. We even got a free upgrade of room. The most attentive resort and staff, we will definitely be back!

The Flowers and Styling

The couple chose Dreamweavers venue stylists from Middlewich to help create the look for their day;

We had seen the ladies work at Owen’s House at a wedding fair and I fell in love. They’re style was so dreamy and pretty, it matched exactly what we wanted and thought would look great in the barn.

For inspiration I did a lot of Pinteresting! I found some amazing pics and took inspo from that. I wanted it to look really romantic and dreamy – lots of blush, peach, white and greenery. They did the most amazing job styling the venue it looked incredible!

We had a ‘candy cart’ which we got from Candy Hearts – they again were fab, loads of old penny sweets which the kids absolutely loved! They also supplied us with ‘LOVE’ letters which were behind the top table.

Entertainment

We had Six15 entertainment and they were amazing! The DJ got everyone up on the floor with some amazing music after the wedding breakfast and then later in the evening two of their guys, Tom and Kami came and played Sax and Percussion – it was a crazy/amazing atmosphere and everyone was up on the dance floor. It was such an incredible feeling – it sounds cheesy but it really was incredible entertainment, it just made our day so special and we will never forget it.

During the ceremony and drinks reception we had a harpist Rachael Gladwin who was just amazing. Her playing was so perfect and added a real romantic touch to the day.

Transport

We used Nostalgic Campers and had a blue VW van take us to the venue. The van was so cool and they supplied a little bottle of Moet for Dom and I to have after the ceremony.

Stationery

Our stationery was a variation – our save the dates we just used a picture of us when we got engaged and got it printed in a polaroid style and sent it out to everyone.  We found Norma & Dorothy on Etsy and used them for our invites- (they are based in Manchester) – they were gorgeous! They even let me incorporate a little drawing/map I had drawn into their design and we were super happy with them.

We didn’t have favours but I did make a few little booklets for the kids so they could draw and colour etc while the wedding breakfast was going on.

First Dance

We had Jason Mraz – I won’t give up. It really is ‘our song’ and always makes me well up when I really listen to the words. We just new it had to be our first dance because the words mean so much to us. We had everyone come on the dancefloor about half way through which was nice as it is such a romantic song.

Favourite Moment

It gives me butterflies thinking of when I was waiting to enter the ceremony room with my dad, I could hear the harp and when the doors opened and I saw some friends and family I just became so overwhelmed, I was so happy to see Dominic, I had to take a deep breath and keep my composure because I knew he was so emotional and it was such a special moment.

At the end of the night there was this amazing moment that I don’t think we got any photos of but I will definitely never forget. All our family and friends were all holding hands and dancing in a circle and Dom and I were dancing like lunatics in the middle, it was just so fun and everyone was having the best time. I will always remember the feeling I had looking at everyone and just thinking wow we are so lucky. – makes me well up thinking about it!!

The day was so perfect I would do it all again and never change a thing.

Advice from Jade and Dom

The build up can be stressful, especially paying everything off. Just try and enjoy the planning and everything that comes with it, remember why you are planning it in the first place.

Loads of people told us to take some time out for ourselves and that is exactly what we did. Every so often we would take 5 outside to just chat and be with each other and reflect. It was the best advice!

It’s easy when adrenaline is running high to forget to eat and drink a little too much, but the last thing you want is to wake up the next day and not remember anything or be ill! We had fun and enjoyed ourselves for sure but waking up and remembering / going over the day start to finish was just so amazing. Those butterflies will stay with you!

Love and congratulation to the new Mr and Mrs Hill, aka Dom and Jade, such a fabulous day, thank you so much for sharing it with us. Big thanks to Paul and Kel too, of Paul Joseph Photography. If you loved this be sure to keep an eye out for another fabulous wedding we’ve got coming up on the blog from these guys in the next few weeks, an awesome relaxed back yard wedding.

with love

I can’t get enough a this stunning barn wedding in Warwickshire from Helen King Photography. With its beautiful lush June blooms, pretty surroundings, stunning bouquet, THAT dress and all the pretty details crafted by the bride Charley.

Charley and Ben were married on 20th June at All Saints Church with a gorgeous rustic, English country garden style barn wedding at Shustoke Farm Barn. It rained a little early in the day but it seems only to add to the vibrant colour of all the natural elements of the day, the gardens and surroundings too. Charley wore the most beautiful Naomi Neoh dress, with flowing chiffon and the prettiest floral detail on the waist, complete with a flowing veil and flowers in her hair. All the divine flowers were created by Bloom Fleuriste.

It’s a wedding full of warmth and beautiful moments, I love the way Ben looks at Charley in the car as they leave the church, with his proper cat that got the cream face. So let me thank Helen King Photography for these beautiful images as I hand you over to bride Charley to tell us more about their gorgeous barn wedding.

We met in our local pub when I was 17 and Ben was 19. Our first conversation was Ben’s amazing chat up line of asking me for some paracetamols! Of course I told him no and walked off, he didn’t give up and we ended going out with each other.


Ben asked me to marry him during a weekend away to Dartmoor for my Birthday. He had picked the perfect spot…a rope swing overlooking a river with stepping stones…picture perfect. Everything was set for a seamless proposal…bar our springer spaniel trying to drown herself at an inopportune moment!

Charley and Ben struggled to find a venue, they had an clear idea what they wanted and knew when they found Shustoke online that a barn wedding would be perfect;

We knew right from the start that we wanted our day to be relaxed and care free, neither of us like much fuss and being centre of attention.

After getting engaged we knew we wanted to get married locally, but soon realised that what we were looking for from our wedding venue was going to be hard to find…relaxed, rustic charm with something a little extra and definitely not formal. After spending ages trawling the internet on our lunch breaks we found it, Shustoke Farm Barns. It has everything we wanted and more.

We had the same problem with trying to find our photographer as we did with the venue. We didn’t want forced formal shots and as I mentioned earlier we are both camera shy at the best of times!! Luckily we found the lovely Helen King, we fell in love with her cinematic relaxed style. She put us at ease as soon as we met her with her hassle-free style and made it feel like a friend photographing us rather than a stranger.

Charley wore a stunning dress, Clementine by Naomi Neoh from The Stamford Bridal Rooms;

I didn’t want your traditional wedding dress or to look like toilet roll doily. I wanted to feel like myself and didn’t want to feel like I was playing dress up with my Mum’s clothes. I tried on countless dresses and none made me have that feeling that everyone talks about you are meant to get. I thought perhaps I’m just not going to get that feeling until I tried on my dress THE dress that made me feel amazing.

Charley’s pretty veil and hair accessories and her pretty Mimosa shoes by Rachel Simpson were all from Cicily Bridal.  The pretty bridesmaids dresses were Two Birds Classic Ballgown style in the Heather colour, again from Cicily Bridal.

The bridesmaids all chose their own shoes as one of my bridesmaid’s was heavily pregnant so I wanted to make sure she was comfortable…she gave birth the week after!  

My bridesmaids and my hair were done by the super talented team at Francesco’s Group Tamworth. Our makeup was done by Ben’s Cousin, who is a professional make-up artist, which meant the world to me that she could be a part of our special day.

Ben and his groomsmen wore smart trousers, waistcoats and jackets from Moss Bros with shoes from Marks and Spencer. Ben’s shirt was from Reiss and the groomsmen’s shirt were from Ralph Lauren.

The couples transport for the day was a totally epic ride, a 1950’s Chevrolet provided by a family friend.

At the church Ben didn’t look back at me while I was walking up the aisle as he was too busy trying not cry!! I cried during the rehearsal, but didn’t on the day so it was a bit of a role reversal!

Charley walked down the aisle with her father to traditional church music.

Once married and signing the register one of Ben’s best friends Sam Seamark sang and played on the guitar Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ in the church.

We didn’t want your traditional wedding flowers and were so pleased when we stumbled upon Hannah’s website, Bloom Fleuriste. We immediately fell in love with her free form style of arranging and it was exactly what we were looking for…flowers that could have been picked straight from the garden.

We didn’t want your traditional wedding flowers and were so pleased when we stumbled upon Hannah’s website, Bloom Fleuriste. We immediately fell in love with her free form style of arranging and it was exactly what we were looking for…flowers that could have been picked straight from the garden.

One of my best friends Becca Yates made our cake. We wanted something simple that would tie in with our table centre pieces so we went for plain white icing decorated with hessian, lace and flowers. We are not overly keen on the traditional fruit cake so we went for Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle and double chocolate.

All the catering was provided by the venue Shustoke Farm Barns, with entertainment sound and lighting by Ashmore Acoustics Live Music. The couple highly recommend them both.

The couple sourced their weddings rings in Victoria James in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham.

I didn’t want anything to take away from the beauty of my engagement ring so had a plain platinum band. Ben also had a plain band in palladium.

I made all of the wedding stationary myself…it took over my life for a short time, but it was totally worth it!!

For favours we had horseshoes which also doubled up as name plates. We wanted them to look rustic so got used ones from my brother who is a farrier which was handy. Ben just had to put several hours into re shaping them in the fire and then buff half of them up for a contrast.

I made all of the table centre pieces myself and created them from collecting old bottles and jars and covered them in lace, hessian and jute twine.  

Our first dance tune was John Legend’s ‘All of me’. The first dance was never going to be the highlight of our wedding as we are not the greatest dancers so we couldn’t wait for everyone else to join! Having said that we still embraced the moment we had together on our own.

Two weeks after we got married we went on our honeymoon. We spent four days in Garonga Safari Camp in South Africa and then we travelled to Mauritius for 10 nights and stayed at 20 Degrees Sud. It was a lovely holiday and we would definitely recommend it.

Ben – For me the favourite part of the day was sitting at the meal and looking at my beautiful wife and all our wonderful friends and family and realising how lucky I was.

Charley – I think my favourite part of the day would have to be the speeches…I laughed, cried and winced and so did everyone there.
We wouldn’t have done a thing differently all the imperfections made it our day and we wouldn’t change it for the world.

Our advice to others; do exactly what you, as a couple, want to do and not what family or friends want. We made a couple of decisions at our wedding that raised a few eyebrows within the family. But at the end of the day it’s your day and no-one else’s so be selfish if you have to be!

I hope you have been inspired by Charley and Rob’s beautiful barn wedding, congratulations guys, we hope you have a fantastic anniversary next month. A special thanks goes to Helen King Photography too for letting us share her beautiful photography on Adored Bride today, such a talented lady, be sure to check out her website.

If you enjoyed this wedding, you may also enjoy this Devon barn wedding.

much love

Officially spring has arrived! Even if the great British weather didn’t quite get the memo! Today’s wedding from Miki Photography will brighten things up. Oli and Danielle had a gorgeous summer’s day for their tithe barn wedding with a very cool ‘RumCam’ home video that got all their guests involved in the celebrations.

Danielle and her bridesmaids got ready from her parents home, I love the images of her dad getting the car dressed to go to church, her parents look so proud as they both see her. Oli got ready with his groomsmen and managed to squeeze in some pub grub and pint before walking to the church, well why not. I love the relaxed and authentic feel to their day and the fun and laughter just shows throughout all the beautiful images captured by Ash from Miki Photography.

So let me hand you over to Danielle and Oli to tell us all about their gorgeous tithe barn wedding;

Danielle and I met on the first day at Durham University, in October 2007. We both went to St Aidan’s College, and our rooms were next door to each other. We quickly became great friends, but it wasn’t until midway through second year that I plucked up the courage to break the friends zone and tell Danielle how I felt.

After university we both spent some time abroad; I was in Chicago on an internship; Danielle travelling across Central and South America. We both ended up in London, moving in together in March 2014. Some of our best times together were spent on weekend breaks to “Tinkerbelle Cottage” in the Scottish Highlands. It was somewhat inevitable I proposed to Danielle besides the wood burner in the cottage in December 2014.

We didn’t really have a theme, we pinned a lot to our Pinterest boards. We were both really impressed with weddings we’d read about where a lot of personal touches had been made. We wanted to make sure people felt that everything about the day was authentically ‘Danielle and Oli’.

It felt a natural choice that the reception was at a Tudor manor house and tithe barn (I studied Medieval History at University), and the wedding itself was at St Michael’s Church in Basingstoke. It’s the Church where Danielle’s parents got married and where Danielle was Christened. We also wanted the day to feel relaxed – more a giant party than anything else!

The couple chose Ufton Court for their wedding celebrations;

I love all things old and traditional and this space just exudes character and honesty. It’s also a charity, which was attractive to us. Danielle loved the quirkiness of the barn and the opportunity to personalize it (with very few rules!). Ufton Court assign a Wedding Coordinator to you to make sure the planning and the day itself goes smoothly. We had Verity Rickard-Lawrence – she was amazing, especially with coordinating all the suppliers.
We were so so pleased we put an open sided marquee from Magnifitents outside the barn too. It created a whole separate space in the evening with incredible up-lighting and twinkle lights. We had blankets available and this is where we placed our cigar and whisky trolley.

Ash from Miki Photography captured the day for Oli and Danielle;

There were two main reasons really why we picked Ash, his photos were awesome and interesting and he could he take a great classic wedding shot – tick! But more importantly, the samples of his work we saw were just so COOL. We didn’t want a thousand soppy close ups of us two!

Secondly, we clicked when we spoke to him on the phone and during the engagement shoot – he came across as someone who could have been just another one of our friends. This was really important as you want the photographer to blend in during the day and for the photography aspect to be enjoyable!

Danielle’s dress came from Anya Bridal and was by Essence of Australia.

I really loved the experience at Anya Bridal. I booked a luxury appointment, which means you get the entire ‘barn’, full of dresses, to yourself. I went along on an October Sunday with my Mum, Nan and friends. I just fell in love with the first dress I tried on. It fitted so well and had all the detail I was after (including intricate lace and low key sequins for shimmer).

I wore a vintage-style hairpiece from Anthropologie and a fingertip-length veil with small pearls sewn into the edging ( which worked well with the hairpiece). The shoe choice chopped and changed quite a few times before the wedding day! For the day I ended up wearing the same shoes as the bridesmaids from Vince Camuto. Sparkly heels! I wore ‘Diamond’ tear earrings by Carat London, Selfridges. I didn’t want anything to distract from the neckline of the dress.

Danielle chose hair and make up artist Kirsty Fraser to create her lovely natural look with a with a French pleat. The bridesmaids had a similar hairstyle with small pearl topped pins. Kirsty also did the Mother of the Bride’s makeup (again a natural look).

The bridesmids wore Little Mistress beaded top maxi dresses from House of Fraser in grey. All the bridesmaids went shopping together in London (Grace, Danielle’s cousin, flew over from Ireland). The flower girls wore dresses from Monsoon.

Oli’s morning suit comprised a of a smart jacket made by “A Suit That Fits” and a cream doublebreatsed waistcoat, trousers and tie by Favourbrook. Oli also wore silk braces by Turnbull and Asser, shoes by Russell and Bromley and the finishing touch,vintage lucky sixpence coins cufflinks.

The groomsmen hired their morning suits from Debenhams and we all wore the same black and white stripy socks.

Daneille’s Dad Terry gave away her away and they walked down the aisle together to Mendelssohn’s Wedding March.

We got our wedding rings from Channing’s in Hatton Gardens – the same jeweler where I got Danielle’s engagement ring. These were some of the first things we bought on a very exciting Saturday morning. I have a plain platinum band, Danielle has a platinum band with a twist and Diamond shoulders.

One of my favourite moments of the day was driving off in the Land Rover from the Church to Ufton Court – just the two of us. I think we just kept repeating ecstatically “Holy Sh*t we’re married!!”

We used my family Land Rover Defender as the wedding car. My sister also used it for her wedding so it only seemed fitting. I used to give Danielle lifts to the university library in it during our time at Durham University.

Danielle chose Miss Mollies Flowers for her stunning wedding flowers;

Our florist Miss Mollie’s Flowers were recommended by a friend. Claire was fantastic – so relaxed and personal. I met her with my Mum. Claire showed us round her workshop (at the back of her garden) and we just loved her ideas.

The cake was kindly bought for us by my (Danielle’s) grandparents. It was made by a friend of Nan. It was a beautiful, four-tiered cake with Victoria Sponge, Carrot cake, Lemon, and fruit cake. There was an intricate lace design along with flowers made out of icing.

My best friend Steph is an incredible designer (she works for Boden) and designed all the stationary for us and my Dad Terry is a printer and printed them all.

Our style was shabby chic to a certain extent, but not over the top. We had wood log slices for the cake stand and for the centerpiece flowers to go onto. With festoon lighting from Lex Marquee Hire. We picked up an old suitcase that we lined with custom “D&O” paper and placed that at the entrance to the barn for wedding cards. We also had hurricane lamps dotted about the place. Oli’s favourite piece was the Whisky and Cigar trolley. The trolley was a vintage desert trolley parked under the open sided marquee outside the barn. A humidor and whisky decanter sat on top.

The couple gave their guests some lovely favours, including gorgeous baked cookies by Danielle’s Mum Pauline;

My mum made beautiful baked cookie favours and  these were on everyone’s place mats in custom-made bags. We also had sugared almonds at the entrance to the barn, along with little chocolates with “D&O” on them. We also wrote handwritten, personalized thank-yous and tied them to everyone’s forks.

We didn’t have a film on the day but we made a RumCam ourselves. We bought a 1.5 litre bottle of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum and strapped a camcorder to the bottom of it. Oli then edited the footage using MovieMaker 2012 and put it up on YouTube;

We got married on the Friday, had a family bbq on the Saturday and went on honeymoon on the Monday for 3 weeks. Singapore for a couple of nights, then Bali and neighbouring islands. It was sheer bliss. All arranged through Kuoni. Our favourite places were The Elysian Boutique Hotel in Semanyak (Bali) and the Alila in Ubud . Going diving off Gili T island was a major highlight.

For our first dance we had Ho Hey by the Lumineers. We just really like it. We saw them at Glastonbury a few years back.We had a 5-piece band (with a DJ set in breaks) all supplied by Under The Covers. These guys are just awesome. The whole experience from enquiry to end of the wedding night is just so easy and fun working with them. Can’t recommend them enough.

The only thing we’d do differently was we needed to factor in more time for speeches! Dinner was a little rushed as we had speeches before dinner.

If we have any advice for others it would be don’t leave the planning to the last minute otherwise you won’t enjoy it. Take time off before the wedding (we took the full week) – it was so much fun doing the final preparations with friends and family. On the day – don’t worry about anything. It’s too late to worry!

Such a beautiful wedding at a totally stunning tithe barn setting, I particularly love the ‘RumCam’ totally genius idea!

My huge congratulations to Oli and Danielle, wishing you both a wonderful future together. Big thanks for letting us share your day and to Ash too from Miki Photography for these awesome images.

with love

Today’s wedding is so special, apart from being a beautiful rustic inspirational wedding with lovingly hand made touches in a stunning location to inspire you, it is also just an amazing testament to the pure love of two people. When I was contacted by Amy-Leigh and Daryl from Let Love Flourish photography I was so captivated by this wedding, I knew I wanted to share it. I think it is a true skill, to be able to capture the emotion of a moment on film, to transport the viewer to that exact moment, regardless of whether you were there originally.

When I saw these images of Patrick and Laura’s wedding this past August, that’s exactly how they made me feel. The instant Patrick see’s Laura for the first time at the ceremony is so lovely, in that moment you can just see how much he loves her, everything in the run up to that precise second and the emotions that spill over.

So please, enjoy this beautiful day with pretty rustic details and enjoy the love you are about to witness, captured by the genius that is Let Love Flourish. Just before I had you over to the gorgeous bride Laura to tells us more about the day, I also have a fantastic video of their day too courtesy of Lukas and Laura of One Wedding;

Patrick and I met through mutual friends in 2007, we were quite young, I was 18 and Patrick almost 20. Patrick was in a band with one of my friends and we got talking before and after gigs. It was the times of MSN Messenger and we spent a lot of time talking before we agreed to go to the cinema.

Patrick had been planning to propose for a while. He asked my dad’s permission and finally decided to do it on Saturday 31st January 2015. Patrick had planned for us to spend the day in the local village and then go out for a meal. Patrick then filled the living room with candles and set up his phone so we have a video of the whole thing!

We originally wanted an outdoor wedding or to have the reception in a tipi. However, we couldn’t find a venue or Tipi within our price range and Patrick felt it would be too much planning and organizing on top of an already busy time – I’m glad he made that decision as I’m pretty sure it would have been too much for us!

I didn’t want any strong colours or a particular theme for our day – I loved the look of rustic barn weddings that I’d seen online. I used Pinterest loads (of course!) and created lots of specific boards for each area. Neither Patrick nor I like being centre of attention and so we wanted a relaxed feel to our day, with a fun, party atmosphere in the evening.

Laura and Patrick chose East Riddlesden Hall, a beautiful National Trust venue in Keighley.

We had done lots of searching online at different venues and thought this looked beautiful. A lot of the venues we looked at were in Cheshire, so we decided to venture in the opposite direction. On the drive there, we decided that it was probably a little too far away – until we turned into the drive! We saw the beautiful pond and the stunning house, looked at each other and said ‘wow!’ We knew it was perfect.

Neither of us like being centre of attention – this also applies to having our photographs taken. We really didn’t want photographers who wanted us to stand and pose all day. We loved the look of alternative photographers that capture the emotions of the day. I did a quick google search and came across Amy-Leigh and Daryl of Let Love Flourish. Their photographs were amazing and just what we wanted! We sent them an email and they responded really quickly. We knew instantly that they were who we were going to choose – their response was super helpful and they were really friendly. It was clear they weren’t just responding for our business, but truly cared about weddings and photographs, giving us tips and advice. Unfortunately, price was a factor and we were convinced we wouldn’t be able to afford these amazing photographers – but we were really surprised and were able to book them!

We were going to skip the pre-wedding shoot, but Amy and Daryl explained that this would be really useful for us to get to know each other, and find out our likes and dislikes. We arranged the shoot at Binn Green, at Dovestones Reservoir and were so pleased! We were really nervous but actually had the best day – it made us really excited for the wedding day and proved that we had definitely chosen the perfect photographers for us!

On the day, they arrived early, for bridal preparations – although poor Daryl had to wait around for Patrick, as he had to go and set up the barn! They stayed throughout the day, after the first dance, even capturing some of the party atmosphere. We were so happy and couldn’t have wished for anyone better!


We were torn whether to have a videographer or not – partly due to the confidence issues, and partly due to budget. However, my parents had a video of their wedding and I used to watch it all the time when I was little. So, in a perfect little world I would love for our future children to watch our video in the same way! (Cheesy, I know! Haha)

We finally decided quite late on that we did want a videographer. We wanted someone that was unobtrusive and complemented our photographer’s work. We came across One Wedding and loved their style, so we were really lucky that they were available!
We thought it was going to be one videographer, but on the day they surprised us with two and even brought a drone to get some fantastic aerial shots! Lukas and Laura were lovely and had recently got married themselves. They completely got our style and also stayed until really late on.

My dress was WTOO by Watters. I wasn’t the best when it came to dress shopping – again, down to lack of confidence. I went to a few places, but was conscious of price as my parents had offered to buy my dress. I originally wanted a dress that was quite floaty and boho style, but then I saw a video of a dance and the bride was wearing a fuller tulle skirt. It still floated but had a gorgeous texture. It turned out it was a Watters dress!

I tried my dress on at a boutique in Uppermill, but was undecided. However, I then compared other dresses I tried to this one. A few weeks later, I found the dress in a sample sale online from a shop in Northallerton, Rocks and Roses – it was the size I had tried on, so we took the leap and bought it. It came with a pink satin belt, which is not the colour I would have ordered, so the seamstress I used removed it and added some more satin to create a new belt.

I knew from the start that I wanted flowers in my hair, but was undecided about a veil. Patrick had wanted me to wear a veil but I wasn’t sure. I’d reluctantly tried one on in a bridal shop, but they put part over my face and I freaked out – it felt really claustrophobic!


However, about a week before the wedding, I was swaying more towards wearing a veil. So I decided to order a plain tulle veil online to get a feel of a veil without the added pressure of being watched in a shop. When it arrived, I actually liked that it was so plain, so decided I didn’t need to get a different one, and I told myself I’d see how I felt on the morning as to whether I would wear it. Everyone agreed it looked lovely and so it stayed.

I wanted something a little bit fun for my bridal shoes and something I could wear again and found some colourful Miss KG shoes with pretty flowers that I loved.I also got myself a pair of ‘dancing’ shoes, with a smaller heel for the evening. I found some that were really similar to my Miss KG shoes from ASOS – they were metallic pink, with white flowers. I was really chuffed and they helped make sure I could dance all night!

Like everything else, I wanted pretty simple jewellery. I didn’t really want a necklace, but decided I’d get some pretty earrings. I wear pearl earrings most days, so wanted something similar but extra special. I found some lovely drop pearl earrings with a little sparkle – perfect!

Patrick and I decided we would both get new perfume and aftershave for the day, as scents really bring back memories. We went shopping together and tried lots of different options. I chose Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf and Patrick chose Bleu by Chanel. These were the two we kept coming back to and felt warm and romantic. We wear them as our ‘special’ scents now, and they really take us back to the day and honeymoon!

My hairdressers, Steph and Lindsey from Studio 82 in Radcliffe, came to do mine and the bridesmaids’ hair. I knew for a long time before that I wanted my hair down, soft curls and some pinned up. I hardly ever wear my hair completely up, so it was an easy decision to wear it mostly down, as that’s more ‘me’.

I wanted a ‘boho’ look, with some small plaits in for additional texture. I had a trial a few weeks before the wedding and took along some pictures. Steph was great and created the perfect look first time! On the day, she recreated it and added flowers to complete the look. Steph and Lindsey worked on the bridesmaids hair, again using pictures. We wanted their hair up with some plaits. They all loved it.

Make up was another last minute booking, I used Gemma Edwards, who was recommended by Chloe at East Riddlesden. She came to my house a couple of weeks before the wedding and we had a trial. I was quite relaxed about what I wanted, as I don’t tend to wear loads of make up. I’d read that a bride should ask to look ‘polished’ rather than natural, and Gemma completely understood what I meant! We discussed the style of the day and the colours we were using, and she worked her magic.


On the day Gemma did the make up for myself and my two adult bridesmaids, Natalie and my sister Sarah. We were all really happy. Gemma gave us all a bit of our lipstick in a pot so we could reapply throughout the day!

My three teenage bridesmaids did their own make up with their fantastically filled makeup bags!

Laura found her bridesmaids dresses at YS Dress;

I found a page on Facebook of a dress shop pretty local to me. We chose a maxi dress ‘dusky pink’ that all five girls really liked. I couldn’t believe how quick we decided on the bridesmaid dresses – I was expecting at least a few dress options, but we just seemed to find the perfect dress straight away.

I was happy for the bridesmaids to find their own shoes, and only asked that they were pretty neutral. Sarah and Natalie opted for Miss KG and the teenagers all chose white heeled sandals from New Look. The girls all wore their hair up, pinned to the side, with a few plaits. The pearl-like detail on the headbands that were a real bargain find in Primark ended up looking really nice.

Patrick didn’t want a ‘formal’ suit, but something a little more stylish and that perhaps he could wear again. After a quite unsuccessful search we decided have a look in some high street shops and went to Next. We were really surprised by the range offered. He tried a few on, and had one favourite with two back ups. We wanted Patrick and the groomsmen to wear the same suit, with the possibility of Patrick having a different waistcoat or tie. So we took photographs and Patrick went back with his groomsmen. Luckily, they all liked the same suit as him!

We tried Patrick’s suit with a different coloured waistcoat, but we felt it didn’t quite look right… so we decided that a patterned tie might be the answer to make him stand out as the groom. We found a lovely patterned tie in Marks and Spencer, with all the right colours – blue, pink and white.

We knew that brown shoes would look best with the blue suit, we stumbled across a KG section in Debenhams. I joked that we could have matching wedding shoes so dragged him over – we actually found a beautiful pair of brown leather shoes! Meant to be!

We got all of the groomsmen pale blue ties and pocket squares from Next. They got their own brown shoes and we gave each of them engraved cufflinks and my nephew Finlay wore a suit from Monsoon that matched the other suits perfectly!

Patrick was convinced his shirt didn’t need cufflinks, but I knew otherwise. I wanted the cufflinks to be a present for the morning of the wedding, so I let him believe he had button cuffs. I thought it would be nice to get engraved some lovely wooden cufflinks. I designed and had made some bespoke ones and them to Patrick on the morning of the wedding, with a card and a hankie (which is the one thing he really needed and forgot to take with him!)

I wanted to have a really personal touch to our day. My best friend & bridesmaid, Natalie was an enormous help and we worked together to design most things. We designed and created the Save the Dates and Invitations. I had seen an idea for the invitations online and recreated with my own twist – an engraved wooden magnet, so people could stick the invite to their fridges. Natalie made the wooden part at a laser cutting company and I ordered some strong magnets from ebay!

I collected jars from friends and family to put around the venue, filled with candles and flowers. We wanted simple, pretty décor – nothing too fussy. I spent quite a bit of time decorating the glass jars with the lace and twine used on the invites – I had a little help from friends and family as our day grew closer and I still wasn’t ready! My friend Milly had some log slices that we borrowed, sitting the jars on for the centrepieces.


We wanted bunting for the barn – we decided it would be an enormous job to make, so hired it. We used Simply Vintage who put up the bunting on the morning of the wedding, along with a set of stepladders for our table plan. I had printed out a list of names for the tables, putting in individual white frames to be positioned on the ladders.


We also hired LOVE lights and festoons from Typical Type. They really added to the warmth of the venue.
 Another idea was to have some seating outside the barn – an original plan was to get some large cushions and blankets. However, our venue had recommended someone who hired hay bales – we loved this idea and went with it!

On the morning of the wedding, the barn needed decorating. I would have loved to do this, but unfortunately didn’t have the time, what with hair and make up. So Patrick and his best man, Chris, were given the job. I was really worried it was being left in their hands, so my friends Harshana, Corisse and Dan offered to go and help them out. They worked with Lucy from East Riddlesden and did a beautiful job! The barn looked stunning and was everything I’d imagined.

We wanted natural looking flowers, rather than more formal arrangements. We searched for different florists in the West Yorkshire area and came across Natasha’s website, Natasha Coustol Floral Designs. Her portfolio was everything we loved about flowers and we knew straight away that we wanted to hire her. We sent her an email and she was super helpful. We arranged to meet up to discuss our ideas in detail, and Natasha came to our house. She was warm and friendly, and seemed to have exactly the right idea about what we wanted. To be honest, we don’t really know anything about flowers – just that certain bunches look pretty! We trusted Natasha completely to find us the right flowers for our day.

She even pulled it out of the bag on the morning of the wedding! The only thing that I’d known right from the beginning, having flowers in my hair…. I’d completely forgotten to mention to Natasha!! So my sister spoke to her on the morning and she brought me some gypsophila.

We had a stunning cake made by Suzanne Thorpe at The Frostery in Uppermill. We were extremely lucky that Patrick’s godparents, Ian and Sylvia, wanted to help out with the wedding and offered to get our cake for us. Their granddaughter had completed a course with Suzanne and spoke very highly of her work.

We went in for a consultation, where we took photographs of the venue, bridesmaid dresses, suits, my dress and the flowers. We had a tasting and looked at some examples of cakes. Suzanne then sketched up her idea of what we would like from our discussions and created the most beautiful design. Although there were some beautiful flavours, we decided Vanilla Sponge was a classic and the Lemon Sponge was delicious.

We had a string trio, the Dotted Crotchets, who were amazing! They played as the guests were arriving and to my walk down the aisle. They then played for the drinks reception and we had lots of comments how fantastic they were – they had such a wide repertoire and we were able to pick lots of our favourite songs for them to play!

In the evening we had Vibetown who again were fantastic! Patrick used to play in a band and we love live music, so it was natural that we would want a band to play at the reception. Again, they had such a varied repertoire and we were spoiled for choice! At first people were a little coy, but they got everyone up to dance! Again, people were talking about how great they were even weeks after the wedding!

Patrick and his old band mates also took their gear with them and ended up playing 3 songs in Vibetown’s interval! Our guests loved it, as many of them had never seen him perform. It was really special though, as the band was the reason we met.

We wanted to hire a VW camper, as our wedding party was quite big and we had to get to the venue from the hotel. We found the Volkswagen Wedding Company online, the vehicles were beautiful and we decided to hire the beetle, Rosie, and the camper, Victoria. The company is family run and they are truly lovely people. They waited after the ceremony and the drinks reception for us to have photographs with the cars. We were so pleased we found them!

I wanted the favours to be something that people would want to keep as a momento of our day. I had the idea quite early on – a wooden decoration with our names and wedding date on one side and the person’s name on the other side, so they doubled up as place settings! We also gave people bubbles that they could use on the day / in the evening.

On the day Laura’s dad gave her away;

I’ve always been a ‘daddy’s girl’! We chose the Beatles, Here, There and Everywhere to walk down the ailse to.The Beatles were always Patrick’s favourite band, and so have had a big part in our relationship. We also love ‘Friends’ and this song was the song that Phoebe had played on the steel pans as she walked down the aisle to marry Mike (ha!). We loved this and always joked that we would have the same. We hired a string trio to play on the day and so it was a given that I would walk down the aisle to this song!

We weren’t sure what our first dance song was going to be and had agreed to spend some time together to find one. However, one day when we were getting ready to go out, we had the i-pod on ‘shuffle’ and an Arctic Monkeys song came on that I’d not heard before. It was a B-Side to one of their singles that Patrick had bought a few years earlier. We listened to the words and just gave each other a look – we knew right away! The song was a cover of Barbara Lewis’ Baby I’m Yours. We love the Arctic Monkeys and went away one weekend to see them, so we knew we wanted their version rather than the original or played by the band.

Our second song we knew would be Moves Like Jagger – of course being the new Mr and Mrs Jagger! We’d joked a few times that this would be our first dance, but we thought it would really get the party started… and it did!

I find it really hard to say what my favourite part of the day was, Patrick said his was when I walked down the aisle to him. He was really emotional on the day and so it must have been a relief to see me finally arrive!

I think perhaps for me, my favourite moment was just after the ceremony when our guests were gathering outside ready for the confetti throw, Patrick and I waited in the reception part of the barn. We held each other and danced together – it felt so perfect to be together and have those few minutes alone right after becoming husband and wife! There was also another moment like this where we waited outside the barn whilst our guests were seated for the wedding breakfast. We stood together taking in our beautiful surroundings. Our photographers actually captured this moment and we had no idea! I love those photos…

If I could do anything differently, it would probably to try to be a little more organised! It never quite felt real, so I was rather laid back about everything. But then that meant I was decorating jars two days before the wedding, and packing things up, making last minute errands on the day before when we should have been at the hotel relaxing! So nothing major really…

My advice to other couples would be as most people say, it goes so quickly just make sure you spend a few moments together just you two on the day.

Such an emotional day and so beautiful. Thank you so much to the newly weds Patrick and Laura, aka Mr and Mrs Jagger, for allowing me to share their wedding on Adored Bride today. Big thanks also go to Amy-Leigh and Daryl from Let Love Flourish Photography for these completely insanely awesome images. I mustn’t forget to say a thank you also to One Wedding for the film of the day. I do think Laura and Patrick did a really good job of finding a videographer that complimented their photographers style really well.

Lots of love for the future and best wishes to the happy couple from us at Adored Bride.