Mel and Ben’s English country barn wedding with cottage garden flowers and handmade wedding details
Charlie

We have a beautiful English country barn wedding for you from TNWC recommended photographers Warren & Carmen Photography. Mel and Ben chose to keep their day simple and classic, sourcing as many of their suppliers close to their wedding venue alongside some handmade projects.
Over to bride Mel to tell us all about it…
English country barn wedding
Both of us just wanted a laid back feel to the wedding without any particular theme. We really liked barn weddings and simple weddings without too much formality. We also knew that we wanted to put a lot of what we enjoy in to the wedding and hoped that our guests would enjoy the personal touches.
Music was therefore really important and we spent hours agonising over the playlist. We also really wanted to embrace the area where the wedding was located so we tried to incorporate all things local such as the food and drink, flowers etc.
Wedding day preparations
The day before the wedding was really fun as we had full control over the barn. Our families all worked together to put out all the flowers, put out the decorations, sort out the alcohol and generally just make sure everything was set up for a stress free day to follow. The photographers also came along to get us used to the camera which really helped.
A wedding dress to dance the night away in
I wouldn’t say I found wedding dress shopping a particularly fun experience. I went to a variety of dress shops and tried on hundreds of wedding dresses – not really knowing what I wanted, but knowing that every dress I tried on wasn’t me and didn’t make me feel comfortable.
Mili Mili in Colchester was recommended to me and I instantly felt comfortable there. Lauren, the owner, was really laid back and encouraged me to try things that I would not normally consider. On the hanger I wasn’t too keen on the wedding dress, but when I tried it on I loved it. I just felt really comfortable and could imagine myself dancing away in it!
A blue suit and hare tie for the groom
The groom, best man and father of the bride wore suits from Moss Bros, and had ties with boxing hares on them. The page boy and usher wore suits from Monsoon and little bow ties from Ebay.
Searching for a blank canvas barn wedding venue
After looking at a few venues in our local area in Essex we couldn’t find anything that felt right. When we found Dove Barn online we really liked that you had the whole barn for 3 days and it was an empty canvas for us to do what we wanted with it. It was also so beautiful it didn’t need much decoration or fuss – the barn and its surroundings spoke for itself.
Handmade wedding decorations
All of the decorations were handmade by me, including 35 metres of bunting, marquee letter signs, table names with our favourite albums and the wedding essential – decorated jam jars! Ben had to reign me in though because the venue was so beautiful we didn’t want to over decorate it.
Family style barbecue and a great wedding bake off
Jam Tartz did a great job with a lovely BBQ. They brought all of the food to the tables on sharing platters which helped to create a nice atmosphere. We decided to have a great wedding bake off instead of a traditional wedding cake to give our guests a chance to show off their skills.
A surprise for the bride
Ben surprised me with an impromptu performance of one of my favourite songs ‘There is a light that never goes out’ by the Smiths. It had the desired effect – lots of tears!
Passionate wedding photographers
We weren’t planning on having a photographer at all as I’m not really keen on having my photo taken. We thought that we could just ask friends and family to take a few snaps. However, when browsing Rock N Roll Bride I noticed a wedding that was really quirky. The photographers – Warren & Carmen Photography – had really captured the day with relaxed, informal photography.
I decided to enquire and instantly got a really good feeling from chatting to Warren and Carmen. We met for a coffee and decided that we liked the way they approached the weddings they had been involved in. They were really passionate about what they did but also wanted to get to know us and what we wanted from the day.
When it came to the wedding, they took the time to come and visit the venue the day before and get to know the family and took some beautiful shots of us preparing for the day to follow. They also came to a meal with us, our friends and family the night before the wedding which was lovely as again it gave them further time to get to know what makes us tick.
On the day they did so much to make us feel reassured and as the day went on we hardly noticed that they were taking snaps, but their presence at the wedding was a definite bonus. One of our highlights of the day was when after the ceremony the four of us went for a walk in the grounds of the venue. Warren and Carmen were making us laugh and this was a really nice chance to reflect on what had just happened.
A live band playing hits on a Ukulele
We wanted a live band but found that a lot of the wedding function bands were not our cup of tea at all. They all seemed to play the same songs, in the same style and then charge the earth for it. Instead we thought about bands we had seen locally in Chelmsford and decided on Creme De Chevre. These were a great hit, playing anything from the Prodigy to East 17 on the Ukulele!
Wedding advice for other couples
There were moments during the planning when we wanted to do something but we were questioning whether other guests would like it too. In the end we went with what made us happy and it worked out brilliantly. Everyone said how much of our personalities were in the wedding and it seemed to go down well!
A big thank you to Mel and Ben for sharing their English country barn wedding with us, and to Warren & Carmen Photography for the beautiful images.
If you’re dreaming or planning of a barn wedding, check out all the barn wedding inspiration on our blog and our eco wedding directory for barn wedding venues. For other similar inspiration and wedding details, check out our collections of handmade weddings and country garden flowers.
{ Details }
Wedding Photography: Warren & Carmen Photography
Wedding Venue: Dove Barn
Wedding Dress: Harlem by Enzoani Blue from Mili Mili
Wedding Flowers: Suffolk Flower Farm
Wedding Hair: Gary Pellicci
Grooms Suit: Moss Bros
Wedding Catering: Jam Tartz
Wedding Band: Creme de Chevre
Categories: Real Weddings
Tags: barn wedding > country garden flowers > country wedding > handmade wedding > Suffolk wedding > Warren and Carmen Photography