The prettiest homespun florals & decor at Lottie & Doug’s South Stoke Barn Wedding.
“THE PHOTOS ARE BEAUTIFUL & WE WILL TREASURE THEM FOREVER”.
“From start to finish Gem was the friendliest, most lovely photographer we could have possibly wished for. We are a little camera shy sometimes but she brought us out of our shells & we felt completely at ease with her. Having received the photos back from our wedding day we knew we’d made the right decision in trusting Gem with capturing our big day! The photos are beautiful & we will treasure them forever!”
It was such a pleasure to photograph Lottie & Doug’s South Stoke Barn wedding, it was so sweet and pretty from start to finish. Lottie & Doug created a gorgeous homespun & family focused wedding at the beautiful South Stoke Barn wedding venue for their special day. With Lottie hand making all the stationary for the day and making sure that all the flowers were local and bee friendly – it was so special and personal. The village of South Stoke is tiny and they hired the cottages next to the Church for some of their guests to stay in, so it was as if they had a whole village to themselves for their wedding!
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Family Focused & Homespun South Stoke Barn Wedding.
Tucked away in a bend in the River Arun, close to the Arun Valley railway and only 2 miles from Arundel is the tiny and tranquil hamlet of South Stoke. Overlooking the river is the parish church – St Leonards Church and the beautiful nineteenth century granary barn South Stoke Barn. It is a truly magical location and reminded me of a scene from the famous Christmas movie the Holiday! It was the perfect spot for Lottie & Doug to say I do!
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A bespoke Stephanie Allin Dress.
Lottie wore a bespoke dress designed by Stephanie Allin. The dress was made of Italian crepe and covered in wisteria lace petals with delicate dropped sleeves. A matching lace veil was added and white suede heels with a silk bow tied at the back. The bridal appointment was very special as both Lottie’s parents attended and helped design the dress. Accessories included hand-made bespoke ceramic floral jewellery from Vivi Embellish that matched Lottie’s stunning dress.
Lottie arrived in Douglas’ Grandad’s vintage Riley car, driven by Doug’s uncle Ian. It poured with rain on the journey through Arundel towards South Stoke, so many umbrellas were rushed about to help the congregation down the path into the church!
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A candle lit ceremony in the 11th century St Leonards Church in South Stoke.
Built in the 11th century, the tiny flint church where Lottie & Doug got married has been a sacred place for almost a thousand years, it is also Lottie’s family church. It was therefore the perfect spot for Lottie to say her wedding vows and carried so much meaning to her and her family. The church has no electricity so they filled it with candles, which was just magical.
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South Stoke Barn Wedding Photographer
The music was performed by the amazing Bossard Quartet. Pieces were specifically chosen by Lottie and Doug. Lottie entered into the Church to Des’ree’s ‘Kissing You’.
The service was taken by Reverend Julie Price, a close family friend of Lottie and Doug’s, which made the whole celebration even more special. A key moment during the service was when age Mother’s of the Bride and Groom lit a memory candle, to remember all those who could not be with the everyone on their special day.
After saying I do, Lottie & Doug walked back down the aisle to ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beetles.
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Gorgeous florals adorned the archway to the church.
Douglas and his Best Man wore navy tweed suits purchased from Jermyn Street in London. They both also wore sage-green ties, cuff links and pocket squares to match the Bridesmaids. Floral button holes with blue thistles were also added. Lottie & Doug wanted to make sure all the flowers used for the decor were local and bee friendly. They used a lot of wild flowers from their family’s gardens and from around South Stoke Farm. A three-day set up was organised at the Barn and Church in preparation for the wedding day, so it was all hands-on deck!
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Drinks reception at South Stoke Barn
After the service and a few natural and relaxed couple portraits with me around the little village, Doug drove his Grandad’s vintage Riley car the short distance to the barn, where guests and family were waiting to welcome them.
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Locally sourced and bee friendly flowers with hand made stationery.
The key theme of Lottie & Doug’s homespun wedding was bees! Douglas had previously studied and worked with bees in his undergraduate degree in environmental science, and their family members always joke that they are bee obsessed – So, it made it very apt to have a bee theme flow throughout their day. Lottie hand made all the stationery for the day, including the invites and menus – Hand-cut bees were made out of golden paper and were scattered onto the table with confetti and all the textured paper was all recycled and purchased locally. All the tables were named after a different species of bee, with water colour drawings of the named bees. Even the wedding cake had little bees added amongst the flowers decorating it.
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Are you getting married at South Stoke Barn?
If you are getting married at South Stoke Barn or are planning on having a country barn wedding I would love to hear from you! You can read more about my approach to weddings here: My Approach and you can contact me here to chat some more! Contact Me.
"Gem totally understood the vibe of the wedding. She worked so hard all day & we hardly knew she was there. We received lots of comments about how lovely our photographer was! It was like having another friend there. We absolutely love each & every one of our photos, we can’t believe how she managed to capture so much & so many special moments! Thank you - you are amazing!"
"WOW, WE ARE SO GLAD WE CHOSE YOU!"
LOTTIE & PAUL
EL CORTIJO DE LOS CABALLOS, SEVILLE
"It is Gem's uncanny ability to capture the real "moments" of the day that really makes the images special & brings memories flooding back when you look through them! Gem made the whole process effortless from start to finish, especially on the big day where she really went the extra mile. The editing & quality of the finished product is outstanding, this coupled with Gem's talent for picking the moment & her easy to deal with nature makes her your obvious choice for your wedding photography!"
"WE COULDN'T RECOMMEND GEM ENOUGH"
JEN & NEIL
SQUARE TOWER, SOUTHSEA
KINd WORDS
Gem was amazing from the moment we met her, she was so warm & friendly she really made us feel at ease. Gem captured every detail, every smile, laugh, tear, it was so wonderful to relive the day when we got our photos back! She captured all the bits we missed and more. Gem's photos are beautiful.
Hire Gem, you won’t regret it!
"i cannot tell you how happy we are with our photos"