By Louise Baltruschat Hollis
All the feels today folks, courtesy of WWW readers Sarrah and Ryan who were married on the 22nd August 2019 at Clock Barn in Hampshire. Their day was styled in a beautifully boho rustic fashion, think rustic barn venue, boho touches and lots of homegrown greenery with DIY touches. Perfection.
Their nearest and dearest came together to help them create the day of their dreams, with the flowers and even a poem for their ceremony all contributed by their family. Ryan crafted a giant jenga and a connect 4 game for fun in the grounds, I also love the fun pot plants. Next up that I just have to mention are Sarrah and Ryan’s amazing outfits, hello bridal cape and tweed suit!
Many thanks to This and That Photography for sharing these brilliantly vibrant and heartfelt images.
Ryan had booked a ‘surprise’ trip for my 30th birthday. He actually couldn’t keep the surprise for long due to my persistent pestering!
We bundled into his work van on the longest road trip up to Scotland ever! This was the year it freakishly decided to snow in March. This made things a little touch and go and it became very scary for me once we arrived in Scotland with the sheer amount of snow on the ground compared to what us southerners were used too! I’m pretty sure Ryan enjoyed driving, watching me hold onto my seat for dear life as he drove up and down the hills.
We eventually arrived at the most beautiful castle, greeted with champagne and red roses, the snow made it feel even more special.
We had a posh three course dinner in a massive hall surrounded by knights armour, it was amazing.
We spent the next few days exploring Edinburgh, going for long walks, one particularly scary walk up a very large hill called Arthur’s seat. I discovered later he had actually carried the ring the whole time but due to the slippery conditions and thick fog, decided against proposing here!
On the day of my 30th birthday we decided to visit a loch, so we drove a little way out looking for pretty scenery and eventually settled with Loch Lomond. We walked past highland cattle, frozen streams and found a lovely bench with the best view of the beautiful lake we could find. Suddenly he got down on one knee and I was in absolute shock! A day I’ll never forget.
Once the shock had worn off, planning started quickly. We immediately knew we wanted a barn. Barn restoration was Ryan’s speciality being a carpenter. The rest of the planning just came naturally. We didn’t have set ‘themes’, we just knew we wanted to throw the biggest party all our friends and family wouldn’t forget.
The next wonderful supplier I was so grateful to have stumbled across on my local Facebook page was Tori from Riot Hairdressing. She made me laugh, instantly got my vision and recreated the Pinterest worthy hair with the relaxed boho waves I always wanted.
She also effortlessly styled all my bridesmaids and mother of the grooms hair the morning of the wedding. I loved how she made everyone feel so comfortable and like we had all known each for years, the most wonderful morning I could have wished for. My bridesmaids all helped make it so special too.
Tori recommended make up artist Amy from Made Up Brides who again was an absolute lifesaver. Again a lovely lady with the most calming presence, made me feel amazing. I originally toyed with the idea with doing my own make up but I never could have made my face stay put on a very warm August day the way Amy did.
Can’t forget Taz from Taz’s Beauty Boutique in Titchfield who I went to regularly beforehand for the lashes of my dreams.
Ryan luckily has a great local barber who tamed his beard!
I agonised over bridesmaids dresses for months but finally settled on ASOS.
In the meantime my soon to be sister in law discovered she was pregnant and the maternity version was our saving grace.
I knew my 8 year old daughter was always going to be tricky, but this is where Shay at Buttons and Bows altered a ladies size dress in the same style to fit her perfectly and I was so grateful. It was so important that she matched the other bridesmaids to feel like she was a part of the girl gang.
I found planning both addictive and overwhelming. I loved picking our suppliers, trawling through recommendations, wedding blogs, Pinterest, you name it.
However, being the most indecisive person who originally didn’t want to ‘waste’ huge amounts of money on one day, I ended up getting very carried away at the sheer amount of choice and found Ryan the voice of reason!
My mum helped me immensely through the whole process too.
If I was honest I wasn’t really looking forward to dress shopping. I let the pressure get to me far too much, but if there’s something I have learnt by this process is to trust people’s recommendations and you can’t go too wrong.
I was luckily recommended the Romsey Bridal Boutique by a friend and I didn’t go anywhere else. Andrea was so lovely, she really listened to what I liked. I knew I didn’t want anything too meringue like and wanted to embrace August summer boho vibes. Andrea gave me personal recommendations based on not only my taste, but her wealth of experience, and drew on other factors like style of venue which I was so thankful for. I ended up choosing a Fox Bridal dress in a nude colour which also came with a cape which suited me perfectly.
Shay at Buttons and Bows in Southampton did the alterations which mainly included lots of taking the hem up due to my 5’ 3’ frame! Another wonderful lady who made me feel extremely comfortable throughout the process and was later a life saver with my bridesmaids dresses.
Ryan knew from the start he was going to get the tweed suit he always had wanted. He went to Dress 2 Kill who were able to create his dream bespoke suit.
The process of budgeting and thinking about the amount of money we were spending was far too daunting for us. Instead we decided what things where most important for us and what things we could go without. We also took advantage of family members offering their help, financial or otherwise!
It didn’t take us long to find Clock Barn, as soon as we went to see it we both fell in love. For us it was important to have accommodation on site for our nearest and dearest to stay. The Tufton Warren farmhouse is immaculately presented and Ryan was in awe of the barn itself. It was also very conveniently located not too far for our family and friends living in Hampshire.
Every time we went to visit the sun was shining and on our big day it didn’t disappoint. Bright blue skies, the staff couldn’t do enough for us. Our guests still talk about how perfect the day was.
We wanted to keep the formal bits quite short and sweet. My talented brother who is a keen writer wrote a beautiful poem for us and read this at the ceremony.
As much as we would have loved a string quartet playing during our ceremony it was pushing our budget far too much and we wanted to to focus on the evening entertainment.
I discovered a local band called Mr Kanish who played a mix of folk and electric. Just perfect for a barn wedding in August. They got the dance floor going with the classics and everyone loved the garage classics they threw in towards the end.
It was important for Ryan to incorporate elements of his suit with his brother who was best man and my 7 year old son who wanted to walk with me down the aisle, I nearly cried (happy tears!) when he asked me! Dress 2 Kill did a brilliant job of making matching waistcoats.
The usher and page boys shirts, waistcoats and chinos were from Next. We didn’t want anything too stuffy and felt like it all worked out quite nicely.
The photographer was an aspect we definitely wanted to invest in.
We were recommended Kirsty and I knew just from seeing her work on her website this was the person for us. Her natural but vibrant style, fun-loving attitude and experience was everything we wanted in a photographer.
Considering I’m someone who usually hates getting my photo taken she not only really kept us calm and relaxed, she really gave us invaluable advice and made us laugh in the process. Very talented lady!
Our pictures are absolutely stunning, she really captured our day exactly how we remember and wanted it.
The flowers were originally something we felt we could cut back on budget wise. We decided to take advantage of my mum being a keen gardener, I quickly realised what a task I had given her.
The amount of hours my mum had spent researching, planning and growing flowers from scratch to create my vision is something I will always be truly grateful for.
The flowers ended up being one of the most special aspects of the day and the end result was absolutely beautiful. From the home grown herb pots on our wedding breakfast tables, right down to the draping hops over our ceremony table and natural confetti. I really couldn’t have asked for any more, they were absolutely perfect.
The cake was another favour we asked. Again another part of the wedding we didn’t want to spend too much money on, we asked a friend of Ryan’s mum and she did an absolutely amazing job creating a 3 tiered semi naked cake for the fraction of the price.
Our stunning venue really didn’t need much décor, the bits we did have were in keeping with the rustic, boho vibe and we just added little personal touches on tables amongst the beautiful greenery my mum had arranged with botanical table names to top it off. Our huskies were a big part of why we met in the first place so we had little ornaments in honour of them. We also had funny dress up accessories relevant to us next to a Polaroid camera, including a ginger beard and carp fish toy for added fun for our guests. We thoroughly enjoyed going through the comical instant pictures the next day.
One thing we did spend a bit of time creating was our wedding games which included giant jenga and a huge connect 4 game with personalised R and S initials counters. Ryan did an amazing job making it all from scratch and it was a hit with the children at our wedding.
We didn’t want to stay away for too long from the kids for our honeymoon so we booked the most luxurious hotel we could find in the Cotswolds called Thyme, very in keeping with our botanical theme. It was absolutely stunning, full body massages, a drink in Kate Moss’ favourite pub and a few days peace and quiet was just what we needed.
I’m not normally someone who cries easily but seeing Ryan at the end of the aisle really set me off! I was a bit of a nervous wreck!
The best thing was having everyone in one place, including my niece and brother who live in the USA and my best friend who lives in Wales and just having the biggest, best party ever. We absolutely loved every minute, from sitting back at the wedding breakfast laughing at the brilliant speeches to dancing the night away watching my kids play air guitar on the dance floor.
I also can’t forget my sister for planning the best girly weekend away in Bath I’ve ever had for my hen do, including a naked butler and the Thermea Spa. The best spa experience I’ve ever had!
Ryan equally enjoyed his messy stag do in Prague!
We really have been so incredibly lucky to have such amazing family and friends around us who all helped make our day so special.
My advice would be to not get too bogged down with all the fine details. It can get very overwhelming but if you have the big things all sorted the little things tend to just fall into place. Just have fun and do what you wanna do, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Photography
This and That Photography
Venue
Clock Barn
Dress
Romsey Bridal
Alterations
Button Bows Alteration
Suit
Dress 2 Kill
Hair
Riot Hairdressing
Make Up
Made Up Brides
Lashes
Taz’s Beauty Boutique
Band
Mister Kanish
Honeymoon
Thyme
How stylish and perfectly boho to boot?!
Sarrah and Ryan thank you ever so much for sharing your wonderful wedding story with us xo Lou
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