We’re big fans of a Chaucer barn wedding, it’s a vibe thing probably. We always have a relaxed and emotional time at Chaucer. Despite it being really posh looking and having loads of beautiful space indoors and out, it’s cosy feeling. That’s something that couples and their guests quickly pick up on.
So it was lovely when Tori and Mark got in touch to tell us all about their May wedding. In short, Tori and Mark felt like chums from day one and we were so looking forward to the big day. Here’s their wedding in their own words.
I (Tori) run my own business making children’s clothing and accessories and Mark is a graphic designer and animator. Both of us love going out in the canoe or on the paddle boards with the kids, going for walks and to the beach.
We first met in a nightclub but didn’t really think anything of it until we met again a couple of months later at a pub on Halloween. Hitting it off, a couple of days later I asked if he’d come to the cinema to see Despicable Me as none of my friends would come ? The rest (as they say) is history.
Mark had planned a day out to Sheringham park, we’d spent a lot of time there before we’d moved to Norwich. We walked round and found the tree (dead) that a couple of years before we’d carved our initials in. While I was looking for our initials he got down on one knee and was trying to be romantic. I’d thought he’d fallen over in the mud so got down to try to help him up (massive struggle was 8 months pregnant). He produced a ring box and I squealed a little bit. I said yes before he even got his words out to ask me ?
I wanted a fun atmosphere where kids and grown ups felt relaxed and happy. I also wanted it to reflect us as a couple with lots of colour and handmade bits.
We’d got engaged in 2014 and started planning to get married within the next couple of years, we’d looked at Chaucer Barn and fell in love. I went dress shopping but didn’t find anything I loved. We then came into some money and along with everything we’d saved for the wedding we had enough to buy a house. In 2016 we moved into our first home. We talked for ages about when to get married but after having another kid it never seemed quite right.
January 2022 I saw on Instagram that the lovely lady who made the wedding ring that I had been pining over for 7 years was shutting up shop and would be taking last orders until February. I was on it straight away and ordered my wedding ring! After ordering it we didn’t have much choice but to finally get married.
We originally looked at having a small wedding in our friends garden. When I looked at all the costs it wasn’t much cheaper than our dream venue. So, we went back to look at Chaucer Barn. When a cancellation happened for a May wedding we jumped at the chance and scrambled to book everything we needed. Once that chaos calmed down we got to do all the lovely bits. I spent a long time making lots of bits like the bows for the table setting. Seeing it all set up was worth every second!
We had a provisional booking for our Chaucer Barn wedding but needed to make sure we could get caterers and everything we’d need. We booked the registrars first. Then we found caterers we liked (that took a while as the first 3 caterers we contacted were busy).
We were very picky with photographers. I originally contacted a girl I used to work with but she was booked already. We wanted the photographs to be fun and colourful. When I came across Lisa & Neil’s website I was so excited but also panicked that they’d be booked up already. The relief and excitement when they said they were able to do it was amazing. We really struggled with wedding invites. Mark wanted to design them but he then had too many ideas. This made it difficult to narrow down to just one. I’m really glad we kept them simple and the colours were beautiful.
When I told Lisa that I was planning on making bridesmaids dresses and my own cake she warned me not to do it. I did it anyway! There was a bit of a moment with one of the bridesmaids dress where I’d put the pockets way too low and had to figure out how to fix that? it all worked out well in the end though and I’m so proud that I made so much for our wedding.
We desperately wanted to get married in the woods. The weather had been awful for weeks before the day. To wake up on the Saturday morning to full sunshine was the best feeling! I am so glad we got to get married in the woods. Surrounded by our wonderful friends and family, it was perfect! We really wanted it to be relaxed and not formal. There were a lot of children and I didn’t want there to be any pressure for the kids to sit down. I was happy if they wanted to run around. Because there was no pressure and it was relaxed the kids were all amazing and were happy to sit and watch.
The whole day was amazing but my favourite moment was sitting on the step with a couple of my friends in the beautiful sunshine. I was watching everyone enjoying themselves. To see the joy on people’s faces was great. To think that they were all there for us was so special and magical.
I spent the whole day smiling and laughing but saying that Mark had got fat when I tried to put his ring on was so funny! I didn’t mean to say it out loud but at least our guests laughed.
I’m normally a cryer, but I didn’t cry a great deal on the day. I did get tearful looking at my oldest friends faces when I walked down the aisle. Giving my bridesmaids their gifts and telling them how much I loved them really got me.
My favourite photo is the one of me and Mark with the kids in the wildflower garden waiting to walk through to do the confetti shot. We all look so happy and I will treasure that photo forever!
*Just a side note from us, doesn’t Tori have the best curls ever?
No! In all honesty I am so happy with how the day went. Yes we had a couple of hiccups but I was expecting something bigger to happen and it didn’t. Our friends and family are still talking about our wedding and how much they enjoyed it. Am I allowed to redo the day without the planning bit?
‘When looking for wedding photographers we wanted a photographer whose photos were colourful and full of fun, well we found two! And then we saw that they loved cats, that clinched it for us ?
They were amazing throughout the whole process, even when emailing silly questions, they answered nicely and put our minds at ease.
On the day they were bluddy fabulous! My mum said it felt like they were part of the family. The whole day we felt at ease with them taking photos. They even made our son smile which was a miracle! Our photos came back super quickly and we love them so much! We would recommend Lisa and Neil to anyone and everyone!’
Tori and mark’s Google review
If you’re planning a Chaucer barn wedding, give us a shout here, we’d love to hear all about your plans. We love chatting weddings and have a heap of useful tips in our blog here.
