Planning a wedding from overseas is no mean feat, but with the help of their family and venue – and the power of Instagram – Dominic and Georgina organised the most beautiful rustic Cotswolds wedding, despite living in Shanghai.
Visualising a relaxed, warm and cosy winter wedding, they were instantly drawn to the rural charm of Cripps Barn, complete with exquisite yet natural exposed stone walls and huge timber beams.
Letting the venue speak for itself, the styling was kept simple and elegant, decked out twinkling lights, romantic candles and fine flourishes of Roses, Gyp and greenery.
Bride Georgina also tells of going simple in terms of her choice of Pronovias gown, which though clean in its design makes a chic statement all of its own, leaving it to the bridesmaids to deliver the seasonal sparkle.
With images by The Vedrines
PROPOSAL
Georgina says: We got engaged at Christmas 2018 when we were both back in the UK. A few days before we were due to fly back to Shanghai we had been visiting my family and were driving past Birmingham when Dominic popped the question on the M6, and followed up with: “Do you want to go and pick a ring?”.
SETTING
We set the date for 29th December 2019, as we love the winter season and Christmas. We also knew most of our friends and family would be off work, and because we live in Shanghai, we could guarantee being home for at least a couple of weeks.
Our chosen venue was Cripps Barn, Gloucestershire. With being overseas, we had to research all our wedding venues online – Instagram was our saviour! We chose the venue via a Skype call (and by sending our parents to scope out the place!). It looked so incredible we wasted no time snapping up the date!
THEME
We went for a rustic winter wedding with lots of twinkly lights to make it feel warm. We tried not to be too formal, so anything that took the seriousness out of it worked.
DRESS
My dress was a Pronovias design, which I purchased at Tilly Trotters in Leamington Spa. Like everything in our wedding, I had a week to find a dress during a trip back home ahead of the wedding. I was so scared of changing my mind – I went super simple, but I don’t regret it! I then just had a slightly OTT veil.
GROOMSMEN
All the groomsmen wore the same – suits tailored in the Shanghai fabric market. We chose the style, fabric and stitching, picking a different lining for each of the groomsmen as a surprise (we tried to reflect their personality).
BRIDESMAIDS
I found some Adriana Pappell dresses in the Next sale, which were one of the first things I purchased. They were super sparkly but quite neutral.
BEAUTY
The bridal preparations took place at Barnsley House with Bryony Dalton seeing to the makeup and Stephanie Hayes styling hair.
PHOTOGRAPHER
The Vedrines captured our day. We stumbled across them and then stalked their Instagram! Their work was just incredible, we didn’t want thousands of super formal photos, or being taken away from our guests for hours.
The Vedrines style is so fun, relaxed and not too serious! Izzy & Tina made us both feel super relaxed the entire day – they are the most infectious couple.
Dom (like most men) thought he would feel uncomfortable being snapped – however he commented on how at ease he felt and at times he didn’t even notice them there!
We received our images on the last day of honeymoon – just wow! We finished dinner early and spent hours looking through them.
We would rate The Vedrines ten out of ten and would 100% recommend them. If you want someone to make you feel comfortable, relaxed and get some amazing shots…these are the team for you!
STYLING
Go Wild Flowers did all our bouquets and buttonholes and the flowers for the reception too. A mix of Gyp, Roses and lots of greenery. My mum did all the centrepieces.
FAVOURS
We gave our guests sparklers for later in the evening. These also acted as name card places on the tables!
CAKE
We had Marks & Spencer ‘Mr & Mrs Caterpillar Cakes’ – Dom takes full credit for this decision, the guests loved it!
DINING
Cripps did all the catering. We had ‘steak bricks’ for main and seasonal fruit crumble for dessert! Both were great because the food was served for the whole table meaning people had to share/serve each other, which kept it more informal.
ENTERTAINMENT
We hired Waywood via Entertainment Nation. The band had lots of instruments and gave a really cool laidback vibe.
We also had a photo booth from Hire My Selfie.
THANKS TO
Cripps are experts in weddings, and they did everything we needed them to.
BEST BIT
The reception – post the nerve-wracking ceremony and far enough from the speeches not to have to think about them.
ADVICE
Don’t spend your life planning it, I’m sure I could have spent months stressing over last-minute details – we didn’t have the option to do this not being in the UK, but the whole day still came together (or maybe we winged it!).
