Charlotte and Simon were married at their home, the Somerset family farm. The ceremony was in the old milking parlour, the reception spread across barns and stables, which were styled to create a festival atmosphere. Charlotte and Simon’s wedding day was about celebrating everybody and everything that is important to them. Over the months it took to create their ceremony, we put together (and it really was a ‘we’ situation, they were so brilliant to work with), the most emotional, beautiful, crazy 40 minutes anybody there will have ever spent in a cow barn. From surprise ring bearers to crowd sourced readings, we had everything, and it was perfect.
The pictures really do tell the story better than I ever could, thanks to the fabulous Ian Jeffrey’s photos. The ceremony was an unabashed celebration of who Charlotte and Simon are; two people, connected by deep love and respect and shared values, combining their families. So far, so relatively normal, right? Think again. We took every conventional part of a wedding ceremony and made it so, so much more fun, and so much more relevant to their love story. Even the bits that we’d intended to be normal took on a different shape on the day, and yet at no point did it feel chaotic or unplanned, it just felt natural, and above all, really fun.
Setting the tone for what was to come, Simon arrived on one of his beloved bikes, and did a double drive-by through the barn to herald the start of the wedding. Charlotte drove a parade lap around the farm in the back of a vintage Ford Cortina.
As the guests came into the barn, we had given them stickers. Charlotte runs an incredible nursery school on the farm, so, we kind of lied and said these were in keeping with the school vibe. In fact, five of them were randomly allocated stickers of responsibility – for being the readers of the wedding reading. The book (because as you should know by now, kids books make GREAT wedding readings) was Oliver Jeffers’ What We’ll Build – plans for our together future, which is so appropriate for two people literally building a future for themselves and their children. There were tears.
When it came to vows, we began with their four children, who joined their folks on their thrones and listened to their hopes and dreams for their future, including Simon’s day dreams of it one day being them celebrating their own weddings here at the farm, and their parents’ promises to love and respect and support them forever. There were a lot more tears. Then, the children played ‘Guess Who?’ with the guests, to try and find the surprise ring bearers. Absolute hilarious chaos. And nobody really wanted to sit down again after that, so, unplanned, when we exchanged rings the children encircled their parents closely and stood by them, as they made their promises to each other. This absolutely ended me emotionally. It felt like we were really creating something, a true joining together of people who are all so invested in being there in that moment. By this time the whole room was an absolute, riotous colourful sea of messy laughing and sobbing.
So, eventually, this glorious pair were married, but we weren’t done. A union of two people who love each other as much as Charlotte and Simon do, and who had waited so patiently for this love to come along, couldn’t just be marked by a cheering confetti exit. So, as per the secret readers, several people were pre-determined to form Somerset’s first (and maybe only) foot-based aeronautical style wheelbarrow celebration display team – the Wed Barrows. They were given ten minutes to prepare a marital fly-past, and they absolutely smashed it. Maverick and Iceman who? It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and easily the best post-ceremony celebration.
Afterwards, the mood firmly set to ‘party’, we all had cocktails in the yard, and the wedding breakfast was an enormous feast provided by the family’s favourite local curry house. The pop-up pub was opened and staffed in shifts by family and friends. Everyone wrote messages of love on the ‘positive pants’ tree, and joined in with the group illustration created by the live illustrator. Later on, so much dancing.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS WEDDING
What charlotte and simon loved about their ceremony
I did have a little emotional moment of my own when I received this, as this is the way I would like to make everybody feel about their wedding day, so thank you, Charlotte.
“It is Eleanor we have to thank for making our wedding day nothing short of perfect. With extraordinary intuition and care, she took the time to understand us — who we are as a couple, what makes us tick, the paths we’ve walked and the future we’re building together. She gently reminded us that this was our day, and that every part of it should reflect that truth. Without her unwavering belief in us, I’m not sure we would have found the courage to plan a day so uniquely our own.
Eleanor set the tone with such skill and heart. From her beautifully crafted words (and my goodness, she can write), everything else flowed effortlessly. She has a rare gift: she draws out whatever form love, connection, and belonging take in front of her and then reflects it back — eloquently, joyfully — to family and friends. The result? A ceremony where we all laughed, cried, and felt a profound, collective love that carried through the entire day.
Our children were part of our celebration, and Eleanor embraced them from the very beginning. She swept them up in the magic, making them feel as much a part of the moment as we were. She sealed us together as a family with the grace and artistry of someone who knows her craft inside and out.”
Looking to include a surprise ring bearer in your ceremony? Check out another of my weddings where we hid the rings here.
