SOHO FARMHOUSE WEDDING

After meeting Katie & Thomas for a coffee to chat through their plans at Soho Farmhouse I knew straight away that this was going to be one huge party wedding. They really didn’t disappoint! I always love it when couples describe their wedding as a party. It’s a huge celebration. A chance to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones and see two people you know and love get married. Oh and of course sink a few gins, eat some nice food and dance until the early hours.

As a wedding photographer there isn’t much more you could wish for in a wedding venue. Situated in the Cotswolds close to the villages of Chipping Norton and Greater Tew Soho farmhouse is set in 100 acres of beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. Katie & Thomas hired out the main farmhouse for a weekend bbq party, the Barwell Barn and Haybarn for the wedding day celebrations and the yurts for guests to stay in. Katie & Thomas also both had separate cabins for their wedding preparations which made a great backdrop for photos.

Here’s what Katie had to say about their plans…

PHOTOGRAPHY

Katie the Bride: We had the amazing Lee Robbins take the photography for our big day. I actually found Lee whilst gathering inspiration via Rock my wedding, I also had a colleague who had Lee for her wedding and so knew he came highly recommended! Lee was everything we wanted, relaxed and inconspicuous, resulting in ‘in the moment’ photography, capturing the very treasured moments throughout the day. My absolute favourite was the shot he captured our flower girls seeing me in my dress for the very first time! We have had so many favourites back from Lee that I think we may have to put them all in rotation around our house!

VENUE

The events team at the farmhouse were amazingly helpful at supporting our vision for the deco and set up for the big day. I also had a friend overseeing art direction for the set- up the day before making sure it was exactly as we wanted! We wanted the wedding to ooze colour and fun and what better way to achieve this than with balloons! Tom and I went balloon crazy and bought huge orb balloons in a variety of colours to use in bunches all around the venue. We had a photo booth made up of lots of white balloons and streamers, using the farm's heritage style furniture to define the area. The kids also made use of the balloons throughout the day too! Flowers and greenery were used to wrap and creep around rustic candelabras on circular tables with wagon cartwheels covered in ferns and greenery hung from the ceiling of the barns.

BRIDES GOWN

I was on the lookout for a traditional dress with a ’70s, boho twist. I visited the amazing ‘Morgan Davies’ in EC1V, London, which have a vast range of styles and designers and found Jesus Peiro. I tried on around 5 of their dresses but knew I had found the one when I tried on the very last in my pile!

My veil was from Morgan Davies, and was plain white with 3 tiers. I then had an oversized real flower headpiece that was made up by the guys at Farm Flowers at the Farmhouse using our cream wedding flowers with ferns and greenery. I swapped into this when the guests were being kept busy with drinks at the reception after church.

My shoes were from Miu Miu similar here with encrusted crystals and pearls on the heel. I knew I wanted something fun and actually comfortable - these platforms were perfect!

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

Two of my bridesmaids live in New York and so I knew I needed something that I could send easily for them to try. After a few misses, I actually found their navy blue, wrap around, bell-sleeved maxi dresses from Asos! (asos.com). Our pretty flower girl dresses were from Monsoon

GROOM/GROOMSMEN

Tom wanted something relaxed but fun for him and his groomsmen. The guys wore their own navy suits (a couple ended up in brown!) and Tom bought them all shirts which had their personal initials embroidered on.

I actually ended up going with Tom to help him decide on his suit and we couldn’t decide between two completely different styles…. so he ended up with both and had a suit change half way through the day! He started in a traditional navy 3 piece and then changed into a grass green, double-breasted 2 piece suit for dinner and dancing! I couldn’t believe he had wangled an outfit change and I hadn’t! Both of Tom’s suits were from Beggars Run in Shoreditch, London.

DECOR/STYLING

The events team at the farmhouse were amazingly helpful at supporting our vision for the deco and set up for the big day. I also had a friend overseeing art direction for the set- up the day before making sure it was exactly as we wanted! We wanted the wedding to ooze colour and fun and what better way to achieve this than with balloons! Tom and I went balloon crazy and bought huge orb balloons in a variety of colours to use in bunches all around the venue. We had a photo booth made up of lots of white balloons and streamers, using the farm's heritage style furniture to define the area. The kids also made use of the balloons throughout the day too! Flowers and greenery were used to wrap and creep around rustic candelabras on circular tables with wagon cartwheels covered in ferns and greenery hung from the ceiling of the barns

ENTERTAINMENT

Music was an important thing for us and so we didn’t go for a wedding band but stuck to having a DJ from 3 pm in the afternoon. We had ‘The Wedding Smashers’, mainly because one of our friends is the DJ and we knew that she would 100% get our music taste. They were brilliant at making sure that we had all of the tunes that we wanted to be played throughout the daytime drinks, dinner and the evening party. With such a diverse taste and audience to please, we made sure we played everything from 60’s rock and roll to a 90’s garage session in the evening. Our tip here would be to get all of your guests to give 3 of their favourite floor fillers as part of their RSVP.

CAKE

A new independent café had opened near where we lived and a friend recommended we try it out for lunch. We got talking to the owner who then offered to make our cake for us! We had the lovely Lia from Mae and Harvey in Bethnal Green make our beautiful 4 tired, multi-flavoured naked cake. Tom and I both have a sweet tooth and so both wanted our favourites. We landed on chocolate, lemon, carrot and Victoria sponge all layered on top of each other, decorated with edible flowers and fruit.

VIDEOGRAPHY

We had both Lee and Dawn from Shutterbox films with us for the full day of the wedding. The footage they captured was magic, especially with the use of 3 super 8 films woven in with digital, it really portrayed the 70’s aesthetic we were aiming to achieve. I get goosebumps every time I watch it!