Beccy and Dan's DIY sensation at Deepdale Farm, Kirbymoorside.

A celebration of colour and art, this is one of describing what Beccy and Dan’s day looked like…It was a day like no other they broke all the traditions: Christmas songs in June; getting ready together and even walking to the registry office as a couple.

Beccy and Dan's outfits worked really well together, despite being totally different to the usual wedding day wear!

When we first got together to chat through their plans for their wedding day a few weeks before the wedding, they told me about what they’d been up to so far. With the wedding venue being a blank canvas for couples to do as they please, they’d been really busy! Beccy works in the Art department at York College, so there’s no the wonder their day came together so well. With giant moons and flowers, glitter galore, handmade head dressings and a mirage of colourful country flowers, Deepdale Farm Weddings looked unreal, in the best way possible!

Deepdale Farm Weddings have the best little quirks, if you get time to look for them.

The view from the entrance at Deepdale Farm, across to the two barns.

Taken from the entrance of the barn, what an incredible job this couple did.

It looked so good for every angle.

It was such a fun idea to add little games for the guests as favours.

The glass bottles and country flowers worked impeccably well.

Just a tattoo, face paint and glitter table for the guests to play with.

Every art teacher needs one of these!

What else would you have as a Photo Booth, other than a giant moon?

Deepdale Farm offers camping accommodation for your guests too, they have all bases covered.

Not only did the venue look good, so did the Bride and Groom, Beccy had found her dress in a charity shop and had reinvented it, adding colourful badges and motifs, the dress was almost like a piece of art that represented every corner of Beccy’s personality. Dan, I’m sure you guessed went down a slightly less conventional route too, with his bright and highly patterned shirt, jeans and leopard print converse! Their dress code was to be comfortable and their day was as informal as any wedding affair could be, with a Fish & Chips wedding breakfast straight from the van, followed by a Pork Pie wedding cake, lashings of cheese, biscuits and pickles for the night guests.

As you can see, Beccy made a great job of the dress, the detailed soulder arrangement coincided with the colourful outfit Dan wore too.

Nails to match and isn't that a beautiful engagement ring!

Beccy's shoes of course had been clearly planned down to the finest detail.

The rings were designed and handmade by Beccy's friend Ellie Crosby.

What an awesome shoe combo!

No, it wasn't just any pork pie, it was personalised and made to order by Appleton Butchers.

The 'cake cutting' it was pretty tough to cut through the crunchy pastry.

When it came to choosing the venue, they knew the most important thing to them was to have a blank canvas they didn’t want a traditional wedding venue, they wanted their day to be a true testament to them both. They wanted to DIY as much of the décor as humanly possible, be in beautiful surroundings and eat what they love to eat the most without anyone specifying this for them. Deepdale was the perfect place for this! Set in the stunning countryside, just below Hutton-le-hole, with two hosts who just want their couples express themselves and to be able to enjoy their surrounding.

I absolutely loved their wedding invites, this was pinned to their fridge door in their home.

A beautiful portrait of Beccy in the Gypsy Caravan, sheltering from the rain midway through out photo session.

The pair of them in the Gypsy Caravan, this is aways on site at Deepdale, Beccy and Dan stayed in here on their wedding night.

Even the caravan matched their bright colour theme.

Even in the rain Deepdale has quite the backdrop.

The way they look at each other, this is why hanging back as the photographer and getting the couple to be them is so important.

When creating a DIY wedding it’s important to be organised, Beccy and Dan shared some tips with me…

“We started planning almost as soon as we got engaged and had the venue booked within a couple of months. We used a free wedding planner spreadsheet we found online, and because we had a strict budget (and knew if we weren’t careful we’d spend wildly!) that was a godsend. From start to finish it was 17 months of planning, gathering and making and we still; l ran out of time for some of the things we wanted to do.

We roped in our parents, brother and sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends to help us get everything ready. Beccy’s mum made the huge paper flowers, the moon ‘photobooth’, the signs, all the crowns and most of the fancy dress. Beccy’s gran sewed superhero capes. Everyone was on the lookout for brightly coloured glass and travel games for the tables (which were borrowed from Dan’s mum). Beccy refashioned her wedding dress from one she found in Sue Ryder for £26 and sewed blankets and quilts so the hay bales wouldn’t be scratchy. For two days before the wedding it was all hands on deck stapling, swaging and laying the tables.”

They chose wedding suppliers offline for the food, flowers and chairs everything else they made, borrowed or sourced from charity shops. For their DIY inspiration, they researched wedding blogs like “Rock my Wedding” and created numerous mood boards on Pinterest along with just making things up as they went along, this is why I think their day looked so good.

Beccy's handmade bouquet, made using the flowers she's brought from Pickers.

Even on the morning of the wedding they put the Bridesmaids to work, sewing button holes!

Finishing the edges and adding the safety pins.

The rings had this amazing box for them to be transported safely to the registry office. Of course there was only the one box for both rings, what else would you expect?

The bridesmaids jackets, so many sequins!!

Beccy and Dan write their own vows, now only were these heart-felt they were humours too, so everyone enjoyed a little chuckle during the ceremony.

Even the Bride and Groom did too!

Just the moon photo booth in action! I'm totally love the outfits the guests wore!

Someone was happy with the games that were on the table!

An amazing head dress that was put out for their guests to wear, yes, homemade!

And another!

The bar setup at Deepdale Farm.

Beccy and Dan's niece enjoying acting for her photo on the photo-booth.

Luckily, it stopped raining long enough for everyone to get their fish and chips.

Amazing use of the face paints and glitter gems.

During the speeches.

Listening to Mum's speech...

Like father, like son...

The best woman put a fun slideshow together, sharing some lovely memories.

Making use of them amazing handmade flowers, painted by Beccy's Mum, the perfect place for a family portrait.

Yum!!

The pair behind the vision, enjoying their day to the max.

How did the planning work? Who helped? How long did it take to plan? How did they organise & schedule?

Any fears or worries about the day? Rain! And yes it did rain, but it didn’t matter in the end. A sign of good luck I hear... For Dan it was the wedding dance but a few dancing lessons alleviated that fear.. a tad. Also our wedding playlist (that took months to perfect) was let says an eclectic mix, ranging from King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizzard to Ben Folds Five.

This is the part of the day Dan was most nervous about.

They seemed to enjoy it...

They'd been having dance lesson together in preparation for the day.

And they SMASHED it! Amazing effort you two.

Things you wish you didn't do or wish you had? Delegate more! When you’re doing a DIY wedding, it’s really easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to do everything yourselves and you really don’t. On the day we spent a little too much time organising things and we wish we had spent that time just enjoying it.

Advice for future couples? If you’re doing a DIY wedding start planning and making really early. Don’t underestimate just how long it takes. Also don’t underestimate the amount of space wedding stuff takes up in your house (and probably other peoples too!) so be prepared to live with it for months before the big day. Make a really good itinerary so you don’t forget anything. We’re finding things in cupboards now that we had bought for the wedding and just forgotten because towards the end it gets so hectic.

Even Beccy and Dan's front door is brightly coloured, I couldn't help but get a photo of it!

Enjoying the relaxed way of getting ready together with the bridal party and loads of guests that kept knocking on the door!

Walking to the registry office together.

Mum walked her down the aisle and she looks so proud!

Time to throw some confetti.

and get the party started!

They seemed to enjoy it :)

Someone else was loving throwing the confetti!

We stopped mid way back to their home to grab some shots of them together.

We couldn't walk past this amazing bridge!

Even the cars stopped for us to get the shot, whats a stroke of luck.

Jack made this amazing festival jacket for Beccy and Dan's wedding day.

Enjoying chatting with his guests.

The evening light looking ambient in the barn as the guests enjoyed cheese, pork pie and drinks.

The dance floor beginning the Hot up!

A view from the back of Deepdale Farm Weddings

For more tips on DIY weddings and ways to keep them eco friendly, check out this awesome blog I found the John put together!

Credits:

Venue: Deepdale Farm Weddings

Food: Mobile fish and chips of Pickering and Appleton’s butchers.

The dress: DIY Charity Shop

Dan’s outfit: Jeans from Primark, Shoes from Converse, Shirt from Tesco (although I'd bought about 10 and picked one on the day) and Jacket from Zara and Bex hand stitched me on my beloved Derby County patch.

The Rings: Beccy’s friend Ellie Crosby designed and made the wedding rings.

Flowers: DIY but sources from Pickers at Moor Monkton is the local flower farm we used. It was important to us that the flowers were brightly coloured, seasonal and produced in a way that was kind to the environment. Sally got what we wanted straight away and was FANATASTIC. Beccy cried when she picked them up!

Photography: Anoif Photography