Hannah & David’s Real Life Wedding

It started as a proposal with ‘their song’ playing in the background, which later became their first dance song as a married couple at Gosfield Hall

Tell us about the proposal – how and where did it happen?

David proposed to me on the 18^th August 2018, in the beautiful woodland behind the pub that we had our first date in. We went for a walk in the woods and after a few minutes I heard our song playing. As we walked towards the music David led the way to a beautiful set up of a picnic blanket, rose petals, fairy lights and champagne on ice. He then got down on one knee and popped the question, which of course I said yes to!

What was your first step in planning your wedding?

The first step in all our life plans – David creating a spreadsheet.

As usual, his OCD planning skills came into their own and soon we had a spreadsheet and a plan for every aspect for the wedding – you name it he’d thought of it!

Inspiration: Did you use blogs or magazines for ideas?

No not really, because we already had a vision of what we wanted and Gosfield Hall delivered it all for us in one place. It’s such a stunning venue, with so much to offer.

What were your wedding “must have’s”?

Ideally we wanted a single venue where we could have our ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception celebration that allowed our guests stay over.

Wedding budget: how did you organise your wedding budget?

We did already have an idea on how much we were planning to spend and then when we spoke with friends and family who had recently been married, they suggested to start with what was most important to us and work our way from there. From this we were able to budget to fit the type of wedding we wanted.

Wedding venue: how did you search for a wedding venue?

We used hitched.com to help us narrow down options based on style of venue, numbers and venue location. We thought the pictures were stunning of Gosfield but they didn’t even begin to do it justice!

What made you choose your wedding venue?

After viewing several different wedding venues, Gosfield Hall was a breath of fresh air. I knew we both wanted to get married there before we had even finished our tour of the venue. Not only is it absolutely stunning, but we knew we could have the wedding of our dreams there.

It ticked all the boxes – allowing us to have everything we wanted for our big day – without any compromises. When we viewed Gosfield we wanted to utilise as much of the building and grounds as we possibly could. As a wedding venue, we had exclusive use of the property and this allowed us to have a different room for every step of our celebration.

The cherry on top of the cake was definitely the Rococo Bridal suite… it absolutely took our breath away!

Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?

As Gosfield Hall is already so stunning, we felt the building gave enough beautiful detail all by itself, we only needed to add few of our own personal touches to it. We had a winter wedding, so we took advantage of the candlelit package available, which, made the whole venue cosy and romantic. In terms of wedding stationary, the theme for the Wedding Breakfast was cocktails as David has his own cocktail business and we named every table after our favourite tipples.

Wedding photographer: how did you choose your photographer?

We went to a Wedding Fair in St Albans, where we met Patrick our photographer and Martin our videographer. Their stands were next to each other and even though they were separate companies, we could see that they had great chemistry together. After less then 5 minutes talking to both of them and looking at their amazing work, we decided there and then that we would like them to capture our wedding together.

Wedding suppliers: how did you choose your suppliers?

We chose our suppliers based on a mixture of recommendations from Gosfield Hall, wedding fairs we attended, and searching online.

Describe your wedding attire

If I’m honest, I really didn’t know where to begin when it came to choosing my wedding dress. With so many amazing options out there, I actually felt quite overwhelmed with all the choices. So, I went back to basics and decided to focus on what shape would suit me and I started trying on a variety of styles. I soon realised that I was going to have a strapless dress but I was completely torn between a princess ball down skirt and a fishtail skirt – both completely opposite to each other!

Having tried on multiple dresses in both these styles I still was undecided.

Thankfully, the shop assistant came to my rescue, and made the suggestion of having a fishtail dress, but with a detachable skirt in a princess ballgown style to go over the top. This allowed me to have a more traditional princess style dress for the wedding ceremony with the modern twist of a fishtail dress for the wedding breakfast and evening celebrations. Two dresses in one – the perfect solution! 

What accessories did you wear on the day?

As if 2 dresses wasn’t enough, I also had 2 pairs of wedding shoes! The first pair were a shimmery peep toe set of heels with a jewel detail at the front and an ankle step – very bridal. The second pair, where a customized pair of trainers bought for me by my dad from Dune.

Father of the Bride has always been a film close to our hearts and ever since I was a little girl my dad always joked that I would have my own pair of trainers to dance the night away at my wedding and I did. Just a couple of weeks before the wedding, we watched the film and then he gifted me with my very own ‘Father of the Bride’ shoes, just as he had promised all those years.

To add to the sentimentality of the day, my something blue was my late Grandmother’s eternity ring, containing sapphires. My mum sewed to my garter especially for the day which was also such a lovely surprise.

What did your partner wear? 

As always, David knew what he wanted straight away. A royal blue suit, with tails, white shirt, grey tweed waistcoat, blue cravat and brown shoes, with the pocket watch our son had given him on his first Father’s Day.

Tell us about your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen and their outfits

I knew I wanted my beautiful bridesmaids to all wear the same dress, but I wanted to make sure it was a style that would flatter each of them individually as well as together. Therefore, I picked a multiway dress in a silvery blue which complimented the groom, groomsmen and the venue perfectly. My maid of honour was my sister Beth and I had three bridesmaids, my best friends from school, sixth form, and university – Lauren, Aimee, and Amy. My parents then surprised them on the day with Thomas Sabo bracelets to say thank you for all their work towards our special day, as well as through our years of friendship. My flower girls were my niece Grace and my cousins Lily and Gabriela, and they were dressed in pretty dresses from Monsoon.

David wanted all the groomsmen and both dad’s to wear the same suit, this included our son Harry, who was given a mini version of David’s suit for the day which was adorable. However, Harry’s suit was accessorized with a pair of converse trainers, because at the young age of two, we wanted him to be comfortable all day – it also looked very cute!

What was your biggest wedding splurge?

Fireworks, definitely! As soon as we knew Gosfield allowed them, they became an absolute must have. We kept them a secret from the whole wedding party until the day. We managed to coax them outside on the false pretense of an evening photo by the fountain and then we let them off to surprise them!

What was your biggest wedding saving?

The biggest saving was on cars because I slept in the wedding party cottage the night before, so I didn’t end up needing one! This was also very convenient for David, who felt safe in the knowledge that I was already there, so I wouldn’t be late for the ceremony!

What was your ceremony like?

My Dad walked me down the isle to ‘Symphony’ by Clean Bandit.

This song is important to David and I as a couple, because it was the song of the marathon that we ran together in 2017 to raise £8.5k for Macmillan, before discovering I was pregnant with our son Harry, who was born January 2018.

We had a beautiful reading by our friend Jemma who first introduced us to each other. She wrote it herself and it was very touching.

Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast

We had 2 cocktails, Passionfruit Fizz and a Mojito, as well as Peroni for welcome drinks, alongside mixed canapes including Bellini’s with Smoked Salmon, Mini Scotch Eggs, Mini Roast Beef, Brie & Red Onion Chutney, Chilli Chicken Skewers and Tempura Prawns.

For the wedding breakfast, we had 2 options for each course, as well as a vegan option and a kid’s menu – Gosfield were fantastic at accommodating all our needs!

The options for dinner were Wild Mushroom Risotto & Hamhock Terrine and Herb Crusted Salmon & Roast Leg of Lamb with Seasonal Vegetables. With dessert consisting of either Chocolate and Salted Caramel Brownie & Marmalade or Whiskey Bread and Butter Pudding

To accompany our evening reception, we chose Middle of the Night Munchies, which all of our guests loved tucking into after a session on the dancefloor!

Did you have a band or DJ for your evening reception?

We had a singer for our guests’ arrival and after the wedding breakfast called Stevie Hammond who was amazing, and sung lots of classic upbeat love songs. Then we had the wonderful Gosfield Hall resident DJ Jason for our evening reception party.

Tell us about your first dance – what song did you chose and why?

Ed Sheeran – Tenerife Sea.

It’s our song, and so appropriate as a first wedding dance song with such beautiful words.

We practiced putting a couple of spins in at specific times before the big day, but nothing major as we wanted to keep it relaxed and enjoy the moment – which we did.

Based on your own experience, give us some top tips:

Hire a videographer! Lots have people suggest they don’t have one, because they see it as an ‘added expense’ to the photographer, but the footage he captured is priceless and we get to relive our wedding over and over again. We also got to see loads of little moments throughout the day, which we wouldn’t necessarily have seen.

Take 20 minutes to yourselves whenever you can, to steal a moment together just the two of you. There’s lots of people that want to see and celebrate with you and lots going on and this gives you the opportunity to have a breather and let it all sink in.

 “If we could do it all again, we… wouldn’t change a thing’’

Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?

We went to St Lucia for 10 days. It was absolutely magical, and the perfect way to start life as a married couple after our wedding.

A Big Thank You to Gaynor

Our Personal Wedding Manager Gaynor was exceptional. She ensured no stone was unturned in the finer detail of making our wedding run smoothly and effortlessly. She also came face-to-face with the first groom to contact her more than the bride, and was accommodating to every colour-coded spreadsheet sent her way! Thank you, so much.

Purchase & Hire – Tell us who your suppliers were: