Romantic wedding in the country

I took a look back through the Real Weddings we’ve featured on the blog, and it’s been months and months since we last featured one. In other words, it’s been too long – I know how much wonderful inspiration and ideas that other couples’ weddings provide, and we have lots of pretty ones lined up for you.

Today we have the romantic, rustic country wedding of Hayley and Iain who got married in Cheshire this past September which was sent to me by Christopher Ian Photography, one of the great photographers on our directory.  Over to Hayley to share with you the details of their beautiful day…

Hayley and Iain got married at Cock O’ Barton in Malpas, Cheshire: “it fulfilled all our needs for the kind of wedding we wanted. Shabby chic, gorgeous wooden beams, in the countryside.”

Hayley had a nice relaxing morning the day of the wedding, whereas husband to be Iain seemed to have his hands full!  “Iain was much more hectic than I was as he had our 7 month old Olivia with him helping daddy keep busy! He now cherishes this memory. I on the other had very relaxed, content in knowing today I would be marrying my best friend.”

“My wedding dress can only be described as fate. The dress I originally picked was unfortunately damaged during alterations beyond repair. It was a blessing finding Janet from Opulence Brides in west Kirby (my fairy godmother) whom waved her magic wand and 7 days off our big day made sure I had my dream dress.”

I absolutely love Hayley’s flower crown that she found from a fantastic Etsy seller: “My flower crown was made by a lovely lady from the USA – Joola Design Studio. She took my idea and created exactly what I hoped for.”

On deciding what Iain was to wear Hayley said “It had to be tweed!”.

Hayley says trying to find the tweed suit was harder than trying to find her dress. “We did in the end find a suit on the high street that fit the theme perfect. A few adjustments by his auntie and it was perfect! He wore a leather bracelet that I had made for him with silver cuffs engraved with our special 3 dates: the date we met, date we got engaged & our wedding date. He wore Rayban sunglasses just because they’re cool and my dads antique pocket watch.”

“We had our 4 year old daughter Emily as our flower girl and Iain’s two nieces as bridesmaids. They all wore the same dresses from BHS. I wanted to keep them like little flower fairies so they had puffier dresses than me!”

I love that their daughter Emily sneakily wore comfier shoes, I think this was a very wise decision on her part: “Emily decided it best not to wear her matching flower shoes and opted for her flip flops, we didn’t notice till after. Apparently they were comfier! Emily also had a flower bracelet to match my flower crown made also by Joola Design Studio”

Hayley’s mum put together all the flowers: “I just wanted my bouquet to look like they had been picked and tied together. Nothing structured or ‘arranged’ just natural and meadow like. I wanted the same for the table flowers, like they had just been taken from a garden. I chose Gerberas as I just adore daisies and to me they’re like a giant daisy.”

“Iain always describes me as a country bumpkin. I have a genuine love for the countryside and rustic decor as does Iain. Our wedding decor wasn’t necessarily planned it was more a natural flow of what we already loved. It was always destined to be this way.”

“We had or ceremony in a converted barn at the Cock o Barton. We decorated it with wicker hearts, candle light, jam jars & flowers, pictures of Iain and I as youngsters, and flower petals. We wanted it to feel intimate, homely and very romantic which I think we achieved.”

When Hayley first saw Iain during the ceremony she said: “I welled up. Our wedding song was ‘You Are My Sunshine’, a song which is special to both of us as our mums used to sing it to us when we were little. Out of the blue Iain sung it to me when we were dating, messing about as Iain does. The pair of us were in shock that we shared such a special song. That and he made my heart flutter as he’s just so handsome – especially in tweed!”

“Iain and I chose to write our own readings to each other making it that much more personal and we asked our very special friend Wendy Griffiths to do a reading for us. Not a dry eye in the house. “

Hayley’s advice to brides is: “Just go with it, follow your heart and embrace the moment. There is nothing to be worried about – as Iain would say, “forget the before and after and concentrate on now”. It’s so precious and the beginning of your happy ever after. Cherish and embrace.”

“After the ceremony we had champagne and strawberries before being whisked away by our photographer to capture some of the amazing pictures you see. “

You can’t beat a gorgeous photo in a golden wheat field I don’t think…

I love the simple and sweet style Hayley created for her wedding reception, keeping it low key and rustic with slices of tree trunk, glass jars and hessian in a very neutral palette.

The rustic country feel was continued through to their choice of cake, again incorporating the daisy, Hayley’s favourite flower.

Hayley and Iain created a ‘photo wishing line’ full of family photos throughout the years.  I love the addition of the typewriter!

Loads of the elements you see were handmade and put together by a team of lovely friends and family.  “My mum and auntie Joan are the stars of this show. They literally made anything I asked for. Bless them! From putting daisies in hay stacks to table runners, bouquets, bows and everything else you see. They are gems and really made our day what it was.”

Hayley’s favourite part of the day is “without a doubt hearing the intro of our song waiting to walk in, thinking wow, this is it. I held back a few tears there.  Also seeing Iain cry through emotion (never seen that before) and realising Emily was wearing flip flops (still makes me giggle!)”.  For Iain it was “seeing Hayley come down the isle to ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and sharing the wedding morning with Olivia.”

Hayley and Iain’s wedding was captured by TNWC recommended photographer Christopher Ian, here’s what Hayley had to say about him: “Christopher Ian was our photographer and he really was all we hoped for and more. The way he captured the day, not just by telling our story but I feel he was able to show the emotion and ambiance throughout the day . He was a pleasure to be around, even helped me get ready when my mum got delayed. Lovely genuine and not forgetting very talented guy.”

For there honeymoon Hayley and Iain hired a converted barn in Bath, “It was our perfect romantic get away”.

Since their wedding Hayley and Iain have been busy with family life: “Emily has started school, Olivia is crawling and Christmas is nearing. This year we will be having it at our home with my mum dad sister, brother in law and nephew. For us it doesn’t get much better than that. I have been driving Iain crazy decorating getting the house all lovely for the festive season.”

A huge thanks for Hayley and Iain for sharing their wedding day with us, and to their photographer Christopher Ian Photography – who is also a recommended supplier of The Natural Wedding Company.

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Photography: Christopher Ian Photography
Venue: Cock o Barton
Wedding Dress: Opulence Bridalwear
Flower crown: Joola Design Studio
Cake: Kingfisher Cakes
Hired Vintage Items (typewriter, bike, large signs): Sweetpea and Ivy