Pastel Pretty Music Inspired Barn Wedding: Kirsty & Ben

Music loving couple Ben and Kirsty had a rustic, festival style wedding with touches of aqua blue and lots of pretty pastels. Opting for a relaxed day, they chose a barn venue to complement the music theme and ramped up the entertainment with an awesome band called Riot.

Their big day was beautifully captured by White Stag Photography and Kirsty looked lovely in her lace Maggie Sottero gown!

Words by Kirsty. Images by White Stag Photography.

We chose Upwaltham Barns, in Upwaltham, Chichester as our wedding venue because it had everything we wanted and more. It was in the heart of the countryside, with stunning and picturesque views, and it had that rustic festival feeling, which was perfect for the style of wedding we wanted. Plus it was exclusive to us!

My wedding dress was by Maggie Sottero and I chose this dress as I loved the lace design, the length and the shape on me, it made me feel like a real bride.

Ben had two best men, John and Luke. Both were extremely supportive and kept him calm. They stayed down near the venue the day before, at a lovely little country pub where they had a few drinks and lots of laughs. James, Ben’s brother, was an usher. His dad David, and my uncle Andrew, all wore the same suit as Ben from Hugh Harris.

We didn’t want to go over the top with flowers. We wanted bohemian/festival style flowers to fit in with the theme of our day. Kerry our florist was amazing. We trusted her and allowed her free range to select the different type of flowers. The only thing we knew for certain we wanted was the archway arrangement over the ceremony barn.

My Uncle walked me down the aisle to “Candy” by Paolo Nutini. We had an amazing acoustic guitarist called Jonathan O’Donnell, who played this for us perfectly. He also played other songs for us before, during and after the ceremony, which made it truly unforgettable for us.

Catherine and Andy our wedding photographers were amazing! From start to finish, and even now, they have been so professional, friendly and great to have around. Easily approachable, and answered any questions we had for them. They went above and beyond our expectations. I think the photos speak for themselves!

We would recommend these guys to anyone who is looking for a photographer. We will definitely be calling on them again when we need more professional photo’s being taken… perhaps a family photo one day ;)

We wanted a chilled out, relaxed and fun day for everyone. We didn’t want it to be too formal and wanted all our guests to enjoy themselves. The main inspiration for our wedding day was our love for music and festivals. We also wanted to find a venue, which could complement both these two inspirations we had. We found Upwaltham Barns, and booked it straight away. Our inspirations grew from there.

We decided that the only ideal wedding favours we could provide, to fit in with the wedding festival style theme, was a good sour shot for each of our guests, along with a Selfie Stick on each table for our guests to capture the day.

We found Kate our cake maker through the wedding venue supplier list. We took a look on her website and instantly fell in love with her cakes. We knew in our heads we already wanted a naked cake design, with fruit and flowers arranged on it. We noticed on Kate’s website that she has made quite a few in the past and they looked amazing.

We met up with Kate and decided to go for a 3 layer cake, with each layer having a different flavour. Kerry, our florist helped finish the cake off by providing a few flowers to be arranged on the cake. We topped the cake with a “Mr. & Mrs Pickering” topper, which we had specially made for us online.

Our most memorable moment?

Kirsty: Walking down the aisle, seeing my future husband standing there waiting for me, with Paolo Nutini being played in the background by Jonny O’Donnell.

Ben: Looking over my shoulder seeing Kirsty walking down the aisle towards me, looking so beautiful, knowing that in a few moments time I will be calling her my wife.

It’s fun planning together, and allows you both to get your own personal touches into your big day! Our wedding advice would be… Set up a wedding email account, as you will receive so many emails from different suppliers and contacts. It also allows you to have yours guests reply to a direct account rather than filling up personal accounts. The main thing is to enjoy the process and day… It all goes so quickly!

We chose Wonderwall by Oasis for our first dance, but in the style of Ryan Adams (acoustic). We already knew when researching Riot! that they could play this song, which they did, and performed the song for us, which made it such a memorable moment. That was a big factor with us, we are into our music and festivals and wanted the band to play our first dance rather than have a track from a CD.

wedding credits / photographer: white stag photography / wedding venue: upwaltham barns / brides dress: maggie sottero via from this moment / brides veil: from this moment / grooms suit: hugh harris / brides shoes: house of fraser / grooms shoes: / bridesmaid dresses: from this moment / hair & makeup: sam bloch & family friend / florist: rose-cottage-flowers / wedding cake: wedding kate / catering: / bunting: dilly dally bunting / entertainment: riot-band  via warble-entertainment

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