Playful Rainbow Wool Pom Pom DIY Barn Wedding

Vince proposed in February 2018 on a snow-covered black sand beach (Reynisfjara) in Iceland. It sounds wonderfully romantic but, it didn’t exactly go according to plan…. I refused to be led over to a private cove as the sea was particularly aggressive that day and having grown up with a coastguard for a dad, I respected the power of the sea and thought it was too dangerous! I ended up being asked on the walk back towards the tour bus not to draw attention but, hey I said Yes!

From the beginning we knew a relaxed feeling wedding where everyone could let their hair down and be themselves was key. We knew it would be a celebration filled with children, so space to run and play safely with parents not having to worry too much was important. Aside from that rustic, fun, DIY and filled with colour!

The Woodhouse Barn was absolutely perfect! Plenty of space indoor and out, ceremony space on-site, access the day before to set up and day after to take down, plenty of guest parking, tables, chairs and linens to use, 2 fully functional bars, excellent toilet facilities and pretty much free rein with what we could do decor-wise. Not part of the criteria but, it also just happened to be 2/3 miles from my family home which made the location ideal.

It was important to both of us that we felt like ourselves. I’m an accessory person, often wearing big bold earrings, colourful headscarves etc. I decided early on that that was how I wanted to go with my look on the day. The first thing purchased were the amazing Kat Macconie ‘Aya’ multicoloured bird sandals.

The dress was an ivory A-line gown, full skirt, with pockets (always a win!) but, embellishment free. It took a while to decide how to go with accessorising but the final look was a DIY colourful pompom crown, Totolally gold earrings, pink lipstick and an oversized colourful bouquet. Vincent wore a mix and match suit jacket and trousers combo from Moss Bros, a gorgeous bespoke tie from Ian Scott Kettle, burgundy Creepers and some sleeve garters to match.

As for our groomsmen we let have free rein with suit choices. The only criteria was to not be black and we matched them all with a bespoke Ian Scott Kettle tie from the series he created for us. Bridesmaids, flower girls and two page boys were our nieces, nephews and daughter 12 people altogether! The older girls wore short ivory dresses from Boohoo (which I did choose to line to avoid any see-through moments being such a light colour)

a DIY pom-pom crown with high top converse. The younger girls had ivory tutus from Flowers and Confetti also with a pom-pom crown and converse. The page boys wore shorts, shirts and braces from various places on the high street, with of course their own Ian Scott Kettle bow-tie to match the men and converse.

Instead of flowers we had the older girls carry giant balloons down the aisle supplied by Balloon Sensations with the little ones carrying colourful windmills purchased from John Lewis and I made a little heart sign for our daughter to carry which read ‘Daddy, here comes Mummy’.

Being a 2020 couple who had to postpone our day actually worked out that we had a better ceremony. We originally had planned a legal ceremony at the barn with a local registrar, instead, we chose to still have our legal ceremony still in 2020 with our daughter and parents present at Reading town hall where we live and planned a humanist ceremony for the bigger celebration in 2021.

As we’d already exchanged rings in 2020 we chose to do a Celtic handfasting and everything was really personalised, telling our story and it really felt like us. I’d highly recommend Mike as a humanist celebrant, he got to know us as a couple and little family, putting together a wonderful ceremony, plus professionally getting through it when our 2 year old was clearly fed up and wanted it to end!

Music-wise the fabulous Rhain Morgan played the harp, welcoming guests and throughout the ceremony. The bridal party walked down the aisle to Pachelbel’s ‘Canon in D’ changing to Ellie Gouldings ‘How long will I love you’ when our daughter, myself and dad walked down. The recessional was Jason Mras ‘I’m yours’. We made our own playlists through the day, cocktails and dinner then had a DJ in the evening.

Our first dance was to Stevie Wonders “For once in my life’.

Both John and Dave were fantastic to work with capturing the day as it unfolded without imposing on it at all. Really easy going guys who understood what we wanted and just blended into the crowd capturing all those lovely moments, we couldn’t be happier with the final results of both the photography and film!

Colour colour and more colour! Once the pom-pom idea entered my head I really ran with it and pom-poms somehow almost became the theme?!? There must have been 1000s of pom-poms made during my maternity leave…..they were used as a table runner on the top table, every place setting was a single pom-pom with name card, they were mixed in with flowers both on the tables and in my bouquet, plus all the pom-pom crowns my own and the bridal party.

Other DIY jobs included: – Paper streamer curtain backdrop and paper streamers along the outside aisle – Signage, reserved seating signs, guestbook, table numbers etc – Seating plan. The barn supplied this fantastic chicken wire frame that we used as a base then we just pegged on the tables and added streamers, paper fans etc – Glassware, we collected bottles and jars in all different shapes and sizes some were already

colourful but, the majority were coloured with modgepodge and food colouring which was surprisingly effective – Glowstick station – Ankara fabric cushions to add colour to the upstairs lounge area as well as being a nod to Vincent’s Nigerian heritage – Confetti bags – Confetti on tables – Hand fasting cord – Hanging paper lanterns

The flowers were supplied by the fabulous Bridget from Amaryllis Flowers who completely understood the vision! She made arrangements for all the tables and the beam behind the head table then we added extra bottles/vases ourselves with supermarket-bought single stems and pom-poms on floral wire. The bouquet couldn’t have been more perfect! Big, colourful, with bright ribbons and of course pom-poms.

We hired napkins from 88 Events in a hessian to bring the rustiness of the barn onto the tables and also used wooden round slabs as table centres provided by the barn.

Our Bali honeymoon was unfortunately cancelled with the pandemic, we instead spent a couple of nights in Cardiff on our way home from the wedding and plan to take the honeymoon again in a couple of years.

The confetti tunnel was amazing! We had just come out of non-stop lockdowns and we hadn’t seen most of our guests at all during that time so, seeing the smiling faces of people we love for the first time under this explosion of colour really was wonderful. Aside from that our first dance with our daughter taking centre stage and the wedding speeches!

The planning process can get overwhelming, take frequent breaks and don’t get too hung up on the little things, but, biggest of all on the day let it all go! Sit back and enjoy, as everyone says the day goes by really quickly this was certainly true for us.

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Playful Rainbow Wool Pom Pom DIY Barn Wedding

The Proposal

The Vision

The Venue

Your Outfits

Your Outfits

Your Outfits

Your Outfits

Instead of flowers we had the older girls carry giant balloons down the aisle supplied by Balloon Sensations with the little ones carrying colourful windmills purchased from John Lewis and I made a little heart sign for our daughter to carry which read ‘Daddy, here comes Mummy’.

Your Outfits

The Ceremony & Music

The Ceremony & Music

The Ceremony & Music

Our first dance was to Stevie Wonders “For once in my life’.

The Ceremony & Music

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

The Styling & Decor

The Styling & Decor

The Styling & Decor

The Styling & Decor

We hired napkins from 88 Events in a hessian to bring the rustiness of the barn onto the tables and also used wooden round slabs as table centres provided by the barn.

The Styling & Decor

Our Bali honeymoon was unfortunately cancelled with the pandemic, we instead spent a couple of nights in Cardiff on our way home from the wedding and plan to take the honeymoon again in a couple of years.

The Honeymoon

Memorable Moments

The planning process can get overwhelming, take frequent breaks and don’t get too hung up on the little things, but, biggest of all on the day let it all go! Sit back and enjoy, as everyone says the day goes by really quickly this was certainly true for us.

Advice For Other Couples

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