Well, where do we even start with this amazing couple?
Danielle and Kerri were married with us on 30th June 2018 and we’ve had the pleasure of staying in touch with them since, and were thrilled to hear the fantastic news last year that they had a little addition to their family in the form of their gorgeous little boy, Oakley!
We asked Danielle and Kerri to share their memories of their big day with us…
The story of Danielle and Kerri’s wedding…
“Everything about our wedding was so chilled and perfect from start to finish and it was everything we could have ever wished for.”
We had our wedding on Saturday 30th June 2018 after being engaged for just over a year and a half. Our ceremony was in the beautifully rustic Poplar barn, followed by our reception in Chestnut barn. During the day we had around 80 guests with a further 40 arriving in the evening!
Danielle’s wedding dress… I had a rough idea of the type of dress I liked after spending many hours scrolling through different designs. The dress I chose was the third dress I tried on; the first was just too glamorous for me, and I didn’t feel it suited me at all. The second was the complete opposite and was really plain which made me realise I did actually want something a bit more ‘wow’. Then I tried the third dress on and just knew straight away this was “the one”. It felt completely different and I felt emotions I never knew I would feel when wearing a dress! The detail was so beautiful.
Kerri’s wedding dress… I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wear a suit or a dress and decided to visit a dress shop first. The first dress was lovely but just didn’t suit me, but the second dress was so simplistic and elegant; I felt so comfortable in it. I was surprised how much I loved it and decided to try a few more dresses on just to be sure, but I loved the second dress and knew at that point I definitely wasn’t going to wear a suit. Danielle and I had decided when it came to shoes, if I wore a dress, I could wear trainers, so I ended up buying a new white pair of converse for the special day which were so comfortable and hidden nicely under my dress!
We had a look online at a few venues to get an idea of what style we liked; we both love anything rural and rustic. We had an idea of a theme we liked, so when we saw All Manor of Events, it looked perfect. We booked a viewing and once we had a look around we knew straight away this was the exact place we wanted to get married – we didn’t need to look anywhere else. Not only was the venue beautiful, but everything was easily accessible and the layout works perfectly; we particularly loved the fairly lights/lighting, it was everything we had in mind. Becky, who we met on the day, was brilliant. We just instantly clicked and felt so comfortable sharing our ideas with her.
Danielle did most of the wedding planning and organising, but to save money we tried to make a lot of our own decorations and items that we wanted around the venue. Kerri is great with any kind of DIY skills and managed to create a pallet photo and crate display. But we were also really lucky as Kerri’s sister Alaina was amazing when it came to the final details and she did an amazing job in the build up to the wedding using her craft skills, as well as setting everything up on the day. We couldn’t have done it all without her!
Our wedding cake was so special to us. Tina, who is like a second Mum to Danielle, made it for us as our wedding gift. She knew the exact style we would like and what suited our rustic-themed wedding. Our colour scheme was dusky pinks, which most people were shocked by, as neither of us are particularly girly, and we have never been into pinks, but we just loved these pink colours and felt it complimented the hessian, lace, lanterns, and type of decor we had planned. The bridesmaids wore dusky pink dresses which could be transformed into different styles so it meant that each of the 4 bridesmaids could have some individuality which we loved the idea of.
I (Danielle) knew I wanted my hair down with some height and curls added which our hair stylist did perfectly on the day and Kerri wanted her hair up and decided to go for an elegant updo with a plait running through. The flowers we chose were fairly simple; our bridesmaids had gypsophila, Danielle’s bouquet was a mix of dusky pink roses, as we love roses, as well as green foliage and gypsophila – it was stunning! Kerri didn’t want a bouquet but felt she wanted something so we decided she would have a single pink rose which she gave to me as I met her at the end of the aisle, just to add a little romance!
On the day…
On the day, we were surprisingly calm! We are both quite shy and the thought of being in front of so many people would usually terrify us, however knowing we would be surrounded by all of our family and friends just filled us with a sense of calm. We both demolished a Full English together in the morning before heading to separate rooms to get ready with our Mums & Bridesmaids.
Kerri walked down the aisle first with her Mum and Danielle and her Father followed. I was so excited to see Kerri, plus I didn’t know if she was wearing a dress or a suit, so was excited to see just how beautiful she looked.
We had David Walker, ‘The Sax Walker’, playing some of our favourite songs during the ceremony which sounded incredible. Having this was definitely one of the best decisions we made! He also entertained our guests during photos and welcome drinks in the sunshine which our guests absolutely loved. We managed to get lots of wonderful pictures just the two of us, including some brilliant photos with All Manor’s adorable alpacas and in the stunning woodland area as the sun was setting.
In the evening we had the DJ recommended to us by All Manor and our first dance was to our favourite version of the song ‘My Girl’ – by Smokey Robinson. It was the most incredible day and evening, the food was out of this world – we had a BBQ followed by the dessert table, which is just a table of dreams! We then had pizzas in the evening, which went down a treat with everyone. We only had a couple of speeches and kept it quite relaxed; one from Danielle’s Dad and Kerri’s sister and bridesmaid Lauren. Everything about our wedding was so chilled and perfect from start to finish and it was everything we could have ever wished for.
A few days after the wedding we spent some time in a Shepherd’s hut, with a hot tub overlooking the sea in Cornwall, which is one of our favourite places to be and where we got engaged. Then a couple of months later we went to Bali & Lombok for 3 weeks which was wonderful. I would definitely recommend saving your honeymoon for a later date as it gives you something to look forward to once all the wedding hype has calmed down.
Danielle and Kerri’s top tip for other couples…
Enjoy every minute!! It honestly goes by so fast so make sure you try and take it all in and when planning, try and stick to the ideas you love, as it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by so many different choices.
Funny moments that we will never forget…
Danielle’s dress got caught on the door into Poplar barn which meant I couldn’t move and had to stand and wait while Katie did some very impressive ninja moves to unhook me as subtly and quickly as possible, but it actually meant I got to stop, look at Kerri and take everything in for a few more seconds which was just amazing.
I wish I’d known in advance just how perfect the day would be and how calm we would both actually feel throughout the day, so we never needed to worry about anything in the build up to the wedding.
Suppliers
Photography: Butterfly Effect
Ceremony Venue: Poplar Barn, All Manor of Events
Reception Venue: Chestnut Barn, All Manor of Events
Dresses: Danielle’s Dress was called the Priscilla, from Barn Bridal boutique
www.barnbridal.com
Kerri’s dress was from The Frock Spot, www.thefrockspot.co.uk
Wedding rings: Lance James, www.lancejames.co.uk
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Debenhams
Hair: KC Plaits & Beauty, www.kcplaits.com
Make-up: Emma Smeaton, www.emmasmeatonmakeup.com
Flowers: Beverly Thomas – Henley Flowers, www.henleyflowers.com
Cake: Tina Hunt
Catering: Manor Farm
Chair Covers: Table Angels, www.tableangels.co.uk
Botanica (trees), www.botanicaplantnursery.co.uk
Entertainment: David Walker, www.thesaxwalker.co.uk