Rachel and Nick only visited a couple of venues having done copious amounts of research on the Internet. "The barn ticked so many boxes as a venue, plus there was The Oast House honeymoon suite in which to get ready in the morning of the wedding and the bride and groom spend their wedding night there too. Nick and I didn't want to get married in a church as neither of us attend normally and felt it would be wrong of us to start going just because we wanted to use the church in which to get married. Hence we had both the ceremony and the receptions at The Barn which made for a really streamlined day with no hassle of travelling between venues." They booked the venue a year in advance and chose a May date, as all the Summer dates had been taken.
Rachel had three bridesmaids and had planned to have them in green Dessy dresses, but Nick's sister became pregnant and would be 7 months on the day of the wedding. Rachel still wanted her to be bridesmaid, but it would really narrow down her choice to dresses that were available in maternity style, as Rachel wanted them all matching. In the end, Rachel changed her mind and went for long, black empire line dresses by Belsoie which worked well and flattered all figures.
The males in the bridal party were all kitted out in classic look wedding attire from Moss Bros with ivory waistcoats and cravats in keeping with the theme.
Rachel's dress was an Alfred Sung. It was the last dress in the shop that the assistant got out, but said she wouldn't like it as it was in baby pink and most people don't even give it a chance. It was strapless with a plain boned body and sweetheart neckline. The waist was low on Rachel's hips, decorated with sparkle and from there came a mass of satin ruching from which underneath came a fall of tulle. Rachel wore it with a hoop to show it off at its best. Rachel loves sparkle, so she wore matching silver earrings, bracelet, necklace and tiara. She went for a short plain veil as the dress was large and she didn't want to overdo it"
Rachel really loves open roses, but was on a budget, so found some foam roses in ivory that looked so real on the day that everyone assumed they were. The florist was happy to use them and mixed them in with real foliage and a few varieties of additional ivory flowers. The florist made up 11 table centres using black vases that Rachel found on the Internet and putting a hand-tied arrangement on each one made of green foliage and ivory foam roses. The florist also made two arrangements on large black pedestals and two hanging arrangements for the 'aisle'. The room was minimally decorated in line with the classic look and they kept the green foliage and ivory roses theme, with the tables decorated simply with green ribbon around the napkins and black & ivory handmade menus and place cards.
For favours, Rachel and Nick bought Bendicks of Mayfair chocolates for place settings which had green wrappers. Instead of a cake, they asked their caterers to arrange desserts for the 86 guests on a tiered display, with a small cake at the top.
We asked Rachel what was the best part of the day. "It had to be doing the initial entrance and walk to the Registrar table and Nick's face when he first saw me in the dress. I really wanted to talk to everyone on the way through and found it hard not to wave at people and mouth "hello" to them - I was so excited to see everyone there!!" When asked if there was anything she had learned as an important tip for future wedding couples Rachel says "A friend of mine gave me this tip and I want to pass it on as it works like a charm - when people ask you what your plans are, just say I want it to be a surprise - you'll find out on the day. That way, they have to have a very good reason to stick their nose in and try and influence your decisions! Always remember it is your day, not theirs, especially, if like me, you are funding everything yourself."