Real Weddings Leeds: Zoe and Oli’s rustic wedding day

Oli and Zoe met through spareroom.com. “I moved into a shared house with a couple of strangers,” says Zoe. “Then I ended up marrying one of them! Oli later proposed to me while we were on my favourite beach on the South Coast. It was on the wettest, windiest morning in August 2020!”

Wedding dresses Leeds

Zoe found her dream dress in WED2B’s Leeds store. “The staff was very helpful,” she says. “It was during covid times, so it wasn’t quite how I imagined dress shopping, but it couldn’t have been easier. It was fun and stress free.” 

A rustic barn setting

The couple found a beautiful barn wedding venue, Lodge Farm in North Yorkshire, for their big day. “We chose this wedding venue as we wanted a lot of freedom to go with our own suppliers,” says Zoe. “I’m a chef, so I also wanted to do the catering myself and get friends to help out on the day.”

The big day

“I walked down the aisle with my dad to a song from Home Alone,” says Zoe. “It was a Christmas wedding, so I thought I’d get in as much ‘festive cheese’ as possible! The weather was foggy and fresh, which made for lovely atmospheric photos.”

A fully festive theme

“We went all out with Christmas fun,” says Zoe. “So, we had things like trees and Santa hats. I did a lot of the food preparation myself and I also made our wedding cake."

"All our family helped out the day before too, by laying tables, decorating the church, painting place cards and making button holes.”

My favourite photo..

“It's one from the very end of the night,” says Zoe. “It’s a shot that was taken by two drunk lads outside our hotel, and I’ve got a dirty hemline and some red wine spilt on my dress. I like it because it shows the end of a great night!”

My top tips…

“Get a dress you can dance in,” says Zoe. “Also, don’t drink too much too early on. I wish I’d remembered more of the evening!”

Zoe’s Dream Team

Photographer: Laura Calderwood 

Venue: Lodge Farm, Cundall 

Wedding dresses Leeds: WED2B

Hair: Salon 54

If you would like your big day to be one of our real weddings please click here to share your story and photos with us and we’ll be in touch. Or click here for more details about WED2B’s Wedding dresses Leeds.