Today’s relaxed autumn barn wedding perfectly showcases the benefits of using seasonal and local produce and suppliers within your big day. I am sure we all love seeing what each new season brings,  and it is so lovely to see when a wedding truly embraces the season they fall in.

Tim and Sarah’s wedding does just that, featuring the most stunning dahlias, quirky transport, a fire pit, a groom in tweed, a bride in wellies, and some copper pumpkins – because what autumn wedding wouldn’t be complete without a few for good measure.

Tim and Sarah, 17th October 2015

Tim and Sarah were married on an autumn’s day in the gorgeous barn at The House Meadow at Worsenden Farm surrounded by their friends and family. The whole day was perfectly captured by the wonderful TNWC Recommended Supplier Livvy Hukins Photography.  To accompany the beautiful images it would only be fair for us to now pass you over to the beautiful bride Sarah to tell you a little bit more about their big day…

A proposal in Iceland

We got engaged in Iceland. It was our second trip out there in search of the Northern Lights, and we can confirm they are in fact fiction and the pictures and video you see on line MUST be Photoshopped, because there aren’t any visible in Iceland! There are however hotels with rose petals and champagne on ice as an emergency back up when you fail to spot them!

A relaxed approach to the big day

We wanted a relaxed and informal feeling for our wedding, not a formulaic tickbox exercise where you only pick your colour and food options A, B or C. We were amazed at actually how difficult it is to get away from the tickbox approach, and were very lucky we found people who could help us realise it.

A big red bus

We hired a double decker red bus to bring most of our guests to the site with us. Those who chose to make their own way there soon regretted it as the tractor was pulling their cars out of the muddy field. We did warn them to bring wellies!

Doesn’t The House Meadow have the most perfect rustic barn with it’s wood cladding and weather worn roof? A truly magical spot and the ideal backdrop for this autumn wedding filled with copper pumpkins, jewel-coloured dahlias, and twinkly lights.

An autumn barn wedding

We knew The House Meadow was the site for us as soon as we got out of the car on our first visit. It didn’t need any thought, or even the tour round with Clare, we knew it was it. We just had to convince Clare (with the help of Nicci at Home Gurrown) to add an extra date in her diary for us.

Sourcing local, seasonal suppliers

We tried go as local as possible with food, flowers, drinks, and even the bus doesn’t ‘live’ that far away. We wanted to go seasonal with food and flowers – it was an autumn wedding and we wanted everything to reflect The House Meadows autumnal setting. There are so many amazing local products and suppliers, it wasn’t a real hardship to introduce our guests to it (of course we had to quality assess numerous bottles of local wine and copious amounts of food from Home Gurrown first, just to make sure!).

Local was important to us to support the local economy and do our little bit for the environment – we really didn’t want our flower flown all the way from Ecuador when we could get great arrangements from within 15 miles.

Choosing the perfect photographer

High on our priority list for a photographer was someone who’d capture our day in a relaxed way without the hours of formulaic photographs. We wanted natural shots that showed peoples personalities and (hopefully) enjoying the day. We hate having our photographs taken, so we needed someone who’d get some great shots and help us relax.

Handmade touches

We made the wedding invites using the screen printing facilities at Intra, Rochester with Medway Fine Printmakers. Once you know what you’re doing, you can just go to the open access days. The seating plan, menus, thank you notes, vows (life’s too short to memorise them) and ‘Fire Pit Rules’ all matched. We also did our own fingerprint guest tree.

Clare and Sophie at The House Meadow added hand finished decorations around the barn and wrote our bar list out to match the invites. Who else will have had copper pumpkins at their wedding?

Live music

Our band, Megan and the Bourbon Boys were excellent. A really high quality Jazz Swing band who dud a combination of their own songs and covers. We knew we wanted a live band all along and there are lots out there. They managed to understand our wedding and people came away with some great comments and songs afterwards.

Keep looking for the right suppliers

If you don’t like the option given to you (tickbox wedding), keep looking. Someone will be doing what you’re looking for, you just need to find them. And once you’ve found one, they will know all the other people you need! If the person you’re talking to isn’t excited and suggesting random things to you (we had a Pinterest board, and we hadn’t even considered light up letters until the week before the wedding), then keep looking until you find that excited person. Otherwise you’re not going to get the best out of them, or therefore out of your day.

{ Details }

Photographer: Livvy Hukins (TNWC Recommended Supplier)
Venue: The House Meadow at Worsenden Farm
Brides Dress: Ellis Bridal from Alta Costura
Brides Shoes: Irregular Choice
Brides Accessories: House of Fraser
Grooms Outfit: Topman
Grooms Accessories: Topman & ASOS
Groomsmen Outfits: Cameron Ross at Jodi, Maidstone
Groomsmen Accessories: Topman & ASOS
Flowers: Little Florrie
Wedding Stationery: handmade with the help of Medway Fine Printmakers
Wedding Food: Home Gurrown
Entertainment: Megan and the Bourbon Boys
Double Decker Bus: Special Days Bus Hire
Morris Monor: Quirky Wedding Cars
Decorations: Lanterns from The Hanging Lantern Company
Blankets, croquet, jenga and the baskets: BellaBoo and Beau
Letter lighting: Light It Up