Raw brick walls and cobbled floors are brought to life and serve as a rustic backdrop in this week’s real wedding. Vickie and Liam’s beautiful rustic country barn wedding is simple, elegant and stylish.

With twinkling fairy lights, jam jar candles and shining glassware, the burlap table runners and bunches of dried lavender help marry together the rustic surroundings and elegance of the wedding.

Vickie and Liam got married at the beautiful Halstead House, which is set in the grounds of a working farm, and chose Sarah Brittain Edwards, a TNWC recommended supplier, to capture their day.  We caught up with Vickie who told us all about how they found the venue and what inspired their plans…

Rustic country barn wedding

“Right from the start of planning I knew I wanted a rustic, barn-type country wedding and luckily Liam liked that idea too! It was actually his Mum who found the venue after she went to a wedding there. After we went to see it we were sure we wanted that style as the venue just lends itself to it perfectly.”

Rainy day joy

“The morning of the wedding I felt really nervous because it was raining and I was hoping it would stop so we could enjoy the wedding reception outside. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be and it rained all day! It turns out we didn’t care in the end and it was perfect anyway.”

A relaxing morning after decorating the night before

“We were lucky that we got to decorate the venue and get everything organised the day before, so it was just the getting ready bit to do in the morning. Me and my bridesmaids also stayed in a cottage at the venue the night before, so we didn’t need to rush around too much in the morning which was great!”

A perfectly plain dress and mum’s wedding day pearls

“My wedding dress was from Wed2B in Hinckley. I always said I wanted something really simple and that’s what I chose, it was the perfect plain dress with a beautiful drape down the back which made it a bit special. It was the first one I tried on when I went to the shop and although I tried on about 10 more I kept going back to it, so I knew it was the one!

“I wore the pearl necklace that my mum wore for her wedding and I bought my bridesmaids matching single pearl necklaces too.”

Elegant dusky mauve bridesmaid’s dresses

“My sister was my maid of honour and my three best friends, Sophie, Julie and Courtenay were my bridesmaids.
They wore dusky mauve, knee-length dresses from Monsoon and hair clips from Artisan Dried Flowers.

“They were multi-way dresses which was great as the girls are all different shapes with different styles so they could wear the dresses exactly as they wanted.”

Rustic lavender bouquets

“I knew I wanted lavender and I knew I wanted the bouquets to look quite rustic. Carolann at CK Flowers was fantastic and got what I was after straight away. The flowers were beautiful and matched the colour scheme perfectly.”

Calm and well-dressed groomsmen

“Liam wore a suit from Next and his groomsmen, his brother Jamie as Best Man and his best friend Paul as usher, wore matching suits from Scotneys Suit Hire in Leicester. They all worse matching lilac ties along with my Dad who walked me down the aisle and their button holes were tied lavender and twine – perfect for the rustic theme!

“Liam said he was calm right up until the ceremony started and then he was really nervous too!”

The first and last venue

“The venue was certainly the starting point for inspiration. It’s a working farm with cobbles and beams so rustic was definitely the theme for us.

“We actually didn’t look at any other venues because we had both decided we wanted to wedding and reception all in one place. That was a challenge because it turned out the only venue in Leicestershire that had a ‘barn’ feel to it, was in our price range and was licensed for weddings too was Halstead! So luckily we loved it.”

Relieved, calm and excited to walk down the aisle

“When I first saw Liam, I felt suddenly relieved, calm and excited all at the same time! I was so nervous to walk down the aisle but as soon as I saw him I just couldn’t wait to get to him – it was the best feeling ever.”

Traditional vows and out of the ordinary music

“We both knew we didn’t want to do our own vows as we liked the traditional ones, but we decided on a reading which was an extract from Beethoven’s Love Letter to my Immortal. My sister read it and it was beautiful.

“We chose Aqualung’s ‘Brighter than Sunshine’ for me to walk down the aisle to and we walked out to Bright Eyes’ ‘This is the First Day of my Life’ – rather than choosing more traditional songs.”

Relaxed, informal and lots of laughs

“For us the most important element was that the wedding was relaxed and informal. Our registrar, Jack got that completely and there were lots of laughs throughout the ceremony – particularly when Liam accidently called me Louise (my middle name) instead of Victoria!”

Hired not DIYed

“I’m not great at DIY so rather than hand-making decorations we hired Jack from Pretty Quirky Hire. She was honestly amazing and so helpful both in the planning and on the day.

“She has a huge collection of quirky, rustic decorations such as vases, plant pots; light up lights, candle holders…the list goes on! I couldn’t recommend her enough and she has real eye for the little details which made all the difference on the day. She’s also a lovely lady.

“I got my inspiration from Pinterest. Also your blog, the Natural Wedding Company, and other wedding blogs were great. I’ve had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted so it was easy to stick to it.”

Advice for brides: be organised and relax on the day

“My main piece of advice is just to be organised early on. Time goes so much quicker than you think but I got everything booked in a year before the wedding. That way I knew exactly how much I had to pay for and it took the stress out and meant I could focus on the fun things like picking the dress!

“On the day I’d just say try to relax. I can promise you that every little thing you worry about will become so unimportant the moment you see your family, friends and future husband that you’ll wonder why you were stressing in the first place.”

Romantic photographs in the rain with a lovely photographer

“After the Pimm’s we went outside and did photographs under the shelter of a cattle shed! Sounds less than glamourous (it was) but actually it provided the perfect setting for the photos. Then after lunch Liam and I managed to get outside for a couple of photos in front of the lake, which was lovely.

“Our photographer was Sarah from Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography. She was so lovely to work with and put us both immediately at ease.

“I knew she was perfect for what we wanted our photos to be – really relaxed and candid but beautifully captured. On the day I barely saw her but she managed to capture every detail – I can’t believe how many lovely moments we have to keep now!”

Inclusive horseshoe tables and informal BBQ buffet

“We didn’t want anything formal so we chose a BBQ buffet. It was supposed to be a pick up a plate and help yourself from the grill affair, but with the rain we moved it all inside and just put the platters on the table. We set the tables out in a horseshoe so there was no proper ‘top table’ and everyone felt together.

“The food was amazing and consisted of platter of salad, cous cous, meat, mini burgers and more. There was plenty to go round and loads leftover in fact and instead of dessert we served the wedding cake which worked really well.”

Local cake maker saves the day

“I have always said I just don’t like iced wedding cakes, they are almost too perfect and neat, so when a naked cake popped up on Pinterest I knew that was perfect for us.

“We had hired someone to do the cake but it fell through at the last minute. Luckily enough I had discovered a fantastic little café in Loughborough where I work, called Café Fifty-Three. It’s family run and they make their own cakes which are insanely good.

“I just popped in and asked if it could be done and thankfully they said yes! I couldn’t believe it when the cake turned up on the day, it was exactly like the photo I showed them and it was delicious too! We really lucked out.”

I am yearning for a slice of that incredible cake after seeing those pictures. A really big thank you to bride Vickie for sharing her rustic country barn wedding with us this week – it’s an example of how ‘less is more’, such simple decor but absolutely beautiful for it.

As always, we also thank Sarah from Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography for bringing this lovely wedding to our attention and for capturing Vickie and Liam’s day. Check out the other weddings from Sarah featured here.

If you liked the lavender in this week’s rustic country barn wedding why not have a look at other weddings on the blog that have incorporated lavender too?

{ Details }

Photographer: Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography
Venue: Halstead House
Bride’s Accessories: Dried flower hair clips Artisan Dried Flowers
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Monsoon
Flowers: CK Flowers
Wedding Cake: Café Fifty-Three
Entertainment: The Dirt Carpet Band
Photobooth: Vintage Caravan
Decorations: Pretty Quirky Hire