Hannah & Mark’s Alpheton Hall Barns Wedding

With a backdrop of meadows, woodland, big barn doors and a honey coloured oak beamed interior this historic rustic barn was the perfect location for their relaxed wedding celebration. I have huge admiration for couples who put so much personality and fun into a DIY wedding. H & M scoured charity shops for vases, grew 100 sunflowers, propagated plants for the wedding favours and foraged ivy for venue decorations.

Keep scrolling for all the summery details and more, oh and the most brilliant surprise performance by their three mums!

Hannah says…

We loved Alpheton Hall Barns from the moment we got there. It wasn’t just because it’s gorgeous, rustic and surrounded by the countryside. It was also because Carol and Nic (the owners) welcomed us with such warmth, enthusiasm and had so many great ideas which we bounced off each other. We didn’t even look at a second venue.

Another really convenient aspect of the Barns is that the ceremony barn is connected to the reception barn, so we were able to have the whole event in one place without anyone having to travel. We didn’t have the hugest budget for our wedding and felt that for such a big, unique and beautiful venue it was very good value for money. Carol and Nic also have a huge supply of props that can be borrowed which helped us to keep costs down.

I wore a dress by Madison James which was intricately detailed with lace appliques, slim jewelled straps, a long train and a low back. My naturally curly hair was decorated with a silver, pearl and leaf garland. For shoes, I decided on comfort over glamour; so although I initially wore plain white, flat sandals for the ceremony, I then changed into my beaten, old, white Converse trainers!

I had eight bridesmaids, all wearing grey multiway dresses. The grey looked great with the sunflower bouquets! All bridesmaids were gifted with a dainty silver bracelet with a single pearl.

The venue is naturally beautiful so really doesn’t need much decorating. However, I wanted sunflowers to be a theme of the wedding and set to work planting over 100 of them earlier in the year. I wanted to include as much homemade and homegrown decor as possible, so I created centrepieces that were formed from sunflowers that I’d grown and wildflowers I had picked with a friend. As well as collecting bottles for vases, we had been storing up our tin cans; some friends helped me to spray paint them, fill them with compost and then plant jade in them which I had propagated at home! These became our wedding favours.

My three mums got together and made autumnal coloured bunting, and cake stands out of plates and glasses from charity shops. Mark and I even went on an ivy-picking trip in the rain, a couple of days before the wedding! We suspended it from various hooks, and weaved it around beams which looked really pretty.

We used What the Fleur for the bouquets and buttonholes. I obviously had sunflowers as the main flower, but as the general colour scheme I chose a summery palette.

Once again I recruited friends and family to make the many cakes! My step mum made five cakes, a friend made another three (including gluten free and vegan cakes), and one of my work colleagues makes exquisite brownies which she kindly made for us. The cake table looked a bit like a mad hatter’s tea party table, with the handcrafted cake stands and array of cakes covered with fruit. We used a catering company called JGLS who supplied us with a lovely pizza, pasta and salad selection. They also provided us with extra staff to help serve drinks and canapés.

Manda from Hello Romance Photography was wonderful. I had found her on Instagram and instantly loved her style; it was natural and sunny. Meeting her for the first time over Zoom, it was like talking with an old friend, we had a great rapport and she made us feel as though were in good hands. On the day, Manda breezed around capturing some amazing candid moments, and when the sunset came she gathered Mark and I for a sunset shoot which are some of the best photos of the day.

Best part of the day

It’s so hard to choose the best part of the day! Other than the wedding ceremony which was perfect and emotional, there was a very special moment when our three mums performed a surprise dance, which Mark and I had no idea about. I was beaming with love and pride that they had all got together to plan it, make the outfits, and be brave enough to get up there and perform it for us!

From one couple to another…

Before the wedding, someone had told me to take moments to sit back and take it all in. I remember sitting at the top table and taking a moment to look out at the group of people in front of me laughing, chatting, drinking, singing and all there to enjoy our day with us. The day really does fly by, so it’s important to drink it in when you can!