Great Barn Weddings – Jess & Nathan
Happy New Year to all our wonderful couples, friends and followers. We would love to say that we slowed down over Christmas but with all the exciting renovations and changes happening at The Great Barn Devon, we didn’t catch our breath! It’s all good though and we are thrilled to be able to offer even more accommodation to our wonderful couples who choose to get married with us this year. Watch out on our social media feeds and on the website for more details, coming soon.
Today we are taking a step backwards to February last year and featuring Jess and Nathan on our blog. Although they lived only two miles apart, this beautiful couple met online. We spoke to Jess about Nathan’s super romantic proposal and the wedding weekend itself.
All the images are courtesy of Louise Eleanor Photography.
Over to you Jess…
“Although I had secretly hoped that Nathan would propose soon, and Christmas was coming up, I tried to put it out of my head. I ended up convinced that he was designing and making a tall lamp that I had had my eye on for my Christmas present. Strange things kept arriving at the house like cable, I would be sent out and the house would smell of solvent and paint when I came home. I said, sometime in December, that I thought I had sussed his present out and he said ‘well just go along with it and act surprised on the day’.
On Christmas Day morning he made me breakfast in bed (very unusual) and told me not to come out of our room because he has to get my present from the loft and set it up in the living room. Twenty minutes later I hear balloons being blown up downstairs I thought ‘he is really hamming up this grand reveal for the lamp!’. Eventually I was led downstairs blindfolded and pointed in the direction of the Christmas Tree and told to open my eyes. Nathan was down on one knee with the most gorgeous engagement ring, and behind him, above the fireplace was a huge handmade sign in white and gold, in place of the mirror, that said ‘Will You Marry Me’. All around the room was photos of us and the floor was covered in heart balloons! I was so surprised and after sobbing for a few minutes I managed to say ‘yes’.
(I found out that the solvent smell was the paint, the strange cable that was delivered was a new long extension cable for the loft as the last one he used up there almost caused a house fire when using the power tools –and I thought I was so clever in working it all out!)”
“We had always like the idea of a winter wedding because you can’t plan the summer weather in this country and The Great Barn offered such a beautiful setting no matter what the weather decided to do. John was just wonderful from day one, and his clear enjoyment in creating a beautiful and personal wedding came across from the second we met him.
I bought my dress from the same shop as my sister, in Totnes. It has since changed hands, but Launa who stocked end of line dresses and smaller, lesser known brands, was amazing at letting me take my time and she really listened to what I was looking for (and not looking for). I am more comfortable when I have less choices so knowing that I would get my dress from one shop allowed me not to get too overwhelmed, I was also keen to stick to a budget. My veil was my sisters, my shoes were from eBay and my hair accessory was from Etsy which I panic bought about a week before and I’m so glad I did.
Nathan is so jammy and bought the first suit he tried on during an impromptu shopping trip about eight weeks before the wedding. It was a dark navy DKNY suit which needed one tiny alteration. I made all the buttonholes for the Ushers, and his mum made pocket squares for Nathan, Best Men and Ushers.”
“Because it was a winter wedding I didn’t want to go with a colour that would be typically used in spring or summer so I used black and cream with dark green and gold accents. I found this to be really versatile. To keep in with the Barn theme, I also made a wheat wreath for the wall of the Barn and lots of small details had wheat accents.
Walking up the aisle with my Dad and standing next to Nathan was such a great feeling. My nerves disappeared and I really enjoyed the ceremony – something I thought would be a blur and over in a second actually felt really special with all our family and friends there. We were also amazed that my two-year old niece had walked down the aisle, in front of me and my bridesmaids, perfectly! I’m still not sure how that happened.
Later, during the drinks reception, the twenty to thirty minutes that we had with our lovely friend and photographer Louise, in the gardens was really nice. It was lovely to be able to chat with Nathan and just be alone to soak everything in.
I would definitely recommend having a wedding at The Great Barn to anyone planning their big day because not only do you spend the most special day of your life in beautiful surroundings (the cottages, the gardens, the Barn) you also have a fantastic, expert team supporting your plans in the build up. The day before, and on our wedding day I don’t know what we would have done without John – he just knows everything! He is so slick at organising and planning ahead that we didn’t have to give the running of the day a second thought – we just love every minute of it.”
