Jessica and Phil wanted to create a relaxed, casual atmosphere for their beautiful early autumn wedding. Their vision for the day included a memorable setting where their guests could enjoy each other’s company with music, cocktails and games and Clock Barn gave them everything they wanted.

The Venue

To bring their wedding vision to life, Jessica and Phil needed the perfect venue and they found just that when they visited Clock Barn:

“We chose Clock Barn as soon as we stepped inside! It was the first venue we visited and we felt instantly that it was perfect. The size of the venue meant that it was big enough to accommodate our guests but also that it was cosy enough to not feel empty. We couldn’t imagine a better setting for our day.”

The Décor

From the outset, Jessica and Phil knew that they wanted lots of flowers and home-made decorations for their wedding day and their floral theme suited Clock Barn perfectly.

“I absolutely love flowers and greenery so was keen to have them everywhere! I also wanted to do some of the arrangements myself and then to work with a florist, The Petal Boutique, for the more important pieces.”

The floral decorations included ceremony and reception arrangements included faux flower garlands, made by Jessica, that decorated the archway in the main barn and even the cake. Jessica also wore a flower crown and a bouquet which she hardly put down all day and this was perfect for an autumn wedding.

“I love making and crafting things so was very excited at the prospect of decorating for our wedding. Phil was also very hands on and together, we made lots of decorations and details including light up letters, a sweet cart, welcome signs, bunting, place name holders and name cards, photo booth props, favours and our stationery.”

Jessica also made her own wedding cake, a fabulous four-tier traditional fruit cake where each layer included a slightly different blend of flavours.

“I recruited my mum, bridesmaids and their mums to come over for a cake making day where we all prepared the cakes together. Whilst they were cooking (for many hours!), we enjoyed afternoon tea and prosecco.”

The Outfits

Jessica wore a stunning Mori Lee wedding dress from Elderberry Brides and she accessorised this gorgeous gown with earrings from Accessorize, a pair of pretty peep-toe flat wedding shoes and her adorable flower crown.

“My bridesmaids wore halterneck maxi dresses from Coast. They also wore fresh flowers in their hair and small earrings from Accessorize.”

Phil and his groomsmen opted for suits from Marks & Spencer that worked well for all of the men in the wedding party. The groomsmen all wore different colour striped socks too for that essential ‘crazy sock’ photo!

The Wedding

Jessica arrived at Clock Barn on the morning of the big day and used the Bridal Room to get ready, accompanied by her bridesmaids, her mum and a few glasses of prosecco. After the ceremony, featuring beautiful readings by the groom’s sister and the bride’s brother, the couple’s autumn wedding celebrations began. The delicious Sangria Flora cocktails were served alongside a wonderful selection of canapes before the wedding breakfast itself.

“Our menu included a starter of smoked bacon Scotch egg and this was a certainty as soon as we saw the options – it’s one of Phil’s favourite foods in the world! This was followed by fillet of beef and a dessert of lemon tart with raspberry coulis. We still get comments from our guests, particularly about the amazing beef!”

A live band was also a priority for the couple and kicked off their evening reception to ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers. Guests were on the dancefloor all evening, fuelled by fresh pizzas that were prepared in Clock Barn’s own outdoor pizza oven. When the party eventually drew to a close, a number of lucky guests didn’t have too far to travel:

“The farmhouse accommodation at Clock Barn was amazing, it’s such a beautiful building. The big family breakfast the next morning was a really lovely way to finish off our event.”

Final Thoughts

“The events team did an incredible job, they were very accommodating with us storing our wedding decorations (of which there were a lot!) in the office in advance of the day, we sat down and discussed all of the items we were bringing and where they were intended for. The events team were amazingly helpful and highly skilled on the day during set up and did much more than we imagined!”

“I can’t choose a specific moment of the day that was my favourite, but Phil prepared a photo book of the two of us with some of our funny memories, habits and in-jokes! It was a really lovely surprise and luckily, my makeup hadn’t been done by that point otherwise it may have been ruined by my tears!”

Images courtesy of Photo Forrester