A very warm welcome to WWW readers Sus and Mitch and their Gloucestershire barn wedding. They were married at Stone Barn in the Costwolds, just 3 days after Christmas. The result was a gorgeously rustic, festive and cosy celebration with their nearest and dearest.
They incorporated boho style thanks to their stylish outfits, with romantic candlelight and winter wedding flowers including gorgeous greenery too. There was elegant stationery, a pearl cake, smoke flares and sparklers to end the night. It was such a laid-back and happy day, as you will see from the stunning images.
Winnington & Coe I can’t thank you enough for sharing these totally dreamy images of Sus and Mitch’s Christmas barn wedding.
We are huge fans of the style of weddings you feature and used WWW for lots of inspiration or our wedding.
Gloucestershire Barn Wedding
The Proposal
In April 2019, Mitch and I went away to Wales for our 3-year anniversary, we were staying near the coast in a tepee.
Earlier that evening we had gone out for a seafood dinner and when we got back Mitch had secretly decorated the tent with fairy lights and flowers. We sat in front of the fire playing scrabble and then all of a sudden he got down on one knee and proposed. I was so shocked as we had never really spoken about marriage.
We had no signal on our phones, so didn’t tell anyone until the next day, which was so nice as we could just enjoy that moment together.
The Vision
Both of us are really laid-back and we wanted a wedding that felt true to us and reflected our personalities.
We wanted to get married around Christmas time, as we both absolutely love that time of year. So went for a cosy rustic theme with lots of fairy lights, candles and flowers.
The Venue
Stone Barn was the first venue we looked at and we fell in love with it instantly. We loved the contrast between the two sections of the barn.
The stone part is so traditional with an amazing flower ring and fireplace and the corrugated iron section is very industrial, with a ceiling covered in fairy lights. We thought it would make the most incredible venue for a December wedding.
Stone Barn were amazing throughout the whole process, they make everything so easy, and ran the day absolutely flawlessly. The food was incredible, we chose a sharing-style menu to make the day more informal with:
- Burrata to start
- Pork with dauphinoise potatoes and mixed greens for the main course
- Apple crumble with custard for dessert
The Ceremony & Music
I walked down the aisle to an orchestral version of High and Dry by Radiohead, as it is a really special song to my Dad and I. As soon as it started playing I started crying!
We had two readings by close friends of ours, Dave and Liam. Liam read ‘The Ent and The Ent Wife’ by J.R.R. Tolkien and Dave read ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by John Cooper Clarke. Dave’s reading was a surprise to us, but as huge JCC fans we thought it was absolutely fantastic.
We walked out to the Beach Boys, God Only Knows.
For our band, we had The Landed, who are friends of Mitch’s. They were fantastic and having people we knew play the music was extra special. We chose ‘Otis Reading – That’s How Strong My Love Is’ for our first dance.
Discover more wedding ceremony readings and wedding song inspiration on the blog!
The Styling & Decor
Our wedding cake was made by my auntie, Jane Mews, she makes cakes as a business and is absolutely amazing. We chose a white cake with millions of edible pearls on it, we thought it looked very wintery. In hindsight, it must have been a nightmare to make – but it looked incredible.
She also gifted us a personalised cake board with our names and wedding date on it.
The flowers were by Beth at Go Wild Flowers. We wanted quite a rustic look to the flowers and think Beth did a fantastic job. Due to the time of year, there were limited flowers available, so we went with lots of silvery greenery including eucalyptus and wintery foliage.
We also had roses in muted pinks and purples and lots of gypsophila. We opted for table runners and loosely arranged hand-tied bouquets for a more rustic look. Our favourite was the huge flower wheel in the ceremony room which just looked incredible.
The venue styling was done by us, with help from our Mum’s. We had pale grey organza table runners with lots and lots of candles. We had white pillar candles in glass cylinders which were provided by Go Wild Flowers and then dark purpley grey tapered candlesticks from Ester and Erik.
For the table names, we used different cycling races, as we are both huge cycling fans.
All of our signage for the day was by Lilac and White, who do the most wonderful wedding stationery. We also had a polaroid camera for a photo guestbook, some colouring packs for the children and polaroid photos displayed of everyone at the wedding.
Your Outfits
I chose the Sophia dress by Lihi Hod for my wedding dress. I saw an advert for the dress in 2015 (before I’d even met Mitch) and saved it on the off chance!
Luckily Lihi Hod still made the dress and as soon as I tried it on, I knew that it was the right one. I tried a few other dresses just to make sure but nothing compared to the Sophia. I loved the vintage look, the back detail and how elegantly the lace was designed.
Mitch wanted a three-piece tweed suit in dark navy. He spent a long time looking but found it really difficult to find exactly what he wanted. In the end, we went to Walker and Slater in Covent Garden and he found the most amazing suits for him and the groomsmen.
He then found some light grey tweed ties from Dickie Bow to match.
For the bridesmaids, I had quite a specific look in mind. Due to it being a December wedding, I wanted long-sleeved dresses, but I didn’t want a traditional bridesmaid look.
In the end, we chose the most amazing dresses from Needle and Thread, they are a pale lilac/grey colour with lots of beads and sequins. They looked incredible.
Your Photographer
Elle and Ben from Winnington and Coe were our photographers, and we honestly can’t recommend them enough. We found them on Instagram and loved the style of their photography.
We didn’t want lots of formal photos and loved their ability to capture the beautiful natural moments. They are also such fun lovely people, so having them around on the day was such a joy.
Mitch and I are very camera shy, so we chose to do some informal photos with sparklers and smoke flares. These were great fun to do but also created some amazing very untraditional-looking photos. Just three days after our wedding, Elle sent us some sample images and we were completely blown away with them.
The Honeymoon
For our Honeymoon, we went to Scotland, which was amazing.
We got the train from London and visited a few different places, each for a few nights. We started in Edinburgh, where we did lots of exploring, celebrated Hogmanay and ate in lots of beautifully cosy pubs and restaurants.
We then hired a car, drove to St Andrews and spent a few days on the coast. Our final stop was Braemar in the Highlands, there was lots of snow there and we went on some beautiful walks.
Memorable Moments
The whole day was so magical but walking down the aisle has to be one of my favourite moments. Although I knew I would be nervous, nothing prepared me for quite how emotional I’d feel when I saw Mitch.
We’d had our wedding postponed from the previous December and the relief and joy was so overwhelming in that moment. Everyone in the room was so happy that we were able to have our wedding, the atmosphere was just amazing.
Mitch had arranged transport for me without me knowing. He had organised for a cream Fiat 500 (which is my favourite car) to take us to the venue. It was so cute. It was quite a funny journey, my Dad and I were all squashed up in the back and it took an absolute age to get there!
Advice For Other Couples
Love every minute of it.
We had such fun planning our wedding and if you find good suppliers it is so easy. Nearly all of our inspiration and suppliers came from Instagram and Pinterest.
Oh so beautiful!
Sus and Mitch I can’t thank you enough for sharing your divine Gloucestershire barn wedding story with us.
Further Reading
The post Wintry Rustic & Candlelit Boho Wedding at Christmas first appeared on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings.