My sister Jessica made the cake, which was a semi-naked, three-tier vanilla sponge with buttercream icing, decorated with lavender and rosemary. It tasted delicious! In keeping with the rustic theme of the barn, we had wooden slabs placed in the middle of the tables as our centrepieces with small vintage jars filled with flowers placed on top surrounded by tealights. We arranged the flowers for the vases ourselves after collecting a variety of small vintage jars in the months leading up to the wedding and filling them with colourful wildflowers. We chose purple, pink and orange varieties to match the professional bouquets as much as possible. We also had elegant white gypsophila as general decorative filler which worked well with our rustic-inspired theme. Whilst the barn had some small fairylights and ivy decoration along some of the beams and around the outer edge, we also worked with a recommended supplier to have a large canopy of fairylights suspended from the ceiling, and also a curtain of fairylights against the back wall where the dancefloor and band would be. We loved the look of them and how they added to the romantic feel of the barn as we moved into the evening. We loved the flexibility of being able to create a personalised day and not be tied to one caterer or a fixed drinks package - the venue allowed us to bring our own alcohol with no corkage fee. The barn itself is so beautiful, but the venue also boasted stunning and spacious grounds, as well as a manor house we could use for drinks should it be raining. We had 12 round tables for our wedding breakfast, with the top table being a long rectangular-shaped one in the middle of the barn where myself and Adam sat with both of our sets of parents either side. We placed friends and family in groups so that they felt comfortable with who they were sat with. We knew pretty quickly, even whilst walking around the venue on our only visit, that it would fulfil many of the requirements we had. Not only was it beautiful and charming, it needed minimal decoration and allowed us to have the creative freedom to style it how we wanted. The team also offered us a varied selection of recommended suppliers to choose from. We had a clear idea of the venue we wanted – something rustic and romantic, with plenty of different spaces to utilise, and somewhere well located for our family and friends. We had done a fair amount of research online, but Ufton was the only venue we visited in person. “We both felt a nervous excitement on the day – we hoped that the weather would be dry so as soon as we saw the sun on our wedding morning, we knew the day, and the venue, would deliver!” - Alice and Adam 40
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