Now where to start with this most beautiful autumn wedding at Curradine Barns…
Harriet (a Therapeutic Radiographer) and Alex (a Mechanical Engineer) are both from Worcester and stayed close to their home town for their exquisite romantic wedding at Curradine Barns in September. And I can see why! It was absolutely beautiful in every way and the team at Curradine Barns were fabulous too.
There were so many perfect moments during this wedding day. Charlotte and I had the most wonderful time capturing them all for Hattie and Alex. And before we knew it, they were onto their first dance and our day was done. As we drove back to Gloucestershire that evening, Charlotte and I both reminisced on the most perfect of days.
Here in their own words are Hattie and Alex’s memories of their wedding day and top tips to help you plan yours…
A: “Alex proposed on my favourite beach Watergate Bay in Cornwall. Cornwall holds such a special place in both our hearts and is somewhere we like to visit as much as possible!
It was a horrible grey day but minutes after Alex proposed the sun came out and it was beautiful.”
A: “After searching quite a few suit shops we visited Clifton Suits on my dad’s recommendation.
Alex wanted a navy suit however nothing had been quite right at any of the other shops. Everyone at Clifton Suits was helpful, friendly and professional!
I think often as the bride the dress shopping experience is really exciting and magical however I don’t always think this is the same for suit shopping, however, during the appointment they really made the experience feel special which we both really valued.”
A: “I feel very lucky to say this but yes!
The only minor issue was that in all the chaos of wedding planning I completely forgot to include a bouquet for my youngest bridesmaid, I didn’t realise this until the wedding morning.
I was starting the get a little bit panicked however the Lydia and her team from floral roundabout stepped in. Lydia did some floristry magic and rearrange some of the floral displays to make a mini bouquet. I was honestly so so grateful to Lydia and her team.”
A: “I am a huge planner and had been planning my wedding since I was about 6! We got engaged in June 2021 and booked our venue August 2021, so just over 2 years.”
A: “About 2 weeks after we were engaged I walked past the window of my favourite wedding dress shop in Worcester called Perfections.
They had the Iris dress by Sassi Holford in the window and the moment I saw it I was in love!
I booked an appointment the next week just to try as I knew not many people end up with the first dress they try on/see. The moment I put it on I knew it was the perfect dress for me and both my mum, sister and the lovely Julie from Perfections agreed.
A few people said it was too early or what happens if I changed my mind and of course this could happen however, I knew the way that dress made me feel would never change.
The designer Sassi Holford creates some of the most timeless and elegant dresses that are like art, I felt so lucky to have my very own piece of art.
Perfections were incredible, they brought me back a couple of months later to check my measurements and send them off.
Perfections thought of everything even down to the smaller details of different ways to bustle my dress to ensure it look perfect all day.”
A: “I wore my mums garter as my something borrowed and blue. Quite a few of my mums friends have also borrowed this over the years which made it extra special.
My something old was my earrings, again they were borrowed from my mum. They were the earrings that my dad bought my mum after giving birth to me.
My something new was my shoes which I must admit I am so glad I wore something that I can easily walk in and allowed me to dance all night!”
“If you are getting married book Nikki!”
“Nikki is so professional, really listens and completely supports your wants and needs for the day.”
A: “My lovely husband being an engineer by trade wanted to make the welcome to the wedding sign.
It was a lovely personal touch and is hanging in our house now. We also created the menus and seating plans using frames from Ikea.”
A: “Alex and I met when we were at secondary school. I believe we met around the age of 11 however we were not really in the same friendship circles so didn’t properly become friends until we were 14/15.
There was absolutely no indication that either of us liked each other until we were about 16/17 where we bonded over my inability to climb a very high fence during a team building away day.
Alex stayed back to help me out and it was then that I realised what a lovely guy he truly was. We have been inseparable ever since.
We have been through many milestones together e.g. learning to drive, a level results, going to university, buying a house and now getting married.”
A: “I walked down the aisle to Kiss me by Sixpence None the Richer. I have always loved this song being a huge fan of 90s Rom Coms.
It was played beautifully by Stuart Toogood! Honestly I cannot think of enough positive things to say! We met Stuart at a Curradine Barns couples event, he asked what song I wanted to walk down the aisle to, Stuart didn’t know how to play the song initially however as we were walking round he had a practice and played it for us. We booked him practically on the spot!
Stuart really understood the importance of the song and would send us updates of him practicing the song. Stuart really went above and beyond for us!
Music is something that is really important to Alex and I, we love a kitchen disco and always have it on loud in the car. I think both your love of music stems from our parents and both sets were equally blown away by Stuarts playing.”
A: “Do your research and trust your suppliers!
When it came to important details like the flowers neither of us really knew anything. All we knew was that we wanted wild flowers that were colourful. We discussed this with Lydia from Floral Roundabout and I showed her pictures of previous wedding flowers of hers that I liked. I think not really having a huge vision allowed Lydia to have creative licence and the flowers were 1000x better than anything I could have thought of.
Another tip I would give is to work with suppliers that know or have worked at the venue before or are willing to visit the venue before the big day to have a look. This takes the stress out of a lot of the planning as suppliers can recommend what they think will work at your chosen venue.”
A: “All DIY however although I am completely biased I think the planning ran so smoothly because of our amazing suppliers.
The Wedding House Droitwich decorated the venue and made it look like a dream! They were so lovely to chat to on the day and made the process 10x easier and stress free.
I think that is one of my biggest tips is to hire someone to come and decorate the venue and then take away all the decorations the next day to avoid stress and running around.
Alex also made us a very in depth wedding spreadsheet which helped us keep an eye on finances, suppliers we need to respond to, guest lists… you name it, it was on the spreadsheet.”
A: “We had looked around a few venues and they were all beautiful but they didn’t really feel like us. They either felt a bit too formal or a bit too casual. Curradine Barns was special right from the start!
The moment we visited the venue the staff team were amazing. Although I was wedding obsessed neither of us had any idea how to plan a wedding or what we would need to do. The Curradine Barns team sat us down and talked us through everything, they were so supportive and knowledgeable and seemed as excited as we were.
Then there is the obvious, the venue is absolutely beautiful from the barns were you get married and have your wedding breakfast to the courtyard and outside spaces. We knew we wanted a venue that was just as beautiful on the inside as outside in case we were not blessed with beautiful British weather.
Another great feature of the venue was that there was onsite accommodation for 24 guests meaning that our immediate family with children or our grandparents could leave a little earlier without the worries of whether they got home ok. Having such a family orientated wedding this was something that was really important to us.”
“As a couple who don’t really take photos or enjoy taking photos we both really enjoyed our time together as a newly married couple taking a breather and having our photos taken.”
“If you are getting married book Nikki!
Nikki is so professional, really listens and completely supports your wants and needs for the day.
Both Nikki and Charlotte helped organise our day ensuring all group photos ran smoothly meaning we didn’t really miss any time spent with our guests.
As a couple who don’t really take photos or enjoy taking photos we both really enjoyed our time together as a newly married couple taking a breather and having our photos taken.
We would book Nikki again in a heartbeat the day wouldn’t have been the same without her!”
“We would book Nikki again in a heartbeat the day wouldn’t have been the same without her!”
A: “We didn’t really have a theme for the wedding however a lot of inspiration was drawn from family weddings and old wedding photos. We wanted something quite timeless and colourful.
We have both been so fortunate to have lots of strong relationship role models surrounding us from grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and we wanted them to all be a part of the special day.
We knew we wanted to incorporate family member’s photos as part of the seating plan, this helped pay tribute to those who could not join us and actually worked really well as an icebreaker.”
A: “We had chicken and ham hock terrine or tomato and mozzarella salad for starter. Saffron chicken or roasted tomato and feta for main and the real star of the show sticky toffee pudding for desert.
For our evening food we had wood fired pizzas which went down a storm!”
A: “Although everyone made our day extra special, Sam who was our wedding co-ordinator from Curradine Barns stood out!.
Sam had been there through all our meetings and was always quick to reply to emails If we had any questions. On the day she was there early helping set up and decorate this took huge pressure of us having to race around. Sam came and found us when we were having our photos taken to bring us canapés and drinks to make sure we didn’t miss out.
I don’t think the day would have run so smoothly without Sam!”
A: “Our cake was made by the amazing Zerelda Mears!
Zerelda is so lovely, professional and took real interest in us as a couple to make our cake as perfect as it was.
Alex’s favourite cake is always carrot cake therefore we knew we had to try and incorporate this in some way.
We had to top tier carrot cake, middle tier strawberry and vanilla and bottom tier lemon. I am also gluten intolerant so wasn’t too sure I would be having wedding cake but Zerelda made a separate mini cake for myself and new mother in law. I was so touched by this as I felt Zerelda went out of her way to make sure everyone was included.
The cake was also delicious, I thought we would have loads left but everyone loved it so much we had to go in and save some.”
A: “All of it, I honestly don’t think we could pick one moment!”
A: “We were so lucky as Nikki came very highly recommended to us and I think we instantly clicked.
Nikki’s previous work is amazing but I think its also really important that you feel comfortable and relaxed with your photographer which we both did instantly.
Nikki took the time to listen to what we wanted and allowed us to be ourselves, we are both quite camera shy normally but actually both really enjoyed having our photos taken as it felt like a special time we got to spend together on our day.
I was desperate for a sunset shot however we weren’t blessed with a sunset on the day. Nikki however is magic and made this happen! I think this is one of my most favourite shots!”
A: “We spent a week in Ischia Italy. It was beautiful and peaceful just what we needed. We are hoping next year around our year anniversary to go and visit our family who live in Kuala Lumpur.”
Wedding Venue & Catering: Curradine Barns Shrawley Worcester
Flowers: Floral Roundabout Worcester
Dress: Sassi Holford Iris from Perfections Worcester
Bridesmaid dresses: Monsoon
Groom’s outfit: Clifton Suits Bristol
Cake: Zerelda Mears Wedding Cakes
Stationery: Invites from Feels good invites on Etsy. All other stationary designed by us
Entertainment: Stuart Toogood Music and Wedding and Party DJs
Favours: National Lobster Hatchery Padstow
Hair and beauty: Elysia Fisher MUA
Rings including engagement ring: Engagement Ring- Jill Wheelock Lines Pearls and Fine Jewellery LTS, Harriet’s wedding ring- Wongs Jewellers Liverpool (where my mums engagement ring came from). Alex’s ring- Goldsmiths
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