A Princess and her Prince with a fairytale ending..
Tell us about the proposal – how and where did it happen?
The proposal was magical to say the least! We jetted off to Disney World Orlando for a holiday of a life time that Matt had booked the previous year, I had no idea what he was planning to do, but like every girl was secretly hoping. We scheduled each day for each park and on the 9th September 2019 in front of Cinderella’s castle and a massive audience Matt got down on one knee and popped the question. There was cheering, clapping and it just felt so magical! He planned every moment.
What was your first step in planning your wedding, did you use blogs/magazines etc?
I wasted no time in wedding planning, we were in Miami as part of our trip and I was contacting venues for prices and availability for 2021. I created a Pinterest board of the colour theme I was looking for, flowers, dress ideas and was so excited to get back and start the venue hunt!
Wedding budget: how did you organise your wedding budget?
We didn’t have a budget but Matt made sure I didn’t get too carried away! We listened to the advice of other married couples and experiences from other weddings and went from there. Where we could save money we did, and where we wanted to spend that extra money we did. We didn’t apply to much pressure and made sure it was all affordable for us.
How did you find your venue and what made you choose
I did so much research on wedding venues in Essex, as we wanted to stay local. I came across Gosfield Hall on Instagram through suppliers and made it a must see. As soon as we drove up the drive way we fell in love with it and instantly knew it was the one. While being shown around we walked into the ballroom with the music playing and we were blown away. Both Matt and I and our mum’s became very emotional and that confirmed it, Gosfield Hall was the venue for us.
But not forgetting the breath taking Rocco Suite! How could you not want to start your wedding day off in that room! That was another decider for me.
Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?
We ensured we had parts of the day that meant something to us personally and as a couple. Our table names and decorations were places that we had visited since being together with a photo for each table. Our florist decorated the banisters on the main staircase with beautiful flowers to match for the centrepieces. We also had the help of the amazing JF Styling to help style the ceremony room and the evening room with blossom trees and the beautiful white drapes on the dance floor.
Our cake design had changed multiples of times due to the amount of time I had to think about it, but one thing never changed… (unfortunately) the West Ham badge that we secretly had made on the back! I changed the cake design with our supplier Tina to fit more in with the design of my dress and colour theme.
Did the venue provide any memorable extras or nice personal touches that stood out?
Gosfield insisted we had the 10 minutes on the day away from everyone in the Rocco suite and at first I didn’t think we would be to bothered but it was so nice to have sometime together. We were also gifted a bottle of prosecco from the team that we have saved for our 1 year anniversary.
Describe your wedding attire and favourite accessories
My dress was a beautiful fit and flare design and was a laced with subtle sparkle with added bardot sleeves. It was the style I wanted as a little girl but not the dress I actually thought I would wear on my wedding day.
I had tried so many dresses and just didn’t feel myself in any of them until I put on my dress. It just fitted perfectly and I fell in love with it! All my accessories matched beautifully with the dress but my favourite had to be the Jimmy Choo’s.
What did your partner wear?
Matt chose his own suit. I trusted in his style and knew he had to be comfortable and love the suit. We chose to hire them as we needed 10 suits. He chose a silver type grey 3 piece suit with a blush pink tie. He chose to be different to the other groomsman and have the different waist coat to surprise me on the wedding day. With me having the expensive shoes for the day, Matt felt it was only fair he got have the shoes he wanted, a smart pair of black Louboutin’s to finish his look! After a few hiccups all the grooms party looked very smart in their attire and we are glad with the choice we made.
Tell us about your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen and their outfits
We had 5 bridesmaid’s, 5 groomsman and 2 page boys. My bridesmaids was my two sisters, a closes friend, Matt’s sister and my Maid of Honour was my longest friend of 26 years. I invited them to my house in December 2019 for an afternoon tea and had surprise bridesmaid gift bags to present to them to ask them to be apart of our big day. I chose mint green dresses for the bridesmaids and our florist made them real flower hair clips to go in their hair on the day. As part of their gifts I gave them a little rose gold pearl earring and necklace set.
Matt wanted to match my 5 bridesmaids with the same amount of groomsman he already knew his two best men I think before we was even engaged! He then had two other friends and my brother-in-law. Our two page boys was my nephews who matched the grooms party attire with a three piece suit and blush pink ties.
What was your ceremony like?
Our ceremony was one of our favourite parts, it was styled so beautifully by JF. We had blush pink blossom trees at the end of the isle with rose petals either side of the white isle runner. Our chairs had blush pink sashes finished with a pearl broach to match each detail of the wedding.
We chose not to have a reading and kept the vows short as both of us was nervous about speaking in front of so many people! Matt ended up saying ‘I do’ at the wrong time which really set everyone off laughing and made it a fun rememberable ceremony!
We opted for a string quartet to play throughout the ceremony and to make it personal for us, we had Disney music played for the guests arrival and seating. They played ‘Part of your world’ for the wedding walk in which my Dad walked me down the isle to Matt too. This song meant so much to me and set a lot of emotions off as it started, they really did play it beautifully.
Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast
For our wedding reception we hired the Prosecco station and had so many compliments about it! We also chose Pimm’s & Margaritas which are Matts favourite, raspberry daiquiris and a selection of beers so we had a bit of something for everyone. Jocie our wedding planner was great and made sure after our photos I got a prosecco from the station and Matt got his margarita!
We chose Prawn and Crayfish Tian for our starters. Traditional Roast Topside of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding Served on a bed of Mash with a Red Wine Jus for our mains and Baked New York Style Cheesecake for the dessert. We had nothing but compliments on the food from the canapes to the evening buffet.
Did you have a band or DJ for your evening reception? Did you have a first dance – what song did you choose?
We had the Gosfield resident DJ for our evening reception and decided not to go for the classic slow dance type song… we chose Born to Be Yours by Kygo & Imagine Dragons to get the party started and to suit us as a couple.
Based on your own experience, give us some top tips:
I would say, do please you as a couple! You wont please everyone and it’s your day make sure its there for you to enjoy. It’s really can be over whelming so take a few breathers and enjoy every moment.
Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?
Went on our honeymoon the Saturday after our wedding to Dubai for 5 days and Maldives for 10. We had the best time and much needed rest to wind down from the wedding.
“If we could do it all again, we’d…”
Not change a thing, our day was everything it was meant to be and more and we had the best suppliers we could have asked for.
Purchase & Hire – Tell us who your suppliers were:
Wedding attire: Wedding Dress and Veil – Essence of Australia from Bridal Shop Ltd, Romford / Suits: The Grooms Room Colchester
The accessories: Bridal: Jimmy Choo’s shoes. Swavoski – Bridal jewellery set and Tiffany Pearl Bracelet
Groom: Louboutin’s Shoes and Gucci watch
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Wed2Be
Wedding rings: Ernest Jones – Vera Wang Grooms: Goldsmiths
Invitations/Signage: The Little Paper Parcel
Photographer: Julia and You
Wedding favours: Our own creations
Florist – The Orchid Room
Videographer – Hitched Wedding Films
String Quartet – Scintillo String Quartet
Stylist: JF Styling
Makeup: Donna Robinson
Hair: Chelsie Lucas
