An autumnal wedding that turned out to be first wedding at Bourton Hall – and what a perfect day it was!
Tell us about the proposal – how and where did it happen?
In April 2019 Sam and I went to Paris for a few days away just the two of us. Whilst visiting the Eiffel Tower (on the 2nd floor) and looking over the beautiful city, Sam dropped down on to one knee and proposed in front of so many people!
What was your first step in planning your wedding, did you use blogs/magazines etc?
We didn’t really plan anything straight away. I did search on Pinterest for some dress ideas, also some theme ideas for an autumn wedding as this was the time of year that we had met so we wanted that to reflect in our theme. Think a red/orange/greens/brown colour palette, autumnal flower ideas and different cake ideas.
Wedding budget: how did you organise your wedding budget?
We did have a budget, and with only being able to have 30 guests because of Covid (originally booked for 50), the venue was great. Everything was all included; a little cottage for the night before, table decorations, beautiful chair cover choices, flowers around the venue, wedding breakfast and DJ, and a lovely Personal Wedding Manager – Tracy was the best, great at her job, tried everything she could to make our day perfect, very bubbly, and clearly loves what she does. This took away a lot of the stress of finding other suppliers. Depending on your budget you could add as many/little extras as you want from the information we received regarding the package deals.
How did you find your venue and what made you choose it?
Sam is originally from Wales, and wanted to try and find a venue suitable for all our guests, and with travel restrictions we thought it be a struggle. So, once the country seemed to come out of the worst of the pandemic in June 2020, we started to research and look for venues in our local area. Bourton Hall was in the top 3 of our search! The pictures looked lovely and it was only 45 minutes away from our home. I have always loved the other Country House Wedding venues, as we had looked at those too. Firstly, we emailed the venue and booked a tour, and started considering dates for the end of October/November (keeping in mind the children and school holidays). Then, in July, we met with Delia and looked around the venue; the grounds where beautiful, the rooms were big, and the lay out was just how we imagined. The Chapel hadn’t been completed but with the description from Delia it was exactly what we wanted, including having the first dance in the hall with all our guests standing on the staircase looking down on us. We were going to be the first wedding there once they open in the November, so we knew it was meant to be.
Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?
We had both decided that less was more, and as the venue was so beautiful, you wouldn’t need to over do it with lots of decoration. We wanted an autumn colour theme with a boho/vintage/rustic look, with dried flowers or artificial flowers down the aisle of the Chapel. Lace chair covers too, as we were thinking the small details are normally what people notice.
Tell us about the suppliers you used to make your day uniquely yours.
Luckily, one of my bridesmaids makes cakes and offered to make our wedding cake for us.
When it came to hair and makeup, myself and one of my bridesmaids are hairdressers, so we had hair covered – I feel more comfortable doing my own hair and had lots of time to try lots of looks, which we did! I was spamming our WhatsApp group with some interesting styles! The makeup was also done by ourselves. This was such a great morning spending girly time together, made even more special by helping each other to get ready. Doing what I love made me very calm and allowed me to interact with all the girls.
For flowers we went to IKEA. It’s a fantastic place, and thanks to their stall in the NEC, I had some great ideas – would never of thought of going there otherwise. The bridesmaids and I did the flowers including the mother’s gifts, buttonholes and bouquets. We added some flowers that I had ordered from Amazon and Etsy too.
We used a lady on Etsy for the invites, The Invite Shack – again this idea came from the wedding fair at the NEC!
Which photographer did you use?
With only having 4 months to plan a wedding and not knowing anything about photography, we thought a photographer would be hard to find. However, with the pandemic and most people changing their dates, we did have an advantage. While browsing on Facebook a Craig Forman Photography article popped up with a last-minute offer. After looking on the website and seeing they were local (sometimes these pop up are miles away), I knew they had to do our wedding pictures.
They were passionate about their work, and a husband and wife team. Their photos were great and when we spoke with them they put us at ease. I also sent endless amounts of Pinterest ideas of photos we wanted and they were very happy to help, as well as willing to try new ideas, as were we. It was great they were open to ideas and could go with the flow on the day.
How did you find your wedding dress?
I went to a local wedding dress shop, Ann McDonald, in February 2020 for their sale. I found my perfect dress at a great price and walked away with it that day! We hadn’t even agreed on a date yet!
What did your partner wear?
For the men’s suits Sam really wanted Mark Darcy style suits and we managed to find a supplier in Warwick, Peter Posh. He went to this shop with his best man, stepson, and close friend to choose their suits, and I was kept in the dark till the big day. I had requested that Sam wear a rust orange tie and the other men/boys had burgundy red. I did add the little extra like the orange socks but that’s all I was allowed! We hired the boy’s suits and the men wanted to keep theirs.
Tell us about your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen and their outfits
Bridesmaids dresses were hard to find in a copper/rust colour! We found a shop in Birmingham, David’s Bridal. They had a big range of styles and colours (unfortunately we couldn’t go to this shop due to lockdown restrictions, they were very helpful though), and we managed to get the dresses from Silk Fred. They were a bargain and great quality, not the colour I originally had wanted, however a burgundy red was still autumnal coloured and I though I could add the orange/rust colours into the flowers.
Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast
With the restrictions changing all the time up to the wedding day it was very stressful and we had to have plan A, B and C. Unfortunately, we were only able to have 14 at the ceremony in Bourton hall. We both decided that having our wedding breakfast and drinks would be better to have a lot closer to home and we chose a lovely restaurant that we both love. Being closer meant that the children could still enjoy the day but closer to the friends that had arranged to have them for our wedding night.
Our speeches were short and sweet, I think Sam was the only one to follow what he had written down. The best man started with what he prepared and then went with the flow, while my daughter surprised us with a speech and it was very meaningful and comforting. This then prompted Sam’s mum to stand and say a few words. While cutting the cake my daughter sang Adele’s ‘Make you feel my love’. Sam then decided to make it a bit more interesting and shoved cake on my face!
What was your entrance song and did you have a first dance – what song did you choose?
I walked down the aisle to Cascada’s ‘Every time we touch’ (Yanous Candlelight remix). For a little bit of fun I had requested to play Grease’s ‘You’re the one that I want’ for the first 30 seconds before I entered. The guests and Sam did laugh. Our exit song was ‘Just you and I’ by Tom Walker.
We had our first dance to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’.
Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?
The next morning we left for Bath for a mini-moon and, due to the lockdown, we had to cut it short by a few days but hopefully we will be able to get away together in the near future.
Purchase & Hire – Tell us who your suppliers were:
Wedding attire: Peter Post and Ann McDonald
Flowers: IKEA
Bridesmaid’s dresses: David’s Bridal
Invites – The Invite Shack
Photographer: Craig Forman Photography
Band/disco/DJ: Bourton Hall in-house DJ
