Rustic & Chic Blush Barn Wedding

This summery day is so full of joy. A couple that has so much love, evident from their touching wedding readings alone. You are really going to love this folks…

WWW readers Jackie and Alex tied the knot on the 27^th June 2015 at Cripps Stone Barn in the Cotswolds. A venue they chose due to its countryside setting and pretty ceremony room. Rustic chic was the vision and they pulled it off to a tee. Simple, effortless and personal touches were used throughout, with a rocking band from Tailored Entertainment in the evening.

The blush colour scheme was super pretty, the maids looked amazing in simple frocks and their were Peony bouquets too.  Jackie chose a lace fishtail gown with perfectly tousled hair and Alex donned a cobalt blue suit and peachy tie. Wow.

Thanks so much to the fabulous Kerry Diamond for providing these images.

THE PROPOSAL | I moved to England from New York about 4 years ago. I was ready for green open pastures, a slower pace of life and a daily helping of tea and crumpets. A few months into living in England and accidentally picking up a terrible English accent, I was set up on a friend date at a local pub with Alex. It wasn’t long before friend dates became real dates….

A year and a half later, we were on a skiing holiday with a bunch of friends in Meribel, France. Alex woke me up from a nap, we got bundled up in our winter wear and hurried outside so that we could walk up the mountain a bit before the sun went down. The colours reflecting off the mountains were stunning. We were walking along one of the ski trails, dodging skiers and snowboarders zooming around the corner. To avoid a head-on collision, which would have really soured the evening, we went a little bit off the trail. Alex’s hands were shaking. I thought he was because it was cold but apparently he was having a minor meltdown. Next thing I knew Alex was on his knee and tears, well my tears, were flowing. Then it was back to the chalet where a bunch of our friends were ready and waiting with champagne.

THE VISION | It took ages to decide whether to have the wedding in England or the States. But in the end, England won out. After countless weekends of dragging ourselves to venue after venue, we finally found the perfect place – Cripps Stone Barn in the Cotswolds. The rolling hills and beautiful villages surrounding the converted stone barn was exactly what we were looking for. The barn area where the ceremony was held looked a bit like a church, without being a church… which was a bonus for us. Once we found the venue, everything else sort of fell into place. So in terms of vision, we went down the vein of what I suppose you could call rustic chic? I knew I wanted a lace dress, pretty natural hair and make up, and soft colours for the flowers and decorations. But above all else, we wanted the food to be amazing and for the wedding to be really fun. So we made sure we had incredible caterers (Cripps Kitchen, which were absolutely amazing), a live band from London that had rave reviews, an open bar all night and lots of activities. We had a taxi cab photo booth parked up out front, a s’mores station, giant jenga, and a game called cornhole… an American favourite that involves throwing beanbags through a board with a hole in it. It’s more fun than it sounds.

THE VENUE | Cripps Stone Barn.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My mom and I went to countless boutiques in Boston, New York, and London, but ended up finding the perfect dress at Madeleine’s Daughter in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a few miles from my family home. It was a strapless, lace Romona Kaveza fit and flare dress with a deep sweetheart neckline. I absolutely loved it! I added a beaded belt, some bright blue Kate Spade shoes, a borrowed diamond bracelet from my mom, and Hermione Harbutt hair pins. And in case the temperature dropped (which it never did thank God!) I had a Nicole Miller cashmere shawl.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | We found Alex’s suit at House of Fraser. It was a dark cobalt blue suit made by Alexandre of London. The white shirt was a hidden-button shirt from Reiss, and a pink Warwick tie was the finishing touch. His brown brogues were from Dune.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had a wonderful classical guitarist, Jon Pickard, who played during the ceremony and through the cocktail hour. After the meal we had a band called Pop London from Tailored Entertainment who were fantastic and really got everyone up on their feet.

Walking down the aisle, played by guitarist: Elation by Isbells.

First dance: Old Pine, by Ben Howard.

Bride and Father dance: L-O-V-E by Natalie Cole.

We chose two readings. One was an excerpt from The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman…

“I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight.”

And a passage called Union from The Beginning to End by Robert Fulghum.

“You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks — all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”- those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”- and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, ” You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed- well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another- acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this- is my husband, this- is my wife.”

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 6 bridesmaids, all lovely American ladies from growing up, from university and from post university. They wore the Cadie dress in ballet slipper by Jenny Yoo. I also gave them pearl necklaces from a jewellery designer in Florida.

THE FLOWERS | Our florist was Rachel Husband from The Rose Shed. She was so friendly, easy to work with and incredibly talented! We went with flowers that were pale peach, pale blush, ivory and dusty green. So Rachel used blousy roses, peonies, hydrangeas, larkspur, lisianthus, eucalyptus, trailing ivy and ferns. We had mercury bowls on the tables with a large centrepiece and beneath it was a bed of moss that extended across the table, with mercury glass votives and succulents tucked in. We also had 2 large hanging arrangements in the stone barn for the ceremony and the venue provided some birch trees decorated with fairy lights.

THE CAKE | We had a 3-tier cake… 2 tiers were chocolate, 1 tier was carrot. Covered in cream cheese frosting and decorated with live flowers. The cake was INCREDIBLE and I couldn’t recommend Frederique highly enough. We even took the top layer on a 16 hour flight to the Maldives because we just couldn’t get enough.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Kerry Diamond. The best! She made everyone feel so comfortable and the photos were so creative and beautiful. I really appreciated how she was on top of the schedule of the day and made sure we took advantage of every opportunity to get a great shot. And to top it off, she’s such a lovely person!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | In addition to the flowers, we organised a few other details. We had old crates to hold the s’more packs — individual packs with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate tied with a little tag on which we put our “wedding logo.” This was a map of the US and UK with a dotted swirly line between them that read Alex and Jackie 27^th June 2015. We also had this logo printed on the aprons given to the carver of each table, in addition to a chef’s hat. The butterflied leg of lamb came out on chopping boards that would be carved by one elected carver on each table.

THE HONEYMOON | We spent the first night of our honeymoon at Barnsley House in the Cotswolds and then headed off to The Conrad Hilton in the Maldives for 9 days.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | My most memorable moments would be… walking down the aisle and seeing Alex at the end, messing up my vows to the amusement of our 140 guests, heading out into the field with my bridesmaids for an impromptu photo shoot late in the evening, Alex’s speech (which had the entire room in stitches and sobbing) and cramming into the taxicab photo booth for some priceless pics. But I suppose the best memory was the unexpected sunshine!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | My advice for other couples would be to think about the things that really reflect you as a couple and not to be swayed away from what you really want. Everyone has their opinion but try to think about what YOU want. We really wanted the day to be fun, so we tried to spend more thought and money on the things that would facilitate this… for example we made sure the band was great, the drinks kept flowing and there were fun things to do and we focused less on whether or not our table menus were printed on regular paper or letterpress printed onto imported Italian stationery.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Kerry Diamond

Venue | Cripps Stone Barn *WWW Wedding Directory Members*

Band | Tailored Entertainment  *WWW Wedding Directory Members*

Photobooth | Alfie the Black Cab Booth

Cake | Frederiques

Classical Guitarist | Jon Pickard

Car hire | Daimler V8

Make up | Victoria Jones

Hair | Nikki Burnham

Videographer | Reel Love Films

Dress | Legends Romona

Bridesmaid dresses | Jenny Yoo

Hairpins | Hermione Harbutt

Shoes | Dillards

Shawl | Nicole Miller (in white)

Second shooter | Tracey Christina 

Magic.

Thanks so much to Jackie and Alex for sharing their wedding story with us xo Lou