Ashes Wedding
Amy & Paul's Summer Extravaganza
Relaxed, Rustic Barn Wedding
Amy & Paul's Summer Ashes Wedding was such a blast! Their fun-filled rustic barn wedding was filmed by Big Picture Weddings Videography who captured the love and laughter of this joyful August Wedding at The Ashes Barns beautifully.
After watching the footage we wanted to know more! Here's what Amy & Paul had to say about their Ashes Wedding...
Caught on Camera!
Paul and I met whilst working at B&Q. He was a Showroom Manager and I worked as checkout supervisor at the time.
It was when Paul was building one of the many displays for the showroom that he asked for my number... what he didn't realise was that I caught sight of his little celebration dance around the B&Q trade point department on the store CCTV!
Exactly 6 years after we got together, whilst on an amazing adventure around Italy, Paul led me down a quiet street in Venice that ended with a fantastic view of the Rialto Bridge, got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife!
Why an Ashes Wedding?
We looked around a few different venues but nothing felt quite right. We wanted something magical, where our guests could relax, enjoy beautiful surroundings and not feel like they were being herded from one place to another.
I remember driving up The Ashes Barns idyllic driveway and just thinking 'wow!' We were met by Vikki who showed us around the venue, she was so knowledgeable, so helpful; she made us feel like we were the only ones there. I think the moment we knew it was for us was when we walked into the Ceremony Barn and both of us just looked at each other and filled up. The atmosphere, the rustic feel and the fact we could get married in one barn and then everything else was in the other barn meant our guests could just wonder around freely, relax and enjoy the day it was just perfect.
How Did You Make It Your Own?
We took inspiration from the stunning barns and beautiful surroundings of The Ashes, choosing blush pinks to complement the sage green of the doors. We didn’t want anything to look to ‘done up’ we wanted it all to be natural but with a bit of a cheeky side to it.
We made all the decorations ourselves. We had hand written signs, bunting for the barns and courtyard, log slices and glass jars wrapped in lace for the tables and photographs of Paul and I as children on the doors to the toilets. Instead of a guest book we had a guest quilt, taking bits of fabric for the guests to sign. We drew little pictures to go alongside our plans so that Matthew, our amazing events manager, knew how we wanted things set out. It really helped us to explain our vision.
Surprise!
We had a few things to surprise our guests; we surprised them with a vintage bus to pick them all up from the hotel, we printed cute ‘so your going to sit through a wedding’ cards which were placed on their chairs and we loved the fantastic Afternoon Delights who acted as wedding crashers. Our guests absolutely loved them, they then formed part of our 8 piece live band at night.
We had some fun with the wedding breakfast too! We chose a Host-a-Roast and surprised our 'carvers' with B&Q aprons! It got all of our guests talking and created a real buzz during the meal.
Top Tips for Future Couples
Having an events manager makes your wedding so much more relaxing! Matthew was our wedding events manager and he was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. He completely understood what we were going for, listened to everything that we said and helped to make sure that our day ran without a hitch. He helped us feel like we could just enjoy our wedding day and made sure that our guests were happy, the décor was moved between the barns seamlessly and honestly, our day wouldn’t have been the same without him.
Write your own vows, it might seem like an extra job at the time but it’s our favourite bit of the ceremony. It’s the personal touches that make it your day.
Take time on the day just for the two of you, whether that’s a wander down the drive or a walk around the lake. Take the time just to stop and take it all in. Stop and look around during the day and remember every moment. It’s those bits you'll remember afterwards.
Supplier Shout Outs!
- Wedding Photographer - Sarah Williams
- Videographer - Big Picture Weddings
- Barbershop Quartet - Afternoon Delights
- Florist - The Topiary Tree
- Wedding Cake - Laura Jane Cake Design
- Hair - Roote 66, Skelmersdale
- Make Up Artist - Helen Pearson
- Vintage Bus - Yorkshire Heritage Bus Company