a gorgeous, rustic barn wedding in the cotswolds | uk wedding blog

Morning all! Greg and Rhian had a beautiful wedding in The Cotswolds, Cripps Barn is a SYGM favourite as they days there always looks so relaxed and gorgeous. For a September wedding, they were blessed with afternoon sunshine streaming in through the big barn windows, good food and merriment was had by all. Lots of gold, peaches, pastels and bunting make for such a pretty colour scheme…and Rhians dress. All the heart eye emojis!

Photography | Kevin Belson 

Dress was by Annasul Y from the White Collection in Clevedon, Bristol. Shoes were by Rachel Simpson

Bride’s hair accessories/veil: Jewellery was earrings (a gift from Greg on the day), bracelet (gift from Greg’s mother) and my grandmother’s sapphire engagement ring.

We had a fantastic florist in Claire from The Wilde Bunch. We trusted her implicitly and she did an incredible job. David Austin Sweet Juliet roses formed the centre of my bouquet. She also designed some slight unusual succulent based button holes for the Groom and ushers which everyone loved and commented on.

Greg’s suit and waistcoat was by Ted Baker along with all the ushers’, with ties and shirts by Thomas Pink. All finished off with matching stripy socks. I bought Greg a pocket watch as a wedding day gift which looked fantastic with his waistcoat.

Make up by Emily Tarrant and hair was done by Bella Bridal Hair.

Bridesmaids’ dresses were Jenny Packham No.1 at Debenhams.

This was made by my sister (and bridesmaid) Cerian. It was based upon a birdcage and looked incredible. Each layer was different and we especially loved the red velvet which was a special request!

Delicious macaroon wedding favours (from Patisserie Leila, Gloucester Road, Bristol)

Cripps Stone Barn, Cotswolds

We didn’t have a theme really. Loosely peaches, pastels and grey. We used a birdcage motif on the invites which we carried through onto the table plan and table names. Flowers were our main decorations, with two large hanging spheres of flowers in the stone barn where the ceremony took place in addition to milk churns full of flowers flanking the registrar. In the Dutch barn there was a stack of vintage crates overflowing with flowers as well as filled crates on the tables. Vintage birdcages full of flowers were hung from the ceiling to tie in with a motif of the invites and on the table names/seating plan. Added in were lots of other tiny details like vintage signs, personalized bunting and jars of marshmallows.

There were so many highlights it is difficult to choose. The light flooding into the barn filled with beautiful flowers was incredible and truly memorable. We are also grateful that the sun decided to make an appearance during the day after a shower filled morning. It was great to hear all the laughter during the wedding breakfast and speeches, although the best man with his speech nearly managed to steal the show!

Catering was by Cripps Kitchen who are a sister company of the venue. The food was incredible! We wanted the meal to be a social event and each of the courses had a sharing element. I’m vegetarian (along with a lot of my family) whilst the groom comes from a family of butchers so we had to have all aspects covered. We had a goats cheese salad or pork terrine to start followed by rib eye of beef (carved at the table by nominated friends and family in personalized aprons and chef’s hats) or French onion tart with potato dauphinoise and green beans. Dessert was chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. All finished with espresso martinis and macaroons.

In the evening we had pizza by Baz and Fred’s mobile pizzeria.

Most guests arrived via a vintage red route master bus, and we had a string quartet play during the reception and drinks. Throughout the day we had Oli from Spoolfrog wandering around recording our very own ‘Marryoke’ video. This proved immense fun both for those taking part and watching from a distance. Later in the day we had a photo booth in place of a typical guestbook and the Zu Zu Men provided the evening’s musical entertainment.

Early on we set aside an amount for the key features – venue, food, drink, photographer, and florist – which we booked first. We then tried to plan what extra things we want to have on the day and aim save money towards each as the planning went on. It’s fair to say that the budget ‘evolved’ as the planning went on, but it was worth every penny!

We splurged on flowers, saved on the wedding cake and decorations – thanks to Rhian’s sister and mum.

Make sure you do what you want to do and not what other people or what you think other people want you to do. Try and relax and just enjoy the day as it goes by in a flash!