A Colorful Summer Wedding at Laughton Barns

From the bride: We wanted a relaxed country rustic wedding close to my parents’ house in East Sussex. The main thing that we wanted was for it to be a chilled day that everyone could enjoy. We wanted everyone to be able to attend and enjoy the whole day – no separate evening guests! It was important that both the ceremony and the reception were in the same place as we’d been to weddings before where the drive between venues made the day slightly fragmented.

The planning process came quite easily to me; we talked about what were the most important things to us to happen at the wedding and worked from there. Every time we weren’t sure of something we revisited the things that were important at the beginning and made sure our decision fitted with that. We both work in events so know the importance of being organised and ensuring that you book things in advance and delegate where possible (people want to be involved and to pull on your friends and families talents really helped with our big day). We identified that the venue was the place to start, then book the registrar, then find an amazing photographer to capture the day. Everything else will flow from there. And you can never have enough checklists!

The Venue

Our venue was Laughton Barns, which was very close to my parents’ house. We had known the Barns as a Country Fayre and Steam Show Ground and had no idea that it did weddings until we came to the process of finding a rustic venue close to home, big enough to accommodate our 170 guests. It was the only venue we looked at and we knew as soon as we saw it that it would work perfectly for us. We were also lucky that the weekend we arranged to see it, Gareth’s parents were visiting from Hull. We all went together with my parents to meet with Marc (Circa Events) so we were reassured that everyone loved it before we went ahead and booked it.

The Dress

My Dress was Paloma Blanca and it was the most comfortable dress ever (I’m all about the comfort!): it was easy to wear and I felt wonderful in it. My accessories were a Paloma Blanca veil which matched the dress, diamante hair comb from Chez Bec for a little bit of sparkle once I took my veil off, drop earrings from Chez Bec, a back drop necklace from Debbie Graham Jewellery, my Nana Bow’s cocktail ring with a blue stone (my something blue) and a garter that Gareth’s’ mum Gaynor lent me for the day (my something borrowed). I also wore a Mikimoto pearl bracelet, which Gareth bought and left for me on the morning of our wedding as a wedding present.

I visited four bridal shops in total searching for THE dress and had a real mix of experiences – some good, some bad. The final shop I went to was Isabella Grace in Tunbridge Wells. Isabella Grace was the bridal experience every bride should have, the moment I walked in the shop I knew that I would find my dream dress here. The staff were so helpful and I bought my dress on my first visit with them. I can’t recommend Isabella Grace enough, they were really friendly and helpful during my follow-up fittings and offered handy, experienced advice when I was looking at accessories.

Groom’s Attire

Gareth knew he wanted a suit made that he could wear again – he had worked with Dress to Kill before and was really impressed. He only visited them in the hunt for his suit and suits for his three best men. He wore a blue three piece suit and the best men wore the same but in a two piece. They each chose the details for their suits – lapel style, how many buttons, vents and the colour of the stitching on the cuffs and button holes. They then all agreed on a lighter blue lining with the wedding date stitched into it. All the wedding party (groom, three best men and both dads) wore red ties and we gave Thomas Pink Lions socks to our dads to wear which matched with Gareth’s Thomas Pink Lions socks. We also had cuff links engraved for Gareth and the three best men. My wedding present to Gareth was a watch which he wore on the day.

The Ceremony

We asked Gareth’s mum to do the first reading ‘The Art of Marriage’ (Author Wilferd A. Peterson), we loved the words and knew Gaynor would do an amazing job of reading it which she did. The other reading was by my Auntie Mary – she had actually been responsible for introducing us eight years ago by arranging a blind date, so it was apt for her to be a big part of our ceremony. Mary read an excerpt from ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ by Louis de Bernieres about love being a temporary madness. It was my best friend’s favourite book- and she sadly passed away a few years ago so it was important for me to have this reading.

The Bridesmaids

I had three wonderful bridesmaids, my sister Jen, my best friend Chelley who I have known since I was two and my other best friend Clare, who I met at college. They were all such wonderful support through the whole process of planning a wedding. Jen was there anytime I asked, she helped in so many ways from the wording for order of service through to dress appointments. Chelley was an amazing calming influence. We are so similar that she knows how I need her to be in any situation and Clare is a crafting wizard and so enthusiastic. I really had a dream team of bridesmaids – they arranged the best hen do ever at Centre Parcs – it was all so perfect!

I found their dresses in Ted Baker. It was the perfect mint green and was easy to wear. I didn’t like the belt it came with so I found one in New Look for the bargain price of £5. It tied in with the diamante belt on my dress perfectly. They all chose their own shoes, make up style and hair style – I just wanted them to be comfortable on the day and they all looked ruddy gorgeous!

Hair and make up for the wedding was supplied by my lovely hairdresser Sarah Nash from The Chapel in Tunbridge Wells. I also found my makeup artist through them – Jodie as she looks after the make up for the Chapel. They did everyone’s hair and make-up exactly how they wanted it on the morning of the wedding and did a fab job of getting through everyone on time so we were ready to go!

The Flowers

Philippa Craddock did the flowers for the wedding, she is local to our venue and we went to her house where she has her studio to pick the arrangements. I knew I wanted Hydrangeas but wasn’t sure of anything else – Philippa took care of everything and it all came together beautifully. There were lots of hydrangeas, freesias, roses, dahlias, lisianthus. I had a bouquet, each bridesmaid carried white hydrangea posies, the wedding party had a button hole, both mums had a corsage, as did my nan. I had fresh flowers on my cake which looked amazing – but with such a hot day by the time we came to cut it they had wilted quite a bit – future brides bear this in mind!

The Food & Drink

The food was an important part of our day and luckily we had to book our venue through the caterers Circa, who cater exclusively for this venue. We knew of Circa from when they had run a restaurant in our local town Lewes, so knew their food was amazing! They also provided the wait and bar staff who were very helpful and proactive. Our guests loved the food and we have had so many nice comments on it all.

The Cake

The cake came from Emma Drew at Cake Maison in Lewes – another local supplier. We met her at a local wedding fair and her cakes are amazing! Her cakes taste wonderful and look so pretty, the whole experience from booking the cake to the wedding was great. I went for the cake tasting with my mum and nan (my Nan’s favourite thing is cake!) and we agreed on three layers of cake (chocolate, Victoria sponge and lemon) and two dummy layers to give the cake height as the barn was large. The experience of choosing the cake with my nan will be something I will treasure forever.

Transport

Gareth was in charge of transport and luckily he knows some very kind people who have some lovely cars that they were willing to drive us around in. Gareth arrived in an AC Cobra – this car looks fab and is incredibly noisy so everyone knew when he was arriving! The owner of the car also very bravely let Gareth drive it at the venue. Another lovely friend has a Bentley and did three trips to the Barn – one with the best men, one with the bridesmaids and mother of the bride and then finally with me and my dad – we took a more scenic route to enjoy the moment. This was a great moment with my dad but this is when the nerves really hit – our friend had put a bottle of champagne in the car but I couldn’t touch a drop!

Ceremony barn

We had two large flower arrangements by Philippa Craddock to flank either side of the barn. We lined the red carpet aisle with Sheppard’s crooks with jam jars filled with blue and white hydrangeas. We also provided everyone with a stripy bag of confetti to throw as we walked back up the aisle – we wanted this shot not to be staged and it worked perfectly as we were pelted with confetti as we walked back up the aisle towards the drinks reception at the other barn.

Bride’s arrival

The car drove across the field so we didn’t have to struggle our way across in heels – as we turned into the field I was very nervous and hadn’t fully appreciated what 170 guests would look like! At that moment my dad pointed across the field to my pony, Treacle. My dad had arranged for her to be there as a surprise. She now lives at a friend’s farm and they had dressed her up in the colours from the wedding. She was whinnying away at anyone who would listen to make sure we all knew she was there! This was one of the best moments of the day and my nerves disappeared. I got straight out of the car and went over to her to say hello as I hardly get to see her anymore.

Flower girls 

I had three flower girls, our nieces Elodie, Romilly and Tamsyn. We wanted them to be comfortable so they each chose their own outfits and shoes and we gave them each a Sussex trug (a basket) full of petals to scatter. The petals were from my parents ‘garden, dried by my mum. I gave each flower girl a necklace with their initial engraved on it so they would have something to remember the day. Our nephew Caelan was a super star and was our mini security guard pageboy. He wore a lovely suit and then had an ear piece and safe which contained our wedding bands! He looked ace!

The reception barn 

We had fairy lights wrapped around every pillar and uplighters against the back wall which were switched on for the dancing part of the evening to make the room look different – all provided by Reveries. Reveries also provided and rigged the lanterns all over the barn – they did a fantastic job and were very helpful coming up with ideas on what to do. They also provided the dance floor.

Tables

Our table theme was champagne and each table was named after a different one – then that champagne was on the table ready for the toasts – you had to find your champagne to find your table. We provided ice buckets as the centre pieces with two bottles of the relevant champagne in it (the top table was Taittinger ‘Comtes de Champagne’ which was the champagne Gareth and I drank the night we got engaged). Attached to each bucket was a posy of flowers by Philippa Craddock. The place settings were made by my mum from champagne wires. She crafted each one into a chair and then attached the person’s name to it. It took her months to make them all but the end result was spectacular and everyone loved them. Most of the guests have them displayed in their house somewhere now! We also had tea lights with floating candles and raffia wrapped round the top, stripy straws in blue and red, a flower on each ladies place setting (provided by our neighbours) and we also provided party bags for each kids place setting (these had colouring books, pencils, stickers and an ‘I spy’ list with a disposable camera in it). Our table plan was a map of the champagne region of France to tie in with the theme.

Memorable Moments

The morning getting ready with my mum, sister and best friends. Arriving and seeing my pony. The speeches were great and emotional – I can’t wait to watch them back on the video when we get it. Standing in a field with Gareth and having the best men run around us with sparklers with Sara politely shouting at them!

Advice for Other Couples

• Agree what bits of the wedding are important to you at the start and revert back when you don’t know what to do. Utilise the skills of those you know.
• Pick your battles – if there is something that is not that important to you and your partner/family have a strong opinion on – go with it. You’ll know what’s worth pushing for and what’s not!
• Find a good photographer!