DIY Barn Wedding By Emma Boileau - Boho Weddings: UK Wedding Blog

Happy Wednesday everyone, we are halfway through the week already how exciting is that! I have a wonderful wedding for you today that I know you are going to love. It’s a gorgeous barn wedding that was a totally DIY affair after the bride asked to borrow her bosses tractor barn. Her and her family then went about clearing it out and making it presentable enough for their wedding reception and what a great job they did! With everyone pitching in the barn looks amazing, as do the tables and that food! Yum!! Big thanks to Emma Boileau for the images.

‘It was a wonderful coming together of friends and family. The best party we’ve ever had and totally wanted to repeat it!’

Jessica and Matthew were married on 20th September 2014 at Bolton School Arts Centre followed by a reception at a private venue – we kitted out a tractor barn! ‘Location was important in terms of ease of access for family, but a creative space was really the main motivator for us. I (Jess) asked my boss to let us use his tractor barn because we couldn’t find a venue that wasn’t just that – a venue! We had 65 guests for the day, and around 120 in the evening. It took 10-11 months to plan.’

How they met
We met at college – Matt was the mysterious older boy in the year above me. We’ve been together almost 8 years now.

The Proposal
Matt had been working away in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the ATLAS experiment for a whole year – it was the weekend he was coming back for good. He decided on the plane back that he would ask me to marry him on a whim, apparently! He sneaked to a jewellers where they had this amazing vintage style engagement ring we had seen a few weeks before, and he hid a bottle of champagne in the fridge before we went out for a meal. He proposed when we got home, though, as he’s quite shy really! My first reaction was, “What are you doing!!” I was so surprised!

How did you allocate your budget
We decided on what mattered the most to us – having great memories of the day, and the having something amazing to eat! So photography and the food were the 2 big spends for us.

How did you choose your photographer
Emma’s photos were just really honest and real. I don’t like photos that are too contrived or use too much flash, editing, posing etc. We wanted relaxed and natural photos.

The Dress
My dress was Alfred Angelo, my shoes were from Debut by Debenhams. The rest of my accessories were bought from small businesses on Etsy – I wanted cute and quirky individual pieces. My Headress was from bewitchingLace on Etsy and I actually cannot wait to wear it again (even if it’s just in my own house!)

The Suit and Bridesmaids
Matt got a suit from Hugo Boss, and my chief bridesmaid wore a custom salwaar suit. My Flower girl wore Monsoon.

Theme or Colour Scheme
I actually couldn’t choose any one or two colours to stick to. My Bridesmaids and I stuck to ivory/cream and the rest of it could be whatever it turned out to be!

Flowers
Hydrageas were important to me, as they reminded me of my grandma. On the tables I had wild flowers, because I love unstructured and wild over manufactured and contrived arrangements.

Decoration
Fairy lights, jam jars, bunting. Pretty much anything people brought along to help kit out the barn with!

Food
For starters we had sharing platters, the idea being to encourage people to mix, and for main course we have handmade pies, with mash, vegetables and gravy! Dessert was a banquet table full of different cakes and sweet treats.

Wedding Cake
A 3 tired mint and white lace effect cake, handmade for us by a family member.

Entertainment
During the ceremony and also during the welcome drinks at the reception we had a string quartet playing all our favourite movie themes and soundtracks.
A local boy band from Bolton School, the Parallel Oreas Kicked off the party- they were amazing!

Buy or DIY your Stationery
Matt designed the placeholders and the invites using design software and I got them printed through a contact at work.

Personal or Handmade Touches
Because the evening venue was a barn located on a private residence, we basically had to get in there, clear out all the cobwebs (and massive spiders) build the stage, the dance floor and erect the tables and chairs ourselves. We hired in everything – A bar, catering staff, and procured our own wine.
My husband was instrumental in the co-ordination of all the suppliers in the immediate lead up to the big day, as I didn’t have any time off work!
Matt is also a keen baker and made some of the desserts himself.
My favourite touch had to be the gin table- we didn’t want champagne as welcome drinks! Gin in jam jars was our chosen welcome tipple.

Special Moments
Too many to name really, but if I had to pick a few, it would be getting the giggles during the vows, and then all my family & friends rocking out to the Killers as the Parallel Oreos kicked off the party.

Advice to other couples
It’s about you two. Don’t start thinking about if such a thing will please other people – it’s your day and you should make it about what you want and what is important to you as a couple.

Biggest surprise
How well behaved my little sister and brother were!
Also, how fast it went.