Ross and Katie's Handmade Blush and White Warwickshire Barn Wedding by D and A Photography

Today’s wedding sees us head across to Warwickshire for this totally gorgeous Barn wedding held at Shustoke Farm Barns. Katie and Ross wanted a laid back day with an elegant touch and this they found in this gorgeous venue. They filled their day with touches of blush and white with an addition of some lovely greenery, as well as some amazing details from Katie herself. Katie took on a huge role in making so much of the wedding herself, from the flowers to the stationery. She also hand painted lots of wedding signs which she has now turned into a successful business; Painted by Katie . These finishing touches really make the wedding decor pop. The day was captured beautifully by D and A Photography

Just a completely fun, happy and surreal day surrounded by love. It felt like the perfect representation of us and our relationship.

Katie and Ross were married on 19th June at Shustoke Farm Barns in Warwickshire. ‘We wanted to get married somewhere fairly near where we both grew up in Leicestershire. We’d heard of Shustoke and loved the look of it, so we booked a viewing. The second we stepped into the building we knew it was the one! The main room is so striking, and we loved the courtyard with its olive trees. We had 88 guests and it took a year to plan. We booked the venue almost one year to the day before the wedding. Looking back, this was the perfect amount of time to plan.’

How they met
We actually met at school..! We’ve been together since we were 17, which seems crazy, but I love how we’ve grown up together. We’d been together 14 years now!!

The proposal
We’d had the most amazing day travelling around the south coast of Iceland, and stopped off at a stunning black sand beach, where he proposed. Ross was acting nervous all day so I kind of knew it was coming..

How did you allocate your budget?
We prioritised the parts of the wedding that were important to us, and didn’t feel pressure to do EVERYTHING just because it was tradition. We also wanted to do a lot of things ourselves, like the invitations, stationery and flowers, which was also a great money saver!

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on the venue, as I think a good venue completely sets the tone for the day, and we knew the team at Shustoke would have everything under control so on the day we didn’t need to think of a thing. We also splurged on a photographer as great images were really important to us! It’s the one thing you have to keep from the wedding to look back on, and these moments only happen once, so you need someone on top of their game.
We are both creative so were able to save on all the décor and details by doing it all ourselves. This made the day so personal to us which we loved!

How did you choose your photographer?
I had seen Dan’s work through a friend of a friend, and was obsessed before we even got engaged..! He has the most amazing eye and captures every moment so beautifully.

The dress
My dress was bespoke handmade by Phoebe Blockley Bridal. The skirt was the softest silk tulle and I felt amazing in it! I didn’t have any accessories as I didn’t want to distract from the dress. My shoes were Rachel Simpson.

The suit and bridesmaids
Ross’s suit was from Hugo Boss, and I got the bridesmaids dresses from ASOS.

Theme or colour scheme?
We had a rough colour scheme of blush pinks, white flowers and greenery which looked beautiful against the red brick of the barn.

Flowers
I did all my own flowers using all my favourites, white peonies, hydrangeas, eucalyptus and spray roses. I wanted it all to look really natural.

Decoration
I painted signs to decorate the venue, and had flowers in lots of painted jars and wine bottles dotted around.

Food
After a brilliant selection of canapes, we had a delicious meal of rotisserie chicken with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans with chocolate brownie for dessert. We wanted to keep it simple, and Shustoke are renowned for their amazing food.

Wedding cake
My good friend Jo Bee of ‘Bees Buns’ made my cake, it was a lemon sponge with buttercream icing.

Entertainment
We had a DJ, as our music tastes are so eclectic so we wanted someone who could play it all! Benny Smyth kept the dance floor full all night.

Who supplied the stationery?
We designed all our own stationary as we knew exactly how we wanted it to look.

Personal touches
A lot! The flowers, invitations, order of ceremony, menus, table plan, welcome sign. Our place name cards were personalised and included a compliment for each guest. I painted all my own signs to put around the venue with info like the order of the day, guestbook sign, Instagram hashtag etc, and have since turned this into a business. I love painting signs for all sorts of different weddings, it’s been an amazing thing to come out of our wedding!

Special moments
Our overriding highlight is just the feeling of love in the room. It was so special to have all our favourite people in one place, and you can’t beat that feeling of celebration and love.

Advice for other couples
Do it your way, don’t feel like you have to follow any traditions if they don’t feel like you. As long as your guests have good food and a great atmosphere, then you can’t go wrong.

Biggest surprise
Ross’s friends from his basketball team surprised us with a personalised beer pong table, which was an incredible addition to the evening…! I was also surprised by how relaxed I felt. Once the ceremony nerves were over it was such a fun and happy day!