“Our colour theme was based on sweet pea colours along with plenty of macramé. Ed and I are both artists and Ed specialises in rope-knotted art, hence the macramé. For our centrepieces, we had long stretches of white cards painted with pastel inks which ran down the middle of the tables. We placed one large glass and macramé-decorated bottle filled with flowers and the table name in the centre of each table. On either side, there were two small light blue ceramic bottles filled with flowers that my dad had made alongside two antique cameras on each table because I’m a filmmaker and a lover of antiques.” Jess and Ed’s top table where their parents, best man, maid-ofhonour and partners were seated ran along the middle wall of the barn so that everybody was sat relatively close by. The remainder of the trestle tables were set out in a herringbone pattern. The couple chose locations that were special to them as their table names, from holidays to places they love, with the top table being named Lundy Island. “Our place names were a printed design that my mum wrote each name on in calligraphy,” Jess explained. “We also had other handmade items, for example, I created napkin decorations with dried flowers, leaves and wooden beads for each guest. For our favours, I also made small wall weavings and my dad, who is a potter, created blue heart-shaped magnets. Ed created knotted monkey fist keyrings and our best man, Chris, made his condiment chilli sauce bottles. We also bought some Clovelly Soap Company soaps as a nod to where I grew up.” The couple created large circles from some painted cards and hung these on the stone barn walls. “I made some macramé bunting which was strung down the large wooden steps to the tennis court and Ed made a macramé celebration arch for the gazebo,” Jess says. “We used my dad’s large blue ceramic vases filled with flowers that our florist, Harriet, arranged and placed on either side of the macramé arch. We hung milk bottles containing flowers on hooks along the aisle and at the end of the pews. There were candles and lanterns added to the gazebo steps and the barn steps. Deer’s Leap is decorated with plenty of fairylights and festoon lighting which creates such a romantic backdrop.” Jess and Ed hired a family friend, who is a great caterer, to provide their wedding breakfast which included salads and sharing platters of vegan, fish and meat options. “Caroline, the chef, made the most amazing pudding buffet, with raspberry and chocolate terrine and Turkish delight, nectarine and mint tea pavlova topped with toasted flaked almonds and pomegranate and vegan coconut panna cotta with mango and ginger coulis,” Jess tells us. “We provided our own canapés bought from Ocado and cooked by Caroline and we also bought pasties from the East and West Bakery and pizza for our evening buffet. Heather and James kindly heated our pasties and cooked our evening pizza and for a small extra fee, we hired Heather and James’ ice cream bike, serving various flavours. We were keen for our guests not to be hungry so we placed snacks on the bar for people to graze on. We loved the fact that Heather and James were so accommodating with drinks, not charging corkage meant we were able to provide our own alcohol whilst supplementing this with drinks from the Deer’s Leap bar.” Their three-tier naked cake was made by a family friend with a raspberry and milk chocolate layer and a mango tier. “We also had a gluten-free and vegan Victoria sponge cake,” Jess tells us. Images courtesy of Hettie Pearson Photography “Every moment was precious, joyful and filled with so much love! Due to the pandemic, we had not seen some friends for a long time, which made it extra special!” - Jess and Ed 29 REAL WEDDINGS
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