Rustic country wedding (part two)

If you missed Emma and Gianni’s rustic country wedding part one from yesterday, do take a read first.  After their beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony, Emma and Gianni continued their wedding festivities at the beautiful Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire.

The countryside around Cripps Barn is beautiful and provides the most gorgeous natural setting for photographs.

>> Read part one of Emma and Gianni’s rustic country wedding here <<

Don’t you think that Emma’s colour palette of pale dusty pinks and peaches are beautifully reflected in the soft golden colour of this wheat field…

I love this series of photos – photographer Andy Rapkins has captured such a sweet and intimate moment between Emma and Gianni.

Our photographer was Andy Rapkins from Allister Freeman Photography – their style is documentary, arty, and relaxed, which we loved.  Andy was amazing, we barely even knew he was there!  All of their photo albums are made in the UK, which I also liked.

If you’ve read part one, you’ll remember that Emma and her mum picked the lavender and herbs that went into the boys’ buttonholes – these buttonholes are generous posies rather than the traditional buttonhole which is quite minimalist – I think this is a wonderful idea, and great to have each one different.

Along with family and friends Emma and Gianni decorated the barn simply with pretty bunting and lots of handmade details.

Our table plan was a labour of love!  Hand-stamping all the names twice, once for the place setting and again for the table plan – many an evening was spent stamping names onto tags!  Then we strung them up like washing lines – transporting them to Cripps Barn was nerve racking.

Cripps Barn gave Emma and Gianni the relaxed and personal space they wanted, with space for people to relax outside on a beautiful summer’s evening.

And there’s that gorgeous handmade headpeice that Emma wore, made by one of her bridesmaids – how talented are some people…

We made a photobooth from a duvet cover from Ikea – we un-picked the corners and strung it up with rope.  My amazing friend B made the personalised bunting, and we had a polaroid camera, which was great fun and the children really took control helping the adults work the camera!  We now have snapshots of our guests to keep on a framed pinboard that we made.

How sweet is this photo with Gianni and the kids?

I think it’s wonderful how Emma and Gianni worked to make their wedding fun for all the kids.  As well as the cricket and photobooth, Emma told me that she hand appliqued animals onto 25 bags (!!) that they filled with gifts from Sri Lanka.  A close friend of mine lives in Sri Lanka and has opened a shop there, where she works with local crafts people to make all of her stock.

Emma and Gianni’s guests tucked into a delicious rustic meal before the customary father-of-the-bride speech – I remember those photos of looking a little mortified all too well!

All the vases on the tables at dinner were collected from charity shops, friends and family.  My mum and I spent much of the day before pruning lavender flowers from a local school and cutting the hissop, fennel and nigella we had let go to seed for the wedding – this is a fond memory I will never forget.

I love this idea of a handstamped luggage tag for the bridesmaids and another shot of those beautiful handmade headpieces…

Their wedding feast was finished with a wedding cake of cupcakes, made by a local baker: The local cupcake baker who made our cakes was wonderful and so excited to try something new when I suggested using real edible flowers on the cakes.  I put her in touch with the Edible Flower Company and the results were lovely.

Emma and Gianni had such a lovely setting for their first dance and evening party – when you get a venue like this there’s not much you need to do to make it any more beautiful.

For their honeymoon Emma and Gianni stayed in a pretty cottage in an olive grove on a tiny Greek Island called Skopelos – they hired a jeep and beach-hopped around the island.  Now they are home and recovered from their wedding, they are busy planning the renovations to an old cottage they recently bought near to where Emma grew up.

I am just so honoured to have been able to share this gorgeous personal wedding and hope you have enjoyed reading about it and see all the beautiful photos as much as I have sharing them with you.  A huge thank you to Emma and Gianni for letting me share them and to their photographer Andy Rapkins.

>> Read part one of Emma and Gianni’s rustic country wedding here <<

{ Suppliers }

Photographer: Andy Rapkins Photography
Venue: Cripps Barn, Gloucestershire
Wedding Dress: Jenny Packham
Bag: Daughters of Simone
Make-up: Pure Pampering
Grooms Suit: Cerriti suit & Pal Zileri shirt
Flowers: Hazel Harman (hazelh48@gmail.com)
Headpieces: Emily Harman Original Headpieces (emilyharman1981@hotmail.com)
Bunting: Beautiful Bunting
Children’s fair trade gifts: The Old Railway, Sri Lanka
Personalised Photobooth Bunting: B Belfield (Beckybelfield@hotmail.com)
Cupcakes: Cupcake Baker
Wedding Stationery: made by the bride in collaboration with Fred Ingram (design@digitalfred.co.uk)
Vintage Car: bride and groom’s own car