Elegant & Beautiful White & Gold Barn Wedding

We’re bringing in the new week in total style. WWW readers Liviana and Paul are here to share with us their stunning white and gold wedding held at Lapstone Barn in the Cotswolds countryside.

Their day was very cool, with a black tie dress code, an open bar and what sounded like a great party. Their focus was on giving their loved ones a good time and leaving them with the best memories. Isn’t that awesome?

It goes without saying that the styling was stunning; with cream flowers, drapes, fairy lights, gold tableware, chic stationery and an elegant cake. I have to say the whole feel of the day was warm, welcoming and so very gorgeous.

Thanks ever so much to Cotswold Pictures for sharing with us these totally dreamy images.

White & Gold Wedding

The Proposal

Paul proposed to Liviana on the beach in Tulum in March 2020 at sunrise with no one else around. So magical.

Tulum has always been a special place for Liviana. Although little did we realise we would be flying back into lockdown and so were unable to celebrate our engagement.

The Vision

As we are both “middle-aged” we wanted the wedding to be simple, stylish and not too OTT. But didn’t want to spare expense on anything.

Budget

We didn’t really have a budget as such to stick to. But it did end up being a lot more expensive than we anticipated!!!

The Venue

Lapstone Barn in Chipping Campden. We originally were going to go with a venue in London. But then decided to go with Lapstone Barn (as we have a house in the Cotswolds).

We chose Lapstone as it’s a stand-alone venue in its own beautiful countryside and we can party until 1am!!

The Styling & Decor

As mentioned previously we wanted the wedding to be simple, elegant and nothing too OTT.

We had simple lighting and floor lanterns for the actual ceremony with cream flowers at the front.
Invites, order of service, place cards, table name cards, menus, were cream/gold embossed.
Wedding bouquet was simple cream handheld roses with a hint of pale pink.
As Paul and I met in Ibiza, we love a dance and party. So we had disco balls over the head table. That also explains our party sign we put up later “Till death do us party”.
All the tables were named after well-known venues in Ibiza.
In regards to table design, we had vintage gold vases with cream flowers and tea lights. All the menus and table names were cream and gold embossed like invites and order of service.
Our wedding favours were small bottles of limoncello which said “drink me and party accordingly”. They were recommended to me by Giles James who is a consultant wine buyer for the members club Groucho in Soho.
The Bollinger champagne. We literally emptied every shelf at Tesco and Sainsbury where they were on offer! It’s our favourite champagne. For those not drinking alcohol, Lapstone Barn did a wonderful elderflower spritz.
Our best friends who own a printing company did all our printing of invites, order of service, menus, place cards.

The Food & Drink

All provided by Lapstone Barn which was incredible:

Starter: prawn cocktail and panzanella salad (v)
Main: roast fillet of beef, fauphinoise potatoes, jumble of seasonal vegetables and mushroom wellington (v)
Dessert: chocolate and orange tart with honeycomb cream

The champagne/wines we brought in ourselves and had to pay corkage.

Champagne: vintage Bollinger for drinks & canapes reception
White wine: Pomino Bianco Fresocbaldi, Tuscany 2021
Red wine: Rosso di Montepulciano Polizano, Tuscany 2020

Beauty

I didn’t have a make-up artist. Instead 6 months before the wedding, I started having regular facials etc so that my skin would look good on the day. Preferred to put money towards that than a makeup artist.

I had facials with Organic Pharmacy, Skinwork Soho and Vaishalay. I was happy to do my own make-up

Hair – Nando who has been doing my hair for over 30 years!! He works from Neville Salon in Knightsbridge, London. And does private work too. Nando did my hair, mother of bride, sister of bride, bridesmaid and “wingwoman”.

Had the wedding manicure, a lovely, chic, nail art design done by Marielena.

Your Outfits

Liviana’s dress was from ASOS bride!! It was the first dress I ordered online to try. But then sent it back as thought it best to try others and then worried that perhaps it was too cheap!!!

After perusing many styles etc I ended up ordering it again as it was still available and am soooo glad I did!! I actually spent more money on the alterations than the actual dress. I just really didn’t want to spend loads on a dress that I was only going to wear once. Much prefer to put towards the wedding and for our guests to have fun!

Then for the evening dancing party, I changed into a Never Fully Dressed sequin dress (it’s actually bridesmaid on their website).

Shoes were Terry de Havilland, gold & bronze…which are just amazing!

As our wedding was black tie. Paul had a bespoke velvet blue jacket made by Barrington Ayre a small independent tailor in Cirencester. He then changed into a black tie Tom Ford suit for the evening (he wore the trousers in the day).

Dress shirt was by Emma Willis.
Bow tie was from Mrs Bow Tie.
Shoes were Jimmy Choo.

My 2 nephews were part of the wedding party by giving out the order of service and confetti after the service. Also one of my nephews and niece who was my bridesmaid did the readings. They were dressed in John Lewis dinner suit hire.

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was held at Lapstone Barn. We had a string quartet for the service and the wedding breakfast. Vyne String Quartet – They were incredible.

Bridal entrance music: Kissing You – Desree
Signing of register: Greatest Day – Take That, All You Need Is Love – The Beatles, Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
Exit: Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Steve Wonder

Our 2 readings:

Carrie’s Poem from Sex & The City – Liviana is a Sex & the City girl!!
Why falling in love is like owning a dog – Taylor Mali – Paul is a big dog lover!

I didn’t have a maid of honour as such. I had a “wing woman” one of my best friends Beka. She is a fellow PA like me so extremely organised.

However, for my witness for the signature I had my other friend Kelly along with the best man Matt. As they were both there and witnessed our meeting when we met in Ibiza back in 2013!

Your Photographer

We didn’t have a video. Just photographer, Noel (Cotswold Pictures). Our whole wedding photos were mainly reportage style.

The Honeymoon

As we stayed at the Fish Hotel close to Lapstone Barn during the wedding. We booked an extra 2-night stay as a “mini-moon”.

Then our actual honeymoon was in March 2023. We had a wonderful 2 week holiday in the Maldives!

Memorable Moments

Too many to mention.

My father crying as he finished walking me down the aisle and seeing Paul for the first time.

However, one thing we did which I had seen on Instagram was where the bride and groom had 1 minute or so to have a photograph with every table. Noel, our photographer did an amazing job of putting together a brilliant fast-forward video of this which brings back such great memories.

We also surprised our guests with singing waiters (Undercover Artists). We booked a female and male singer. Who were a part of the waiting staff. Then when you have that lull during dessert to the speeches, they surprised everyone with 5 songs which got everyone up and dancing.

It was just the best watching all my family and close friends just having the best time and the shock on their faces when it happened. Just the best!!!

Advice For Other Couples

Dont spend too much money on flowers, styling etc. We could have definitely had more flowers and OTT styling but we didn’t.

It was important for our guests to have a good time. We had an open bar and that’s the best thing we did. Guests will always remember what fun they had at weddings and not necessarily the colours of the flowers, or intricate styling details.