Elegant & Natural Beautiful Barn Wedding

I felt ever so relaxed reading all about Charlotte and Oly’s beautiful wedding day and I hope you will too. After a church ceremony, their celebrations all took place on 4th May 2019 at WWW fave venue Casterley Barn. Their natural and elemental day really did put their creativity on display with so many fun touches!

Thank you ever so much to much to Stuart Dudleston for providing these beautiful images which capture the natural essence of the day so well. Also make sure you check out When Charlie Met Hannah‘s fantastic video below, thank you so much for sharing this with us.

We’re also delighted that the couple chose WWW entertainment faves Warble to supply their band. It looks like the dance floor really was full! Enjoy everything about this fabulous day WWWers!

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The Proposal

At Trebarwith Strand In Cornwall, my favourite place in the world, Oly took me there just after my birthday. We were watching the waves crashing in, standing on the most epic ledge in the cliff. It was pouring with rain and we had the beach to ourselves. Oly shouted ‘I love you’ over the noise of the waves, wind and rain and got down on one knee with the most amazing ring in his hand. It was a gorgeous Diamond Halo ring with a Blue Sapphire in the middle that he designed himself!

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The Vision

We wanted to create a really natural, elegant and beautiful environment that everyone could relax and enjoy themselves in. We run a clothing brand called Wolfe Academy so we’re both very creative and hands on, we wanted this vibe to come through too. We made a lot of the décor ourselves and even designed our own wedding logo which was featured on various things throughout the day! We filled the church & venue with trees and wild foliage & flowers from our gardens to bring that outdoor life vibe.

The Planning Process

It was a lot of fun! We took the opportunity to do things that we’d never done before, and we had a lot of creative help from our family and friends! It was a team effort and we loved every minute!

Budget

We wanted to stick to a budget of £18k and we did! We even had a little left over to treat ourselves on our honeymoon!

The Venue

Casterley Barn. We drove past the entrance to Casterley Barn one Sunday evening, we’d driven on that road hundreds of times before but there was now a sign that said Weddings! We somehow knew instantly that that was the place for us, we drove the mile uphill there and then to take a look at the barn and it was absolutely perfect! It was a glorious converted barn on the top of a hill surrounded by miles of countryside and beautiful views. We were set on it before we’d even stepped foot inside but after arranging a meeting and taking a look we were besotted!

It had huge glass doors to show off the panoramic views and everything inside was simple and elegant. The team at Casterley barn were second to none, they went above and beyond to make sure we all had an incredible day.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Dress – Lillian West (Justin Alexander) from The Bridal Lounge in Trowbridge. It was the most comfortable and gorgeous dress I’ve ever worn! I loved it to pieces! Crochet lace fit and flare dress with a sweetheart neckline and a beautiful train. I wore a veil for the ceremony with a floral crown too, my veil even had a train! The floral crown was all real, made of wax flower and gypsophila.

We’d been to one dress shop but had no luck there. The dress was the first one I tried on in that shop and it was absolutely perfect, I loved everything about it. I wanted to be comfortable in the dress and this dress had a stretch lining which made it incredibly comfortable and easy to wear! I’d never seen a dress like this before, it had a soft yet bold silhouette with a stunning boho crochet lace all over.

Oly’s suit was from Jolly’s in Bath, we were helped by a guy from head office who happened to be there for the day. He had worked in the men’s fashion industry for 30 years and was the kind of guy that could just look at you and tell you what size and colour would look best, he was amazing! Oly felt like he got the custom tailored suit experience for half the price!

Beauty

Charlotte – I did my own hair and make up. I was really keen to look like me on a good day! I used a curling wand to create beachy waves and did my usual make up with the addition of a few extra products like setting spray and primer.

Oly also did all of his own grooming!

Bridesmaids

Three bridesmaids (two school friends and Charlotte’s niece). They wore pale sage colour dresses, high halter necks with a floaty skirt (from Little Mistress). I wanted them to look really elegant but also be comfortable too and these dresses were perfect!

Flower Girl – Our 18 month old niece wore a slightly sparkled silver lace dress from Monsoon and a white cardigan with white tights and shoes.

Groomsmen

Three ushers (Oly’s friend and Charlotte’s two brothers) & two best men (Oly’s best friends). They wore mid grey suits with an olive green tie and brown shoes. (Moss Bros)

The Readings & Music

Charlotte walked down the aisle to Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, one of the best moments of our lives, so much joy and love in the room it was unbelievable!

We finished the ceremony at the very back of the church, just us and the vicar, after the vicar’s final blessing we had a long walk back towards the congregation and our recessional music was just perfect for this, ‘wake up’ by Arcade Fire. It felt incredibly epic and was so lovely to see all the beaming faces looking at us as we walked towards them.

We had three readings, a love poem read by Oly’s Mum, a Bible reading read by one of the bridesmaids and a native American wedding blessing read by Charlotte’s Mum.

The Flowers

Supplier: ‘Flowers at the Conservatory’

Bouquet – Luxury Wild look hand tied bouquet. Colours were whites and ivories, nude and dark and slightly silvered hues of green. Including a cluster of luxury David Austin Purity Roses, one or two nude roses to add depth, white phlox, gypsophila, eucalyptus, olive leaf and dark green ruscus.

Buttonholes – Hand tied including a white spray rose, and eucalyptus, Oly’s had gypsophila too to stand out from the others.

Flower wand (Flower Girl) – featuring a cluster of highlights from Charlotte’s bouquet.

Your Photographer

Stuart had done an engagement shoot with Oly’s sister Sarah when she got engaged and we were really impressed with the photos. We looked him up on Instagram and loved his work, it was natural and genuine and each photo was a work of art. We did an engagement shoot with him and that sealed the deal for us, he just let us do our own thing, no posing, or set up shots. We just went for a walk in one of our favourite spots!

The photos of our wedding day are absolutely beautiful and are such a lovely way to remember the day. He captured us all very naturally and has caught some beautiful moments on camera.  Stuart documents every element of the day and we’re so pleased he did. He not only took photos of us and the guests but all the surroundings and finishing touches too. He even took some incredible photos of the house I grew up in as we got ready that morning. All of these additions help to make the set of photographs one that we will treasure forever! We already have a lot of the photos up on our wall and each one is a genuine work of art.

Your Filmmaker

Hannah from ‘When Charlie Met Hannah’ was fantastic, we only arranged to have a filmmaker a couple of months before the wedding, Stuart put us in touch and we’re so pleased he did! Like Stuart she captured a very natural version of the day with nothing too posed, it’s the perfect way to relive the day over and over again. Hannah was so lovely to have there on the day, it was just like having a friend there with you!

The Details & Décor

We did a lot of it ourselves, we love having projects and things to make so we really enjoyed creating a beautiful space for everyone to enjoy themselves in.

We decorated the church with flowers and foliage from our garden and our parents’ gardens. Charlotte and the two Mum’s made up the pew ends two days before the big day and we went en mass to the church the day before to fill it with an array of plants and vases with foliage in.

One of Oly’s best men is a tree surgeon and so he was able to cut us some tree slices from a beech tree for our table centres. We chose beech because of it’s desaturated tones. We then had vases on top of the tree slices, all with ferns in, and a table number in the centre that Charlotte made. The vases we managed to get for free – we have friends that run a Chai syrup company (Henny and Joe’s), and they very kindly provided us with over 100 glass bottles of 2 different sizes.

The place names were made out of logs from Charlotte’s Dad’s log store. Charlotte’s Dad meticulously sawed them into thin slices and Charlotte painted them with chalkboard paint before writing the names on with chalk pen.

Our favours were cute little brown paper parcels that Charlotte’s Mum put together, filled with Charlotte’s favourite (Rhubarb and Custard Sweets), Oly’s Favourite (Fudge) and also some wild flower seeds. The top table had a five metre long real foliage swag (made by the incredible ‘Flowers At The Conservatory’) and different sized white Moroccan lanterns weaved amongst it. We’d traveled Morocco together in 2012 so it was lovely to bring that vibe to our wedding.

There were three large Olive trees behind the top table with fairy lights running up and down behind them. We looked into hiring trees as we wanted to bring the outdoors in, but after some research we decided it was better to buy them, and then we had lovely keepsakes to treasure afterwards. One of the olive trees is now in our garden, one is in Charlotte’s parents’ garden, and one is in Oly’s Mum’s garden. The timings of the day were meticulously painted onto a pallet that came when the three olive trees arrived (nothing went to waste!)

The seating plan was designed by Charlotte and printed off at home, pegged to some wood we had in the garage! Charlotte’s uncle very kindly laser cut some beautiful wreaths that Charlotte had designed; these were hung up around the room. Charlotte’s Dad hand carved a piece of wood with O+C, which was put on the dresser at Casterley Barn alongside some other bits, and pieces. Charlotte’s Dad and maid of honour Claire worked together to build the DIY photobooth!

The Honeymoon

Straight after the wedding we went on a minimoon to St Ives for a week, it’s our go to holiday place and we had the best time relaxing and enjoying all of our favourite sunset spots.

A month later we went to Lake Garda in Italy by train. It was absolutely breathtaking, gorgeous views everywhere you looked and the lake was incredible to swim in. We spent lots of time swimming in the lake, wandering around the cobbled streets and eating lots of fresh pizza, pasta and of course gelato! Sirmione was our favourite spot on the lake. The highlight was probably hiring a boat that had been hand built by a local Father and Son, it was a work of art and had taken them six months to build. The glorious sunsets over the lakes and the mountains were absolutely incredible!

Memorable Moments

Walking down the aisle and the moments before that were just incredible, such a huge amount of emotion, we’ve both never felt anything like it! Likewise, walking back down the aisle hand in hand was the most joyous feeling ever!!

The Cake

Charlotte and Charlotte’s Mum made the cake! We’ve never done anything like this before but decided it would be fun and it was! It was a three tiered fruitcake, made with lots of cointreau. It was decorated with marzipan and royal icing, we wanted to achieve a ridged uneven texture to the icing to go with our natural vibe. We made circlets of Rosemary and Olive leaf that wrapped around each tier of the cake. The cake was finished off with a laser cut cake topper that Charlotte designed and Charlotte’s Uncle laser cut. We were so thrilled with the cake and are so pleased we made it ourselves! It tastes incredible too, we’re still eating it now!

Advice For Other Couples

Just enjoy every moment with your new husband/wife and all of your closest family and friends. And remember that is doesn’t have to be perfect to be absolutely wonderful!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Thank you so much for sharing your day with us Charlotte and Oly. What a beautiful and natural day you had. Rachel x