Fun Pink & Lilac Barnston Lodge Wedding + Blooms & Ballo

Goodness, I shouldn’t have favourites, but WWW readers Daisy and Reece’s pink and lilac Barnston Lodge wedding is right up there. Why? Well, it certainly helps that Daisy (Daisy May’s Florist) is a florist as the summer wedding flowers here are immense! The blooms are some of the prettiest I’ve ever laid eyes on and in the most gorgeous pinks and lilacs too. Wow.

Then there were the sensational outfits, cool balloon installation and all the thoughtful touches throughout. With the tipi reception which created an indoor-outdoor feel, the atmosphere was incredibly relaxed. Also, be sure to look out for some amazing alternative wedding cakes, I’m looking at you pork pies and macarons!

Katherine Ashdown Photography was there to capture all the joy and love, thanks so much for sharing these wonderful shots with us!

Pink & Lilac Barnston Lodge Wedding

We went to Bali in September 2019 with two other couples for a two week holiday.

On the third night Reece told me we were meeting our friends for drinks on the beach, as we were walking nearer to where they were I could see candles in the distance at sunset. He had got his friends to write ‘will you marry me’ in the sand and got down on one knee. It was so unexpected!

The Vision

Being a wedding florist and seeing lots of weddings, I had a very clear idea of how I wanted my wedding to look. We wanted everyone to just have fun and enjoy the day with us, without it feeling too restricted and formal.

The Planning

We booked our venue just before the first lockdown, so only managed to view it once. We knew immediately that due to this and a lot of postponements, we had to get our suppliers booked in quick, even without meeting them, so a lot of it was done over emails.

We were fortunate enough that our date never got postponed, even with the ongoing changes due to the pandemic.

The Venue

Barnston Lodge, Great Dunmow, Essex.

We found it really difficult to choose a wedding venue, due to being in the wedding industry. I felt like I wanted somewhere that I had never worked at before, which proved quite tricky.

As soon as we saw Barnston Lodge and met Jane (the owner), we fell in love with both the space as well as her! We viewed the venue in the winter and thought if we loved it then, we would love it even more at its best. Having the church just next door, a short 4 minute walk away down the country lane, made it even more special as we could have both traditional and non-traditional wedding.

The Readings & Music

I walked down the aisle to traditional Bridal march (we didn’t really have a song and wanted slightly traditional elements to the day).

We sung ‘Sing Hosanna’ and ‘One More Step Along The Road I Go’, as we thought most people would know these from school!

We walked back down the aisle to ‘Paradise – George Ezra’ as it’s always been a favourite of ours!

The readings were done by the Grooms sister and a school friend of mine (Daisy), we let them choose what they wanted to read for us.

Your Outfits

The dress was by Wona Concept
Shoes Ted Baker
Veil from Love Bridal Wedding shop

I had found a designer online that I loved the look of and only one shop (Love Bridal, Crystal Palace) stocked it.

I tried lots and lots on as I didn’t really have a style in mind. After the second visit I finally found the one! Although I added detachable sleeves to it and also a detachable skirt, to make it different after the wedding ceremony.

The groom and wedding party suits were from Slaters, Chelsmford.

My maid of honour was my older sister. Bridesmaids were my cousin and two oldest school friends. Flower girls were our two twin nieces.

I really wanted mismatched dresses but couldn’t find any I liked. I bought lots of dresses for the girls to try as I wanted them to be comfortable. Their dresses were by Maya Deluxe, from Asos. Flower girl dresses were Needle and Thread.

Your Photographer

I had worked alongside Kathy Ashdown at a wedding back in 2013 and knew from the moment I see the images, that when I was to get married I would want her to do my wedding!

The Flowers

Being a wedding florist I actually found this so difficult as I felt so much pressure from other people and that they would judge what I chose!

Due to the bridesmaid dresses, we had lots of pastel flowers and lots of different varieties of flowers!

As we had long tables, I knew I didn’t want anything big and showy as I wanted to do this in other places which would make more of an impact. We kept it simple with bud vases instead.

The Stying & Decor

We really wanted the tipis to look fun, so decided to add balloons in and amongst the ceiling, along with flowers (of course!).

We always wanted a ‘chill out’ zone away from the music, so decided to turn it into a whisky and cigar bar alongside chesterfield sofas.

Additionally, we decided to have a beer pong table as well as some outdoor games (which were kindly lent to us by Jane).

As we knew some people did have a sweet tooth, we thought about doing a dessert table instead, where people could help themselves. This went down an absolute treat!

As Reece and I don’t particularly like cake, this was one thing we really agreed on! Reece had seen a pork pie cake and instantly wanted us to have it. This did prove difficult to source, but we eventually found one online that come from Devon! We had 5 tiers of different flavour pork pie, which went down so well!

The Honeymoon

Due to work commitments, we still haven’t been on our honeymoon. We had a few nights out in London after the wedding and Reece surprised me with a stay at the Shard. We have now booked our honeymoon for this year to the Maldives!

Memorable Moments

Just the whole day, everything went to plan and everyone has said that it was the best wedding they had been to. We couldn’t have asked for anything more! The after-party back at the hotel we all stayed at was an unplanned bonus too!

Advice For Other Couples

Don’t stress the small stuff, it really doesn’t matter and you probably won’t even notice on the day.

It goes by so quickly, take 5 minutes to just have a look around and really soak it up to see how much love is in the room and how much fun everyone is having. It really was the best day of our lives!