One Venue, Two Seasons: Summer & Autumn Wedding Styling at Lapstone Barn, Cotswolds
Professional Photography throughout:
Tess & Amitai: Joshua Gooding | UK & Destination Wedding Photographer
Laima & Craig: The Wild Bride | Wedding Photography & Video | Wales (the-wild-bride.com)
This time in our real wedding series, we are taking a slightly different approach by sharing one beautiful venue over two different seasons. By exploring two weddings, we will be able to look side by side at the beauty of each season, and the floral opportunities and challenges that may arise from both.
One of the first decisions you will make after getting engaged is when you want to get married, so considering each season is more important than you think. When specifically thinking about your wedding flowers, it is important to choose based on seasonality and colour availability. If you have strong views on the colours or flowers you would like to have featured at your wedding then your decision may be an easy one!
Top Tip: If you can be flexible, or your venue has limited availability, embracing the season can be a real advantage.
Our featured weddings are both stunning, with gorgeous couples and two very different colour palettes. The colours of each are complimented by the vast expanse of countryside surrounding Lapstone Barn which is one of the reasons we love this venue so much!
Lapstone Barn
Lapstone Barn, Chipping Campden is an 18th-century Cotswold barn set in acres of private fields. Despite being a stones throw from the market town of Chipping Campden, the long driveway and exclusive hire mean it feels a million miles away from civilisation and perfect for an intimate wedding celebration.
We had great fun styling the flowers for both Tess & Amitai and Laima & Craig, as both of their briefs were in line with our Lily Loves ethos of locally sourced, seasonal British blooms.
Summer at Lapstone Barn
Tess & Amitai got married on a bright day in July. The floral styling of the day was meadow-inspired and elegant with touches of colour to reflect the couple's personality. Tess & Amitai favoured fresh tones of coral, peach, and whites with a pop of blue. We achieved their look with roses, snapdragon, cornflower, delphinium, scabiosa, and wax flower to name but a few of the varieties.
I loved my consultations with Tess & Amitai, as they had a clear vision of what they liked, with an equally relaxed approach to the finished product.
Summer Opportunity: One of the great advantages of a summer wedding is the vast selection of flowers you can choose from.
In the main barn, banquet tables were dressed with clustered bud vases in matching hues which filled the space with a sea of colour, heights and textures. In July, the large windows flooded the space with light, which bounced off the Cotswold stone walls.
We’ve said before that having bud vases en masse is a great way of styling banquet tables, and it really was! The more your budget will allow, the greater the impact.
Summer Challenge: A common challenge with summer weddings is the heat. However, thanks to the thick barn walls and high ceilings, we did not have to worry about the integrity of the floral designs.
Autumn at Lapstone Barn
Laima and Craig married in November and chose warm, rich, jewel tones for their floral styling. The colours in the flowers directly reflect the hedgerows, trees and fields surrounding Lapstone Barn.
Autumn Opportunity: If you love rich, warm colours, then autumn is a great season to naturally achieve this look.
We achieved the overall look with roses, pepper berries, hydrangea, allium seed heads, viburnum berries, skimmia, proteus flower, and three varieties of eucalyptus.
Laima & Craig opted for a circular table design in the main barn, dressed with bud vases and candles. Using bud vases in a different way to Tess & Amitai is a great illustration of how similar budgets can achieve different overall looks.
The warm jewel tones worked beautifully with the Cotswold stone and fairy lights. The overall feel was intimate and cosy, which was easily achieved with the low natural lighting of the day and early nightfall.
Autumn Challenge: When planning your Autumn flowers, consider the unpredictable British weather. It’s wise to position large installations under cover and to scout indoor styling opportunities in case of rain.
I think you’ll agree that both weddings are very beautiful and very different! Each season comes with pros and cons worth weighing up when you are planning your wedding. Ultimately, when choosing your flowers, if you stick to seasonal flowers then you will get the best results!
If you are interested in creating your dream wedding with Lily Loves, please fill in the form below and we can discuss the first steps:
