Clare & Tom

Ahh, there's a real sense of love and fun oozing out of this rustic barn wedding at The Yoghurt Rooms in Sussex, and it's pure magic. All captured beautifully by Louise Griffin Photography, and all guaranteed to make your heart swell. From the tear filled sentimental ceremony, to the absolute riot of a reception compete with pimp your Prosecco bar, inflatables and wigs, you'll be wishing you were there celebrating along with this adorable couple and their family and friends. Plus a bride who totally rocks a pair of red cowboy boots with her lace gown is an absolute legend in our eyes.

Venue

Clare the Bride: Tom and I got married at The Yoghurt Rooms in East Grinstead in June this year. We chose the venue because we loved the beauty and flexibility it offered- we could have as many friends camp as we liked, could source our own caterers and best of all there was no corkage. We went to France with my parents a few months in advance to stock up on wine which was the best decision we could have made- it saved us so much money and we are still getting through it now.

Ceremony

The ceremony was hands down our favourite part: Tom made us do our own vows which I am so grateful for, both of our sisters did beautiful readings and our other sisters were our witnesses.

Reception

The speeches were also great fun- we had four groom, bride, father of the bride and best man Phil who bought loads of props as part of his speech including inflatable boobs and blond wigs which went down a storm with our guests for the rest of the day.

DIY

I was lucky to have had friends and family so many of whom helped contribute- my master baker friend Chris made our wedding cake, with a toy version of our dog ralph on top instead of the usual bride and groom. Usher Ed made amazing boards for signage and my two bridesmaids and friends did all the flowers in the venue which looked fabulous.

Food & Drink

My wonderful mum did the canapes, including mini pots of tuna pasta my bridesmaids convinced her to do as she used to cook it for me and my friends growing up. We also had an ice cream van during the drinks reception which went down a storm with the children (and a few adults). During the drink reception we served pimms, beer in wheelbarrows and prosecco - with a 'Pimp your prosecco' station where guests could add strawberries, elderflower, etc. to their drinks. We also had Brighton Gin which was delicious.

Colour Scheme & Decor

The venue has beautiful hand-made wooden tables and benches already so they did not need much more on them. There was not a planned colour scheme- more lots of things I hoped would work together. My mum and I spent a year collecting odd plates, water jugs and other bits from charity shops- it took hours but it really worked having mis matched items on all the tables. To dress the barn we hired Not Your Average I Do to hang white draping in the barn for the ceremony, and to provide a big BAR sign we turned on for party times. The tables were named after different classic sweets and we had a jar of each of the sweets on the table as a label- the table plan was names written on labels hanging off bottles balanced on an old ladder.

Bridesmaid Dresses

After a lot of searching we found the bridesmaid dresses from French Connection.

Wedding Attire

My wedding dress was Ivy & Aster's Secret Garden - I was meant to wear the shoes my mum wore on her wedding day down the aisle but they were forgotten in the pack up so I ended up wearing some vintage gold shoes. Then changed into red cowboy boots I bought online when my feet started to hurt. The groom's suit was purchased from Reiss, and kept a secret from me until the day.

Entertainment

Music wise we spent ages curating the afternoon playlist of all our favourite songs, and Mint DJs played in the evening but by far the highlight was Richard Swan who bought his keyboard and did the most amazing sing along session in the marquee after dinner. It really got people in the party spirit after dinner and bought old and young guests together. Once the DJ finished at 12pm we headed back to the marquee to carry on the party.

Catering

The main meal or 'BBQ' was from Epic Catering - but it was so much more than a BBQ, so many people said it was the best food they had ever had at a wedding and they were so helpful in the lead up to the day. Evening food was a chip van and big wheels of French cheese and crackers.

Photographer

Louise Griffin was our wonderful photographer who gave us the best advice- take photos before and after dinner, the pictures after the speeches were so much more relaxed and by far our favourite. Our unofficial videographer was Clare's brother William who spent a lot of the day behind a camera.

Advice

My advice to other bride would be the small details do make a difference on the day. Oh an don't hold your dress up for your photos I did it most of the afternoon and its driven me mad in photos!