Inside: A Heavenly Wedding In The Cotswolds

From meeting in Spanish class to their heavenly wedding in The Cotswolds, the couple’s story is one of love, laughter, and cherished memories. Discover all the details of Maddi and Toby’s dream wedding English countryside wedding here.

The Story So Far..

Toby and I met at school – we sat next to each other in Spanish and our teacher (who we are still friends with now!) acted like cupid and kept pairing us together for projects. We were close friends first and officially started dating once we left school. We’ve been together ever since – 8 years now.

The proposal was the most romantic. It was a few days before my birthday and we were away in Lake Como. We’d had an incredible day the lake, just the two of us, then Toby had booked a private balcony spot for dinner and we had a fantastic meal as a ‘birthday treat’. Followed by a walk down to the beach where he got down on one knee and popped the question.

The ring is a gorgeous halo style on a diamond-encrusted platinum band – I hadn’t given him any hints so he did very well.

The Venue

We celebrated our wedding day at Elmore Court in the Cotswolds and got married at St John The Baptist Church which is in the village of Elmore, just a few minutes away. To us, there is something magical about a church wedding and I am so glad we opted to do this as it really felt special.

Elmore Court is an incredible place, the right amount of traditional, contemporary and modern combined. It was the first venue we looked at and nothing compared. The outside space, interior décor, the famous Gillyflower space, bar for the after party – just everything ticked all our boxes. The team were so friendly too.

We wanted our day to be relaxed, fun and full of love which I really think we captured. The styling and the theme were really important to me. The inspiration was romantic, whimsical and playful, with a relaxed, Mediterranean vibe. In terms of colours a striking palette of grapefruit shades such as soft pink, blush, mid pink, coral, apricot, paired with accents of champagne and ivory. We wanted lots of florals, gorgeous candlelight and fun stationary throughout. I’m still obsessing over the flower arrangements and the styling, couldn’t have asked for it to be more perfect. My bouquet was just so me.

The following day the family all stayed at Calcot & Spa for some R&R.

The Fashion

My dress was by Love Story London, via Perfect Day Bride in Bath. I opted for the Marcia style – a strapless clean cut with a gorgeous lace insert panel at the back.

I paired it with matched lace puff sleeves and I loved it! Perfect Day Bride was the best shop I’d been in, the aesthetic is gorgeous and the team were incredible. I wasn’t after a strapless dress, but the stylist there recommended I did and as soon as I tried her on, both myself and mum burst into tears so we had to have her.

I had my had set on a pair of Jimmy Choo’s but the heel height didn’t work with the dress, so I opted for a lower block heeled pair from Porte & Pair which I kept on all night.

Toby wore traditional tail suit , with a white waistcoat and a pair of bouji Louboutin’s on his feet.

Jewellery

I wore my wonderful Nana’s earrings for the ceremony – a gold bar with a pearl, totally beautiful and I had these picked out before I was even engaged.

The rest I kept simple as I wanted the dress to do the talking.

I changed to a statement pair from Soru X Needle & Thread for the evening with a sparkly sequin white dress.

Bridal Party

Bridesmaids wore a champagne one shoulder style, and my flower girl in a gorgeous pink flowery dress. They each held a statement Dahlia flower and I loved this simple look.

I bought my girls match earrings in a similar style to the ones I was wearing – gold with a pearl and they all wore them on the day which was lovely.

The boys all matched Toby in black morning suits. He brought them all a cigar to enjoy together at the after party.

Transportion

Luckily my dad owns a chauffer company so we had a fleet of Mercades and BMW’s.

The Tablescape

We wanted an Mediterranean vibe to our wedding, since we got engaged in Italy, and met in Spanish lesson so for the decoration and tablescape we had visions of pinks, oranges and coral colours, paired with real citrus fruits – and my gosh didn’t our team nail the brief.

For the tablescape, I opted for three long tables and a top table in the Gillyflower and wanted a pretty, light and airy look: so lightly scattered along the length of the tables were exquisite vases of varying shapes and heights holding clusters of summer blooms – Dahlias, roses, sweet peas – the smell was incredible. Intermingled between the vases are elegant gold candlesticks featuring taper candles in a vibrant shade of coral, and sliced fresh fruit to add to the fun.

The window sills were filled with candles, and the lights of the Gillyflower flickered down – so romantic.

Eleanor Isabelle Art designed all our stationary for the wedding and she created a gorgeous Italian inspired menu design, with little lemons for name place settings. We loved them. The whole vision came together seamlessly.

We carried this theme across the whole décor from the church to the drinks reception to the stunning cake table too.

Food & Drink

To continue with the theme, we served gelato and Aperol spritz for the drinks reception which was a huge hit.

We then had an Italian-inspired dinner of Arancini to start, Lemon and Rosemary Chicken for the main and a Venetian salted caramel pot for dessert. We even had a shot of Limoncello to toast after the speeches too.

Entertainment

We had Tux Fizz for entertainment all day – the BEST party band out there. Their talented singer Chris sang during our drinks reception and the rest of the band joined him for three jam-packed sets in the evening. They sang our first dance which was an acoustic rendition of ‘I’m a Believer’ (we’ve had this picked out for years!) and sped it up to the Smashmouth version to get everyone on the dance floor. They were so good I didn’t leave the dance floor all night and spent most the evening on stage singing with them – eek!

Beauty Regime & Wellness

My makeup artist was Amy Rose, and she was wonderful. We made a few tweaks from the trial and I was so happy with the final look. She suggested I wore runway royalty by Charlotte Tilbury on my lips, and I’ve worn it almost every day since.

One of my favourite beauty experiences was a ‘Scent Your Wedding’ at Jo Malone. I went with my mum and we both picked out scents that I’ll wear forever to remind me of the day. I opted for Nectarine Blossom and Honey.

My hairdresser By Emily Hair did my hair on the day and it was an elevated style to my normal hair style – I didn’t want to look too different to normal and feel uncomfortable. I loved it!

Honeymoon

We have just come back from a two-week minimoon in Elounda, Crete. A heavenly way to unwind and draw our wedding era to a close.

Advice:

Personalise Your Day: Incorporate personal touches that reflect your relationship. Whether it’s through your choice of music, decorations, or a favourite drink, these details make your wedding memorable and special for you and your guests.

Stay Organised: Use a planning checklist and keep all your documents, contracts, and receipts in one place. Toby is an accountant so we had an epic spreadsheet going with saving plans and budgets. It was incredibly helpful in tracking progress, payment deadlines and staying on top of what we’d paid.

Trust your suppliers: I had so many doubts along the way but they all know what they are doing, trust them and it will all fall into place.