An Italian Inspired Winter Barn Wedding in Dorset, in Shades of Green and White

Today we’re off to the beautiful Purbeck Hills in Dorset, for a winter barn wedding filled with seasonal charm, glorious flowers and foliage, and with elegant, Italian inspired touches, in honour of the groom’s heritage.

Becky, an Accountant, and David, who is a Clinical Psychologist, celebrated their marriage on the 17 November 2018, with a church ceremony, followed by a reception at the charming, rustic Kingston Country Courtyard in Kingston, Corfe Castle, Dorset.

“We knew we wanted to incorporate nature, and an outdoors feel to the day. Kingston has a beautiful Purbeck stone barn, which is really a feature in itself, so to add to this,  we decorated with lots of ivy and foliage all over the barn, and on the tables. We kept the colours fairly simple with the greenery and white.”

Images by Steph Newton Photography

Becky looked wonderful in a beautifully fitted, long-sleeved lace dress, with a high neckline and low, v-back, by White Rose, which she chose at Isobel’s Bridal & Groom in Poole.

“I had quite a clear idea of what I wanted for my dress for the ceremony and meal. I knew I wanted a fitted shape with lots of lace and long sleeves, so it was more a case of looking for something specifically that style, rather than trying on lots of different dresses. Once I found it, I loved all the lace and the shape of the dress.”

Becky’s gorgeous, glamorous make-up was by Enchanted Beauty, and on her feet, she wore shoes from Monsoon.

In her romantic, curled half-updo by Maddie’s Hair, there were delicate seed pearl hair pins from Accessorize, together with a fingertip length veil from Isobel’s Bridal & Groom.

Becky’s flowergirls wore white lace dresses from Matalan, which perfectly complemented her own, together with cropped faux-fur jackets, white tights and sparkly shoes, and silk flower crowns in their hair.

David and his groomsmen wore navy blue three-piece suits from Isobel’s Bridal & Groom, with David wearing a contrasting grey waistcoat with a navy blue tie and grey pocket square, and the groomsmen wearing grey ties and pocket squares. David was also gifted an engraved pocket watch to wear on the day.

The bridesmaids wore pale blue multi-way maxi dresses from Oasis, which they wore with their own shoes, and bracelets from Etsy.

Becky was driven to the church by Premier Carriage, and was accompanied down the aisle by her dad, Robert, to Songbird, by Eva Cassidy.

“Just before I walked into the church, I felt so excited to see David, and for the day ahead celebrating with our friends and family.”

Becky and David said traditional vows to one another, and exchanged rings, too. Becky’s was chosen at Ernest Jones, and David’s was a family heirloom piece.

“We met through work at a private clinic in 2013. I worked in accounts, and David was doing his training to become an Assistant Psychologist so that he could get onto the clinical doctorate. David surprised me by proposing on a romantic weekend in Cambridge in November 2017, and a year and a few days later we got married!”

For their ceremony readings, the couple chose two Bible extracts from the Song of Solomon, with Song of Solomon 2:10-13, and 8: 6-7. Their other reading was a thoughtful extract from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book, Gift from the Sea.

Becky’s green and white bouquet was just perfect for a winter wedding – filled with deep green ivy, gypsophila, lisianthus and roses, and made for her by the team at Simply Flower.

After the ceremony, Becky and David went for a walk in the golden light of late afternoon. This, and all the beautiful moments from the day were captured elegantly by photographer, Steph Newton.

“Steph was amazing both in the lead up and on the day itself. She made so many helpful suggestions and kept us calm on the day! Steph was assisted by Keith Bridle (Bridle Photography). We are so happy with the photos.”

Maria and the team at Simply Flower worked magic inside the lovely, historic stone barn at Kingston Country Courtyard, with a canopy of twinkling fairylights above, and branches of trailing ivy down the walls and over mirrors.

On the curved top table, there was bunting and a long garland of greenery and pretty bell jars and crystal vases, and on the other dining tables, the floral centrepeices were housed inside more of the same bell jars.

“David’s family live in southern Italy, so we knew we wanted to have a few Italian inspired touches, but wanted to incorporate them in a way that wasn’t too over the top. In the end we did this by having Italian confetti on the tables (small almond sweets with a crisp sugar coating), homemade mini bottles of limoncello as favours, and wood-fired pizzas in the evening.”

There were simple ivory table linens, and napkins tied with brown string, and adorned with sprigs of greenery, and wooden lasercut place settings from Etsy.

“We had homemade limoncello and Italian confetti (sugar coated almonds) as favours, handmade by David’s mum and aunties in Italy.”

“Nichole at Tony Bowyer Print helped with every aspect of our invitations, menus, orders of service and labels for our favours, from design through to completion.”

After their post-ceremony drinks, everyone sat down to a wedding feast prepared by Bobbie and Tim at Kingston Country Courtyard. To start, there was wild mushroom tartlet with a watercress and orange salad, followed by roast beef and Yorkshire puddings with horseradish and roast vegetables, or black-eyed bean cakes with a ginger and onion marmalade, and roast vegetables.

Later in the evening, there was wood-fired pizza from Dorset Pizza Kitchen (to fuel all of that dancing!)

“These were good enough to please an army of Italian guests. Family and friends very kindly baked a massive selection of cakes, desserts and biscuits, too!”

The dessert course was Becky and David’s delicious wedding cake, served with salted caramel sauce and Purbeck vanilla ice cream.

“We had so many compliments on both the look and taste of our cake! It was made by Nicki  from Creative Cakes by Nicki. We went with a semi-naked drip cake made of a toffee/caramel sponge, with vanilla buttercream icing and salted caramel sauce.”

There was a quick costume change for Becky, as she donned a white multi-way dress by Eliza & Ethan, which she discovered at Sassy Brides.

Beneath a canopy of sparkling lights, Becky and David enjoyed their first dance together as a married couple, to the song, It Must Be Love, by Madness, before fantastic live music from band, The Falltones.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“It’s natural to ask your friends and families thoughts when making decisions about your wedding – there are a lot of decisions to make, but the advice I would give would be to not let yourself get carried away with making choices based on other peoples’ opinions. Go with what you and your partner would like. Even if you’re choosing something unconventional, it’s your special day, and you should have it how you would like it.”

Becky and David, many congratulations, and thank you for giving us this lovely glimpse into your brilliant day. Many thanks also go to Steph Newton for her delightful images. To see more of her work on our pages, do take a look here, and for more winter wedding inspiration, then make sure you look at other beautiful celebrations we’ve featured, here.

With love,

Laura x