A crisp, early October day suffused with bright Autumn sunshine was the backdrop for the wedding of Chloe and David. Held in our Wedding Barn, the couple’s wedding had an elegant and sophisticated colour palette of dusty blue and grey, with lots of draping and dainty fairy lights for softness and warmth. We’re delighted to share their wedding on our blog, and hope you get plenty of inspiration to step away from traditional autumnal colours if you’re planning your own October or November wedding.

“Despite moving to the outskirts of Sheffield to live with David, I was keen to get married near my hometown of Louth. We looked at three different venues, Healing Manor included. As soon as we saw the barn building, we fell in love with it – we really liked the overall look and feel it had.”

“Finding a place which had good food, beautiful grounds and a hotel with nice rooms for our guests to stay in were big musts for us. We looked at the other two venues but couldn’t get Healing Manor out of our minds: it was the best venue for us that had everything we wanted within our price point.”

“We had our full wedding take place inside the barn at the Manor. We loved that we could have our wedding all in one place, in a self-contained venue for just us and our guests.”

The couple brought in Happycakies Venue Decor in Grimsby to help with some of their wedding planning.

“This included them putting up ceiling draping and lighting, chair sashes, centre-piece log slices and some light-up signage – but we were also keen to do as much wedding DIY decor as we could.”

“We wanted a sophisticated look that complimented the barn layout. With the amazing wooden beams on the ceiling in the ceremony room ceiling drapes were a must, which we also duplicated into the reception room.”

“Despite getting married in October, we wanted to step away from traditional autumnal colours. Our main wedding colour was a dusty blue. Blue has always been my favourite colour and I had never been to a wedding which had this specific colour palette – and we complimented this with a secondary colour of grey. It was a tricky to colour match exactly so we had slightly different variations of dusty blue across our decor, but it worked out really well in the end.

“We liked the idea of soft lighting, so we had lighting go through our ceiling draping and had floating candles all across the venue.”

Chloe and David met back in 2006 when they were in the Air Cadets, getting engaged on a trip to Germany in 2019.

“The Air Cadets included being able to go on week-long camping trips and meeting cadets from other areas: it was at one such camp where we met. We were just friends at first, but after meeting at a second camp trip a few weeks after, we couldn’t deny our attraction to one another. The rest, as they say, is history.

“We got engaged at the top of the New Town Hall in Munich, Germany on 7 September 2019. It was somewhere that David always wanted to take me, so it seemed like the perfect place for him to get down on one knee.”

To choose her Romantica Collections wedding gown, Chloe visited Champagne & Lace Bridal Wear in Grainthorpe.

“I wore a Pure Bridal Ivory ballgown-style dress. It had a V-neckline with a lace bodice, illusion lace shoulder straps and a hand-beaded belt, finished off with an illusion lace back.”

“I had always pictured a dress that was soft and floaty at the bottom but that cinched me in at the waist and didn’t have an overload of lace. This dress had everything I wanted and more. I fell in love with its back as much as I did the front. I loved the illusion lace with delicate buttons running down. I initially wanted a dress that had a sleeve but after discussions with close friends, I am glad that I took the plunge and decided to go without.”

“Wedding dress shopping for me wasn’t easy. In the first couple of shops I went into, I was struggling to find the right style that suited my figure. But as soon as I got to Lisa at Champagne and Lace, she knew exactly what I wanted. I am so grateful that she helped me find ‘the dress’ as I felt absolutely amazing on the day. For someone with not a lot of self-confidence, my wedding day was the best I had ever felt.”

The bride’s veil, a simple, chapel-length veil with a subtle sparkle, was also from Champagne & Lace Bridal Wear.

To match the day’s colour scheme, Chloe selected a pair of powder blue, open-toe block heels with sparkly details on the front strap.

“I wore a sparkly comb slide in the side of my hair, and followed the tradition of wearing something old, new, borrowed and blue. I had a pearl bracelet that had been made specially for me by a family member, alongside a Joma Jewellery silver heart bracelet bought for me by my bride tribe, sparkly drop-down earrings and a simple silver necklace.”

The bride’s hair and make-up were sensational. Chloe asked her long-standing hairdresser Melissa Warren to style it,  with her colleague Sarah Lampard (both from Bonkers Hair Salon in Louth) assisting in the styling of the bridesmaids’ and both mums’ hair.

“I decided to go for an up-do with an array of curls and twisted elements that I knew would stay in all day so I wouldn’t have to worry. I let the bridesmaids have whatever hairstyles they wanted to make them feel the most comfortable, but I did buy a small silver hair slide for them each to wear.”

“All our make-up was done by Kate Atkinson MUA. I had never used Kate before but she has a fantastic reputation and I really liked her styles of make-up on her social media channels. I went for a natural look, with browns and neutral colours. Both hairdressers and my MUA were fantastic on the day, and I was very pleased with everyone’s final looks.”

David wore a grey three-piece morning suit, with a blue and grey tweed waistcoat from Ashley Rogers in Sheffield.

The bride and her tribe styled their flowers, featuring an array of blooms in white, cream and dusty blue, themselves.

“We decided to make our own floral bouquets, buttonholes and floral displays used for our centre pieces and top table. We have a fantastic wholesale flower business, who have a fantastic range of flowers, not far from where we live and it was a little project we were keen to do ourselves. In keeping with our colour theme, our flowers consisted of an array of dusty blue and white flowers. A lot of our guests  said they couldn’t believe we had done this all ourselves, so I am really pleased that we did.”

These incredible photos were captured by James and Merika of James Green Studio, a photography duo who we love to welcome to Healing Manor Hotel.

“I enjoy doing photography as an avid hobby so choosing our photographer was one of the most important decisions for me during wedding planning. For many years, even prior to my engagement, I only had eyes for one set of photographers; James and Merika Green of James Green Studio. I have been captivated by their natural style of photography for years and I knew I had to have them. I contacted James soon after our engagement and they were the first wedding vendor we booked.”

“Both James and Merika were incredible. David and I are not the most natural in front of the camera, but the pair made us feel so at ease and it felt like we had two friends taking our pictures. We are so pleased with the final edits.”

“We chose JAW Media to do our videography. Jacob White and his brother had a great fly-on-the-wall style and it felt like they weren’t even there. They were very respectful of our day and we are really happy with our final videos.”

The ceremony was held in the Wedding Barn, and Chloe walked in with her father to ‘I Get To Love You’ by Ruelle. The ceremony included a reading of the poem ‘Love Monkey’ from the groom’s sister.

“It really resonated as having similarities to our relationship journey and made for a very special moment.”

To keep their guests entertained, James Kirman Magician was on hand with his tricks and cheeky pick-pocketing.

“We booked magician James Kirman to entertain our guests throughout the day and he also acted as a magical host in lieu of a master of ceremonies. Our minds were literally blown by his tricks and all our guests said the same.”

For Chloe and David, food was a major part of their wedding and their wedding breakfast did not disappoint.

“Both myself and my husband are big foodies, so finding a venue which did good food was a key component for us. We knew Healing Manor’s co-owner Steven Bennett is renowned for his food and it was a big factor in making our final decision on a wedding venue. We certainly weren’t disappointed.”

“We had canapés including miniature fish and chips which went down a storm. We also chose a three-course menu from a set of two options. Starters were Bruschetta or Tomato & Pimento soup, main course was Chicken Supreme or Beef Bourguignon, and dessert was either Banoffee Pie Cheesecake or Seasonal Crumble.”

“In the evening we had a seven-item buffet. We had a number of allergy and dietary requirements but the venue handled this amazingly well and everyone was very happy with any alternative food choices that were needed.”

The wedding cake, a three-tier stacked cake of geometric shapes, was by Rosie Kelly of Roseanna’s Cakes.

“Our cake included a hexagon, circle and square tier as we wanted something that looked a little different from the normal round cakes. The flavours were Lemon and Elderflower, Raspberry and White Chocolate, and a Chocolate layer, which were all delicious.”

To add personality to their venue styling, the couple really thought about extra details.

“We added in some small details that really gave a nod to us as individuals. Having had twelve years of journalism experience under my belt, we made wedding day newspapers for all of our guests and laid out the rundown of our special day, as well as a few special facts about our relationship and how we met.”

“One of David’s favourite hobbies is road cycling, so I was keen to give a nod to that for him. We created a unique table plan that was made from a road bike wheel. Everyone commented on how much they loved it and how creative it was. It went down so well that our wedding venue styler, Happycakies, bought the table plan off us after our wedding to add to their stock.”

“Seeing both the ceremony and reception rooms all decorated in full for the first time was our favourite moment. Having spent more than three years planning the wedding and hunting down bargains (as we did a lot of our wedding DIY ourselves), to then see all our ideas come together in a way that surpassed all expectations and for our guests to say how beautiful each room looked, was an incredible moment for us.”

Later in the evening, the newly-weds took to the dance-floor for their first dance to ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol.

“We also had the resident Manor DJ that came with our package, and Magic Images provided our photo booth.”

Advice for other couples

“Find the time to take a moment to look around and really take it all in. Look at the end results of months and years of hard work and how it’s all come together to make your special day possible, as well as looking at your guests’ faces of them enjoying the celebrations.”

“Seeing it all come together makes the wedding planning preparations really worthwhile.”