April & Zoe’s creative, DIY Chilli Barn wedding, with Sam Chipman Photography

Published by Claire Gould on

April and Zoe’s wedding is making me SO happy this morning! The newlyweds are beaming with joy and it’s brightening up my whole day! They’re also a gorgeous couple, whose wedding looks and feels amazing, with lots of personal touches and beautiful pics by Sam Chipman Photography. We’ll share even more on our @englishweddingblog instagram today!

“Obviously we’re biased and think our wedding day was magical but we’re also so pleased with how personal and true to ourselves the whole day felt. We want to sip champagne and dance to all our favourite songs with all our favourite people over and over again!” ~ April & Zoe

Wedding photographer’s website

Sam Chipman https://www.samchipmanphotography.com/

Wedding photographer review

Sam was really chilled and specialises in candid photographs which is exactly the vibe we wanted for our wedding. He put us totally at ease with his no fuss approach and really went with the flow.

Your best moment or memory

Walking back up the aisle as newlyweds with all our family and friends around us is a feeling I don’t think we’ll ever top.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

We decided very early on that we both wanted to walk down the aisle seeing as we’re both brides. We also opted for a pastel rainbow cake as our way of incorporating a little bit of pride into our day!

Venue name + review

Chilli Barn
Leah and all the staff at Chilli Barn couldn’t have been more helpful and nothing was too trouble. The barn is an intimate venue with stunning countryside views and everyone commented on how beautiful it was.

Tell us a little about your outfits

April – My dress was very me! A boho/fairy vibe with a lace top and tulle skirt. I felt that it really suited the venue and I felt ethereal the whole day.
Zoe – I opted for a suit, I’m not really the dress type. Like April I kept it very me so casual and comfy but in pink! Trousers and a waistcoat and custom embroidered converse.

Dress or suit shop name + review

April’s dress is handmade from a lovely shop on Etsy – Lady Versus.

Florist name + review

We went DIY with our flowers and handpicked all the flowers for our bouquets, aisle arch and tables from an artificial flower wholesalers. It really allowed us to put our own stamp on the little touches.

Cake maker name + review

Little Dumplings Cakes. We’re vegan so finding a vegan wedding cake maker narrows the search considerably! Little Dumplings makes the nicest vegan and allergy friendly cakes in the world. We opted for a pastel rainbow rather than traditional white and it went down a treat with all the guests.

Stationery maker’s name + review

We used various small businesses from Etsy to make up all of our wedding stationery. We love supporting small local people.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

Chilli Barn is an amazing venue where they let you decorate as you wish so we really let loose our inner crafters. We picked classic books for our table names and built our centrepieces around each book with natural log slices and candles and delicate wildflowers. We stained some used wooden crates to make our table seating chart as well as using a heart-shaped stamp to cut paper hearts out of books to sprinkle around the tables.

Wedding readings?

We had 2 readings, both done by family, from the bible – Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalm 139:14 We are a part of a church so this was really meaningful for us.

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Not traditional at all but we chose Y’all Means All by Miranda Lambert as featured on season 6 of queer eye. The thought of slow dancing filled us with dread so we went for the complete opposite. Playlist recommendations – our playlist was filled with all things 00’s and pop punk – think Busted to All Time Low with a healthy mix of Lucy Spraggan and country thrown in.

Hair + makeup name + review

April really enjoys doing makeup and wanted to do her own (and by extension that meant Zoe too).

 




Claire Gould

Claire spends her days writing - either in beautiful calligraphy or online. She lives on the edge of the English Lake District only minutes away from the beach, where she loves to escape and unwind. Claire's calligraphy can be found at www.byMoonandTide.com. Claire launched the English Wedding Blog in November 2009 - it's been a top 10 UK wedding blog ever since, with a regional focus we hope you LOVE.

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