Real Weddings

Dusky Pink Details for a Modern Barn Wedding at Elsham Hall – Katharine & Ben

Sarah Symonds

Roses, gypsophila, a dusky pink accent colour and plenty of fairy lights in a modern barn setting. If this sounds like the stuff you’ve been dreaming of, the wedding of the lovely Katharine and Ben is bound to be inspiring…

We’re obsessed with the way the main space has been decorated in the photos of this elegant, barn style wedding at the wonderful Elsham Hall! The draped fabric hanging from the ceiling, the flowers tucked into every corner, the warmth of the exposed brick, the classic white church candles… we could go on!

Bride Katharine, her now husband Ben and the Elsham team have really pulled out all the stops. Having chosen a venue they’d been visiting since they were children, our couple opted for lots of white, a splash of pretty pink tones and a soft, classic and polished decor to really set off the natural, rustic feel of the barn and make the most of the surrounding outdoor locations for photos.

We hear about how, with only a Pinterest board and a little bit of direction, Elsham Hall came up with a lot of the styling and made life so much simpler for all involved. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and isn’t something all venues offer, but the expertise of the pros is usually worth taking advantage of when it is available! As Katharine says, “try to let everyone else run around after you”, after all this is your special day!

With photography by UNVEILED Network Member Aden Priest Photography

Proposal

Katharine says: We got engaged on December 13th 2017, in New York in Central Park. We had a collection of postcards from our holidays. Ben had sneakily made these into a scrapbook and wrapped it as an ‘early birthday present’ for me. On our first morning in New York, we went to Starbucks for a coffee and a street vendor for a bagel, and then made our way to Central Park. He gave me the scrapbook and at the end it said ‘Will you marry me?’. It was very unexpected and so thoughtful.

Setting

We married on 31st August 2019. We chose the date in January 2018 when we booked our venue, Elsham Hall in North Lincolnshire, for both the ceremony and reception. We chose Elsham as it was local, modern and close to our hearts. We both visited throughout our childhood and so was even more perfect for us as we both had lots of happy memories from visiting the Country Park.

Theme

We wanted a rustic, classic barn style wedding. We both liked natural resources and the outdoors, however we wanted an elegant, modern and stylish barn which Elsham offered.

Dusty pink was our colour of choice. We chose this colour as it was perfect for summer and has always been a favourite of mine.

Dress

The dress was a sheath style wedding dress bought from Wed2B. It was plain and simple at the bottom, but laced at the back. I wasn’t bothered by a particular designer, however when I was searching I fell in love with the signature dresses on Wed2B and found my dress in their Hull store.

Groom

Ben wore a navy suit with a grey waistcoat and a dusty pink tie, bought from Suit Direct in Doncaster. The groomsmen wore the same.

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids wore a dusty pink multiway dress bought from M&S.

Beauty

Liz Hewitt was our hairdresser from Bliss Hair and Beauty, Scunthorpe. Jodie Skerratt was the makeup artist, from Noir Makeup Studios in Scunthorpe.

Transport

I travelled in our family’s VW campervan, driven by Ben’s Uncle. Ben travelled on a tuk tuk, provided by his neighbour.

Photographer

Aden Priest was excellent from the moment we first messaged him. He was friendly, warming, and approachable, and he fitted in perfectly. His pricing and offer was very easy to understand with no catches or complications. This combined with his skills in photography are what made us choose him. Aden clearly loves his job and being a part of the celebrations. He stayed to the very end and we still stay in touch to this day. All of our guests loved Aden and three of our friends have booked him afterwards!

Styling

I carried a bouquet of roses and gypsophila, my bridesmaids carried a smaller version. These we ordered from our local florist, The Flower Theatre, Messingham.

The decorations were provided by Elsham Hall, one of the reasons we went with them was the all-inclusiveness of all the extras. They have such a great selection of decorations to suit every type of theme! The wedding planner at Elsham Hall provided us with lots of ideas and tips with things we would not have thought off. We did a pinterest design board for the team to help illustrate our style.

Favours

We gave out a little hessian bag of pick and mix sweets, as well as handmade log slices with names burnt into them for keepsakes.

Cake

We had a naked three tiered cake with three different flavours. One tier with white chocolate, one raspberry and one with strawberry.

Dining

We chose Sauvignon Blanc as the white wine and Merlot as the red wine. As these are popular favourites of our family and friends. We discussed this with most of our guests. We provided three bottles on each table, which went down a treat.

For food, we used a local caterer associated with Elsham Hall called Your Chef. Chris was amazing at tailoring our menu and making it extra special! We had a selection of canapés after the ceremony which everyone appreciated and talked about afterwards. Then for the main wedding breakfast we had prawn cocktail, roast beef and chocolate brownie. I think we picked a winner as everyone loved it – especially the gravy!

Entertainment

On the day we had a local musician who came and played the guitar and sang songs that we’d selected from his playlist. He played in the garden room at Elsham for an hour, which was well received.

In the evening, we had a magician and the DJ that was provided by Elsham. Rich Reynolds the magician was an excellent choice and I would highly recommend. We also had Snapz Photo Booth to make sure the moments were captured, not only professionally by Aden but also jokingly by the booth!

Throughout the day we had many special touches combined with all the entertainment we had provided. It was the best day of our lives and was so good!

Thanks to

Elsham Hall is a superb setup with an awesome team who really do make sure your day is extra special and personal to you! The initial meetings are great to get to know everybody and ensure everything is in order. The grounds at Elsham Hall are phenomenal and make for amazing pictures! We don’t have a single bad word to say about the venue and we are so glad that we chose them for our special day!

Your Chef went above and beyond tailoring our drinks and food menu for the day! Their suggestions for canapés and arrival drinks etc went down a treat. Their estimations were perfect which meant there wasn’t a lot that went to waste!

Throughout the whole process Aden kept in contact, made sure he understood us as a couple to get the best photos and also had our photos ready in no time! I genuinely think you will struggle to get a better photographer than Aden.

Best bit

We both struggle to pick a favourite part of the day as the whole day was amazing and everything we had dreamt of!

Honeymoon

We went to Croatia for ten days on honeymoon. We stayed in Split for six days and then moved to Dubrovnik for four days. We absolutely loved our honeymoon as it was so calm, with some great coastlines and beaches, and some amazing natural waterfalls and places to visit.

Advice

My advice would be to let everybody run around for you and do the work whilst you enjoy your day, as it is all about you both! Also try to take a moment to take in what is going on around you.

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