If ideas for a colourful, party wedding are what you’re after today, then look no further. Come with me down to the Cotswolds for a summer party celebration full of vivid, seasonal flowers.
Rachel, a private banker, wed Rob, who works in sales, on 14 July 2018 at quirky Cotswold venue Stone Barn, Upper Windrush, Cheltenham. Their fun and relaxed day was influenced by a love of colour whilst the venue’s countryside location and open kitchen was the perfect option for a big summer party.
“We wanted the day to reflect the way we are together… chilled and fun! I’ve been to so many beautiful weddings with neutral, green, white tones, full of elegance, but we would have felt like frauds if we’d done something similar. We decided to make the day full of colour, focussing on a palette of pinks, greens, purples and coral, with a few touches to include our guests in the day as much as possible. After all, we had agreed this was a party for everyone, not just us!”
Photography Fear Photography
The entire wedding party stayed a mile or so from the venue at Cats Abbey, where Rachel got ready. I’m head over heels for her Pronovias gown, so sumptuous with its heavy silk and open back detail.
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“I was absolutely dreading dress shopping and had a bit of a tear-filled freak out en route to the first dress shop with my mum and sister. I found a beautiful, fitted Pronovias dress on my first shopping trip in Edinburgh. I couldn’t get it out of my head but took my poor mum to at least eight other shops plus met with a designer to talk about having something made. Eventually I went back to Edinburgh and purchased the original dress.”
“Three months before the wedding I was browsing Instagram and saw a Pronovias dress from the new collection – very simple at the front but backless with a crossover, embellished thread design. I couldn’t shake it and spent a month wondering if it was a really bad idea to try it on.”
“Two months to the day before the wedding I visited Victoria at Berkeley Bridal and was the first to try on the new sample. I remember coming out of the dressing room beaming. I looked at my mum and she beamed back. I knew I had to change dresses. Victoria was absolutely amazing.”
“She got the dress in store within three weeks and bent over backwards to squeeze in my fittings. I felt so comfy on the day, and 100% made the right decision. I ended up selling my first dress the week before the wedding!”
The final touch was a spritz of her signature Chloé scent and a pair of blue, crystal-encrusted Louboutin’s.
“I never wear heels but my assistant was at a sample sale and sent me a snap of the shoes at a bargain price. I couldn’t resist.”
I love the relaxed but super-special vibe of the bridesmaids’ outfits, which combined pure white tops from Coast with teal Asos skirts. To complete their look, they wore knot bracelets from Way North, gifted to them by the bride.
Rachel and Rob met online back in December 2009, meeting for the first time in January the following year.
“Despite me leaving for an open-ended travel adventure in May, we managed to stay together. Rob proposed almost seven years later in November 2016 at Aysgarth Falls in Yorkshire. It took me a while to get on board with the idea of a full-on wedding. I would have been very happy to get married locally and go for a lovely lunch with our closest family.”
“Rob, on the other hand, saw it as an excuse to get everyone we love in one room and throw a big party to say thanks for being awesome…how could I argue with that?! Rob was set on a summer wedding and we didn’t want to rush the planning process so booked the wedding for July 2018, 20 months after we got engaged.”
“We don’t have any particular links to the Cotswolds but have enjoyed a few fun weekends away there in the past and loved the idea of a big summer party in the middle of the open countryside.”
“Rob is a BIG meat fan and the minute we stepped into Stone Barn, were greeted by Clayton and saw the huge roaring fires of the open kitchen, we knew there was nowhere else we wanted to get married.”
Hair and makeup for the entire bridal party were styled by Evie Smith and Claire Elizabeth Nutt.
“Both brilliant and lots of fun! Getting ready on the morning of the wedding was stress-free thanks to the wonderfulness of these ladies.”
The bride chose wild, seasonal flowers, styled by Go Wild Flowers, to create a colourful atmosphere.
“Beth often works at Stone Barn and knows exactly how to make the most of its already gorgeous features. We asked Beth for loose, bright, seasonal flowers, nothing too specific, but she hit the brief perfectly, even managing to include the huge peonies and Scottish thistles I’d requested with under a week to go.”
Stone Barn had been beautifully dressed with vivid flowers, hundreds of fairy lights and huge balloons which lined the aisle. As Rachel entered with her father, Get Gospel sang.
“Rob is an atheist and I was brought up Catholic. Getting married in a church wasn’t a priority for me but I wanted a little nod to God to reflect my upbringing so we arranged a gospel choir for the ceremony and the drinks reception – they were brilliant! They sang a mash-up of ‘Feel The Love’ (Rudimental) and ‘Lovely Day’ (Bill Withers).”
“We wrote our own promises for the ceremony. They helped set the tone for the day; very personal, largely taking the mickey out of each other, but with a serious, loving undertone.”
“We chose one reading each. I studied classics at Uni so wanted to include something a little different from the world of the ancient Greeks and chose an extract from Plato’s ‘Symposium’. Rob (and I) both love monkeys; I left Rob a toy monkey when I left him right at the start of our relationship to go travelling and for many years at every occasion we would buy each other cards with monkeys on them. So, Rob choose ‘Love Monkey’ by Edward Monkton.”
The couple exchanged wedding rings from Brighton jeweller Baxter & Hanks.
“Rob proposed with a fakey so that we could choose the engagement ring together. We took a day trip down to the Lanes in Brighton as I wanted an antique ring with a little history. I saw the ring in the window of Kellerwood and knew it was the one.”
“When searching, the service we received in Baxter & Hanks was fantastic and although they didn’t quite have what we were looking for, I always knew I would get my wedding ring from them. Rob’s priority was something hardwearing and scratch resistant (as a gym-goer he didn’t want weightlifting to ruin it!). He ordered a titanium ring and is very happy with the result.”
The couple’s celebration was captured on camera by James at Fear Photography, whose use of light is perfect for the summer countryside.
“Oh my absolute goodness, I cannot praise James highly enough. He is absolutely bonkers and had us in in stitches all day. Having come across James’ work on Instagram I was taken with the way he managed to capture shots in the most epic light.”
“We never felt as though he was dragging us off and missing the action, but he knew just when to grab ten minutes to make the most of the light and has delivered some incredible shots, especially of the wedding party in the cornfields after dinner.”
A wedding film came courtesy of First Sight Videos.
“Gary was so helpful and engaging from the very first enquiry. He was really patient in answering all my queries and was so accommodating when I asked if I would be able to have all the raw wedding footage afterwards as I’m interested in film editing myself. He sent it all on a hard drive at no extra cost and offered to give me some help if needed. We barely noticed him and Paul there on the day and adore the films.”
Rachel’s sister lent her a Cathedral-length veil and she added a dramatically wild, seasonal half-crown of flowers by Beth at Go Wild Flowers.
She also wore gifts from her close family for the wedding – a white gold watch from her nana, a gold bracelet from her parents and a beautiful pair of diamond and gold studs from Rob, gifted on the morning of the wedding.
After spending time in the sunshine, the party moved back into the Barn, styled in such a vibrant and joyful way.
“I made two large ribbon backdrops, one for the photo-booth and one for behind the top table. I sometimes miss the nights sat in front of Love Island whilst cutting and tying all the ribbons. Our hashtag for the day was #thegingakings (as my nickname is Ging and Rob’s surname is King) so we had gold, inflatable ‘The GingaKing’ balloons strung across the back of the top table.”
“Another item of décor that made a big impact were ten giant balloons from The Giant Balloon Company. We had five bright, coloured ones and five gold, glitter-filled. These ran down the aisle and were used as centre pieces on tables. Towards the end of the meal, due to the combination of the heat and the air con, one of the glitter balloons popped at the table, covering our guests, all the food and wine with gold pieces.”
“I was a little nervous as the venue only allowed bio-gradable glitter to be thrown but the venue embraced the bang, as did our guests. Before we knew it every table took it in turns to take the beef carving knife to their balloons. There was a shower of gold glitter and screams and laughs everywhere. It was amazing!”
The wedding breakfast was a sociable sharing feast.
“The food is one thing that Stone Barn’s reputation is based on. As massive foodies and massive eaters, we couldn’t have been happier. The food is served to the table but sharing style, and there is so, so much of it. We nominated a ‘carver’ on each table complete with chefs’ hats and personalised aprons. In the evening Baz & Fred made fresh, wood-fired pizzas.”
The couple had put a lot of thought into making sure their guests were happy and comfortable.
“At the last minute we decided to make a sun station, complete with sun cream, sun glasses, hay fever tablets and fans. It was a really hot day and the little touches were really appreciated.”
The evening’s entertainment included a caricaturist and more live music to create a proper party atmosphere.
“We arranged for Tony Marriott to draw our guests and he went down a storm – there was a queue for him all night long! Tony also drew a picture of us before the day with a huge mount that we used as our guest board. The comments are hilarious and we love that we have it framed at home as a constant reminder to make us smile!”
“Very last minute we booked the Oxfordshire Photo Booth company. The ‘booth’ is just a small tripod stand so doesn’t take up much room and meant that I could still use the ribbon backdrop I had already made. We were also able to design our own artwork for the prints and had unlimited prints, so our guests got a copy, as did we. They had such a fab range of props too.”
The bride and groom opted for a sweets table as well as a last-minute wedding cake.
“I LOVE all kinds of cake and resented the idea of paying hundreds of pounds for a cake which was mainly for ‘cutting’. Instead, we decided to have a whole table of all our favourite sweet things, from foamy shrimps and bananas, to mini yum-yums, red velvet cakes, salted caramel peanut butter chocolate brownies, an amazing carrot cake from The Pudding Stop and a tray of colourful kisses from Meringue Girls.”
“I then started to worry that we didn’t have anything to cut but my amazing colleague Holly and her partner stepped in to create a fantastic, huge, two-tiered Victoria sponge, semi-naked and dressed with edible flowers.”
The party started in the aisle, with an impromptu first dance to the Gospel choir.
“They sang a few tracks during the signing of the register and we just couldn’t stop bopping at the table. One of my fave parts was watching the groomsmen and bridesmaids having a dance in the middle of the aisle and then Rob and I having an impromptu first dance after signing the register with everyone singing and clapping along. Completely unplanned and wonderful!”
“Rob arranged for us to have a bottle of tequila with a GoPro attached. He went around everyone delivering shots of tequila on the dance-floor. Not only was it a great way to see a lot of people but also ensured a little dance-floor merriness.”
“Many of my favourite parts were those we didn’t plan; the impromptu first dance in the ceremony, the glitter balloon showers over dinner and the after party until 4am at Cats Abbey dancing round the firepit in my leopard print PJs.”
“I can’t do justice to how good No Limit Street Band were. A seven-piece brass band with no singer, they play such good tunes that the crowd ends up doing all the singing. I was really conscious that if it was a lovely sunny evening, people might want to be outside, so we arranged for them to play the first set outside as the sun went down.”
“We had a white bouncy castle for the day so it was amazing to be bouncing around with all our nearest and dearest dancing to the band. As it got dark, we got the glow sticks out and carried on the party. The band did their second set in the stone barn under the huge foliage ring and the whole room was banging! Once they had finished, we ended with sparklers outside whilst we had Rus from the band DJ for us.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“I think that knowing it was the ‘marriage’ and not the ‘wedding’ that was the important bit meant that we didn’t get too caught up in the pressure of the big day and it having to look picture perfect. Instead we just treated everything after the ceremony as a big party full of our favourite things for our favourite people.”
“Have the wedding you want and LIVE it to the max… whether that’s beautiful, neutral elegance or chilled, colourful fun and everything in between. People definitely notice and love the little details and personal touches but the biggest thing to impact the feel of the day is you! So be present, set the tone, live the day you want and everyone will follow your lead!”
What a day! Rachel and Rob, it’s been such a pleasure to share it with our readers; thank you so very much. Thank you also to Fear Photography for these vibrant images, too.
Ele xx
Credits & Thanks
- Photographer - Fear Photography
- Film - First Sight Videos
- Venue - Stone Barn, Upper Windrush, Cheltenham
- Wedding Dress - Pronovias via Berkeley Bridal
- Veil - The bride's sister
- Headpiece - Floral crown by Go Wild Flowers
- Shoes - Christian Louboutin
- Accessories -
- Perfume - Chloé
- Groom - Hugo Boss
- Bridesmaids - Coast tops, Asos skirts + Way North bracelets
- Flowergirls - Monsoon
- Page Boys - Tartan Tots
- Florist - Go Wild Flowers
- Cake - The bride's friends, The Pudding Stop + Meringue Girls
- Transport - Family cars
- Entertainment - Get Gospel, No Limit Street Band, Tony Marriott Photo Boot
- Rings - Baxter & Hanks
- Catering -Stone Barn + Baz & Fred
- Stationery - The groom's father
- Hair Stylist - Evie Smith
- Makeup Artist - Claire Elizabeth Nutt
- Decor - The Giant Balloon Company