I want to walk into a room filled with love, fragrance and candle light. Where the stars twinkle inside as well as outside. Where time stands still as we are cocooned from the world outside. To dance under the stars amongst the ruins where our love is born.

Its the 31st January so I feel I can still get away with sharing this stunning wedding. Although there were nods to Christmas with some of the styling elements, there is a lot of warm, atmospheric and textural winter styling inspiration that can be gathered from this amazing day. The venue was the ruined church at Clophill Eco Lodges, a perfect quirky dry hire space for weddings.

When Bride Anouskja first approached me her inspiration was sumptuous Christmas, candle light and Lady and The Tramp. I am not a Disney fan when it comes to styling but as soon as she said the film I knew exactly the scene she was picturing and the vibe she wanted to create. It’s the scene where Lady and Tramp are eating meatballs and spaghetti against a back drop of festoon lights and a twinkly sky. Its the feeling of love, magic and the pausing of time we needed to recreate.

After our initial consultation I went away and created a Design Plan for the couple that encapsulated all the different styling elements for the day. It was a visual walk through from ceremony through to dancing under the starlight, the design plans are such a help as they are a visual journey through your day that can be shown to all suppliers so everyone is following the same path.

The venue for the wedding was Clophill Eco Lodges, home to a beautiful ruined church, if only it had been operational 10 years ago it would have been where I would have got married. A&M chose clear span marques for their reception space and for their ceremony/ evening dance floor space within the ruins of the church. This worked so well as being up on a hill you were subjected to the elements and could watch the clouds flying past but this added to the atmosphere and in the evening the stars shone brightly and became part of the decor.

The ceremony space featured a full greenery moon gate, the couple walked down a Persian Rug aisle and they said their vows under strings of festoons. Their reception space involved the marque roof being filled with fairy lights, with a huge hanging greenery installation that snaked its way down the centre of the marque. It was filled with hanging glass baubles and tealights as well as the added sparkle of a disco ball or 10.

The tables needed to be styled to accommodate sharing food from Little Piggy Catering. Food is served on raised boards that run along the centre of the table. Underneath the raised boards were rose gold sequin runners on the central tables to add a bit of sparkle and reflect the light, the other tables featured charcoal velvet runners. Over the top seasonal greenery was laid to just show peaks of the sequins underneath. Candlesticks, tealights and geo lanterns were gathered in clusters to enable food to be placed between them. At the ends of the tables the table runners pooled to the floor with geo lanterns on top.

To compliment the look we hired in rustic tables and mismatched chairs from Nikkita Palmer Designs. We contrasted this with elegant tableware from Wren Ark, with coloured glassware and gold cutlery.

We created a relaxed lounge area with vintage sofas, Persian rugs and suitcase tables. To break up the sides of the marque fabrics were draped to add colour and texture.

Signage was important to add that personal touch, all featured a hint to Christmas. A&M choose personal quotes for chalkboards that were styled around the venue.

One of my favourite additions has to be the hot chocolate bar to warm guests in the evening, styled on a vintage dresser with cut glass bowls.

This has to be one of my favourite winter weddings, the attention to detail, the small personal touches, the way the atmosphere of the clear span marque evolved and adapted as the sunny day turned to evening then night. Plus the fact me and the team did it all whilst I was 9 months pregnant.

As night fell the marque came alive
chill out area with vintage sofas
lanterns and candlelight filled the room
welcome signage
Quote signs with seasonal nods
doughnut wall
tables were styled to accommodate sharing boards
hot chocolate bar waiting to be filled
the hanging greenery took centre stage
A family member made their cake stood upon a plinth
Gold card box

 

Dream team of suppliers –