A Relaxed Barn Wedding

Real Weddings at Hendall Manor Barns

The relationships we build with couples is a hugely important part of ensuring you day feels relaxed and informal. We hope Ellie & Scott’s day will showcase this and we look forward to welcoming you.

On the 25th October Ellie & Scott got married here with around 70 guests and wanted a relaxed barn wedding from the off.

“Hendall ended up being the only venue we even looked at. By the time we were driving up the lane to leave, we had agreed that it was the perfect option. Even when we were shown around the very first time, before we had made many decisions about the wedding, I could imagine us getting married there.”

 

 

Relaxed Barn Wedding Venue, perfectly located to unwind with family and friends.

Relaxed Wedding Venue

If you are looking for a relaxed barn wedding venue in the heart of the countryside, look no further!
Hendall Manor Barns is a secluded, barn venue set amongst the stunning backdrop of the South Downs  where many couples retreat from nearby towns and cities looking for a calm space to enjoy their day with loved ones.

Ellie & Scott were always set on a relaxed, more informal wedding day not only in how the venue looked – preferring a barn venue where the ceremony could be set up in a more informal layout – but also the flexibility that was offered to help them make the day, theirs.

“Hendall matched perfectly and offered us the opportunity to personalise our day that we were looking for.”

Ellie & Scott ceremony

Rest assured, we are here to help

At Hendall we pride ourselves on the importance of supporting couples to achieve their dream day. We love getting to know the couple and their family/friends and encourage as many meetings and visits to the venue as the couple would like.

We have a big list of wonderful suppliers and are happy to discuss ‘best fit’ suppliers to make the process easier on couples as they begin to plan their day.

On the day itself, from helping the groom with his buttonhole to lighting the sparklers for the guests as they ‘send off’ the couple at the end of the night, we are there to guide and support at every step of the way.

Scott buttonhole - Relaxed day

Wonderful suppliers

Part of being relaxed on your day is knowing that you are able to relinquish responsibility to the wonderful suppliers that are involved.

Having a relaxed barn wedding means choosing suppliers that will look after you and ensure that you can focus on simply having a wonderful day. Setting up meetings to meet and speak to them is a great way to build a repour early on and help you to decide.

Ellie’s first challenge was to pick a photographer that would make her feel at ease as she hated having her picture taken! “As soon as a camera is pointed my way I get really awkward and I’m famous with friends for ruining half of all pictures because I have my eyes shut.”

She ended up compiling a huge spreadsheet, based on our list of recommended photographers as well as Instagram research, that had columns on price, packages, notes on their style and more!

“Will made me laugh and made me feel so comfortable, that he seemed the perfect choice. We also really loved the style of his pictures as they seemed perfect for an Autumnal wedding, and we loved what he had done at Hendall previously. No regrets at all – Will was absolutely wonderful on the day, and we were so happy with our pictures.”

Food was an absolute priority for them too – from the very beginning of planning they knew their priorities were amazing food, plenty of drinks and a relaxed, fun atmosphere. They also decided fairly early on that they wanted Italian food as they had been on lots of Italian holidays.

“When we got in touch with Lizzie and Charlie, they were so helpful with answering all of our questions and provided a whole list of Italian suggestions which really helped inspire us. We immediately knew that we could rely on them to help make the day exactly what we wanted.”

Ellie & Scott table plan relaxed barn wedding

“Credit must go to Laura at Fern Cottage Floristry for the incredible flowers. She did an absolutely incredible job bringing my vague suggestions to life and even managed to incorporate some of my favourite sunflowers in there.”

Relaxed barn wedding ceremony

The importance of your music for your ceremony

Whether you have live music or you provide us with a Spotify playlist, music always plays a very important part on the day. Ellie and Scott luckily had a wonderful family friend, James, to sing for their ceremony. He took the songs they picked and turned them into beautiful versions with his guitar, which just made the whole entrance and ceremony even more special. It certainly helped make Scott cry (although I’ve heard that didn’t take much). As one guest mentioned afterward, they had never seen a wedding ceremony where one person laughed and the other cried the whole way through.

 

Photobooth fun

Ellie & Scott choose Ian of Disco Fever who played a fantastic mix of music that had everyone up and dancing throughout the evening, even Ellie’s 93 year old Nan! Their first dance was to Taylor Swift’s Love Story.  “At 16 years old when we got together, that was my absolute favourite song (still is, really), and I insisted that Scott listen to it. It therefore seemed very fitting, even 14 years later.”

The photobooth he provided was also perfect to give guests additional fun before the evening music begun.  “Looking over the guest book of pictures from it was absolutely hilarious.”

Relaxed barn wedding photobooth

Thank you to everyone who made this such a wonderful day.

Photography – Will Stedman

Caterer – Elizabeth Caton Food & Wine

Florist – Laura @ Fern Cottage Floristry

Dress – Wild Flora Boutique

DJ – Ian @ Ian Forest Wedding DJ

We look forward to welcoming you

If you are looking for a relaxed barn wedding we hope that you can take inspiration from Ellie & Scott’s day and contact us today to learn more about how we can help you plan your wedding at Hendall.

Looking for a wonderful venue for your wedding or event

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