Here’s the next instalment of Mum & Dad’s wedding, I’m going to share with you how we set up the barn and the finished result! As I previously mentioned, this was a DIY wedding where we all (me included) made and contributed to the day, Mum hired a completely EMPTY barn (it seemed like a good idea at the time…) however I think she was mainly swayed as the venue would allow dogs. That would mean me being the ring bearer and helping with the set up!

So this was where the magic would happen, Monks Barn in Hurley…

Grandad, being a builder, came up with the rather genius idea of hiring a scaffold tower to hang all the hundreds of meters of fairy lights that my Mum dreamed of having strung from the barn ceiling but of course, it was up to us men to get up there and get on with it.

Auntie Yvonne spent an hour or so being Chief Fluffer of Pom Poms, Mum and Auntie Shelley spent one Sunday evening folding them up ready for the day that they could finally be fluffed to their full colourful potential.

And then we had to hang them…

Meanwhile Nanny helped Auntie Yvonne hang all the hundreds of meters of bunting she had been sewing for a year, it looked fab and really drew everything together.

Mum & Auntie Shelley sorted through, cleaned and dried all the vintage china for the afternoon tea. Auntie Shelley choosing the cup she wanted on the day…

Chairs in the ceremony end of the barn were laid out…

So I made sure I reserved my seat, with the best view of course!

I checked on the bar and made sure they had my favourite tipple…

Mum, Dad and Auntie Shelley played on the Pimms bike whilst I cracked on with the hard work, typical!

Nanny took on the mammoth task of arranging all the flowers for the barn, the table centres and side table arrangements, she did an amazing job and exceeded Mum’s dreams, they were so pretty! Here she is cutting out the oasis to put in all the teapots and cups and saucers, mind your fingers Nanny!

The table plan was strung on wooden step ladders to keep with the vintage garden party theme, all tables were named after a type of sausage – chorizo, frankfurter, lincolnshire – you get the idea!

Of course, Mum & Dad’s table was named after the best type of sausage – Jeffrey!

The sweetie table was put together, it smelt so good, Auntie Shelley & I hung around here a lot…

The almost finished product…

However this was all hard work so I made sure I took time out to reflect on what was going to happen very soon and the very important role I had taken on…

Dach’s all for now – look out for Part 3!

Jeffrey x