18

Aug

2021

Charlotte and Emma’s Blush Pink Rustic Barn Wedding in Devon by Helen Lisk Photography

With weddings now allowed again and the wedding world slowly getting back to normal I am delighted to finally be able to feature some weddings from this year! YES this year!! Today’s wedding happened back in June in sunny Devon with our two beautiful brides, Charlotte and Emma. They fell in love with their rustic barn venue and the rest of the wedding fell into place from there. They kept the decor simple by adding in a beautiful selection of blush, nude and pink flowers, which worked perfectly with the rustic backdrop. The whole day is full of emotion and so much laughter. It’s so good to see weddings back on in the UK, long may it last. Big thanks to Helen Lisk Photography for the beautiful photos, she’s one of my fave photographers.

We would describe our wedding as more of a celebration of our love for one another, centralised around food, drink and music. It was an excuse to have everyone important to us together for the weekend, even though COVID refined it, it exceeded our expectations.

Charlotte and Emma were married on 5th June 2021 with both the ceremony and reception held at  Cadhay House, Ottery St Mary in Devon. ‘The ceremony was held outside in the Bothy, surrounded by the beautiful gardens and sunshine, guests sat on old characterised benches. Reception drinks and canapes where on the lawn where we played with homemade fun fair games and had a few photos. Reception was in the Old Apple Store (barn) in the evening. A friend of ours mentioned it to us years ago. As soon as we saw the Bothy on our first visit, we knew it was exactly where we wanted to get married! So so beautiful. We liked that the venue offered several different areas and options to help break up the day. We originally planned to have 70 guests however COVID restricted us to 30, it took just over 2 years to plan.’ 

How they met
We met through family and have been together for 8 years

The proposal
It was a week long event… not that I knew it! We have a week off and had several plans for cover the first part. We travelled up to Skipton to spend Monday with Emma’s family, Tuesday we travelled to Leeds to visit a restaurant called ‘The Man Behind The Curtain’ I’d being dying to visit for years! Whilst at dinner Emma mentioned that we weren’t going home the following day and that she had another evening planned… the following day we travelled down to Sheffield, as she had bought tickets to see Lucy Spraggan. Every couple has ‘their song’ and she sings ours. After the concert, and many beers later, Emma said that we weren’t going home the following day and that she had yet more plans for us. We woke up on the Thursday and made our way down to the Cotswolds. We parked up in the very picturesque Stow-On-The Wold. Slightly hungover I reluctantly went along with her plans for a country walk.  I followed her for about 2 miles in the sunshine mesmerised by the Cotswold stone cottages until we came to a bench that looked out over rolling Cotswold Countryside. We sat down and Emma handed me a scrapbook that she had made listing every visit, concert, restaurant, family event that we had shared together in the 4 years that we had been together at that time. It was safe to say that the tears were flowing. When I got the end of the scrapbook, it started to list on each page the week that we had just shared together inc the day in Skipton, Leeds, Sheffield and then the date 9th March 2017 and a blank page, next thing I knew she had a ring out and was asking me to marry her… I couldn’t get the yes out as I was crying so much… bless her… I didn’t stop there!

We went back to a beautiful boutique hotel, shared champagne, a lovely dinner and made the most of the roll top bath whilst in agreement that that moment should be shared between the two of us and that we wouldn’t speak to family and friends until we arrived home. On Friday I was quite eager to get back down to Devon and particularly to see my two sisters. Emma found every excuse to stop on the way home, first stopping at Cribbs Causeway to do some shopping for our then new house, then a coffee stop, we soon hit traffic and I was in full ‘sass queen’ mode. I was moaning saying that there was no point in going to see family and friends now and that it would dark by the time we arrive home. Emma kept very cool and as we arrived home and pulled up outside, she asked me to quickly run in with our washing and dump it in front of the washing machine. She said we would then quickly nip out to see at least my sisters. I went storming into the kitchen to find all of our friends and family and was welcomed by a ‘Surprise!!’ They thought they were there for a house warming party… I had my Beyonce moment and waved my ring finger around likely I was in a 90’s pop video! We partied until 2am…

How did allocate your budget?
We sat down and spoke about the important part to us and understood how much they would cost. These were having a venue that would accommodate for the whole weekend, Michelin style food, a band that would ensure that everyone danced the whole night long. The other bits seemed to fall into place as and when.

Where did you splurge and where/how did you save?
I think we certainly splurged on Venue, Band and Food. A positive to COVID was that we were able to save a lot more than we had planned. Emma is a bit of a whizz with a laptop therefore we did all of our own stationary, table scaping bits from IKEA, we made our own polaroid place settings and whilst on Furlough, Emma made all of the outdoor games.

How did you choose your photographer?
Believe it or not, we only booked Helen 8 weeks prior to our wedding.From the moment we had our first zoom meeting with here we knew that we would regret not having her with us on the day. She was so so so excited to capture our day and a time when we felt like all of the fun had been taken out of the planning, Helen soon reminded us that the weeks leading up to the wedding is as fun! We met her for a beer to discuss the finer details, every time we spoke to her it felt a little more real that we were getting married imminently… she was brilliant at lifting our energy!  Helen arrived for our rehearsal on the Friday evening and soon took charge and outlined the plans for the next day, she was like our very own wedding co-ordinator!! The day really wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without her, she wasn’t only our photographer but also a dress do-er upper, there to hand over a tissue, bridesmaid organiser, and now a friend!

The bridesmaids 
We has 9 bridesmaids. Emma had 4 and I had 5. We brought all the dresses from TFNC. We finalised on 3 different styles to suit everyone’s shapes.

Theme or colour scheme 
When we first started planning we wanted to keep all decorations fairly neutral as we felt the venue was so beautiful that it dressed itself. After we settled on the bridesmaid dresses which we blush, nude pinks, we agreed to have soft pinks in our bouquets.

Flowers 
Our brief for Lucy was untraditional.  We wanted to use slightly alternative flowers. We spoke more about our characters and how Emma is more calm and collected and that I was a little more wild. Lucy listened to exactly what we wanted. Emma’s bouquet was smaller and more  collected, mine was bigger and a bit more rough around the edges. We were quite open to ideas and trusted Lucy’s style and input. The flowers were more than we could of hoped for, Lucy is a little angel from flower heaven!

Decoration 
The venue really was so beautiful that it dressed itself, stone walls, wild flower gardens, medieval ponds, a rustic barn. The only decorations we had were lawn games and flowers on the tables.

Food
Starter – Torn buffalo mozzarella, marinated heritage tomatoes, loveage pesto, garlic bruschetta, crispy olives and baby basil.
Main – Roasted rump of beef, truffled celeriac puree, crispy shallots, chervil oil and a roasted beef bone and red wine sauce. Potato, turnip and sage dauphinoise and wilted summer greens with pickled vegetables.
Desert – sharing boards of STICKY COFFEE PUDDING, roasted pears, sour per gel, pear crisps, bowls of Cornish clotted cream and jugs of warm salted caramel sauce…

The pickle shack were blooming brilliant! The whole process from beginning to end was seamless. It started with a questionnaire about Emma & I, what we take from an eating experience and obviously what we enjoy. They then got brain storming and came back with some menu ideas. Collectively we put agreed on the ideal menu for us and our guests. We attended a run through and made some minor adjustments. The team were fabulous on the day. They helped with wine pouring, table shuffling, glass cleaning and co-ordinating the whole day! Cannot thank them enough, everywhere I turned they were there on hand to help.

Wedding cake
We had a two-tier semi naked cake from a local business called Crafty Cakes. It was Lemon and cream from top to bottom and didn’t hang around for long… enough said!

Entertainment
We had the ever so talented Bill Ding and the Sky Scrapers as our band. For years we had seen Adam, Richard and Leigh perform at various venues in and around Exeter. When we realised that they all performed together as part of Bill Ding and the Sky Scrapers, it was an easy decision made.
The team of 8 have so much energy, passion and love for what they do and that showed on the evening. It was such a nice release from all of the COVID tension and wedding planning. We all let our hair down and danced the whole night long.

Who supplied the stationery?
We did the stationary ourselves. Our save the dates we a simple image of our smiley faces listing the date and venue. Our invites were an image of the venue which Emma spent weeks drawing. All of the table stationary was done by ourselves also. Simple black and white to not take attention away from the flowers and then venue.

Personal touches
Our name places were polaroid photos our of guests and us. Some images were from when we were children, some from a family event, or a party. Our guests took them home afterwards, most gents keeping them in their wallets and the ladies on their dressing tables, they often talk about them now.

Special moments
I think we would both agree that the morning build up spent with our bridesmaids and close family was something that we will never forget. Hair and Make-Up started from 5.30am as we had 9 bridesmaids, 2 mothers of the bride, and 2 brides to make ready for midday. It was so much fun with people coming and going for their allotted time. We had music on, sharing stories, laughing and giggling and easing our nerves. Emma and I didn’t see each other in the morning and it was nice to hear the running commentary from her bridesmaids about how her morning was planning out.
The highlight of the day was seeing each other at the end of the aisle, full of tears. At that moment you really do forget about everyone around you, the nerves disappear and you feel so so full of love. It was so hard to not just wrap our arms around one another straight away! She couldn’t look anymore beautiful. It felt as though the last 8 years of memories coming flooding back and you are reminded that it was all worth the stress.

Advice for other couples 
It is absolutely 100% about you both and what you want to achieve. Don’t stress about minor details. Hug everyone. Get a photographer.

Biggest surprise 
For our guests – we had a mobile bar, The Fizzy Pheasant, they were absolutely incredible with our guests. Nothing was too much of an ask. They made a personalised cocktail list, had beer on tap and provided shots for when the guys played a game of spoof. Jade and Nick completing nailed the concept. The bar is so modern, yet fun, and catered for everyone! It was the centre piece of the wedding and everyone spent most of the day enjoying Aperol Spritz in the sunshine!
We also had a neon light with ‘You’ve got the best of my love’. We hung it from the beams in the Old Apple Store and it could not have been more awesome. Our first dance song was The Emotions – Best Of My Love. We wanted something upbeat that we could bob along to. It ended up being that we were enjoying ourselves that we forgot we were supposed to be dancing together. There was a lot of pointing and singing but when we finally came together for a cuddle towards the end of the song, it captured exceptional photos!

 

 

Supplier Shout Outs

 

For more information on Helen Lisk Photography go to

www.helenliskphotography.co.uk / www.helenliskphotography.co.uk/blog / [email protected] / 01392 927646 / FACEBOOKINSTAGRAM

 

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