Sian & Steve’s The Winding House Wedding Day
Where did you get married?
We got married at St Peters and St Paul’s Charlton Church followed by our Reception at The Winding House in Coldred.
What made you choose your wedding venue, did you look at many?
Our journey was not exactly plane sailing… I spoke to my now husband for years about my dream barn wedding. After being engaged for a year we decided to start planning and looking for venues. Quite set on a barn we searched Kent for every barn that existed. We were blown away by many but the second we walked into the one, we knew that was our venue. Little did we know a global pandemic was about to hit! Two postponements later a country wide storm hit taking the barn roof with it. So with 4 months exactly till our already postponed date we had to re-plan our day!!
We visited 11 venues in two days! when push comes to shove it can be done and finally the dream we never knew we had came true. Disheartened after ten visits and all my dreams falling before my eyes, a late Sunday night we were invited to The Winding House… I never thought I would get the ‘this is the one’ feeling again but pulling along the gravel path I knew our wedding dreams were all coming true again.
The Winding House
We wanted a full DIY wedding, we had found our own caterer, a bar to hire, a trip to France to buy the alcohol so we could have a free bar, I wanted to do everything myself and have plenty of flexibility to set up the day before. (My personal worst nightmare was a wedding churning business)
This was a lot to ask but at The Winding House nothing was too much. They allowed us to build our day, the venue was stunning and gave us everything we asked for. The jaw dropping features of the building and the elegant and blank canvas was perfect.
DIY WEDDING
Did you have any type of theme to your day?
Due to the original barn venue I wanted a rustic theme. Personally I didn’t want a colour scheme. I wanted the whole day to build upon us as a couple and our favourite colours. Mine is white and Steve’s is green, therefore the day was build upon greenery with white and ivory flowers. We had plenty of hessian, rustic wood and black steel effects.
The day was built around the love for our big family and cocktails with a few staple cocktails for the reception drinks. Our speeches were emotional and all from the heart. The playlist was one of the most important parts of our day because of our love for music. Steve added every touch he wanted with no say so from me, it was his day too. He chose his suit and groomsmen suits, he chose the colours and very much had his say in our day. I then chose what I wanted for my bridal party and went with the flow. Our day was the best day of our lives because our theme was us!
How did you feel the day went as a whole?
James photos sum up our day! Simple, perfect and a bundle of laughs, filled with a little extra love and tears. The lead up to the day was stressful but I cannot put into words how perfect the day was.
What would be your number one tip to other couples planning their wedding?
Your wedding day is one day you will remember for the rest of your lives. S0 no matter how much goes wrong or is tough before the wedding, on the day, sit back, relax. Let it unfold, take in every second and remember it’s your day. I laughed, cried (good tears) and partied. We didn’t worry about pleasing every guest or making sure we got around every single person. It had to be the best day of our lives.
