Our wedding at Earth Trust: Amy & Stuart

 

How are you enjoying married life?

It does actually feel different, being married. You do wonder when you’ve been together for a long time and have a house and stuff if it really makes a difference, but it does. Although, we found out we were expecting shortly after our honeymoon, so most of our married life so far has been preparing for the arrival of our twins!

 

Did you know Earth Trust and Wittenham Clumps before you decided to get married here?

I [Amy] grew up around this area so I knew of the Clumps, but hadn’t spent much time there. We moved back to the region during lockdown, and walking up the Clumps was one of the first things we did when restrictions were lifted, so it’s more of a special place for us since then. We’ve also done some race training here, so we’ve run up and down the hills a few times! Obviously now it’s even more special because we got married here, and with the new café and more developments coming, it’ll continue to be a special place for us as a family.

 

Is that why you chose to get married at Earth Trust?

Not specifically, it just happened that Earth Trust trumped everywhere else we looked at! Fison Barn had the right feeling and we loved the countryside, and it was able to provide a lot of the things that were really important to us. It’s also really nice to have got married somewhere we’ll come back to again and again, instead of somewhere we’ll spend one day at and then never see again.

We didn’t want to have a big traditional wedding and we’d never have gone for a stately home or anything stuffy like that. We wanted our day to be focused on us and the things we value. We’ve done a lot of environmental campaigning between us, so it feels great knowing that the money we paid for our wedding venue – inevitably a decent chunk of change – is going to support a cause we believe in. We almost see it as a big charity donation, and we got a wedding venue as a bonus.

What things were most important to you in your wedding planning?

One of the big things was timing. We’ve been to weddings where there’s a lot of milling around, the bride and groom disappear for an hour or two for photos, and people get hungry waiting for food, and we didn’t want any of that for our guests. We went straight from our wedding ceremony into speeches and then dinner, so no one went hungry and none of our speakers were too nervous to eat! We’re not late night people either and we had lots of children at our wedding, so finishing at 10pm meant our dancefloor felt really full all evening too.

Budget is always going to be a big factor. We knew we didn’t want to spend £30,000 on a single day, especially if all that money is just going to a big corporate wedding company. That’s one of the things we loved about Earth Trust; we could make our budget work really comfortably for us, and we knew it was all going to a good cause. We probably spent less than half as much on our wedding as some of our friends on theirs, without it looking like we’d cut corners.

Privacy was important to us. We’re not necessarily private people, but we didn’t want to have loads of staff milling around or people poking their heads through open doors to have a look. Being able to choose our own suppliers meant we could opt for just a couple of staff, rather than feeling outnumbered. The barns and the courtyard are also really self-contained, so all the parents at our wedding also got to relax knowing their kids couldn’t run off and end up somewhere they shouldn’t be. Even the landscape was fairly quiet, because it was September – I think we might’ve had one person in the background of a wedding photo and that’s it. It felt like having hundreds of acres to ourselves.

Because we wanted to focus our day on ourselves, it was super important to us to be able to personalise the venue. We knew we wanted a relaxed atmosphere and outdoor space to enjoy, so we needed a venue to give us that freedom. That didn’t mean putting lots of money into decorations though – the barns and the courtyard were so lovely on their own, they didn’t need much else! We just filled the place with flowers. And we loved being able to take our guests for a post-dinner walk up the Clumps! It was one of our favourite parts of the day.

How was your experience of planning your wedding at Earth Trust?

We weren’t initially sure if we wanted a big wedding. We’re not centre-of-attention type of people, so we’d toyed with just going to the registry office and then going to a park or the pub in our village. But we figured if we were going to get married and have a party and celebrate us, then we should do it properly, and in the end we’re glad we did. Honestly we were surprised by how nice it felt to have a wedding and bring everyone together.

We’re pretty organised people and we knew we wanted to share the planning 50-50. That won’t be the same for every couple, but it was important to us that the wedding didn’t feel like a burden for one of us. Also because we’re planners, we weren’t put off by dry hire, and we didn’t find it overwhelming at all. Yes, you’ll need to make some decisions when you’re planning your wedding, but you’ll need to do that for any venue. At least with dry hire, you have full freedom over what choices you make.

Getting married at Earth Trust meant we could make decisions that felt really right for us. A great example is our bar. Having more kids at our wedding meant we wanted good options for soft drinks. Rather than a general drinks package, we opted for a self-stocked bar with just one or two staff and chose exactly what drinks we wanted, across soft drinks, wines and spirits. We know couples who’ve spent thousands of pounds on really prescriptive drinks packages at their weddings without being able to choose what they really wanted, but we saved loads of money and got way more choice from having the freedom to organise our own.

Getting the days before and after for setup and take-down was also great for helping us totally relax on the day. We roped in some friends and family to help us set up our chairs, tables and decorations, which they loved because they got to feel more a part of the experience. It also meant no one had to be “on duty” at 10pm when the wedding finished to help us take everything down before we left – we got to come back and do it all the next day, no pressure.

We’re super grateful to the events team at Earth Trust for their help. Throughout the whole planning process someone was just a Whatsapp away, and very happy for us to come and go as we pleased if we needed to check anything at the venue. We’re not sure a big corporate venue would have that kind of flexibility. We also found the recommended suppliers on the website a useful starting point. We ended up choosing our caterer from this list, which took a lot of pressure off us because they already knew the venue and didn’t have to bombard us with questions about how everything would work.

What stands out in your minds when you think about your wedding day?

The walk up the Clumps was one of our favourite bits, and for our guests too. But there were a lot of little quality of life decisions we made that really made it such a relaxed experience for us. We did our posed family photos before the ceremony – we’d decided to walk down the aisle together so we were going to see each other anyway, so we thought “let’s just get these photos done” and spend our whole wedding with our friends. We’re also really pleased we laid out two long tables in the barn for the dinner, it made everything feel a bit less formal, and more friendly than separating everyone. We were all together just having a nice time.

 

What did your guests think of your wedding?

All our guests have told us how wonderful they felt on the day. They were amazed by the Clumps! I think we get used to them living here, but for our friends here from London they were stunned by the countryside, and the Red Kites flying overhead. I think we made a few people nervous by calling it a “hike”, but our guests loved going for a walk after our dinner. The adults appreciated the chance to move and get some fresh air, and their kids got to have a good run around. Being so close to Didcot train station also meant it was really easy for people to travel to us for the day, and get back home again.

 

How far did your actual wedding deviate from the original plan?

It didn’t! That’s the beauty of dry hire. We had a really clear vision, and because Earth Trust gave us free reign, we could build our wedding exactly as we wanted.

What’s your advice for couples planning their wedding?

Do it your way, not the way you think you have to, or the way a venue or supplier tells you that you should. Make as many of your decisions as you can before you start talking to suppliers, or even to family or friends, so you’re less open to influences that would make the day feel less like yours. You’ll have the best day if it feels like you, and you can relax into it rather than feeling like you’re on show.

The experience of your wedding is way more important than the little details. You can get caught up spending lots of time and money on trinkets and things that don’t really matter. None of our guests told us they loved our napkins, or the soap in the bathroom! What our guests most remember from our wedding is how they felt on the day, and you don’t need to spend a fortune to make that happen.

Many thanks to Any and Stuart for sharing their journey with us. We wish you the best of luck for the coming months and can’t wait to welcome you back as a family!

Wittenham Clumps is a place where memories are made, and it’s our pleasure to host and support couples as they make some of the most important memories of their lives.

If you’d like to learn more about getting married at Earth Trust, please take a look at our stunning spaces, or get in touch to arrange a viewing.

All photography is credited to Nicola Belson Photography.