Clare and Dan’s wedding at The Tithe Barn in Hampshire, was simply stunning! Laughter, love and a lot of crazy dancing.
This early February wedding just shows how a gorgeous a winter wedding can be. With a cool green and gold theme throughout and with the picturesque barn matching the elegant feel, the whole day looked beautiful. Then add the crazy dancing and an incredibly fun wedding party and this was a wedding to remember. Check out Clare and Dan’s story below.
First names: Clare & Danny
Ages: both 31
Wedding date: 10th February 2017
Venue: The Tithe Barn, Petersfield.
How did you guys meet, tell me all?
We met 10 years ago when we worked together at Fortnum & Mason Piccadilly. Dan had just finished University in Sheffield and I had just returned from travelling the globe. We hit it off immediately but remained good friends (always flirting!) for a couple of years (both moving to new jobs in the meantime) and then finally in 2009 on a night out for a mutual friends birthday, after a few drinks we both built up the courage to admit we’d always fancied each other. We went on our first date the following Saturday. Our first date involved a few drinks at a bar near London Bridge and then onto Shoreditch until 5am dancing and drinking. It was not only the best date ever, but one of my favourite nights out ever. This set the tone for the next 8 years where we’ve worked hard, and partied harder!
How did you get engaged, is there a cool story? Ha – no story here!
What made you choose your wedding venue, did you look at many?
Being a wedding supplier myself (stationery – www.claresimpsondesigns.com) I’m always looking at current wedding trends. I had my eye on Tithe Barn long before we got engaged. It is the most stunning venue I’ve ever seen and so when we decided to marry – I booked it straight away.
What was the inspiration/theme of your wedding?
We have a bit of a London theme going on. We met at Fortnums and so there are many Fortnum & Mason hints throughout; our wedding invitations were mini F&M hampers with the initials changed to D&C. The bridesmaids are in the Fortnum eau de nil colour and gold. So gold and green are the colours. We have the large F&M hampers for wedding cards and the photobooth props too. I’m also from a family of London Black Cabbies! So my 3 uncles are driving my dad and I and the bridesmaids to the venue in a fleet of black cabs. Dan is also a die-hard fan of Only Fools & Horses and so our table names are Del Boy quotes: “Luvly Jubbly”, “Shut Up You Tart” and “You Plonker” to name a few…Haha!
What is your first song and why?
We struggled with this one as neither of us are slow dancing kind of people, we nearly scrapped it entirely. We then decided to do a mashup of our fave song “Baby I’m Yours” by the Arctic Monkeys, into “It Must Be Love” by Madness in to “Wile Out” by Ms Dynamite. We’re just going to dance like we’re in a club as opposed to slow dancing in front of everyone. Dan’s family are Madness mad and we recently went to see them at a gig in Brighton. “Wile Out” is also our ultimate party song. Dan’s surname is Betts and at one point in the song it sounds like she raps “When the Betts wile out” and so a few years ago it was on and all our friends got us in the middle singing “when the Betts wile out” and it kind of just stuck.
What would be your number one tip to other couples planning their wedding?
Relax! I am fairly chilled anyway. I’d say treat it like one big party, don’t fret the small stuff. Get the big things booked and organised from the off and everything else will fall into place. No one wants a bridezilla on their hands. Especially not your groom! I’d also say to go with ideas that are personal to you and mean something rather than following current trends and then your wedding will be your own.
If you are a creative person – definitely trust your gut if you think you can DIY anything yourself. People tried putting me off but I knew I could DIY a lot of the décor. I saved on cost and got everything looking exactly how I imagined. I DIY’d the stationery, the flowers and the sequin table cloths, and the general decoration. And I enjoyed it all.
My biggest advice is to try to enjoy the wedding planning process.
Check out Clare and Dan’s The Tithe Barn wedding below.
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The Tithe Barn wedding // Clare & Dan
Wedding Suppliers
Assistant photographer: Robin Pope
Website: https://www.instagram.com/robinldn/
Make up artist: Jess O’Leary & Felicity Tennant
Brides dress: A Sarah Seven dress from Frou Frou Bridal Boutique
Website: http://www.froufroubride.co.uk/
Bridesmaids dresses: ASOS
Website: http://www.asos.com
Suits: M&S
Florist: I ordered my flowers from Trianglenursary.com and made my own with the help of one of my bridesmaids.
Website: http://www.trianglenursary.com
Cake: Made by my Auntie Jo
Caterer: Wrightcatering
Website: http://www.wrightchoicecatering.co.uk/
Band/DJ: Brian Mole DJ and Nexus Band
Website: http://dancemix.co.uk/brianmoleweddings/ & http://www.nexusband.co.uk/
Stationery: Me
Website: http://www.claresimpsondesigns.co.uk
Videographer: George Waterhouse
Dress alterations, suit alterations and she made my veil:
Lizzie Furniss; http://www.lizziemade.com/
My bridal belt was made by the amazing Andrea Gleason at http://helenanoelle.com/
Bridal shoes from Jenny Packham
Bar hire: http://www.hampshirebarsandevents.com/
Before you go, check out these other cool weddings!
