Jess and Andy’s Rustic Farm Wedding By Avenue White Photography

Happy Monday everyone and welcome along to another fun packed week on the Blog. We have a fab collection of weddings for you this week starting off with this wonderful rustic farm wedding that has been sent into my by Jonny and Brigitta from Avenue White Photography It’s an upbeat fun wedding, with plenty of smiles and much laughter. A stunning farm venue with a gorgeous barn that housed both the ceremony and the reception. Fantastic decoration, so many lovely details and the best cheese and pork pie tower I think I have seen.

‘It was such a fun and quirky day full laughter and the people we love. Beautiful views with dramatic skies and even more dramatic dancing!’

Jess and Andy were married on 20th June 2015 at The Wellbeing Farm, Plantation Rd, Edgworth, Bolton.  ‘Our wedding was rustic, countryside, near home, locally sourced produce, views, animals on the farm, could be personalised.  We had a total of 90 guests.  Planning took 12mths in advance but majority of planning intermittently from 8 months. Most things were done in the 8 weeks leading to it.’  

How they met
We met through friends and our love of snow sports and cycling. We’ve been together nearly 8 years.

The Proposal
We had had a day in San Fransisco doing everything tourists would do- Alcatraz, the sea lions at Pier 39…then we decided to go for an afternoon run along the golden gate bridge. 6 miles later with rather tired legs (I had not been on a run for a long time!) we stopped to rest and admire the view at a fishing pier below the bridge where he got down on one knee and popped the question. Perfectly us!

How did you allocate your budget
I always had quite a handle on the budget as spending does not come naturally to me and this involved a very accurate spreadsheet! We had an idea of the total budget in mind, researched approximate costs the larger essential items e.g. food, drink, music and then saw what we had left for the less significant items e.g. favours, decorations, cake etc

Where did you splurge and where did you save
We splurged mainly on the band and the outfits. The band was really important to us as this was the main late entertainment. After a huge amount of research, which mainly involved excluding bands that weren’t up to scratch we found The Cover Ups. They were incredible and the dance floor was full all night- well worth the spend. We saved on decorations by recruiting the help of friends and family and doing a lot of it ourselves. Particularly from Anne Tranter who’s wicker weaving magic ensured our venue was dotted with beautiful wicker flowers and personalised wicker cyclists! Our wedding cake doubled as the evening food.

How did you choose your photographer
Our photographers had worked on a friends wedding and we instantly knew that they were perfect for us. They seemed to be able to capture the spontaneous moments that really can tell the story of the day and even the people in the photos. We met with them and they were so easy to work with that there was no competition. The final result was outstanding.

The Dress
My dress was White Rose, from Lacy Days, Ramsbottom. Accessories from all over really and shoes were Irregular choice.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
The suit was tailored by King & Allen, Wilmslow and the bridesmaid dress was Coast.

Theme or Colour Scheme
We just wanted a English countryside style but that was it really… country flowers, hay bales, the location etc.  There was no colour theme per se- multicoloured, fairly jumbled decorations all with a countryside, rustic feel. Additional cycling themed decorations added a bit of ourselves to the overall look.

Flowers
We had all sorts of English flowers including yellow roses for the button holes. In fact, we picked our own buttercups, cow parsley and thistles to add to the decorations.

Decoration
We had old beer bottles and milk bottles as vases on the tables. We had giant wicker flowers and life size wicker cyclists adorning the walls with bunting and fairy lights to add colour and light.

Food
Starter: goats cheese and pepper tart
Main: carved lamb and pork and chicken kebabs, new potatoes and a selection of wonderful salads
Dessert: Lemon cheesecake and eton mess
All served family style.

Wedding Cake
Instead of a traditional cake, we had a cheese and pork pie tiered wedding cake with chutneys, biscuits and breads which also served as our evening food.

Entertainment
Garden games (giant jenga, connect four, boules etc.) and the animals on the farm (llamas and donkeys) during the day with an acoustic set by the band during the canapés. Later we had the dance floor and the band. We had also arranged for a photobooth but all their equipment was stolen the night before so could not attend.

The Stationery
All self made.

Personal or Handmade Touches
Decorations, stationery, signs, menus, pick ‘n’ mix… almost everything had a personal touch to it, from the choice of location to the hay bales as seating.

Special Moments
The ceremony…especially the readings and our personal vows. The ceremony was so much fun, the readings induced laughter all round and the vows did much the same! Very tongue in cheek and loving at the same time.
The speeches…in particular, I asked my brother to read a letter for my parents to say thank you for everything they had done in bringing us up. He had no idea this was coming. But before he read the letter I ensured he read a statement of admission to all the naughty things we got up to as children ensuring he took the blame for them all. Great entertainment, some rather shocked parents and he was a very good sport!
The dancing…the band were incredible and really knew how to get the guests dancing. Lots of fantastic memories.
The sunset photos…the photographers spotted a beautiful sky developing as the sun was going down so we headed out for some tipsy photos at the perfect moment and the result is stunning.

Advice to other couples
In the planning, just make sure you do the big things nice and early. It is incredible how quickly venues are filled and bands are booked up and how long dresses take to be made!
On the day, just go with the flow and enjoy it. It will pass by so quickly so make sure you spend some time together soaking it all in.

Biggest surprise
The weather…Absolutely tipping it down all morning with a thick mist right up until the moment we arrived for the ceremony but by the time it had finished there were white fluffy clouds, beautiful views and we were in store for an amazing moody sunset.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Photographer – www.avenuewhitephotography.com
• Wicker decorations – [email protected]
• Dress – www.lacy-days.com
• Groom suit – www.kingandallen.co.uk/index.html
• Flowers – www.alternative-arrangements.com
• Make up – www.mobile.twitter.com/jhowieson
• Hair – www.freddiesforhair.com/about.htm
• Venue – www.thewellbeingfarm.co.uk

For more information on Avenue White Photography go to:

www.avenuewhitephotography.com / [email protected] / @avenuewhite / I:avenuewhitephotography/