I must admit, it’s really very lovely being able to share these intimate wedding days this year. It’s wonderful to show just how incredibly versatile our venues are and, even for a small wedding of 15 guests, the Gate Street Barn looks stunning.
I’ll had you over to Elma and Laura from VLA Photography for all the details…
Elma says…
We knew we wanted a rustic venue for our wedding and a colleague of mine recommended we view Gate Street Barn as she had been to a wedding there. We arrived for our viewing and knew immediately it was for us! It was just a feeling.
My dress was from a lovely boutique in Wimbledon – Paverly Bridal. Darcy was the lady who helped me and she was so lovely and helpful. I chose a Maggie Sottero dress and when I suggested I wanted bell cuffs and buttons added to my dress it was no problem at all to order extra lace. The fantastic tailors, Chambers of Wimbledon Village, added the cuffs and buttons when they altered my dress to fit me. The final dress was exactly as I imagined. They also altered the Jenny Yoo bridesmaids dresses my daughters wore. My simple ivory court shoes were from Harriet Wilde, a small company in North London. Designed in London and beautifully handmade in Spain! Peter’s suit and shirt were bespoke from Tom Fox in Guildford. His amazing green suede shoes were from Reiss.
Our hair and make up was done by the absolutely lovely Rosie Hart. Her calm chatty nature made our morning very relaxed and chilled and of course, we three looked fabulous!
We really wanted a relaxed, rustic feel to our special day and I always secretly hoped it would be enchanting and magical. I always imagined Mary and Kitty looking like fairy princesses and they really did and I felt like the fairy Queen Mum! Laura, our wonderful photographer said we all looked as though we had magical powers! Love that!
Due to restrictions, even though we could only have a mini version of what we had planned (our wedding was postponed from April), the day still felt so magical. It was perfect.
Our florist was Rosie Orr and my bouquet was made up of green and white foliage and flowers. I love white flowers, roses in particular so they were a big feature. My flower crown was just beautiful with a very rustic look of white roses, ivy and rosehips. The bridesmaids had stunning crowns and bouquets of gypsophila. Rosie created little works of art for us and they were stunning.
As we were only having a short ceremony and having our small reception outside, I filled lots of jars with flowers and herbs and made an aisle with them which looked beautiful and magical. I didn’t want to walk towards Peter without an aisle as I had been dreaming of walking up the aisle towards him for so long!
Tandem Catering were so lovely to provide a small buffet for us along with a lovely evening meal for Peter and I. We were staying in the Stable Flat and it was easy to heat our meal in the evening once our guests had left. We had both forgotten to eat so the meal was a welcome treat!
I made our cake. It was a mini version of the cake we had planned for our postponed wedding. It was a semi-naked gluten free vanilla sponge and buttercream with apricot jam. I also made the vine heart toppers which looked just lovely with the rustic log cake slice.
From the moment we booked our wedding we knew our photographer had to be Laura from VLA Photography. We absolutely loved her photography and fell in love with her style and vibe. Laura made us all feel very relaxed and we could do nothing but smile and laugh when she was taking our photos. We are more than over the moon with the beautiful photos of our special day.
Best part of the day
It is difficult to decide on one particular best part of the day because the whole day was perfect. I think if we had to choose just one, it would be the moment the registrar announced we were husband and wife as there had been so much uncertainty surrounding our wedding day because of current restrictions and as we had already postponed from April, it was a huge relief to know we had finally made it!
From one bride to another…
There are so many things I could say!
I had planned so much and planned again. I began to give importance to the unimportant aspects of planning our wedding when, in the end it was all taken out of our hands and we had to re-think on a smaller scale. My words of wisdom would be, don’t loose sight of what is really important (ie, you and your partner getting married) and only choose guests who you know love and care about you both and want the best for you. That way you will have the most meaningful, magical wedding day full of love.
Also, don’t forget to eat!
We will be back at Gate Street Barn next year to renew our vows with more guests present (hopefully). All of our suppliers have been spectacular during this extraordinary time and we are so looking forward to them being a part of our bigger celebrations next year.
Venue Gate Street Barn
Photography VLA Photography
Flowers Rosie Orr
Bridal Boutique Paverly Bridal
Shoes Harriet Wilde
Bridesmaids Jenny Yoo
Hair + Makeup Rosie Hart
Catering Tandem Catering