Inside: A Delightfully English Countryside Wedding In Oxfordshire

From meeting at school to their delightfully English wedding in oxfordshire, step inside Charlotte Crampton-Smith and Charles Blanchard’s charming countryside wedding.

The story so far

We first met at the Dragon school in Oxford when I was twelve and Charlie was eight. We reconnected on a hockey pitch in January 2020 in London where we both worked. Then came lockdown in Oxfordshire with our families who lived five minutes from each other. We had the most amazing time riding our bicycles together and going on long walks. Charles proposed three years later in 2023 on the anniversary of us reconnecting. We were staying for two nights at The Fish Hotel in the Cotswolds. I had an inkling it was coming so I got my nails done. We checked into our room, I’d gone into the bathroom and when I came back into the bedroom, he was on one knee with an engagement ring made by his best man, Sam Hunter. They designed it together – a trinity diamond ring – and it was perfect.

Venue

We viewed Tythe three weeks after the engagement and I loved that the owners personally showed us around. Even on a cold February day we fell in love with it. We had five more venues booked to see after Tythe and after the third one we just gave up. We knew nothing was going to beat it. The location is Oxfordshire was perfect for our families plus you have the Farmhouse for a full family sleepover and the village church such a short walk away.

Charlie got ready in one of the converted small barns, The Nook, while I headed to the Farmhouse to get into my dress. It was May and the glorious wisteria aisle leading to the main barn was in full bloom. We married on a Saturday at 2.30pm, stayed the wedding night and the following night, hosting a more intimate BBQ for the wedding party. Everything was cooked on a converted sheep feeder – prawns and lamb shoulder with a huge selection of salads. None of us wanted to leave.

Fashion

I bought my Suzanne Neville dress from Ellie Sanderson. I’d always wanted to wear one of her dresses. A few friends had married wearing her, so it had to be a little different. I opted for a mix of two dresses – Roxy for the skirt and Conrad for the top – all custom made for me in silk crepe. I wasn’t looking for the fairytale fashion moment at all, I wanted something that would be eternally chic. The internal corsetry was so effective I didn’t need any additional underwear. I only tried on six dresses in total and I trusted the honest feedback. I paired it with a Suzanne Neville veil that extended beyond the dress but with nothing over my face. I didn’t want to be worried about getting make-up on it. Shoes were from Loeffler Randall at Net-a-Porter with a big platform heel that I wore all night.

Jewellery

My best friend lent me her bespoke vintage pearl and diamond drop earrings so that was my something borrowed while my mum’s sapphire ring was my something blue. For me less is more with jewellery on your wedding day so I had nothing else beyond my diamond engagement and wedding rings custom made by Sam Hunter Jewellery to interlock together.

Bridal party

My sister was my maid of honour, I had five bridesmaids who looked after me and three very stylish adult flower girls in charge of all the flowers and confetti. My 18-month-old niece joined them. We chose pinks and greens as our colours, and everyone dressed as they wanted to within that palette. We had a range of shapes and sizes, and I wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible. As a thank you we covered the cost of all their hair and make-up for the day.

Transportation

Charlie’s parents lent us their Triumph TR6 sportscar for the day. As you can marry, party and stay overnight at Tythe we didn’t need it to drive anywhere but it was a fabulous photo prop!

Tablescape

We had two long banqueting tables for our 150 guests and worked with Ambience Venue Styling and Duchess & Butler to supply green china plates and linens, pink water and wine glasses to elevate the tables. We used planted herbs in terracotta pots along the tables which doubled as gifts for guests to take home and felt more sustainable. Mine is still growing in the garden. A friend designed our watercolour stationary as a wedding gift, creating a map of Tythe with the Barn, Church and grounds which we used on the invites and on the day.

Food & drink

For the wedding breakfast we started with Yellow Fin tuna tartare followed by Gressingham duck breast. Afterwards everyone spilled into the gardens where we served Espresso Martinis and Aperol Spritz cocktails as our pudding. This is when we had the speeches too. Later, there were pizzas from the farm pizza oven plus, a giant spread of British cheeses and chutneys and our two-tier wedding cake, a champagne flavoured sponge with buttercream and raspberries.

Entertainment

Our first dance was to ABBA’s Gimme Gimme Gimme which lasted about 20 seconds before everyone piled onto the dancefloor. I was up on someone’s shoulders shortly after that! Our families first met in one of the boxes at ABBA Voyage in London, so I think it was always going to be something by them. We had a singer at the church, an acoustic band at the reception who walked through the crowd then a DJ in the evening accompanied by live saxophone and drums. We booked everything through Entertainment Nation.

Beauty

I had about twelve Sarah Chapman ‘wedding glow’ facials to boost collagen plus another eight of the 15-minute laser facials from Skin Laundry. I was glowing! My make-up artist, Rose Forrest, used lots of Charlotte Tilbury products on me. I really wanted my eyes to pop, and the Tilbury eye palettes were great for that – plus a natural base that wasn’t cakey. I’m using her glow stick now and it’s brilliant. Rose brought a team of four with her who did all my bridesmaids too. She pulled my shoulder length hair back into a low tight bun. There was no need to redo it for the evening. My principal for the whole day was not to overthink or overdo anything.

Wedding Gifts

Our list was with The Wedding Shop. We bought a house a couple of months ago so have only just had all the gifts delivered, more than a year later. We love the Weber BBQ and use it rain or shine. Our smart Smeg toaster and kettle I also love, they’re the things we use every day.

Honeymoon

We did the Greek Islands with Audley Travel. We flew on the Tuesday after our wedding. In two weeks, we did Hydra, Paxos, Naxos and Santorini. I’d bought so many white clothes for the hen do from Rixo and Reformation so I packed them all.

Advice

Trust the people around you, the professionals who, unlike you, have done this many times before.
Try to spend as much time as possible with your partner on the day.
Decide early on what you want to spend the majority of your budget on – for us the priority was getting the venue right. From there, you can cut corners and for us that meant less flowers.