Picture the scene: you love the look of a greenhouse wedding, but can’t find a venue with those exact features. Instead, you have a gorgeous venue (The Cow Shed Crail, which we’ve mentioned our love for before), and a styling team (that’s us!) who want to move heaven and earth for you to make your day come true. So what do you get? The greenhouse wedding vibes brought to you!
Greenhouse wedding styling at The Cow Shed, Crail
This is what we were lucky enough to do for Becky and Rowley for their August wedding celebration. After their smaller lockdown wedding (which we also had the pleasure of styling) they wanted to wow their extended family and friends by transforming the venue into something that had never been done there before…
…and so we got to work! The styling centred around Becky and Rowley’s shared love of Victorian glass houses and general vintage vibes. We loved this brief so much, because it was so personal to them. To translate this vibe into a barn, we really focused on bringing the outside in.
Bringing the outside in
Not only did this create that greenhouse feeling in this particular venue (helped by the whitewashed walls, which give a similar light, airy feel), it also created a real feel of abundance. This was important to the couple, as from the off they’d noted it was a priority for the venue not to feel empty due to its size.
We had the pleasure of working with some brilliant floristry pals on this wedding, such as Coach House Flowers, from whom they’d hired potted trees to fill the workshop barn, and which felt almost Narnia-like in their magic. The über-talented Barbara at Wild Flower Workshop created the wild, romantic floristry (seriously, leave some for the rest of us will you Barbara?). We loved her arrangements that lined the aisle, the floral frame used as the ceremony backdrop, and the bouquets, with their almost larger-than-life anthurium lilies.
Their original colour palette had been autumnal, with a moody forest feel, to reflect their October wedding date. Following the shift to an August wedding date, the colour palette was updated to include warm yellows and oranges. Becky and Rowley also shifted to a more meadow-like feel.
As well as the meadow feels we also brought in nods to gardening, thus continuing their greenhouse wedding theme. We did this by dotting terracotta plant pots around the workshop and using a rustic workbench as a potting table. We attached realistic looking butterflies to various areas as another way to bring the outdoors in, which also continued that magical, whimsical feel.
Vintage, Victoriana styling
The other element of Becky and Rowley’s greenhouse wedding vision was the vintage, Victoriana vibes they wanted to bring. We did this with ornate gold-edged frames and mirrors, plus luxurious velvet seating. Just imagine Victorian ladies taking their armchairs out to their garden to enjoy a cup of tea! We also created a gentleman’s bar style area in the Roundal, which we affectionately named “Rowley’s Roundal”, as the couple wanted each room to have a slightly different feel within the overarching theme.
A terracotta pot table plan
Stationery played a big part in how we brought this greenhouse wedding styling to life. Not least the table plan, which we created with potted plants featuring the table’s name written on real wooden plant stakes and a card with the guest names in each. “The table plan was as much a style feature as it was informative,” Jessica, our stationery designer, explains. “Just like a trip round the herb garden, it was a little moment of discovery as people found their names and table number amongst the potted plants.”
“With the stationery, we really wanted to align with the vintage greenhouse wedding vibe.” she continues. “We used off-white card for a more aged feel, and looked at pairing signage with ornate decorative finishes such as gilt frames, in a nod to the craftsmanship of the Victorian era. To keep things fresh, we contrasted the more decorative details with modern and bohemian feeling fonts, and minimal layouts.
“The vintage botanical illustrations used on the place names helped bring in pops of colour and a sense of abundance, as experienced in a garden in full bloom. They were a nice way to add more florals to the table, without overloading it with real flowers. Space can often be at a premium once all the crockery is laid out, so it was a nice touch that added to the design without taking additional room.” You can see more advice on balancing your tablescapes in our blog post earlier this month.
Working with Becky and Rowley was a perfect example of why we love what we do so much – a styling brief that we could really sink our teeth into, as well as a team of incredible suppliers to work with: including Claire Fleck behind the camera, to whom we’re indebted for the gorgeous photos. So, whether you’re looking for a greenhouse wedding style translated to a barn, or something else that lights up your heart, we’d love to hear from you – just head here to tell us all about it!
Suppliers
Photographer – Claire Fleck
Styling and Stationery – Gloam
Venue – Cow Shed Crail
Floristry – Barbara at Wild Flower Workshop
Tree Hire – Coach House Flowers
Caterers & bar – Scott’s Catering Hire
Tables and chairs – Virginia’s Vintage Hire
Napkins – Northfields
Lighting – Steve Page Lighting
