Derbyshire Wedding

simply splendid. a bespoke gown for a country wedding at calke abbey – jane & lee

Julia Braime

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (69)

Today’s real wedding couple chose their venue because it provided something that little different – and looking at their images, we can see why it ticked boxes.

Rustic and minimalist, with a modern edge, the white wash brick structure with beautiful exposed beams, does a lot of the talking for itself. Its

natural charm

was further enhanced by Lee and Jane with the use of lots of twinkling fairy lights, which draped elegantly across the ceiling.

Opting to keep things simple, they then just added a few simple decorative touches here and there in white gypsophila and rustic bird cages to complete their dream setting. It certainly gets the thumbs up from us.

Images by James Tracey Photography.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (8)

jane says:

We got engaged on 3rd July in the New Forest at a beautiful hotel called The Pig. It a beautiful sunny evening and the night before my 40th birthday, needless to say lots of champagne was consumed!

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (12)

We set the date for Friday 19th June as we’d always wanted an early summer wedding. Dates at our chosen venue, The Ridings School at Calke Abbey, Derby, were quite limited so rather than change the timing of it, we opted for a Friday.

We chose The Ridings School as it was a little different from your run-of-the-mill wedding venue and was something that we could put our own stamp on.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (19)

Overall we just wanted a relaxed wedding day with a country/rustic feel to it. We also wanted to involve as many friends as possible in the planning to make it more personal.

We decided to stick to a very simple colour scheme of green and white to complement the theme.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (26)

I chose to have a fairly traditional dress, which was made Charlotte Thompson Bridal. I picked elements of different dresses which I loved and she made me a bespoke gown which I absolutely loved!

On the wedding day Claire Elizabeth did my makeup. She used an airbrush technique, which meant it stayed on all day. My hair was done brilliantly by a good friend of mine.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (32)

Lee wore a suit from Ted Baker and the groomsmen’s suits were hired from Moss Bros. Our bridesmaids completed the wedding party in pretty dresses from Coast.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (47)

James Tracey was our fabulous photographer. We already knew him through friends and so we had seen his excellent work.  We booked him early on to make sure he was available on our day.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (49)

All the wedding flowers were sourced and arranged by my best friend and chief bridesmaid, Claudia. We had a mixture of simple gypsophila and green roses to fit the colour scheme.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (53)

We loved the giant ‘love’ letters that we had seen about so decided to hire some for the wedding, which looked great in the photos. We also had lots of fairy lights and some decorative bits and pieces on the table.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (58)

As favours we gave our guests personalised paper bags filled with heart-shaped sweets.

We had a beautiful wedding cake which was made by my mum and multi-talented friend, Claudia. Mum made the huge bottom tier and top tier, which were fruit cake, and Claudia made the middle tiers and iced it all. I loved it!

The rest of the food on the wedding day was taken care of by Black Peppermint and was absolutely delicious.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (63)

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (68)

To provide the entertainment we hired The Serious Hat Band. I had heard them before when I went to a party on the Isle of Wight. They were brilliant and kept the dance floor full all night long.

We also made our own photo booth by hiring a large frame so guests could have their photos taking whilst posing in it using a Polaroid camera. They were then asked to stick a photo in our guest book to provide memories of the day.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (74)

We would most definitely recommend our wedding venue to other couples. It’s a lot different to other venues and the staff there are brilliant. It has a great feel to it!

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (80)

Looking back we couldn’t pick a favourite part of the day as we loved all of it! We didn’t stop smiling!

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (85)

For our honeymoon we went to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and then stopped off at Dubai on the way home to see some friends. It was the perfect combination of destinations and we would recommend them to other couples in search of honeymoon ideas.

An Elegant Wedding at Calke Abbey (c) James Tracey Photography (98)

My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to organise the big things early on and then you can really enjoy the run up to the wedding. Also, take some time out on the wedding day to spend with your new husband.

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