DIY Rustic Barn Wedding with Bright & White Details - The Reception

There's nothing I like more than seeing the results of a wedding planned with the help of Before the Big Day. So it gives me great pleasure to feature Kate and Graham's stunning wedding pictures by Victoria Phipps Photography. Kate found Victoria thanks to a blog post on Before the Big Day - and I'm tickled pink that it all worked out so well. Kate and Graham celebrated their wedding at Cogges Manor Farm, with a bright and white theme in two separate barns. The whole affair was a massive DIY project from start to finish. Cogges is a dry venue - which means you only get the building, and have to add all your own decorations {including tables, lighting & heating!} and choose your own suppliers. We had exactly the same thing for our wedding, and although it means lots of work, you really do get your wedding your way. You'll love the ribbon decorations in the bright 'party barn' - the swags from the rafters are such an effective way of adding colour to a room, and the theme is also reflected in the DIY table plan and table cloth details. Have a good read of Kate's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire for more ideas, and if you love her Stella York wedding dress as much as I do, you'll be interested to know it's for sale on Preloved for only £560!

We celebrated our wedding in June 2013 at Cogges Manor Farm, Whitney, Oxfordshire. Our main requirements for our wedding venue were to find a truly rustic barn, and somewhere we'd have the freedom to choose our own suppliers and decorate ourselves.

Our whole wedding was a massive DIY project! We decorated both barns ourselves, organised everything, right down to designing our own wedding stationery, cooking home-made piccalilli to serve with the hog roast, creating the ribbon table plan, and I made my own hairpiece!

DIY Rustic Barn Wedding with Bright & White Details

When it comes to your wedding planning, your venue is key. It'll set the mood for your big day, and many of your other details and theming will emerge from its location and style. Kate and Graham found Cogges Manor Farm on a cold November day, and despite the weather, they fell in love. They wanted a truly rustic barn, that they could decorate themselves, and Cogges was perfect. They even took a gamble that the Farm might not have received their wedding licence in time, but luckily everything worked out perfectly. I think Cogges might be one of my favourite venues ever! The colour of the stone, and the combination of rustic and luxe, is just gorgeous! As Kate and Graham were using two of the barns, they were able to have two separate themes - white for the ceremony barn, and brights for the celebratory reception barn. There are so many wedding details, it's hard to choose my favourites, but the rustic signpost, pretty self-designed wedding stationery and goat {!!!} come high on my list! Enjoy these gorgeous pictures by Victoria Phipps Photography - Kate found her thanks to Before the Big Day! P.S. Kate is selling her Stella York wedding dress on Preloved for only £560.

We celebrated our wedding in June 2013 at Cogges Manor Farm, Whitney, Oxfordshire. Our main requirements for our wedding venue were to find a truly rustic barn, and somewhere we'd have the freedom to choose our own suppliers and decorate ourselves.

We visited several of barns but few that were really rustic, and very few that didn't already have preferred suppliers. We visited on a cold November day but our visit confirmed that Cogges was perfect for us . It was beautiful and you hired the barns, but then were free to organise everything yourself {everything, down to tables and chairs, cutlery!}.