Relaxed Barn Wedding by Stott & Atkinson

Happy Bank Holiday Monday everyone, I do hope you are having a lovely Easter break. I am currently in Cornwall and have been here since Friday visiting my mum. We travel back today, so no doubt it will be a busy day in the office tomorrow! To start the week I have this gorgeous green and blue, relaxed barn wedding from Stott & Atkinson. The couple, Carmel and Sam decided that they wanted to honour their love of music and brought in a festival theme to the day. With festival tickets as invitations, a vinyl wedding cake, records as centre pieces and CD favours, this wedding is full of fun, colour and lots of laughter.

A fantastic day. Fun, relaxed, and surprisingly sunny!

Carmel and Sam planned their whole wedding in just over a year and were married on the 8^th March in front of 120 of their friends and family at Lillibrooke Manor in Maidenhead. “We wanted a barn wedding. One of our friends had recommended Lillibrooke Manor and we loved it after just one visit.”

How they met
We met through mutual friends eight years ago.

The proposal
Sam proposed to Carmel by giving her a mixtape of our favourite songs on the top of Haystacks in the Lake District.

How did you allocate your budget?
About half on the catering (including personally imported French wine). Flowers, suit, dress, decorations, photography and venue hire took up almost all the rest.

Why did you choose your photographer?
Tim & Paul were recommended to us. We really liked their relaxed style and their awesome positivity.

The dress and accessories
Dress by Ian Stuart, from Bride To Be in Reading. Shoes from Nine West.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suit was tailored by Dress2Kill in Waterloo. The bridesmaids’ dresses came from Coast.

The theme or colour scheme
We wanted to reflect our mutual love for music and festivals, and we wanted a blue-green colour scheme.

The flowers
A fairly informal selection of anemones, roses and hydrangea, with plenty of greenery.

The Decoration
Hessian bunting from OSA Catering Hire, and light up C & S letters from Vowed and Amazed.

The food and the wedding cake
A fantastic hog roast with salads and vegetable served communally to the tables. The wedding cake was made by Sam’s aunt, Jacque. It was an incredible feat of cake engineering, featuring three independently rotating tiers in the shape of a 12-inch record, a 7-inch record, and a CD!

The entertainment
During the ceremony Carmel’s sister Emelda sang with her a capella group The Gin and Harmonics. Our friend Steve DJ’d in the evening.

Buy or DIY your Stationery?
We were very lucky that our friend Jules designed the stationery for us, including our invitation which looked like a festival ticket.

Personal or handmade touches
We made table names out of old 7-inch singles, and a board of pictures from festivals we’d been to with friends. For favours we made CDs and homemade fudge.

Special moments or highlights
The Gin and Harmonics (Carmel’s sister and her friends) singing was a real highlight for everybody. Also, coming outside after the ceremony into the glorious spring sunshine with all our friends and family.

Advice for other couples
Try to enjoy the planning, and make sure you relax and enjoy every minute of the day. Think about what is really important to each of you and make sure that you do those things above anything else.

Biggest surprise of the day?
How amazing our registrar Marilyn was! Everyone commented how at ease she had made us all feel.