Summery & Rustic Marquee Rousham House & Gardens Wedding

Welcome to WWW readers Esmé and Neil’s Rousham House & Gardens wedding in the gorgeous Cotswolds. Their day was pretty as a picture, with the English garden setting and pole tent marquee prooving perfect for their summery nuptials.

Their day was quite simply glorious with hot summer weather, divine white wedding flowers, sensational outfits and a lot of fun and games. Rustic touches included wooden pallets, hessian table runners and a semi-naked cake of dreams. I defy you not to fall head over heels today.

Wyldbee Photography, I can’t thank you enough for sharing these sun-drenched and beautiful captures with us.

Esmé and Neil on WWW

We loved looking through the real life weddings on WWW Instagram page whilst planning our own wedding. Our venue was a ‘dry hire’ venue meaning we could choose all the elements ourselves, therefore using WWW was a great source of inspiration.

Rousham House Wedding

The Proposal

Neil proposed as a surprise at the end of our 18 month venture of living in New Zealand.

He booked us a surprise log cabin for the weekend by our favourite surf spot in Muriwai and he popped the question on the sand dunes during a sunset stroll. We frequently surfed there so it was already special to us and it later became the name of the top table at our wedding.

The Vision

We initially dreamed of getting married abroad in Portugal or Italy, as being sun worshippers we hoped for guaranteed sunshine on the day. Due to the possibility of covid restrictions we changed our ideas to closer to home.

Neil lived in a small village in Oxfordshire for the first 6 years of his teaching career, so the beauty of the Cotswolds was an obvious choice. We loved the idea of an open-sided marquee, to get as much of an outdoor vibe as possible. Our wedding turned out to be on one of the hottest days of the year so we felt very lucky with our decision.

Budget

Our initial budget was £30,000 however we did not want to compromise with several elements and were lucky to be able to extend this up to £35,000 to have the special day we created.

The Ceremony & Music

Choosing our musician was easy, we had the incredible Michael Moore (Piano Animal). We had heard him play at a friend’s wedding in 2018 and having him play was a non-negotiable for us! He truly is a musical magician and knows over 1000 songs in his head. He even learnt our first dance song for us “In The Air” by L.A.B.

The traditional ceremony was in the onsite 12th-century church of St Leonard & St James’, I walked down the aisle to Carnival of the Animals; The Swan, played by Michael on the cello. Our hymns included the iconic Jerusalem which everyone belted out. One of my bridesmaids sang Songbird, Eva Cassidy which was enchanting.

The Venue

Rousham House & Gardens is in the tiny village of Rousham in Oxfordshire. It was the second venue we viewed and we were an instant yes without hesitation.

It’s a private flower garden and offered us the opportunity of having our ceremony in the beautiful church of St Leonard & St James’ on site so our guests didn’t have to drive between the ceremony and reception.

The journey from the church, through the walled flower gardens and finally to the marquee on the front lawn meant that guests were able to see the full beauty of the gardens throughout the day.

Your Outfits

Esme – Normandie, by Enzoani. From Couture and Tiaras Bridal Shop, Burgess Hill.

I was very indecisive with my dress (I’m usually very decisive about everything so this was unheard of for me!) and must have tried on over 50! When I found this one I knew it was the one, I particularly loved the summery ethereal look, the open back and long train. My veil was a single tier cathedral length veil handmade for me by a fantastic lady that I found on Etsy.

Neil – chose a 3-piece textured charcoal grey suit from Charles Tyrwhitt. His main criteria was that he didn’t want blue or navy! He wore a double cuffed white shirt from Stenströms with a champagne tie.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Sophie – Wyldbee Photography

Second shooter – Michael Walton Photography

The Styling & Decor

Neil’s sister Kara is a graphic designer so designed our order of service. She hand-painted the wedding schedule and seating plan on wooden pallets.

For the name places, we wanted to keep a simple rustic feel so we used luggage tags with rubber stamps and lavender (DIY). Our table names were photos of our favourite places in New Zealand, we had trestle tables as wanted the meal time to be as sociable as possible.

We had a semi-naked buttercream wedding cake, designed by CakesByEm with real flowers.

Our flowers were all designed by the wonderful Elizabeth Baker, she got married at the venue herself so it’s close to her heart. We had a neutral palette with VIP Brut and ivory roses to mirror the colours of the bridesmaids. Using Ammi Graceland and populus helped create the summery vision, with flower rings and jam jars in the marquee.

Elizabeth and our wedding coordinator Ann worked fabulously together to help create the vision.

The Honeymoon

We spent 17 days hopping around the Saronic islands (Greece). Beginning in Athens then Aegina, Poros and Hydra.

Memorable Moments

The congregation all singing Jersusalem for the final hymn in the ceremony.
Our running entrance into the marquee to “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates.
Michael Moore taking requests and playing non-stop music through the day and night.
Drinking Chapel Down Bacchus in the dappled shade of the rose gardens.
Garden games on the lawn – Croquet, Corn Hole, Giant Jenga, Kubb.
No hands dessert race (an ongoing tradition amongst our university group weddings, where the cutlery for dessert is confiscated and dessert is a race).
One of the groomsmen falling into the River Cherwell.
The full energetic dancefloor full of our family and friends all together.
Hearing our favourite songs played by the photographer during our couple shoots – so much nostalgia!