AMY AND LOUISE’S BRIDGE HOUSE BARN TIPI WEDDING

Amy and Louise got married at the Bridge House Barn in the heart of the beautiful Leicestershire countryside. Tipis, DIY decorations, gorgeous nature around and doggies with bow ties – what not to love! 

Read what Amy told us about their big day.

HOW DID YOU MEET?

We met via mutual friends in London. Both of us had recently separated from ex partners and despite some hesitation, friends convinced us to go to London for a break. Little did we know we would each meet the love of our lives.

TELL US ABOUT THE DAY

We had two ceremonies and two receptions! Greedy I know! The legal part… that was done in South Wales, where I’m from, in a registry office in a little town called Bridgend on the 30.09.2017. We had the reception in my parents back garden and my Mum’s best friend cooked us a huge BBQ. We spent the evening singing, listening to music and drinking in their summer house and under the gazebos.

The ceremony & reception were at Bridge Hose Barn (Kibworth Harcourt, Market Harborough in the Leicestershire countryside) we were in the open air during the ceremony and in a huge tipi as the day went on.

It’s a DIY venue, where pretty much most things are acceptable (within reason). It’s set in the Leicestershire countryside. The venue is made up of two fields and is set alongside a beautiful canal overlooking two locks. There is camping on site (in the adjacent field to the ceremony), electricity, and a shower with plenty of parking. The venue provides posh portable toilets and has their own 3 top hat tipi with benches and tables, lots of props, bales of hay and fully stocked bar. There is also a very handy 3 bedroom B&B / Apartment / Honeymoon Suite attached to the field. We cannot recommend this venue enough, the owners are amazing and nothing was too much trouble.

 

So the wedding nearly didn’t happen… it was due to take place May 2017 but 6 weeks before the date, my mum had an accident which left her laid up in hospital for 7 weeks. Thankfully she managed to walk again and we were able to re-arrange the wedding for October 2017.

One of the most important things for us was that all our close family and friends were there so we knew we had to cancel in May and re-arrange when everyone could be there. We are so fortunate to have amazing friends and family who mean so much to us.

We wanted our wedding to represent us! We wanted something fun, relaxed, informal and homemade. We also wanted to make sure guests were well fed and watered! We had always had visions of having the wedding ceremony in the open air and under a tree. I love trees, they remind me of laying down roots, growth, strength and rejuvenation).

We arrived the venue to set up the day before. We roped in family and friends to help dress the venue. My Dad had spent two years making decorations, games, props and signs for the day which all looked amazing. This meant so much to us because everything was completely personal. Louise spent the day before, with a couple of friends and family, prepping all the food. We had a huge buffet as our wedding breakfast, which lasted well in to the night and provided wine as toasting drinks (neither of us are keen on Champagne and we felt the wine went well with the cheese cake). We also provided a Hogg roast (Roasting Pig) in the evening. We think we achieved our goal of keeping people well fed and watered.

The night before the wedding we stayed in a bell tent together (it was freezing (we should have guessed as much given that it was October). I got ready in the Honeymoon suite (a room of the apartment located at the venue) and Louise got ready in her parents’ 4 man tent.

We chose to have a ‘first look’ moment rather than seeing each other at the ceremony. We’re really glad we did this as it gave us time to ourselves to take everything in and our brilliant captured the moment perfectly.

Friends of ours are part of a singing duo (Union Avenue Duo) they played while our gests waited for us and played us down the aisle which we both walked down with our fathers. We walked around the guests towards each other. This was so important to us as we wanted it to represent two people coming together and did not want one of us to stand out as ‘the bride’. Our son Dewi (the dog) came down the aisle with Louise’s step father and presented us with the rings (which we handmade in a workshop in Birmingham). We did our vows and rings followed by a hand binding (conducted by my perfect ceremony), with our mothers binding our hands together. This was also really important to us, as we wanted it to represent a union of two families (we are really fortunate that both are families get on so well).

The most fun parts of the wedding have to be the outdoor games and the number of ‘pile on’s that happened in the evening on the dance floor; just imagine a group of 30 something year old women all diving on top of each other with their best outfits on, it was hilarious.

We danced our first dance to Mary Lambert – She Keeps Me Warm (sung by our singing duo). The lyrics of the song are so significant to us.

Me and my Dad then did a ‘Daddy Daughter dance’, we’d always said we would do it, and there was a time I didn’t think it would happen (because of my dad’s illness), but we pulled it off and it got the party started.

 

DECORATIONS: Hand made by Amy’s dad. With props bought from car boot sales, DIY shops, vintage shops and loaned from family.
FLOWERS: Flora Button – Anne met with us on two occasions as the colour theme changed with the re-arranging of the wedding. She was able to see our vision and totally delivered our floral dreams at an amazing price.
CAKE: Cheese cake provided by Alison Ireland based at Leicester indoor market.
We made the main sweet wedding cake ourselves and got a handful of friends and family members to make smaller sweet cakes to be shared.
BAND / DJ: Union Due Avenue  – Beautiful acoustic duo who are very talented ladies. They sang, DJ’d and were able to cater to our every need, they even learned to sing our first dance song.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Magda K Photography  – Magda is a truly outstanding photographer, when we seen her photographs we just knew she was the woman to capture our special day. She managed to capture all the fun, joy, love and happy tears in the photographs. She was professional and non intrusive and blended in like a guest, we can’t recommend her enough, amazing lady!
VIDEO: Our video was created using two GoPros which were ‘manned’ or should I say ‘womanned’ by two very close friends The Hadjmees.
CEREMONY: My Perfect Ceremony – Our ceremony was arranged and conducted by Jo and Abbie. They have won awards for their service and were able to advise and tailor the ceremony to our every need, just perfect.
FOOD: Wedding Breakfast Prepared by Louise (bride), friends and family and laid out by friends.
EVENING FOOD: The Roasting Pig
DRESS / OUTFIT:
Amy’s dress: Perfection in Cardiff
Louise’s outfit: Jigsaw
Page Boys: Waist Coats Handmade by Amy’s Dad
Dog Accessories: Handmade by Amy’s Dad
BELL TENTS: Bell Bliss

 

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