Amy & Dane

The Venue

As soon as we walked into Burton Court, we knew this was where we wanted our wedding to be held. It's such a beautiful place and to be able to decorate it with our own vision just made it perfect. To be able to hold the ceremony and reception all in one place made perfect sense to us and meant less travelling for our guests. Edward and Helen were fantastic, nothing was too much trouble for them.

The Wedding Dress

As much as I had always dreamt of getting married, I still didn't know what style of dress I wanted and, as I am petite, I didn't want the dress to be bigger than me. So on a Saturday in October, I went with my Mum and my Nan to Ashton Rose Bridal Centre in Hereford. I tried on a range of different styles and the third dress I tried on, was the one! A beautiful Mori Lee, it was simply perfect, fit and flare with a blush pink under layer, v neck, deep v back and it sparkled beautifully. This dress suited my personality perfectly. I accessorise it with a full length veil, pearl earrings and necklance. My bridesmaids and I also had matching pearl bracelets.

Bridesmaids Dresses

I had three beautiful bridesmaids on the day, my two cousins Molly and Lucy and Dane's cousin Beth. It was easier to choose their dresses than it was my own. I had already seen pictures of dresses covered in gold sequins before I was engaged and really liked this idea for my own wedding when my turn came. I traditionally wanted the bridesmaids to wear the same dresses and shoes and have the same hair style, luckily for me they were all happy with this too. The bridesmaids' dresses came from an online store called Goddiva. They were floor length fit and flare style (the same as my dress) finished in cream chiffon. The dresses were modern but classic at the same time; the girls looked simply stunning on the day.

Hair and Make Up

My bridesmaids and I were very lucky to have a lovely make-up artist Holly Newman and hair stylist Jodie Connop. They both listened to our ideas and the results were just perfect. We wanted our make up to be elegant and not too heavy, Holly created this look for us effortlessly. We all had our hair up which was good as it was a little breezy for the photos. The bridesmaids had the same modern up do with added cream roses and pearly hair pins which set their hair off beautifully. My hair was a soft traditional elegant bridal style, just what I wanted. Jodie is very talented at what she does.

The Groom and Ushers

Dane had two Best Men and three Ushers on the day. The suits came from Bill Child Formal Wear in Hereford, they were extremely helpful throughout the whole process of choosing the suits. We chose navy blue suits, beige tweed waistcoats with wine ties and pocket squares. Dane wore a wine tie with cream spots with a matching pocket square. Later we discovered this was the same as his Dad had worn on his wedding day. We decided on wine for the men as it was difficult to match the gold's that the bridesmaids were wearing so thought the men should have a colour of their own and tied this in with the flowers in the Great Hall.

Ceremony

We chose The Edwardian Room for our ceremony it was intimate, light and perfect for us. We chose to have vases of candles lining the aisle with rose petals scattered along the edge of the aisle and cream chair sashes with cream satin bows, these were all supplied by Couture Events Hereford. We kept the colour scheme to just being cream to create an elegant and classic feel. We had beautiful vases of white lilies and eucalyptus in the windows and fireplace which made the room smell lovely. Dane's friend played the piano during the ceremony.

The Flowers

I was lucky that I had a friends that were able to do our wedding flowers, I showed them some ideas and left it in their capable hands and I can honestly say they were the most beautiful flowers, I cried on the morning of the wedding when I saw them. We kept the colours simple with creams and green foliage in the entrance, ceremony room, staircase and all the hallways. In the Great Hall we had pinks and reds with green foliage for the table centrepieces. All the flower arrangements were made up of lilies, rose and eucalyptus.

Our bouquets were made up of cream roses and the men also had cream rose buttonholes, as did our Mums' in their corsages.

Outside Seating and Welcome Drinks

Throughout the planning we always hoped that the weather would be kind to us to allow for welcome drinks and evening food to be had outside. On the Thursday before the big day, this was looking very doubtful and it rained solidly all day on the Friday but luckily for us the weather was just perfect for our special day. We set up numerous hay bales covered in blankets for seating and pallets for tables for the guests drinks. We were also lucky that one of Dane's friends offered to do magic for us during the welcome drinks and evening food, this was thoroughly enjoyed by all the guests.

Catering

Afternoon tea was our food of choice for our wedding breakfast and it didn't disappoint. Some would think it wasn't a filling meal but it just kept on coming. The food was served on my Mum's beautiful 3 tier china cake stands, all 30 of them alongside vintage cups and saucers also belonging to my Mum. The delicious afternoon tea was supplied by the wonderful Really Scrumptious, who were exceptionally helpful throughout the planning right up to the big day. We decided on fish & chips with sausages and curry sauce for our evening food which went down a treat served outside, this created a lovely evening atmosphere.

Singing Waiters

A big surprise of our day, especially for my groom, was The Undercover Artists - Singing Waiters. They were amazing, a complete talking point of the day and they definitely got the party started at 5:30pm! My groom and Dad were in total shock as one of the performers who had posed as a waiter throughout the reception, all of a sudden fell over and dropped a tray of cutlery in front of 70 guests and burst into song alongside another performer, with audience participation they were truly fabulous. The best but hardest secret my Mum and I had to keep throughout the planning.

Cake

We chose to have a less traditonal wedding cake. A 3 tier semi-naked cake, covered in buttercream with decoration of fresh fruit around each layer and cascading down the tiers. It was lovingly created for us by Flour Power, Leominster, it was exactly what we wanted and looked and tasted delicious.

Photography

The photos of our special day were very important to us, these were the memories that we would have forever. Our photographer was S&B Photography of Ludlow, Joe was extremely helpful and listened to all of our ideas. We wanted a mixture of posed and natural photos and he didn't disappoint. They are truly beautiful and tell the story of our special day perfectly, from wedding preparations in the morning all the way through to the dancing in the evening.

Great Hall Set Up

In the Great Hall alongside the the vintage china we had rose gold sequin table runners provided by Couture Events Hereford that matched the bridesmaids's dresses, votive candles with our names and wedding date on as favours and in the middle of each table sat a tall vase with a beautiful flower arrangement on the top. As you entered the Great Hall it really did take your breath away.

Decor

From the beginning of our planning we knew that we wanted the decor to be elegant and glamorous throughout the whole day, this would not have been possible without lots of help from my Mum and my bridesmaids with all their creative skills. This included wishing trees for the guests to give us advice and wishes for the future, wedding photos of our parents on their special days, a memorial for Dane's Dad who sadly wasn't with us on the day, photos of Dane and I growing up, jam jars and vases of beautiful flowers and candles in every available space.

Evening Entertainment

We knew from the beginning that we wanted our evening reception to be fun with great music and dancing that everyone would join in with. We had the perfect band in mind The Secret Cabaret, they are a four piece band singing songs from the 1950s to the present day, so something for everyone. They also did their own version of our first dance song, which was playing when Dane proposed which made our first dance even more special and personal to us. We were also able to hire a photo booth from the band which was great fun for all the guests.