Hannah and Liam met on Tinder pre-Covid. They moved in together during the pandemic, which was the perfect opportunity for them to really get to know each other! One year later, they got engaged on Christmas Day. Liam was so anxious he could hardly speak, but when he did manage to pop the question Hannah was so shocked she was still reeling three days later! He’d thought of asking her during a walk together, but knew she’d feel awkward if there were any onlookers, so he decided to ask at her parents’ house, which was perfect for them both. The venue search didn’t take long: Waterside Country Barn was the only one they viewed! “We absolutely loved it as soon as we saw it,” Hannah explains. “Although it was February and the barn wasn’t wedding ready yet, we could see the potential. Plus Georgia was so welcoming and friendly that we knew we’d made the right choice.” Here, Hannah shares her memories of the big day, 24th May 2024... SETTING THE SCENE “Our florist Aizel at Yalham Hayes was incredible!” Hannah shares. “She lives just down the road from Waterside Country Barn and puts her heart and soul into any project she’s tasked with.” She very quickly became not just the couple’s florist, but also their wedding stylist and friend! The reception tables were long, laid out banqueting style, and were filled with flowers, wine bottles holding candles and on-trend styling element fresh fruit. Aizel also installed a showstopping hanging centrepiece filled with flowers, which was suspended above the tables. The installation was filled with both real and faux flowers and when it was taken down the next day, Aizel made Hannah a bouquet of faux flowers to take home as a keepsake. She also dressed the canopy where the couple said “I do” with a beautiful set of half arches and placed potted hydrangeas at the end of each row of hay bales where guests were seated. These doubled up as the most perfect wedding gifts for treasured family members. The tables were numbered rather than named and Hannah bought some lovely gold, wooden numbers from Etsy that were placed at the front and centre of the tables. “We wanted to keep the focus on the tablescape so opted to keep these simple,” she explains. The place names, also from Etsy, were pieces of wood with each guest’s names carved into it. Each included a piece of twine at the top, allowing it to be tied around each cheesecloth napkin and doubled up as wedding favours either for use as a keyring or a bookmark when guests took them home. The table plan, along with the welcome sign, was a joint project by the bride and groom. Bridesmaid Robyn then used her Cricut to add guests’ names to the table plan. Aizel decorated the bottom of both signs with a beautiful array of flowers, complementing the rest of the décor. The couple dismissed the idea of a cake in favour of a giant cake-shaped piñata. It was hung up at the back of the lake, hidden from the guests until the wedding breakfast was finished and everyone was lead in a dance out of the barn and around the lake to where the piñata was hanging. Everyone assembled gave the newlyweds a countdown from three then the two began hitting it like their lives depended on it! It was filled with old school sweets such as Flumps, Parma Violets and Dib Dabs. Within minutes, everyone was scrambling to pick up the sweets as Hannah and Liam stood back laughing. “It was so much fun and everyone loved the nostalgia,” the bride remembers. My dad drove myself and my bridesmaids from the getting ready room round to the aisle in our Campervan. It was absolutely hilarious watching my bridesmaids clinging onto the inside of the van while trying to keep their hair and dresses neat! Liam and I camp in our van a lot, so it was a nice extra touch to be able to include Jo-vanna in the wedding. LOOKING THE PART Hannah bought a wedding dress a year before the wedding, only to change her mind two weeks before the big day! “So, I ended up booking a last-minute REAL WEDDINGS 21
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