Beautiful & Stylish Rustic Coral Barn Wedding

Beautiful & Stylish Rustic Coral Barn Wedding

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Sarah and Mike married on the 26th April 2014 at Ufton Court in Berkshire. With a vision of a relaxed and rustic barn wedding they set out to plan their perfect day.

Sarah is a seamstress and used many of her contacts to get involved in their day but more importantly she designed and made her own beautiful lace gown. She accessorised her dress with Chez Bec jewellery and the prettiest Rachel Simpson peach shoes.

There was a bright and bold coral colour scheme which involved an abundance of peonies, DIY décor and pretty maids. Ahh so lovely.

Thanks so very much to the brilliant Hayley Savage Photography for sharing her wonderful images today.

THE PROPOSAL | Mike proposed to me on a picnic in Windsor on the 'Long walk' between the castle and the copper horse statue. He has never been keen on picnics and prefers to go to a pub or restaurant for lunch. When he asked me to take the day off and made the suggestion that we go to Windsor for a picnic I did have a sneaky suspicion and was keeping everything crossed that it might happen that day and it did! I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell everyone. We had been together 7 and a half years so it was about time too!

THE VISION | I really wanted to get married in a barn and loved the idea of something quite relaxed and rustic with a live band for the evening. We wanted the wedding to have personal touches and give our guests a day to remember.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We got the venue booked first alongside booking registrars for the civil ceremony and everything followed from there. Prioritising what was important to us like the food for the day and making sure everyone we wanted to come saved the date before we could get the invites out. Writing lists and more lists of things that we needed to do which seamed never ending! But we got there in the end and our guests were impressed and appreciated all the effort and detail we included.

BUDGET | I think we spent about £18,000.

THE VENUE | We got married in the Tithe Barn at Ufton Court in Reading. The stunning Tudor Manor House is built in picturesque grounds and has a beautiful driveway lined with oak trees leading up to it. Mike had been there as a child on a school trip and remembered they had a barn on the site. It was the first venue we looked at and I fell in love with it straight away. They run the site as an educational charity providing activities for children which was part of the appeal because you know the profit they make is going to a good cause.

We chose Patricia who owns 'Catering for Special Occasions' to do our food. She had come highly recommended by friends and family who had been to weddings that she had catered for. Patricia was lovely and took all the stress out of planning a menu and provided everything that was needed to serve the food and drink and did the bar for the evening also. We had pate to start, chicken and dauphinoise potatoes with a lemon and tarragon sauce for main and choice of chocolate and salted caramel tart or baked cheesecake for pudding. In the evening we had sausage baps and a cheese board. The food was all as yummy as the tasting we had done with Patricia earlier, she was very flexible to do what we wanted. It really is a big part of the day and without the excellent efforts from Patricia and her team the day wouldn't have been such a success.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | As a professional seamstress I wanted to make my own wedding dress. I have made wedding dresses before and have been running my own sewing business for the last 2 years but I hadn't yet had the opportunity to show my family and friends exactly what I do.

I chose some gorgeous Rachel Simpson shoes called Mimosa in pale peach. My jewellery was from Chez Bec on Not on the Highstreet. As my something borrowed my bridesmaid Hayley lent me a beautiful Links of London bracelet and my something blue was a garter my Mum had bought me.

Sarah Thorne of Thorne Brides did my hair and make-up. We did the trial on the morning of my hen do. We got along so well and I was really impressed with how flawless my skin looked. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about on the wedding day and could trust Sarah to do a brilliant job.

FINDING THE DRESS | I wanted to make a lace wedding dress and searched high and low for the right fabric. Eventually I came across a lace makers in France called Sophie Hallette which produced some of the lace that was used to make Kate Middleton's Wedding dress. They make stunning lace patterns that are used by all the big designers. I loved the silhouette of Pippa Middleton's dress so I designed and made a silk bias gown with a lace overlay and key hole back with capped sleeves. To break up the lace I made a silk sash to go round my waist with a bit of bling I bought from a haberdashery in London.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Mike decided to get his wedding suit and the best men's suits made in Hong Kong on a return trip from Australia. We were only there a couple of nights and they got fitted on the last day. It was all a bit hectic. Mike had 2 best men, Terry was with us but his brother David was in Australia so we just got 2 suits made the same size as the best men were of a similar build. They chose a lovely deep blue/indigo cashmere wool mix. For the rest of the groomsmen we asked if they could all wear dark blue suits of their own, with ties and buttonholes that all matched. Mike's shoes were from Jones bootmaker and the ties were from Debenhams.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Our friend Kelly read 'If you can always be as close' by Larry S. Chengges and our friend Mark read a piece from a song called 'It only takes a moment' from the film Hello Dolly. Mike loves the Rolling Stones and we both liked the introduction of 'You can't always get what you want' for the bridesmaids and I to walk down the aisle to so Mike downloaded a backing track from the internet to mix an acoustic version on a loop. To walk back down the aisle as Mr and Mrs Wild we got Mike's brother David to mix a load of songs with Wild in the lyrics. It was mainly 'Wild Thing' by the Troggs and 'Take a walk on the wild side' by Lou Reed. For our first dance we had Snow Patrol 'Chasing Cars' that our band played for us. The band were called Millennium Bug and played a range of rock and pop songs from all the eras.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 5 bridesmaids, Mike's sister Rebecca, Jess who's like a sister to me and 3 of my closest friends that I met at Uni, Stacey, Taryn and Hayley. It was quite a challenge to find a dress they would all like. I picked coral for the main colour of the wedding and ended up finding the perfect dress in Monsoon. Their shoes were from Roland Cartier at Dune. I had my two nieces as flower girls and they had coral lace dresses from Tesco which I made cream satin sashes to go round the waist with bows at the back and a little netted underskirt to puff the dresses out more.

THE FLOWERS | Emma Curtis at A&M Florists did my flowers. She was recommended by the venue and some of my customers. She did an amazing job and really listened to what I wanted and helped make suggestions on what else to add. I chose coral peonies, vuvuzela roses, ivory wax flower, ammi (dill), pale green lisianthus, ivory roses and dusty miller for the bouquets and had peach/coral ranunculus for the button holes and in the bouquets. Emma had beautiful twisted iron stands that we used for the table centres and put posies of mini peach gerbera and gypsophelia with silver eucalyptus on top.

THE CAKE | I met Sandie and Julie from Village Cakes through Sandie's daughter Shelley who was a customer of mine the previous year. We had two deep tiers for our wedding cake. The bottom tier was a truly scrumptious chocolate mud cake and the top tier was an equally yummy traditional fruit cake with marzipan. I had seen the stunning wedding cake they had made for Shelley and had kept their contact details as I knew I wanted them to make ours. They were such a great find. I wanted the cake to reflect all the elements of the day with the themes of coral and lace. I loved the beautiful coral peonies (that matched my bouquet) they made from icing to decorate the cake. I made the cake topper with a kit from 'togetherforever' on Etsy.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | I met Hayley at uni when she was studying photography and I was doing Fashion. Conveniently she became a professional wedding photographer and had already done the wedding photos for two of my close friends (my bridesmaids Stacey and Taryn) I was so pleased she could fit our wedding in. I love her style, creative touch and attention to detail. I knew she would do an amazing job. I convinced Mike that we should do the engagement shoot Hayley offers as it's a chance to get used to the camera and makes it quicker on the wedding day because you know how to stand and pose naturally etc. Hayley made everyone feel relaxed and at ease which showed in the magnificent natural shots she captured of the day.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | I chose Coral as the main colour for the wedding then decided on Mint Green and Yellow as accent colours. Fabrics of lace to give a vintage feel and hessian for the rustic theme. The Barn was beautiful enough and already had fairy lights and ivy which decorated the beams and surrounding walls. The only thing I wanted to do was inject the wedding colours into the venue which we did with bunting and then I had a session with some friends and family making tissue paper pom poms which we then hung from the centre chandeliers and the beams in the entrance area.

We made our table plan using a beautiful old gold vintage frame and hung ribbons in the chosen colours vertically down to which we stuck the names of our guests printed on white card and cut with a lace die cutter top and bottom. Rather than straight table runners as the tables were round I bought some really cheap coral lace from Fabric Land and cut it into large circles to put under the flower stands.

Instead of having confetti thrown as we came out of the Barn we chose to do bubbles. I stole this idea from a customer who did this for their wedding as I thought it'd look great in the photos and last longer than the confetti.

For the favours I thought that little pots of jam would suit the rustic venue and be fun to make. It was something I could do way in advance and my friend Marsha is an expert so we made a day of it one weekend. When I researched what jam I could make I came across rhubarb and ginger and realised it would make the perfect colour too, coral! to match the wedding colours ( yes a little obsessed with the colour theme! I think every Bride to be is guilty of this!)

THE HONEYMOON | We decided to go to Tenerife for our honeymoon and had been recommended a luxury 5 star resort by some friends. We wanted a holiday where we could completely chill out by the pool and unwind. It was an exquisite resort with the biggest fresh water infinity pool in Europe. There were loads of different areas for adults only but going at the beginning of May we didn't see many children around anyway. They had 7 restaurants to chose from and most were included in the package we paid full board for. We treated ourselves to massages in the outdoor bali huts that were built over the swimming pool. We also ventured out for the day to a water park which was so much fun, I felt like a kid again going on all the rides!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | I stayed in the Forbury hotel in Reading the night before with two of my bridesmaids. The morning of the wedding Mike had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers delivered to the hotel and had bought me a beautiful dress to wear on our honeymoon, he'd written a card too which made me very emotional and excited as I couldn't wait to become Mrs Wild and for him to see me in the dress I'd made.

I was overwhelmed and close to crying coming down the aisle and walked so fast dragging my Dad with me that he managed to clip the side of a hurricane vase that was lining the aisle with a lit candle in it! The vase smashed and the candle knocked over nearly starting a fire! I was so shocked at first then found it hilarious which stopped me from crying. I even turned around to start help clear it up but I saw Julia our wedding co-ordinator come to the rescue!

The day went so fast and I wish I could do it all over again. The live band in the evening were brilliant and I don't think I saw the dance floor empty all night.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Communication is key, people can't read your mind so be very clear on what you want. I found visual aids like Pinterest very useful for both inspiration and explaining to people what I was after with regards to hair, make-up, flowers, invites etc. Be clear what each of your suppliers are supplying/including for the price, does that price include VAT?

Lastly the day is supposed to be a celebration of your marriage so have fun and enjoy it, anything that goes wrong just adds to the story of the day!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Hayley Savage Photography

2nd Photographer | Maddie Waters Photography

Wedding dress | Made and designed by the bride Sarah Moores - [email protected]

Cake | Village Cakes contact Sandie and Julie - [email protected] tel/mob: - 07940451629 Sandie - [email protected] tel/mob: - 07798830557

Caterers | Patricia at Catering for special occasions

Flowers | A&M Florists - Emma Curtis

Hair and Make-up | Sarah Thorne

Venue | Ufton Court

Bridesmaid dresses | Monsoon

Bridesmaid shoes | Roland Cartier at Dune, Debenhams

Band | Millennium Bug

Jewellery | necklace and earrings Chez Bec

Bride's shoes | Rachel Simpson

Groom's shoes | Jones Boot Maker

Utterly beautiful.

Thanks so so much to Sarah and Mike for sharing their wonderful wedding story with us XOXO Lou

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