Laura & Dan

Beautiful Babington House is such a gorgeous wedding venue and it's always a treat to share weddings from there. It was the perfect venue for Laura and Dan's stylish Autumnal affair. Look out for the gorgeous table set ups, the immense fashion by Mirror Mirror and Self Portrait, and the couple shots under the lanterns. Images come from one of our recommended suppliers, the lovely Matt Parry, who has captured the day perfectly in his usual relaxed and fun style.

The Venue

Laura the Bride: We chose Babington House for our wedding as it offered the perfect balance of traditional country house romance and stylish quirky interior decoration. For us, the emphasis had always been on the party and celebration side of the wedding – we wanted as much time with our guests to enjoy this special day for as long as possible and Babington’s no curfew policy allowed just that. From our first visit it was love at first sight – although part of the bigger Soho House group, the feeling is very intimate – as the staff welcome you on arrival, you instantly feel relaxed and at home – just what we were hoping for. Wedding coordinator Lauren was on hand and no question was too small and every detail is beautifully considered. All your thoughts are taken into consideration and although they do weddings weekly, you feel like your day is unique to you.

The Food

Babington helped with a lot of the detail of the day – they create the cake and cater the wedding. We had sharing plates of three different dishes for each course, which perfectly suited the relaxed spirit of the day – the food was absolutely phenomenal, you didn’t want to miss a thing! The cake was three layers of Victoria sponge, red velvet and a gluten free tier, lightly dusted and beautifully decorated with the wedding flowers by Passion.

The Entertainment

The recommended DJ, Nigel, from Stylish Entertainment was fantastic – we met him after our food tasting at Babington and shared ideas over a drink. From tree lighting to string quartets to keeping the dance floor full all night – he made sure our wedding was the high octane party we had always hoped for.

The Flowers

The florist, Flowers by Passion were also a recommendation of Babington House, who put us in touch and gave us a guideline of how best to dress the venue – they also tie in their house flowers to your wedding so everything sits together. We drove out to the old barn set in the middle of the Somerset countryside and met with Erin to discuss our vision of an enchanted woodland. We had emailed over mood boards earlier in the week and she was already brimming with ideas and enthusiasm. As we were having an Autumn wedding, we wanted to bring in a rich palette of colour with the flowers and wanted a sumptuous eclectic feel to the table dressing. We were ushered through to a warehouse within the barn which was floor to ceiling full of lanterns, candelabras and vases in silvers, golds, pewters and cut antique glass – we were able to pull out ones we liked, which were incorporated into the final table displays. Within days of our meeting, we had a tailor made proposal which captured the mood perfectly, even down to the right tone of grey for the candles to match the silk ribbons of the bouquet and flower crowns.

The Bride

For the dress, I wanted to capture the romance of the venue with a nod to something a little more quirky– my vision was a Miss Havisham style layered lace but a two piece rather than a dress. I had planned to make my own dress originally but when I found the Yolan Cris gown at Mirror Mirror, the skirt was so beautiful, I knew my plan had changed. I chose to go for a bespoke bodice and when the dress arrived in house, it was made into a skirt and the top was used to piece together what would become my perfect gown. Meb, who was looking after me worked tirelessly as scraps of lace appeared from the atelier, and worked after hours pinning and chopping as we layered lace motif onto lace motif. Finished with a lace trim veil, Christian Louboutin shoes and minimal jewellery - the look was just as I had hoped for, with plenty of bridal drama to boot. For the hair and makeup, I went for something effortless for the ceremony – I had a veil and chose a neutral palette for the make up and tousled pinned back hair. As we moved into the evening, I chose a bold lip colour and a flower crown to match the bridesmaids – I wanted a rock n roll edge to the styling to work with the bridesmaid dresses. I called upon a friend who I had met a few times through work, Jade, for the makeup and luckily, one of the wedding guests happened to be a hair stylist too so she was enlisted to style the hair – this meant she was on hand to change my veil to a flower crown in the evening and for the odd touch up as the night went on.

The Wedding Party

For the bridal party, having six bridesmaids and a flower girl, it was important that everyone felt unique and to have a style that reflected their personal tastes but that the final look all sat together. I chose to mix and match across a few styles and colours from Self Portrait and to tie it all together with matching flower crowns. I wanted something contemporary to fit with the venue and as there would be plenty of dancing, I didn’t want anyone to feel too restricted. I was worried sending over the initial selection but miraculously, everyone chose a different style. The vision for the groomsmen was a country chic feel – the suits were chosen from Suit Supply in a bold check, with accents of Bordeaux to tie back to the bridal party – again, this was perfect within the Babington House setting, capturing the tradition of the venue in a stylish gentlemen's club way.

The Photography

Finally, Dan met our photographer Matt through a mutual friend on their stag do – he was sold straight away as we both loved his fresh and quirky take on wedding photography. There was minimal posing as Matt's philosophy is very much about capturing the feeling in the moment – he whipped around with his holster of cameras and captured some incredible moments – there were mixed emotions of tears and laughter when we got to see the final result.