Real Wedding: Jo & Andrea’s Fairytale Wedding at The Manor Barn, Buriton

It was a marriage of cultures as well as hearts when Jo and Andrea tied the knot on 7th June last year. A traditional English church wedding with a nod to Andrea’s Italian heritage was followed by a spectacular reception in the lovely village of Buriton.

“Having looked at a number of churches and venues we finally settled on St Marys Church, Buriton and The Manor Barn, Buriton because each of these venues fulfilled our needs and the proximity to each other was fantastic. This meant guests could travel to one location and could be there for the whole day.”

“Andrea always said that as an Italian marrying an English girl he wanted a very traditional English wedding in typical English setting. Buriton was unique and perfect and had it all.”

“Saying our vows in English and Italian, which was a surprise to everyone, meant a lot to Andrea’s Nan in particular who doesn’t speak a word of English and Andrea’s mother did a biblical reading in Italian.”

“One of our hymns was to the music ‘I Vow to Thee my Country,’ which was my school anthem but we substituted the lyrics with ‘We pledge to one another.'”

An ex-dance pupil & friend of the bride, Lauren, sang ‘You Raise Me Up’ accompanied by the Pfretzner Quartet.

Upon arriving at The Manor Barn, Andrea, Jo and their guests enjoyed canapés consisting of caramelised red onion tartlets topped with smoked apple wood cheese, Brie Katifi with cranberry dip, lamb koftas with saffron yoghurt, seared beef fillet with slow-roast tomato and pesto on crostinis, beetroot cured salmon with Asian slaw and pickled ginger on teardrop spoons and king prawns with chilli, garlic and ginger.

“Of our 120 guests, about a 1/3 were friends and family of the groom from Italy and Switzerland. We had 71 guests who arrived on an old fashioned green double decker bus. Guests said it was a lot of fun and very much appreciated.”

For their wedding breakfast the newlyweds chose:

~ Starter ~
Chargrilled asparagus with parmesan wafers, creamed goats cheese and confit tomatoes

~ Main Course ~
Chargrilled, butterflied legs of Southdowns lamb marinated in rosemary and garlic with seasonal vegetables and thyme potato galette

~ Dessert ~
Fresh berry and elderflower jelly with lemon posset, crushed meringue, vanilla ice cream and shortbread biscuit served in a kilner jar.

In addition to an emotional moment in church when Jo arrived by his side after a long ascent along the aisle, one of Andrea’s favourite moments of the day was the speeches, followed by a full-blown party in the evening.

“Our first dance was to ‘Truly’ by Lionel Richie. We choreographed the dance so it would entertain guests and it was expected of us really because of me being a dance teacher and choreographer.”

“I know it was my wedding and every bride must say the same but I cannot fault my day in any way and I can honestly say every part was my favourite! I could have sat forever at my top table taking everything in. The atmosphere was great, the cultures gelled and I just remember everyone having such a fantastic time together…”