The Wedding of Hollie & Jade

As Hollie & Jade strolled along our driveway, a profound certainty washed over them – they’d stumbled upon the crown jewel. A seamless blend of rustic charm with the touch of luxury and glamour they’d been missing.

The Before…

Throughout early COVID restrictions, I (Hollie) had been planning to propose. I hung on as long as I could, envisioning the perfect moment after the lifting of COVID restrictions, allowing us to share the moment in a special place. However, as the situation dragged on, I simply couldn’t wait any longer and decided to seize the moment!

Years before, I’d gifted Jade a personalised version of Alice in Wonderland for her birthday. Which placed her centre stage as the main character. For the proposal, I crafted an epilogue to this story which saw Alice (Jade) get engaged.

Handing the new chapter to Jade, I asked her to read it. At the end, the narrative guided her downstairs where I (Hollie) was waiting, surrounded by playing cards (all hearts, of course!). There I asked her to marry me – the best part was that Jade had also been planning to propose and had my engagement ring upstairs. It was a beautiful, intimate moment. And in the end, getting engaged just the two of us at home turned out to be perfect and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

The Perfect Blend: Rustic Charm, With A Touch Of Glamour And Sophistication

As we began the search for our perfect wedding venue we knew that we wanted a rustic barn-type wedding. However, after viewing a couple of ‘bare-bones’ venues, we realised they leaned a little too heavily on the rustic side for us. We wanted a venue that seamlessly blended rustic charm with a touch of glamour and sophistication.

Hollie had been a guest at a couple of THB weddings already. So we knew that it was stunning but we were initially concerned that it would be miles out of our budget. Curious, we decided to go for a look around anyway as the other venues we’d viewed just weren’t giving us *that* feeling.

As we walked up the drive, Jade turned to me and said, ‘this is it’. We hadn’t even made it to the door and we were sold. As Jordan showed us around, we fell in love. And all of a sudden, it didn’t matter that I’d been there before, it seemed like a brand new place.

We loved that there was no pressure to book, and the lovely THB team didn’t even get annoyed with our incessant emails asking for different dates! Best decision we ever made!

DIY Stationary, And A Simple, Modern Theme

We didn’t have a theme per se for the wedding but we had visions of a rustic wedding with drips of modern simplicity throughout the décor. After agreeing on our colour palette of rust, sage and neutrals. We took to Pinterest for inspiration and went from there!

We took a hands-on approach to crafting our wedding stationery. Personally designing and creating each element. We delicately traced lettering onto glass for the seating chart and table numbers. And we stamped each place name onto a rustic brown tag to be displayed on the tables.

We intentionally kept it simple to create an atmosphere that reflected our personal style while allowing Tower Hill Barns’ natural character and charm to shine through.

Gorgeous Dried Flower Floral Arrangements

We found our florist Dried Ltd online. As the company is based in Edinburgh we largely communicated how we wanted our floral arrangements to look via email and they were shipped to us by post. We couldn’t fault them. The lady we spoke to was super helpful and showed us pictures of other weddings she had dressed for inspiration. She also went above and beyond, adding to our order at the last minute when our cake fell through. We still have our flowers in vases around our home two months later!

The Wedding Cake

Unfortunately, we were let down by our cake supplier quite late into the process and decided to roll with the punches. We purchased a simple, plain cake from M&S which we displayed on THB’s rustic barrel. The THB staff were amazing and decorated the cake for us using our loose dried flowers and Etsy cake topper – it looked perfect!

Pre-ceremony rituals…

In a nod to tradition, we decided not to see each other before the wedding. So I (Hollie) got ready at my dad’s house where I’d stayed the night before. While Jade got up bright and early to head to the gorgeous makeup and dressing room at THB with her family and bridesmaids.

Cassie M Bridal did both of our hair and makeup for the day. After having a trial with her, we both simply had to have her for the wedding! As a couple who don’t necessarily put a lot of work in day-to-day with makeup, she made us feel really relaxed and listened when we didn’t want too much.

In the end, we both opted for quite natural make-up and half-up, half-down hair. And our talented florist Dried Ltd kindly created a beautiful dried flower headpiece for Jade to match our bouquets which tied everything together beautifully.

Although we were both racked with nerves and excitement the day progressed really well. Jade’s a worrier and knowing this the amazing THB staff took control of all the set-up and running of the day. Thankfully, it all went perfectly. At no point did we feel rushed or stressed about time. We had just the right amount of time before the ceremony – any longer and I’d have been too nervous to walk!

The Wedding Fashion

To preserve that ‘wow’ moment, we decided not to discuss or show each other our wedding dresses ahead of time. We did entrust our maid of honours with the responsibility of confirming they’d work well together though (no pressure!).

Jade: I visited a bridal shop in Yorkshire called Scarlett Poppy with simple bohemian-style dresses in mind. After trying on a few, I realised this style simply didn’t ‘wow’ me. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried on a few different styles. I found ‘the one’ a beautiful white a-line gown with a nude effect corset adorned with sparkles and glitter and I cried. It was perfect, but a million miles from what I’d intended to find!

Hollie: I considered wearing a suit as I am usually more comfortable in trousers. However, I made the decision to wear a dress based on how I wanted to remember the day. Walking into each bridal boutique I firmly believed that there wasn’t a dress on earth that could make me cry. However, the third time’s a charm and as I tried on THE dress in Agape Bridal Boutique, Chester I wept like a child.

An Emotional Outdoor Ceremony

It was Jade’s dream to get married outdoors, beneath the sandstone arch of the gorgeous ‘Old Railway Bridge’ at Tower Hill Barns. Thankfully despite the somewhat drizzly weather our registrar gave the go-ahead and the rain stopped just as we began to walk down the aisle!

Our five bridesmaids (all sisters of the brides) walked down the aisle first, to Hollie’s favourite classical song ‘River Flows In You’ by Yiruma. Wearing simple, elegant, satin maxi dresses in a sage green hue from Re-written Bridesmaids. They looked simply stunning, and tied in with the theme beautifully.

Having decided we both wanted to walk down the aisle with our fathers as tradition dictates, both myself and Hollie descended the aisle to ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perry. We know it’s a bit cringe – but we didn’t care!

I (Hollie) decided I wanted to go first so that I could watch Jade as she walked down the aisle. However, as I linked arms with my dad I was suddenly absolutely terrified. It finally dawned on me that this was really happening! Those nerves continued until the registrar told me Jade was coming. As I turned around, they just disappeared.

I (Jade) on the other hand felt like I couldn’t breathe or remember how to walk. My hands were shaking as I walked down the aisle but my dad kept me calm by talking about the weather – surprisingly it actually helped!

We needn’t have worried. In the end, the ceremony was really lovely and went super quick. Though very emotional, it was much easier than we thought it was going to be.

A Nervewrecking First Dance

We were a little nervous about our first dance to our wedding band’s version of ‘Take on the World’ by You Me At Six. Mainly because Jade is shy and I (Hollie) can’t dance! We played it safe, with the old stand and sway. Although, I (Hollie) did throw in a little spin to Jade’s dismay!

A Killer After-Partayyy

Our evening do was incredible, even if we do say so ourselves.

Everyone was up, and the dancefloor was full from the first dance! The energy from our band ‘The Singles Table’ was infectious and there were moments we just stopped and looked around incredulously at our family and friends having the time of their lives. Hollie even managed to do the worm in her wedding dress, despite the best efforts of her new mother-in-law to intervene! We were glad to have organised 30 pairs of flip-flops for our guests to change into when their feet got sore that’s for sure!

Towards the end of the night, our amazing wedding band even got a conga line going. Somehow they managed to conga while singing and playing their instruments at the same time – it was a real highlight for us. The next day, all anyone could talk about was how many people had got up and danced!

Award-Winning Wedding Photography

For our wedding photography, we wanted someone who could really capture us and our guests in a relaxed, non-staged way. Candid is what we were looking for, and Richard Miller is who we found.

From the first conversation, Rich was relaxed and made us feel less nervous. Jade isn’t a huge fan of having her picture taken, but he reassured us that we wouldn’t even notice him (and we didn’t!)

The Wedding Planning Experience

When it came to wedding planning, we came prepared. We’d both had Pinterest boards on the go before we were even engaged. Luckily, they were pretty close to each other! We also had a roundabout budget in mind and stuck to it for the most part. We’re quite lucky in that, Jade is more organised and good at planning, whereas I (Hollie) am more creative but good at budgeting – dream team!

THB were extremely inclusive. We felt the same as every other couple, all paperwork was catered to us – it wasn’t like things had to be crossed out! We had Mrs and Mrs cocktails and genuinely never once felt like we were ‘being catered for’. We just felt normal, which we are!

The one thing that we would have loved is to both get ready in separate bridal suites so that we could both enjoy the full bridal experience. (We hear you. Watch this space!). However, this didn’t take away from how perfect the day was.

Advice for future couples

Hollie: Honestly, don’t sweat the small stuff. People only remember the good things from the day.

Jade: Spend a good amount of money on your entertainment, our day was extra special and that was in large part due to the band. People are far more likely to remember their experience more than your décor!

We can’t thank the family at THB enough for making our day magical. It’s a cliché, but it truly was the best day of our lives, we wouldn’t do anything differently!

Heading for more real #THBWeddings