An Essense of Australia Gown for a Bride with Short Hair and her Rustic Oxfordshire Barn Wedding

Laura and Andy Merriscourt094

How are you all today, lovelies? I hope you’ve been enjoying a good week, and have something fun lined up for the weekend. I’ve been spending a few days with my sister and her baby boy, enjoying the last few rays of the summer sun. Speaking of which, we’re travelling back a whole year to last September, to revel in a homespun barn wedding which enjoyed both sunshine and showers.

Come with me to Merriscourt Barn, Sarsden, Oxfordshire for the wedding of Laura, an e-commerce manager for a luxury bed linen brand and Andy, who works as a senior account manager for a video production company. The morning of the 9 September 2017 dawned bright, warm and sunny, the perfect weather for their barn-style wedding in the glorious Cotswold countryside, inspired by soft florals, sage green and a quintessential English vibe.

Photography Steph Newton Photography

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I absolutely adore Laura’s bridal style – a combination of classic English rose elegance and edgy cool, brought in by her amazing hairstyle. Oh how I wish I had the nerve to carry off something with such personality. Her gown, in a warm cream hue, was a strapless, lacy Essense of Australia design, just skimming the floor at the front and flowing behind so beautiful in a fun, lace-edged train. The sweetheart-bodice gown is superbly fitted to show off her figure, and it looks like the bride took so much joy from wearing it.

“It was what I was least expecting to fall in love with, but just knew it was right when I tried it on.  The lace was perfect, the colour was beautiful and it made my mum and sister-in-law cry when I tried it on!  That was enough of a sign to know it was the right one.”

Laura bought the gown at May & Grace Bridal Boutique in Haslemere, Surrey and had seamstress Kitty Hatcher fit it to perfection.

“The venue ticked all the boxes, all in one location, barn style, beautiful scenery, accommodation on site…the list goes on. We always knew we wanted a barn style wedding and I was always quite sure what the colour of my bridesmaids dresses would be, so we set it around that. Andy was more than happy for me to go with these colours as he knew I had an eye for design and would make it all work. Having accommodation on site was perfect; it meant little travelling and we could stumble over to the Bridal Suite afterwards and relax. My bridesmaids had even decorated it as a surprise for us.”

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The rustic barn vibe began with the couple’s choice of wedding stationery.

Feel Good Invites made our invites and the order of service. We found them on Etsy; they were so helpful with amending the designs to tailor it to our style. They were quick at getting the finished products to us and we couldn’t have asked for a smoother process. Save the Dates and thank you cards were printed with Vistaprint. We stamped the envelopes ourselves for the wedding party to add a personal touch, in the same style as the place names.”

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The warm cream and soft green of the gowns was offset by the romantic florals in peach and cream, hand-tied by a family member.

“We were lucky enough to have a family member do the bouquets, my sister-in-law’s mother, P & J Flowers.  I only wanted a small bouquet as I didn’t want to hold anything too heavy. I had fallen in love with café au lait roses which I had in my bouquet, along with Juliet roses to make it extra special. In the bridesmaids’ they had a soft peach gerberas in them as they’ve been my favourite flower since I was little and it made them different from the bridal bouquet.”

“The flowers on the tables and around the venue were arranged with the help of P & J Flowers, ordered with Triangle Nursery who were incredibly helpful and delivered directly to the venue the day before.  We arranged the bottles on the tables and around the venue ourselves.”

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Laura was surrounded by family and friends as she got ready for the ceremony, including her hair stylist and make-up artist. Laura’s sister-in-law’s sister, Emma Lily Curran, created her flawless, natural look, and I love how her blonde hair has been pulled over to one side in this super-funky style.

“Hair was done by a close friend, Poppie, who just has a fantastic eye for it. She did my hair and the bridesmaids. We’d had a few trials at home beforehand but with two bridesmaids living in different countries it was a little tricky.”

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Lovelies, if you’re fans of vintage bridal style then I’m pretty sure you’re going to love Laura’s choice of shoes. She chose her Art Deco-inspired Rachel Simpson shoes, in mint green and gold, from May & Grace Bridal; don’t they match the bridesmaids gowns so well?

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A really modern touch comes from Laura’s backdrop necklace. I absolutely love this made-to-order Victoria Millesime piece –  a dainty and organic gold and pearl design that cascades down her back.

Designer Victoria Millesime also crafted the statement headband using pearl and rose quartz. Laura added simple Etsy stud earrings (also worn by the bridesmaids) and a vintage pearl bracelet, borrowed from her sister-in-law.

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Laura and Andy’s mums both wore blowsy floral corsages on their wrists.

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“We had a local florist make the button-holes and the mothers’ corsages called The Bay Tree at Campden. The groom had quicksand rose, white wax flower, sage, cream astilbe, eucalyptus populus and thlaspi green bell. Sage was included as it’s my maiden name and seemed appropriate to be with Andy throughout the day! The Bay Tree also produced a beautiful display for the high window ledge in the ceremony room.”

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I think that the flowergirls look so adorable with their fairy wings; they must have felt so special. The wings, tutus and wands were all Monsoon.

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Laura and Andy have known each other for years, bumping in to each other time and again, before eventually getting together when they both lived in London.

“We have a mutual friend who I have known since I was born, and Andy met her on his first day at university. We met various times at friends of friends birthdays but the first time we really remember meeting was when I had a go at him in a club for apparently not liking my friend. Jump on a few years and we both live in Battersea, London and start walking past in other on the way to work. A Facebook message later and some friends playing cupid and we started dating.”

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“We got engaged in Lisbon around our three year anniversary (14 May 2016). I was totally not expecting it!  We were taking in the views at the top of the Panteao Nacional. I approached Andy just as he decided this was ‘the time’ and I said, ‘This is a bit of a s**t view isn’t it!?’ at which he turned around and said ‘It might be a s**t view but it’s the perfect place to ask you a question’.  He then got down on one knee and said, ‘Laura Sage, will you marry me?’. As he was getting down on one knee my question was ‘What are you doing!?’. After he asked me ‘the question’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’.  It took some time to sink in and after some tears we celebrated for the rest of the day.”

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Andy and his groomsmen dressed to match the countryside setting, in soft brown tweed suits from Empire Outlet, worn with burgundy ties from T.M.Lewin and white pocket square, hand-sewn by the bride’s mum.The groomsmen were gifted personalised leather wrapped hip-flasks by HÔRD.

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The colour of the bridesmaids’ D’Zage gowns set the tone for the entire day, and what a beautiful colour they are. So elegant with their soft draping, they were bought at Not Another Boring Bridesmaid Dress in Wimbledon. They wore either nude or gold shoes, and had pretty Etsy pearl kirby grips in their hair.

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The bridesmaids were gifted bridesmaid robes in French blue from Marks & Spencer to match the bride’s own, and they look so charming in these photographs. They also had personalised bridesmaid make-up bags from The Monogrammed Linen Shop in London. As they got ready in the bridal suite, Laura burnt a Cire Trudon candle called ‘Gabriel’, which was then moved into the ceremony room. This is such a clever idea as scent can conjure up such vivid memories.

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The ceremony was held in the airy barn at Merriscourt, dressed beautifully for the occasion with more of those pastel blooms. Laura walked down the aisle with her father, to one of my favourite songs, ‘You and Me’. It looks like a really relaxed and happy affair; the couple cannot stop smiling.

“My dad couldn’t have done a better job. He kept me calm, in time with the music and made sure I didn’t miss the little step at the end. It took me a little while to choose between two, but the perfect one was ‘You and Me’ by Penny and the Quarters.”

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The ceremony was officiated by a registrar from Oxfordshire Council, and the couple penned their own promises to each other, which they read after the official vows.

Laura: “I promise to love you, to hold your hand through good and bad and to always be your best friend.”

Andy: “I promise to keep you safe, to keep you happy and keep you laughing for our lives together.”

25 An Essence of Australia gown for an Oxfordshire barn wedding01 Bridesmaids in sage green

“We chose to have a friend of each of ours to do a reading, Robyn (Andy’s friend) read ‘Love Is’ by Kieran King and Hanna (my friend) read ‘The Bridge Across Forever’ by Richard Bach. We let them find something they thought suited us both and they couldn’t have made a better choice.”

The couple visited Brighton jeweller Grains of Gold to choose their wedding bands.

“We wanted something timeless for both of us. I have platinum to match my engagement ring and Andy has brushed palladium to give it a slight aged look.”

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So much happiness radiates from the newly-weds as they emerge in to the September air. Thankfully they had a little bit of sun before the rain started to fall, so the party was able to catch up whilst enjoying live music from Body & Soul band, drinks and canapés.

“They were fantastic but were missed a little bit as we hoped to have had them playing outside but the weather didn’t allow it.”

“We were able to grab five minutes together before we went in for dinner – the two of us just sat on the sofa to catch our breaths! It was one of the best moments as we just got to see each other as husband and wife for the first time.”

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These gorgeously light-filled photographs are by Steph Newton Photography, who the couple came across on Instagram. Some of my favourites include the countryside portrait shots at sunset; so dreamy and quintessentially English. Her use of the September light is just wonderful, and I love her talent for capturing candid moments and pure emotion too.

“We loved her laid-back style and knew she’d capture the photos we wanted plus all the elements of the day without being in our face. She was fantastic at making us feel relaxed on the day and definitely had a laugh doing it.”

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Merriscourt looks so elegant laid out for the wedding breakfast. If you love the styling of the barn, then please take note of these details from Laura. Just look at that DIY table plan, too.

“We had sign posts up the road to the venue so that people knew they were in the right place, we made these ourselves out of old pallets. The place names and table names were stamped by us with a typewriter style font to give a personal touch and put into the forks on the table to give a quirky look. The table names were named after places that meant something to us, like the first place we met, where we got engaged etc.”

“We had plenty of bottles and jars used for a vintage look containing flowers and fairy lights.  These were placed on a slice of tree trunk that my parents’ neighbour had cut down and saved for us. Jam jars were used to contain the homemade rose petal confetti.”

“We had hula hoops wrapped with hessian used for the table plan as well as light features in the ceremony barn which were turned on for the evening and created a great backdrop to photos.”

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The dinner was catered by Wesley House, recommended by the venue, whilst the wedding cake was served up for dessert. Cleverly displayed in front of a mirror, you can see every detail on the tiers as well as the unusual Painterly-style daubs of colour to coordinate with the flowers.

“Wesley House were fantastic and very professional. We had the cake served as dessert with fresh fruit and cream, making sure everyone got a slice.”

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“It’s by Emily Thorn Cakes based in London. She is a friend and so amazingly talented that we just couldn’t say no to her making our cakes for us. The top tier was caramel (for me), the middle was carrot cake (for the groom) and the bottom tier,  chocolate (for everyone else!). The decoration included a painterly effect with the colour theme of the wedding as well as fresh flowers reflecting the bouquets. The cake topper was an L + A that Andy’s mum knitted for us in sage green wool’ this made it extra special.”

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Laura has some really special memories of the day to share with us.

“There were too many parts to the day that were our favourites; catching the sunset with some beautiful photos of us together, the amount of guests dancing the night away, the beautiful readings and our amazing wedding party for pulling it all together on the day.”

“One of my bridesmaids and her daughter (who was a flower girl) were unable to make it over from Italy, so it was great to be able to Facetime her throughout the morning so it still felt like she was part of it. She even wore her dress for the occasion!”

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The evening party got off in style, with an emotional first dance to Birdy’s ‘Fire Stone’. I recently was a bridesmaid at a wedding with a firepit, and we gathered around for singing and chatting late into the evening, so I can say first hand how lovely a part of the evening this can be.

“We listened to it while we were driving round looking at wedding venues and I cried from all the emotion of the day. I just knew it was the right song for the occasion. Whenever I listened to it before the big day I always cried, but on the day it felt amazing and with everyone watching it felt truly special, no tears appeared!”

“We set up our own photobooth in one of the barns that we put together ourselves. There was a firepit in the courtyard in the evening where we had blankets and marshmallows for the guests to toast, if they could pull themselves away from the dancefloor. Flip-flops for the ladies in the evening were highly appreciated plus the extras in the bathrooms for the guests to spruce themselves up with!”

“DJ Push played in the evening – one of the Usher’s brothers who had played at his wedding and we’d had a great time dancing. The PA system was hired from www.that-event.com who were fantastic, just turning up, setting up and then taking everything away without any problems or chasing up. I would highly recommend them.”

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“The day goes so quickly so make sure you savour it.  I’m sure everyone says this but it is so true.”

“Have a good breakfast as you won’t eat much throughout the rest of the day!”

“Delegate; make sure you don’t have any jobs to do in the morning. If there are any you shouldn’t be doing them yourself. There are plenty of people around at this time that can help and make the most of getting ready.”

“Small things that you think of won’t matter on the day if they don’t get done.  No-one noticed that we forgot the confetti to go down the aisle.”

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Oh Laura and Andy, what a gorgeous day you had. I hope you celebrate your first anniversary in style. I was really touched by your inclusion of your bridesmaid in Italy on the morning of the wedding; I’m sure that will have meant so much to her. Thank you so much for sharing on Love My Dress, and thank you also Steph Newton Photography for your divine work.

Ele xx

Credits & Thanks

Eleanor Crossland

Eleanor Crossland View all Eleanor's articles

Ele lives in the Lincolnshire countryside, close to the beautiful coast. A qualified Pilates teacher, she loves fitness, yoga, Pilates and has a healthy addiction to baking, writing and travel.

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