A Clifford Barton Wedding
I’m back on the blogging and it’s about bloody time! What a blinder of a wedding to kick things off with, Chantal & James were married at the stunning Clifford Barton, a new venue for me to photograph at. It was gorgeous and rustic oozing charm from the outdoor to the indoor spaces. A lovelier bunch of people you won’t meet, fun, happy and full of love pouring out from the guys right through to the guests and suppliers.
The weather for this Devonshire wedding was initially forecast to be horrendous with thunder, lightning and heavy rain.
Did it show up? No! The sun shone for the entire day meaning plans for the ceremony at the lake could go ahead followed by drinks before heading back down the short walk to the barn, taking some time out to capture some beautiful couples portraits.
Onto food and speeches which were highly personal, and had us all in tears and laughter, wrapped up just in time for us to run up to a sunset viewing spot for a few more moments in the sun. All this was topped off with a hell of a party with the rain kicking in just as I was leaving everyone to party the rest of the night away.
The Venue: Clifford Barton
Dress: Rue de Seine - Rhapsody Amber
Suit: Jacket - Harris Tweed, Trousers and shirt - Charles Tyrwhitt, Tie and pocket square - Belfast Bow company
Food: Fig and Smoke
Flowers: Desert Dreams for bouquets, and a website called Dried for the Churns and a local place called Barn Florist Dried Flowers for the large pampas stems
Hair: Monica - monicaamy_hairstylist
Makeup: Just Josie Mua
Entertainment: The Broadsmen - via Entertainment Nation
Stylist/Planner: Yours truly ☺️
Videographer: Motion Farm Films
Celebrant: FanFare Ceremonies
Tell us what made your day unique, sum it up:
Everything we chose was bespoke to us. The way Clifford Barton works is a much more DIY style wedding, there's no off-the-shelf options, or pick a package or pre-determined menu options. Which is exactly what we wanted, we got to design everything exactly for us and our day. We chose a celebrant (FanFare Ceremonies) to design a bespoke script for the ceremony, allowing us to really tell our story and share that with our guests. It felt much more intimate, unique and personal. And lots of guests commented the same. The caterer (Fig and Smoke), asked us about our favourite foods and created a menu based on our prefered tastes, which as big foodies was so important. Jordan at Fig and Smoke is so kind and patient too and Ollie and the kitchen team created sensational food - which when cooking for larger numbers is always impressive! We got to design entirely how we wanted. Not having a florist involved definitely made it slightly more challenging as we had to design and create the flower arrangement ourselves but I'm so glad we did! The venue itself - Clifford Barton - only does 12 weddings a year too which also makes it feel more special, it's not a conveyor belt, we got to spend the entire weekend with our friends and family and really enjoy it. Oh and I guess the dress was pretty unique - not a white dress or veil in sight. It wasn't planned that way but when I was trying on dresses I just wasn't feeling the traditional bridal dress. So I guess that goes with the rest of it, everything was about individual style and preference.
So what made the day unique:
Everything - it felt so special, so right for us, no specific formalities were followed and we just made it feel and reflect us and how we like to spend our time with friends and family.
How did you choose your suppliers?:
Locality was important, we wanted to try and keep everything as local as possible and support local suppliers (Devon and Cornwall). So that's often where the search started to keep it close. Our caterer was based 15 minutes away and only used produce sourced from suppliers in Devon and Cornwall. We also went off recommendations too - we found Nick Walker from our Celebrant who highly recommended him (and very pleased we did...) and my hair dresser came recommended from my bridesmaid so it's good to have people who other people have used or seen in action before.The only thing that wasn't local was my dress and the band - and even the band we tried for a local one and then they couldn't do it so ended up with someone further afield!
Do you have any advice for people planning their wedding?:
It personally makes me so sad when I hear about arguments or falling outs over invitations, or formalities at a wedding. We were so lucky that our parents said - you guys do it how you want. And that's exactly what we did, we didn't invite anyone we felt we 'should', we didn't do things in a manner that people thought we should and it made both us feel far more excited for the day and at ease on the day itself. Don't sweat the small stuff - wedding favours, flowers etc - while you of course want the venue to look nice, people won't remember that, people will remember the atmosphere that was created through words shared, music heard and general festivities had. We didn't do wedding favours, we didn't have a cake - I don't think anyone even noticed! Be organised - don't leave things to the last minute and if you're bad at both - get a planner!
Anything else major that you just have to tell us?:
Pinterest will be your best friend to get inspiration. Enjoy the creation and don't get stressed. Getting married should feel exciting, fun and magical!
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