Having a Barn Wedding? Here’s my 6 top Tips, with lots of Inspiration and Barn Wedding Ideas!

Are you planning a Barn wedding and need some help? Here are my 6 top tips on what to think about…

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As barn weddings are becoming more and more popular, it can be difficult to keep up with the trend and make your day unique and special to you. So I have decided to share some of my barn wedding inspiration and tips to help you…

There’s just something so magical about celebrating your marriage on a beautiful farm. I think that barns make truly great wedding venues because they’re a blank canvas for creative couples. You can just about create any style of wedding in this rural setting, from English country to luxury and elegant!

1. Facilities

Many established barn wedding venues provide restrooms on site, but if you have to bring in your own port-o-potties, consider renting fancier trailer-style toilets. This way you can ensure that there are enough bathrooms at your venue to accommodate the size of your wedding (one or two bathrooms is enough for 30-50 guests).

2. Dressing up the barn

The best part of having a wedding in a barn is decorating! A barn can become anything you want it to be, from a romantic, cozy, fairytale ballroom to a relaxed barbecue and bar party. String up lanterns and twinkly lights, choose decorations that suit your style (for example, burlap table runners or DIY Chair ribbons) and design floral table decorations with your theme in mind.

Bunting is always a win!

Remember to have fun with your barn! It’s the perfect blank canvas for any rustic-style wedding.

3. Beautiful Lighting

Since barns are typically dark, lighting is a particularly important consideration, especially for photographers! There are some barns that have a strange mix of tungsten and fluorescent lighting that can wreak havoc with camera white balance and create a lovely green glow! Therefore your photographer may need to put up lighting stands with external flashes.

Fairy lights work wonders!!

You can certainly hang small lights throughout the space, but keep in mind that they might not fill the barn with much brightness. Look into getting some spotlights or setting up other hanging lights or even up-lighters. A good DJ will be able to provide these. There’s a great variety of styles of lights, which you can now buy online pretty much anywhere so that they suit your theme and style perfectly.

4. Food Service – make sure there’s space for the caterers!

Most barns nowadays are designed with weddings in mind, so they often have space allocated out for caterers, but working barns, of course, do not. Your menu will likely depend on what your caterer can create in the space provided. But if they don’t have caterers on site then barbecue or other easy-to-eat foods might be a better option than a sit-down meal. So call around to a variety of caterers to see what they recommend in your price range.

5. Getting Guests to your venue – hire a bus!

Most barns are out in rural locations, not in cities where it’s easy to get around or find your way when you get lost. Make sure you provide clear and specific directions to your wedding venue. Also if your venue is a long way from where you and your guests are from then a good suggestion would be to consider renting a bus or other large vehicle to transport guests from a central location or hotel. That way more of your guests don’t have to drive and they can drink and be merry!

6. Plan for all weather!

A lot of barns just have the one function room, which involves everyone having to leave for it to be turned around from the ceremony to the meal, and/or from the meal to the evening with a dance floor. This can create a bit of a problem if they all need to go outside and it’s raining. Maybe put up a small marquee outside the barn just in case it rains?

Where do you do group photos if it’s raining or ridiculously sunny?

It’s great if there are other quirky outbuildings for photos – the light is usually great even if it’s not raining!

More Barn Wedding Ideas and inspiration from real weddings at barn wedding venues!

Here are some amazing barn wedding venues I’ve photographed recently with some lovely wedding styling inspiration for you…

The Long Barn, Surrey

Herons Farm, Berkshire

Cain Manor, Surrey

West Stoke Farm, Hampshire

Grittenham Barn, West Sussex

Wasing Park, Berkshire

Great Tythe Barn, The Cotswolds

Mellow Farm, Surrey

Many thanks for checking out my barn wedding inspiration and tips! Are you planning on getting married at one of these venues (or another venue!) in Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire or West Sussex? Please Contact Me for a quote and to check my availability before it’s too late!

Alternatively, you can see some more of my lovely weddings HERE

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this Blog.

Ginny x