A real Intimate Wedding Experience

A real wedding story at The Brickhouse Vineyard

We caught up with Jade and James who were married at dreamy small wedding venue, The Brickhouse Vineyard , Devon earlier in 2019. We wanted to hear more about their wedding story and we’re lucky enough to be able to share this with you now along with some beautiful images by Emma Barrow from their special day.

Jade & James' intimate wedding at The Brickhouse vineyard by photographer Emma Barrow

A Japanese love-story

Jade and James met through mutual friends in Japan and bonded over their mutual love for the country. Jade returned from her short trip and James got home some months later as he was working in Japan. A few days after James’ return the couple had their first date was spent talking all night about Japan and discovering a shared love of giant pandas, even finding that they both had taken the exact same photography in front of a giant panda in Japan.

Within a month they went on their first holiday to Edinburgh to see the giant pandas. As Jade joked, “It was a bit closer than Japan!”

Their relationship went from strength to strength as they unearthed lots of unexpected common ground. Their parents had previously worked together for years, they shared the same dentist, Jade had just completed a graphic design assignment for James’ local pub. The list goes on, quite frankly it was a miracle that they hadn’t met before.

A few months later they moved into James’ flat and made it theirs whilst they saved for their first house together. 3 months after their move they expanded their family with the addition of a puppy who’s now 2.

Tell us about your proposal.

“We love seeing new places, so for my birthday we took a trip to Brussels where as soon as it hit midnight on my birthday James got down on one knee and proposed. I had no clue. He had been planning it for a while and had even asked my family for permission to marry me, totally unbeknown to me!”

Why did you choose a small wedding?

“We had a large engagement party where we invited family, friends and work colleagues and celebrated with everyone, so we thought we’d have a small wedding with just the close people and make it more intimate.”

Intimate wedding at The Brickhouse Vineyard Devon by photographer Emma Barrow

How did you find Petite Weddings and what did they do for you?

“Searching online most venues seemed to have a minimum of 50 guests. We found Petite Weddings through a Google search. The Petite Weddings website was so helpful as there was a list of venues that didn’t have a minimum guest requirement. Jane was really helpful, she provided us with details of venues that would suit our criteria, answered every question we came up with, provided us with past wedding examples so we could imagine how our wedding might look and feel, and gave us options that we didn’t have before for us to consider.”

What drew you to The Brickhouse Vineyard?

“Through Jane we arranged a viewing with Joanna at Brickhouse, we travelled down from Birmingham to Devon as from the images we’d seen it looked amazing.

As soon as we arrived, we knew it was the venue for us. It was a winters’ day and the vineyard still looked dreamy. It was quiet, the views were great and the round house had a rustic feel that was exactly what we wanted. The original the brickwork meant we didn’t need lots of decorations and venue as a whole was just perfect for us. It was small enough for our guests but also had different areas and aspects to it that made it feel like a big venue that was going to be exclusively ours for the whole day, so more of a private event feel to it.”

How did you choose your wedding day suppliers?

“As we live in Birmingham, we didn’t know any suppliers down in Devon. Joanna provided us with recommended suppliers she has previously worked with or knows well. This was a great help, we contacted those we liked and they were available, as we only had 8/9 months to plan, we were lucky they were available as a lot of people plan ahead for years.”

Tell us how you planned your wedding day

“We only had 8/9 months to go when we booked The Brickhouse Vineyard. We had been engaged for nearly 2 years by this point as we couldn’t find a venue we liked. So, once we found The Brickhouse Vineyard it was all go. We chose our suppliers and went from there. For a few of our suppliers I made mood boards of our vision and they didn’t disappoint. As I’m a designer I designed the invitation set, signage for the wedding day, table plan and decorations for the day. So, some of the planning was just organising myself and then briefing my family as they set up everything on the day with the help of Joanna. Joanna helped us create the timeline for the day and coordinated the day itself, making sure that everything went to plan. This meant we could relax and enjoy ourselves without having to worry about anything.”

What’s your best memory of your wedding day?

“Our best memory of the day was the evening, where we all just enjoyed ourselves with everyone around us. All the formal pieces were done like the speeches for James so it was all just about dancing and having fun. The band we hired, Double A & the Bay got everyone involved and the night just flew by, with everyone around us there, no worries and all about celebrating.”

Do you have any advice you'd pass on to friends arranging a small wedding?

“Have fun with it and enjoy planning it, as it’s exciting choosing everything you want for your day. Try not to get side tracked into one aspect of it. I spent about 2 months trying to find the right slippers for my bridesmaids which they wore for a few hours in the morning! A checklist was a great help, as when you tick one thing off you can just move onto the next thing, as the list never really ends to the night before, it just helps being organised and seeing what there is to do.”

Intimate wedding perfection at The Brickhouse Vineyard captured by photographer Emma Barrow

Thank-you’s

We love Jade and James’ wedding story – thank you so much for sharing your story with us!

Their wedding day experience would not have been possible without the talents and resources of their wonderful wedding day team. Huge thanks to this wonderful group of wedding brilliant service providers:

Wedding Team

Band: Double A & the Bay

Bridal Accessories: Veil – Amixi / Jewellery – Ted Baker

Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS

Bouquet / Florist: Amanda Winsor – Winsor Flower Studio

Cake: Flour + Zest

Dress: Sincerity Bridal – Justin Alexander

Venue Décor: Shutters / Props: Virginia’s Vintage Hire

Hair Stylist: Lauren Gosling

Make Up Artist: Kimberley Dewar

Groom Suit: House of Cavani

Photographer: Emma Barrow

Wedding Car: Volkswagen Campervan from Ermintrude VW Campers

through Premier Carriage

Venue: Brickhouse Vineyard

Caters: M Welsh Catering Services

Harpist: Through Earcandy

Lighting: Party Lights

To inspire your wedding-day dreaming you can see some more of this beautiful venue here.