Gemma and Adam's Homemade West Yorkshire Wedding Filled with Wildflowers by Jenna Kathleen Photographer

Today I am taking you to West Yorkshire for the gorgeous intimate wedding of Gemma and Adam. They wanted a countryside venue with a blank canvas, so they could really put their own stamp on it. Gemma loves crafting so she was keen to get involved with as much of the decoration as she could. From table numbers to place names and candles the whole venue was an array of homemade goodness! They kept the day simple and intimate with a guest list of 45 of their closest friends and family and with this, created a warm, welcoming ceremony and super pretty reception. Big thanks to Jenna Kathleen Photographer for the gorgeous photos.

It was just as we imagined! The venue was so beautiful and the day was as relaxed and fun as we’d hoped for.

Gemma and Adam were married on 6th August 2022 at The Chilli Barn in West Yorkshire, the ceremony took place outside in front of the barn. ‘We love going for walks and hikes. Otley Chevin in West Yorkshire is a beautiful spot that we have visited many times. The venue had exactly the right atmosphere that we wanted. It is surround by fields and woodland. It was the right size for our small, relaxed wedding. The venue is beautifully intimate, decorated in a simple style. I wanted a place that we could decorate ourselves as I love crafting. I was able to make a lot of the decorations myself. We had 45 guests for the ceremony and around 60 in the evening. We got engaged in 2019 on the 27^th July. As soon as covid restrictions lifted we were busy with the preparations. The chilli barn was the first venue that we managed to view and we fell in love with the setting and barn.’

How they met
We meet during our first year at university. As we were both studying English we both went on a University trip to York. We’ve been together for a decade now.

The proposal
Adam proposed in our living room. He had planned to propose on a trip Scotland but he got too excited and could not wait!

How did you allocate your budget?
We used a Wedding planning app to allocate budget and decided on our priorities before making decisions. We shopped local and made a lot of the decorations ourselves.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We were quite restrained on most things but I did choose to splurge on my dress.

How did you choose your photographer?
We found Jenna on Instagram and thought her style really fit in with what we wanted from the day.

The dress
The Lyla Grace dress was by Lace and Co in Horbury, by Rembo Styling. The shoes were from Etsy, I had a silver pearl necklace from Azendi.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suit came from a shop called Yorkshire Menswear, it was by Mark Darcy. The bridesmaids dresses were from Yumi, and the young bridesmaids’ dresses were from Little Bridesmaids Boutique on etsy.

Theme or colour scheme
Sage green and rust orange for the main colours; the theme was ‘wildflowers’.

Flowers
Lots of beautiful dried wildflowers

Decoration
Most of the decorations were homemade. I hand embroidered the table numbers and put them in gold frames, we painted candles, a friend lent us some homemade bunting, and my dad made a wonderful arch!

Food
The starter was an Indian sharing platter on each table. We then had a butternut squash and vegan goats cheese tart or steak pie and mash, followed by a choice of brownie or lemon posset.

Wedding cake
We had a white chocolate ganache cake decorated with wild flowers to tie in with the theme. It was made by the mother of the groom – she had grown some of the flowers in her garden especially for the cake. She also made about three more cakes for all the dietary requirements at the wedding!

Entertainment
A live band in the evening

Who supplied the stationery?
The invitations were homemade on seedpaper with a design we made online. The place cards were also homemade and used wax seals.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went to Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, and the Maldives

Personal touches
So Many

The arch
The invitations and place cards
The candles
Bridesmaids made their own bouquets and flower hoops
Hand embroidered table numbers
Dried flowers for confetti from family gardens (and from flowers Adam has given me over the years)
Bunting from a friend’s wedding
I wore my grandma’s engagement ring and my mother-in-law put a tiny shoe on the cake that was a family heirloom from her and her mum’s weddings.
A cake topper model of our cat who sadly couldn’t be there on the day!

Special moments or highlights
We went to get photos taken in the forest across the road. It was the first time we’d had to ourselves after the ceremony and it was lovely – we had a dance in the woods while Jenna took pictures.

Advice for other couples
Make things yourself where you can! It’s great fun being crafty and you can save loads of money.

Biggest surprise
The sun came out just as I arrived at the venue! Also a herd of cows showed up to watch the ceremony peering over the fence (we’d hoped they would be there!)