Chic & Elegant Pastels Rustic Barn Wedding - Whimsical...

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It's always so wonderful to hear when Whimsical Wonderland Weddings has helped a couple to plan their day. So I was delighted when bride Allie got in touch to submit her wedding to me to blog on these very pages.

Allie and Tom chose to marry on the 15 ^th November 2014 at Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire. Pastel colours, rustic décor and a big party was the plan for the day and it all worked out beautifully.

Allie's dress was something else, with a low back, pretty bow and delicate sleeves designed by Sanyukta Shrestha it was so very elegant. Stylish stationery, bountiful blooms and a drumming bride made this day just so special.

Thanks so very much to Kari Bellamy for sharing her totally gorgeous imagery.

THE PROPOSAL | After being together for 8 years, getting married was always on the cards. But we wanted to buy a house first which we did in summer 2013. On Valentine's Day 2014 we planned a day off to go to London. As we left the house Tom said he wanted to ask me something first. He got down on one knee and asked me the all-important question. He wanted me to be able to choose my own ring so instead of going to London we went to a jeweller, a friend had recommended, to design my ring!

THE VISION |We wanted a relaxed party with our family and friends, with great food, drink and live music. After getting engaged in February I wanted to get married in the winter before the end of the year so we didn't have much time to find a venue and start the planning! Pinterest became my ideas board and I spent many nights pinning all the things I liked, to develop the theme. I wanted pastel colours and a rustic, shabby chic feel. Lots of hessian and twine.

Tom was happy to go along with whatever - As long as he had a great live band!

THE PLANNING PROCESS |Working in Marketing I am often involved in planning events and this was no different. I almost forgot that the event was for me! I spent a lot of evenings on the iPad looking at Pinterest and this blog for inspiration and researching suppliers. I wanted to get the invite design complete first as that would be the style I would carry through to all the other detail. Once the venue was booked and the dress was on order I spent a lot of time on eBay and Amazon buying everything from buttons to chalk boards. I worked on a lot of the décor myself including painting pallets and signs and doing mock set ups of the tables, sweets table and other details, so I could see how it would all come together. And lots of check lists!

THE VENUE |After visiting a few different types of venues we quickly decided we really wanted to get married in a barn. Location wasn't too much of a factor, with friends and family all over, but we wanted to stick to the south so journeys for guests were not too long. We spent many nights looking at every barn in the south of England and shortlisted our favourites to see over one weekend. Cripps Barn impressed us from the moment we drove up towards it. The beautiful setting, the rustic charm and the food looked tasty! The Cripps staff were fantastic at helping us plan the perfect day. The food was amazing and many guests commented that it was the best wedding food they had ever had.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES |I knew the shape I was looking for and I really liked the vintage designers like Charlie Brear. I didn't want to wear a veil or have any 'bling' on the dress so decided on having a vintage hair comb, earrings and cuff to add a bit of sparkle.

FINDING THE DRESS |I didn't realise how long it took to have a wedding dress made and when I started looking, 7 months before the wedding, I soon found out I didn't have long to decide. It ended up being the first shop I went to that I chose. Sanyukta Shrestha is a Nepalese designer that creates handmade dresses using eco-friendly fabrics. There were two dresses I liked. The front of one and the back of another, so together with my mum and Sanyukta we ended up creating a new design based on one and taking some of the details I liked from the other to create my own bespoke dress. The hair comb, earrings and cuff were from Jenny Packham and my shoes were from Dune.

GROOM'S ATTIRE |Tom wore a tailor made suit and shirt from Tailor Made London with a tie and pocket hankie from Savile Row with Loake shoes.

THE READINGS & MUSIC |We had two readings, which were read by friends. The first Tom found online by an unknown writer. For the second I wanted a little humour. I found a YouTube video of someone using song titles that included the word love which I adapted to feature lots more songs. Every day I love you less and less, Kaiser Chiefs needed a bit of thought! I walked down the aisle to Turning Page, Sleeping at Last and we exited to Ho Hey, The Lumineers. We created a Spotify playlist for during the wedding breakfast and one for the disco, in-between the band sets, which included all our favourite floor fillers. The Hot Shots were our amazing band and got everyone on the dance floor. I surprised everyone by playing the drums with the band for a song by Oasis, Toms favourite band, which went down really well. I had been having lessons in secret and the band agreed I could play, which was really great of them.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS |We had two beautiful bridesmaids, Polly and Katie (my florist!) I wanted a peach colour to fit with the theme and came across the twobrids dresses which I loved as you could wear the same dress in many styles. I chose the rosewater colour which had a slight shimmer to it and fitted well with the colour scheme. The girls chose one style to wear during the day and then they did another for the evening.

THE FLOWERS |This was the easiest decision to make as one of my friends is a florist. Katie Mawson Floral Design. She was also my bridesmaid so I kept her very busy! I didn't want a big arrangement on the tables, but a few individual flowers like roses and gypsophila in different jars and bottles which I sourced online. The venue has two pulleys in the barn which you can hang huge flower ball arrangements from the ceiling and those together with above the fireplace were the main wow factors. The bouquets and button holes used peach and cream roses. Katie did an amazing job and it all looked even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. And she even made it back to the hotel by 11am after an early start setting up to have her hair and makeup done!

THE CAKE |My mum makes cakes as a hobby so I always knew that was a supplier I never had to worry about finding. I wanted a stacked three tier cake using the same colour theme, with some detail. My mum said she could make a mould from the lace of my dress to cover one tier which made it completely unique. The bottom tier was covered in individual layers of sugar craft to create roses and the top left plain with a smaller rose in the middle. My bridesmaid/florist had cute little wooden cake toppers made of me and Tom by a friend of hers, which added a finishing touch to the masterpiece. My mum also made iced heart shaped biscuits for the favours, with our names and date, including bride and groom decorated ones for us!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER |I found wedding blogs like this the best place to find photographers as you could see the different styles. We didn't want too many formal pictures and lots of people having a great time. We chose Kari Bellamy as we loved the vintage feel of her photos which would look great in a barn. We also had a videographer, Bar Wedding Films which I also found on this blog as we really liked the style and the way he captured the day in a short video.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR |I like to be able to do things myself, so I was nervous that I wouldn't be there on the day to set up the venue and all the details I had spent months planning. I created a wedding pack with all the details of what needed to be set up with pictures of mock set ups I did at home for the venue and family to follow, so I wouldn't spend the morning worrying about it. Turns out I had nothing to worry about as my amazing friends and family came together and set up everything perfectly.

I always wanted a sweets table as I love pink 'n' mix! Along with the usual favourites we had fairy cakes, cookies and a macaron tower which looked impressive as well as delicious! We used another table for other details such as confetti cones, cards sack and guest book sheets. Being November we added a couple of winter touches with sparklers and marshmallows for toasting on the fire. As live music was a big part of the day for us and we both love going to live gigs we had a festival line up for the table plan and the table names were our favourite bands that we had been to see together.

THE HONEYMOON |We wanted a once in a lifetime holiday to somewhere we didn't think we would have the chance to go again. We also didn't just want to sit on a beach for the duration. We ended up agreeing on Australia where we had an active holiday travelling some of the beautiful country, visiting National Parks, walking, climbing, canyoning and taking in the breath-taking sites. We followed Australia with a few nights in Bora Bora on the way back to relax on the beach and be pampered before we had to go home.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS |Playing the drums with the band and feeling like I was playing a gig to a packed crowd. The way that our family and friends all came together and supported us which we were really touched about. Having a truly amazing day from getting ready in the morning to dancing the night away.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES |Enjoy the planning process together. Pinterest and blogs like this were really good for inspiration and getting together ideas and themes in one place. Creating some of the details and décor yourself is fun and can save money. Look on eBay and you will find everything you could possible need! Enjoy every part of the day and try and take it all in.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Cripps Barn

Dress | Sanyukta Shrestha

Accessories | Jenny Packham

Grooms Suit | Tailor Made London

Flowers | Katie Mawson Floral Design

Cake |My amazing mum

Cake Toppers | Daisy-Belle Dolls

Fairy Cakes and Cookies | Made by Marie Green

Band | The Hot Shots

Stationery | Noble Hound

Photographer | Kari Bellamy