A Bright & Beautiful Ufton Wedding

Olivia from Ufton Court has kindly shared this lovely blog post written by the couple themselves about their special day! All images courtesy of Benjamin Stuart Photography.

Why Ufton Court?

The barn and grounds were absolutely beautiful – there’s so many gorgeous locations for photos. Also, we wanted a venue where we could have both our ceremony and reception in the same place, and the barn worked perfectly for both. Having the open plan space for the reception was perfect for our day – we wanted a relaxed feel where all our friends and family could be in the same room getting to know one another.

Your Style

We went with a rustic theme as it suited the barn and the relaxed feel of our day. The colours we chose were coral, pink and white as we both love bright colours. Ufton Court supplied gorgeous wood slices for our centre pieces which I topped with different jam jars I’d wrapped in twine. I’m creative so there were quite a few home-made touches which I really enjoyed making. I made a love bird and heart mobile from vintage print paper in our wedding colours, our table plan was made with rustic white-washed boards and had birds hanging on a line holding the table names. I’d also made black and white polaroid pictures of Lewis and I to hang above the guestbook table.

The Ceremony

We had a civil ceremony in the barn. The music we chose for me to walk down the aisle to was Angel by Jack Johnson. The lyrics mean a lot to us so it was lovely being able to walk down the aisle to it. We didn’t have any readings but Lewis is a big music fan and adapted some Johnny Cash lyrics (Rose of my Heart) for us to read as personal vows. It was lovely to be able to add things to our ceremony that were special to us.

The Dress

My dress was by the designer Ronald Joyce. When I put it on I knew it was perfect! I always wanted a lace dress but did not expect to wear full length sleeves at all! I nearly didn’t try it on! But when I did it was exactly what I wanted.

The Flowers

Our flowers were by Ashley Bloom in Caversham. We asked for a mix of flowers to fit in with our rustic theme – so nothing looked too ‘arranged’ or symmetrical – all in coral pink and white. I asked them to include hydrangea, roses and peonies because they are my favourites. The roses they used for the guys button holes were stunning – they were called Miss Piggy roses and were a perfect mix of coral and pink! My bouquet was coral and pink to contrast with my dress, and the bridesmaids were pure white (as their dresses were coral and pink floral print). All the flowers tied our colour theme in really well.

The Food & Drink

We loved the flexibility of the venue to be able to choose the caterers we liked from their recommended suppliers, and to be able to bring our own drinks during the day. Lewis’ Dad brews his own beer and brew us special beers for our wedding (all named after Lewis’ favourite songs). It was a really personal touch to the day.
Our caterers were The Great Food Company. They served really delicious canapes with the welcome drinks. We had Pimms with vintage straws as well as the beer Lewis’ Dad brewed. The Great Food Company were able to provide sharing food for our meal, rather than a formal dinner – but the quality of the food was amazing. We had Italian charcuterie boards for starters, platters with different barbecue foods for main and a lovely lemon tart for pudding. Sharing the food really got conversation going for our guests – even on tables where people didn’t know each other.

The Cake

Our Ufton Court wedding coordinator Julia had some great advice for us about our wedding cake! We both said we didn’t really like cake, (we like savoury food more) and said we were just having a cake for our guests. Julia suggested that we have a cheese tower instead and then serve it as our evening food. It was a brilliant idea! We loved the cheese ‘cake’ – it looked just as gorgeous as a traditional wedding cake and we got to have cute little mice as cake toppers! It went down really well with our guests too, there was absolutely none left at the end of the night.

The Entertainment

We had a DJ – Jon Saunders. We got to choose our playlist for the night which was great – I included a song request with the rsvps so all our guests could hear a song they loved on the night that they’d want to dance to. And I put in a song that meant a lot to my mum and I which was lovely.

The Photographer

Benjamin Stuart was our photographer. He was absolutely brilliant – I couldn’t have asked for more. I loved his reportage style photography – he perfectly captured our day as we remember it. He also gave great advice and managed our guests really well on the day. My favourite place for a photo at Ufton Court is a cute hidden door in one of the old walls in the grounds. I’s a beautiful backdrop.

Your Advice to Future Couples

If budgeting is important (which it was for us) create a spreadsheet to keep track o
f costs. We updated it with everything – even the smallest things like decorations/craft materials. It’s surprising how quickly things rack up! Look for decorations on ebay – you can find the same things for a more reasonable price than in the shops (I even saved money on the patterned craft paper for my homemade mobile). Make some decorations yourself if you can / ask friends to help – everyone loved the homemade touches
Try not to stress – I was so worried about everything coming together, but on the day everyone wants the best for you and makes sure that it all runs smoothly.