A traditional 18th-century stone barn barn set in rural Gloucestershire, Courtney & Jack’s was one of the very first weddings in this stunning location. With a meadow aisle, huge floral chandeliers and maids in forest green (the most gorgeous colour ever!), this is a very simple yet stylish day.
Enjoy!
Courtney says…
One of the (many) things we loved about Lapstone Barn was that everything was in one place, with separate rooms for the ceremony and wedding breakfast. This meant we didn’t have any time wasted with a room being turned around for different stages of the day. Also the venue is absolutely stunning in itself which means that it doesn’t need a lot of decorations as it is so classically beautiful. We loved the traditional feel of the Cotswold stone barn contrasting with the slightly more modern industrial and contemporary style of the adjoining barn where we had our wedding breakfast.
I wanted everything about my wedding to be classically elegant and did this through simplicity and not trying to add in too many colours, and my dress was a key part of this look. I chose a Suzanne Neville dress as I love her style; very simple and elegant with beautiful detail that is fairly understated. I felt a million dollars in it all day – I wish it was something I could wear again and again! I love wearing my hair down, so decided to keep it down on my wedding day too, clipping it back with a pretty crystal and pearl clip. I then chose a simple cathedral length veil, with crystal embellishments around the edge.
For my bridesmaid’s I chose forest green bridesmaid dresses. They all had very different skin tones and hair colour, so it was a very flattering colour for all of them. As Lapstone Barn is such a rural, country venue, the colour seemed to suit the style of the venue too.
Jack, his best man, and ushers were all wearing dark grey morning suits with forest green ties and handkerchiefs to coordinate with the bridesmaids dresses. Again, this was a traditional and classic look – but they were still looking cool!
When it came to the décor, like with my dress, I wanted elegance and simplicity. As the venue is so beautiful in its own right, I only spent money on decorating with flowers and had different shades and textures of greens and whites. The aisle in the stone barn was lined with meadow style arrangements and we had two huge stunning flower chandeliers suspended from the rafters of the barn, which had the true wow factor for the ceremony and in to the evening when this space became the dancefloor. In mine and the bridesmaid’s bouquets, I added a splash of colour with blush coloured roses, which looked so beautiful against the green dresses. On the dining tables I went for tall glass vases, so everyone could easily see everyone across the tables, but wanted to add height to fill the space in the barn. We also had floating candles in tall glass vases as they gave a very romantic feel.
Our florist was The Flower Girls, who worked alongside Styletopia who did our hanging flower chandeliers, table plans, place names and setting up.
We didn’t have a traditional wedding cake as I’m not a huge fan of cake. Instead we had a cheese tower as I LOVE cheese and friends of ours put it together for us on the day. For our evening food we wanted pizza and to eat the cheese cake!
Our photographer was David Hughes, who was recommended by someone at work who is massively into photography and was used at his wedding. David has a candid approach, which I love as I hate posed wedding photos. We had a few groups shots on the lawns and a few of Jack and I on our own in front of the barn, but otherwise David just captured relaxed and informal shots. He also does a lot in black and white and the colour images are really rich in colour, which I love. David also catches those amazing fleeting moments during the day and you don’t even realise he is there.
Best part of the day
The best part of the day was probably during our first dance! We had a fast paced first dance (You make my dreams come true, by Hall & Oates) and when we called everyone onto the dance floor half way through the track, the room was filled with everyone laughing, dancing and having the best time. I’ve never seen such a busy dance floor and the pictures David caught of those moments are just amazing and beautiful. Absolute highlights of our day that will stay with me forever.
From one bride to another…
Take time throughout the day to sit back and just watch everyone and take it in. I was so glad I did this and it’s so amazing to see all the most important people in your lives having the best time together, laughing, dancing, talking. You spend so long planning your wedding day so you need to see how much everyone is enjoying it!
Venue Lapstone Barn
Photography David Hughes Photography
Styling Styletopia
Flowers The Flower Girls
Bridal Designer Suzanne Neville
Makeup Niamh Ford
Hair Martin Crean at Mode
Based on a weekday wedding in January.