Sophie and Zak's Pretty Pastel Spring Barn Wedding in York by Fabio Photography

Today we head to York for this pretty pastel spring wedding, full of smiles, flowers and lots of fun. Sophie and Zakwere looking for a rustic venue that aloud them the freedom to shape their wedding the way they wanted it. This they found in Woodstock Weddings York, a gorgeous barn wedding venue, full of character, ‘It felt rustic, unique, had gorgeous views of the countryside and we loved how bespoke it was.’ They had lots of personal details, with gorgeous pastel accents and a nod towards their pet dog. This wedding is full of rustic charm, all captured by Yorkshire Wedding Photographer Fabio Photography.

The best day of our lives we will never forget! A destination wedding without stepping on a plane!

Sophie and Zak were married on 24^th April 2026 at Woodstock Weddings and Events in York. ‘Woodstock was the 4^th Wedding Venue we viewed and it was the only one we both walked away from and said ‘wow!!!’ It felt rustic, unique, had gorgeous views of the countryside and we loved how bespoke it was, that we could make our day exactly how we wanted it. With their only being one day left that was available in April (the month we wanted to get married) it was a no brainer for us to get it booked straight away! We had 100 guests, 75 day, 25 evening. We booked it for 2 years time and started the planning straight away to ensure we got a pick of the best suppliers! This did leave us a bit of a gap in the middle not doing much but it was nice to not be so full steam ahead!’

How they met
We met when we were 17 at Sainsbury’s, however we didn’t get together until 2020 when we both moved to Leeds! We have now been together for 6 years.

The proposal
Zak proposed at Roundhay Park, which is our favourite walk in Leeds with our dog – Nugget! Zak knew he wanted to propose with Nugget and did it on our anniversary to make that day extra special!

How did you allocate your budget?
It depended on what was important to us and did a lot of searching on google/hitched/bridebook to find suppliers that were good but also competitively priced!

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
Saved – definitely on the veil. This seemed SO expensive for something you wear for a tiny bit of your day. Shein had it covered and it cost me £10. The wedding cake we also saved on by deciding to go with something different – A Savvy Baker brownie stack! This was £75 compared to a wedding cake that could cost 100s! We also used this as our dessert on our 3-course meal which further helped save money, with the cake also not going to waste! Another save was not having a videographer, and instead bought a £60 camcorder on Amazon, which the bridal party used throughout the day and into the night – so good to watch back!

Splurge – We would say the entertainment, which for us was a very important part of the day. We decided to have a DJ as well as a saxophonist which helped to keep the energy high when it came to the evening set!

How did you choose your photographer?
We found our photographer (Fabio Photography) on Bridebook/Hitched! We had reached out to a few, however Fabio was quick with his response and as soon as we spoke to Fabio on the phone we knew we had to book him! We didn’t need to have anymore conversations with anyone else. His photos looked amazing and when we spoke about the vibe we wanted, he fit the bill. He also sent us some example photos he had already at our venue which further sealed the deal!

The dress
Scarlet Poppy Bridal, Veil was from Shein and shoes were Next!

Suit and bridesmaids
Suits were from Slaters, bridesmaid dresses were from Azazie and one from Debenhams!

Theme or colour scheme
As we were getting married in April, we went for a spring theme which included the pastel colours pink, green, yellow and lilac. I had four bridesmaids who had to each pick a colour and the décor throughout the venue matched! I also had x2 friends as my ‘something blue’ who came to the wedding in pastel blue dress to coordinate with the bridesmaids.

Flowers
We went for wildflowers, which fit the Spring theme perfectly. The colour of the bouquets matched the bridesmaid’s dresses with my bridal bouquet being a mixture of all to tie it all together!

Decoration
We kept the décor quite simple with single stem flowers in bud vases alongside taper candles – all tying in with the pastel colour scheme!

Food
We went with Woodstock’s caterer F4D events who were amazing and could provide anything we wanted! For starter it was either Tomato and mozzarella bruschetta or ham hock terrine. For main it was either chicken wrapped in bacon with roasted mediterranean vegetables or an aubergine galette. And for dessert was our wedding cake as mentioned above, and could be grazed on into the night for those who were full!

Wedding cake
This was from Savvy Baker who did us a chocolate brownie cake stack. It was incredible!!

Entertainment
We booked Spencer Sax who played during our wedding reception as canapes were being passed around, as well as doing x3 sets in the evening with the best DJ Steven Maddison!

Who supplied the stationery?
We got these printed out ourselves, creating everything on Canva!

Where are you going on your honeymoon?
We will be going on honeymoon later this year on a Safari in South Africa followed by a chilled week in Mauritius!

Personal touches

We created the welcome sign using a mirror we already had at home, a pool noodle (to wrap around the outside of the mirror), some faux flowers and ordered some vinyl for the lettering.
Our dog unfortunately couldn’t be at the wedding as he is a nutter!! So we included him on our table numbers where we used chat gpt to place him in front of our favourite pubs dressed up in Wedding attire! He also made an appearance for the night do as a huge cardboard cutout.
We created a first dance sweepstake board, where whoever guessed our first dance song got a free drink! This went down a treat!

Special moments
The first look with my bridesmaids, something blue girls and my step-dad was a really special moment and were the first tears of the day! Then walking down the aisle and seeing each other also for the first time was something we will never forget. Followed by leaving the ceremony to the gorgeous outdoors, sun shining, saxophonist playing – it just felt like a dream.

Advice for other couples
Enjoy every moment and try stay with each other through the day as much as possible as it is true what they say, time really does fly!! Also do not stress too much over the little things, you will not care when the day comes round!

Biggest surprise
The singing waiters!! Zak’s dad had completely surprised us by booking these without us knowing. They came on as the wedding breakfast was ending and before the evening started! It was an amazing surprise and they certainly got us! It kept the energy in the room high right into the evening do!