Uncategorized

naturally elegant. an english country garden style wedding at woodhill hall – emma & patrick

Rachel Hirst

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (37)

For us there’s nothing better than a bright, breezy & beautiful wedding which is why we love this afternoon’s pretty celebrations so much.

Deciding on an elegant English country garden theme for her big day, bride Emma set about picking seasonal blooms and hand-making lots of dainty décor that would set the feel of the day perfectly.

Girl, we think you hit the nail on the head! Cue soft, pastel colours,

dreamy styling

and lots of fabulous flowers…

With images by Eve Photography and video by Brides Up North Featured Supplier, Silver Sixpence Films.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (50)

emma says:

We got engaged in September 2013, when we had been together eight months. Patrick told me he was going to take me away as an early birthday present, I had no idea where we were going but presumed somewhere in the UK. The morning we were travelling I was woken up with a wrapped gift which was a travel guide to Venice! When we arrived we found a lovely Italian pizzeria for some dinner then we had a slow wander along the canals back towards our hotel and this is when I started to suspect a little as Patrick became nervous and very aware of his surroundings. He walked me onto the bridge that goes over the Grand Canal and when no one else was around he dropped to one knee and asked me if I would do him the honour of being his wife! It was all very romantic and unexpected. I couldn’t have planned a proposal more perfect.

We chose 16th September 2015, as our wedding date as we felt two years was a good amount of time to both plan and save for the wedding we wanted. It was also close to the date that we got engaged.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (44)

We got married at Woodhill Hall, Northumberland. There was something about the venue that drew us in from when we first saw it on the internet and as soon as we saw it in person we just knew it was for us. The location speaks for itself with breath-taking views and the venue is so quirky with its fantastic interiors. We wanted a small, intimate wedding and loved that all our guests could stay in one place with us. The majority of our guests (and us included) were travelling from over 300 miles away so it was important that we could provide the accommodation for them. We felt that Woodhill Hall was somewhere worth travelling all that way for.

Patrick and Emma from Silver Sixpence Films on Vimeo.

We went for what I would call an ‘English Country Garden’ look for the theme – the flowers especially were key to this. I just felt like there needed to be flowers everywhere in jars which I’d hand decorated with ribbon, lace and twine. It’s a look I’ve always had in my head as how I would envisage our wedding to be and thankfully Patrick completely agreed and wanted the same things.

We chose pastel pink and a very light pink as our main colour scheme and duck egg blue as an accent colour, which came from a photograph I’d found on Pinterest.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (5)

I got my dress from Isabella Grace Bridal in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, after seeing it online. The bridal shop was 50 miles from where I live but I knew I had to try it on. Many people say they end up with something completely different to what they expected but I knew the Posey (496) in Peony by Martina Liana would be the dress for me. It’s the palest of blush pink colours which just made it even more special as it’s different to everything else and the organza over silk skirt just flowed beautifully. The floral layered lace bodice was perfect for me as I didn’t want anything fussy or sparkly. I picked my dress only two months after getting engaged and at no point did I ever question my choice.

The hair piece I wore with my dress was handmade by Rosie Weisencrantz. She takes vintage and antique materials and makes them into the most beautiful hairbands, something I’ll treasure forever. My hair was styled by Kara Scott who managed to make me look like I had a ton of hair when in reality it was a chin-length bob and my makeup was done by Kitty Kerry who somehow made my makeup not only look amazing but it stayed that way all day. Both absolute stars and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (10)

Patrick wore a tailor made three-piece suit from Saville Row tailors Cad & The Dandy, with a Ted Baker shirt and a Reiss tie. His shoes were from Aldo. We both kept our whole outfits a secret from each other before the big day so his look was a complete surprise for me too – I can’t put into words how amazing he looked!

We chose not to have bridesmaids/groomsmen but opted for two page boys and two flower girls. The boys were in shirts and chinos from Next while the girls’ dresses were by Yumi from Debenhams with cardigans from Next to pop on when they got chilly. We wanted to keep things relatively informal and so had them all in Vans trainers.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (11)

Our photographer, Charlotte of Eve Photography, was amazing. We could not rave about her enough. From when we first met her it felt like we were meeting a friend for coffee and that has remained constant throughout. On the day itself guests commented how lovely she was. We felt completely at ease in front of her. When we received our final photographs through we could not have been happier, they were everything we had hoped they would be and more. Charlotte’s style is very soft and natural which we absolutely love and we feel like she totally captured the feel of our day.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (24)

Our floral arrangements were created by the very talented Elaine at Pure Ground. From the first emails we exchanged I just knew she understood my vision for the day, she went above and beyond. I was blown away by what I saw, she took the jars and bottles that I’d hand decorated and in each one was a unique arrangement. She’d brought my English Country Garden vision to life.

For my bouquet I wanted it to be quite large but not too structured, I’d had my heart set on peonies but being out of season was told that the chance of decent quality ones in September was highly unlikely so I had a mixture of David Austin Keira roses, muscari, nigella, astilbe, freesia, astrantia and silk sweet peas (also not in season but very important to me as my grandparents used to grow them in their garden). On the day when I saw my bouquet for the first time I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was, and even more surprised to see that Elaine had managed to source peonies for me. It made the bouquet that bit more special for me. The flowers were such a massive part of the whole look of our day and we received so many compliments on how fantastic they were. I was just so sad that I couldn’t take them all home with me and keep them forever.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (25)

I made most of the decorations for the venue, it’s something I love to do and whilst at times it was stressful, I was so pleased with the overall look that it made it all worth it. We held the entire wedding day in The Orangery as it has such stunning views. The day before the wedding, Patrick and I along with my mum and brother sat making an abundance of tissue paper pom poms which were hung from The Orangery ceiling. As the flowers were the main focal point it was important to me that all the jam jars and bottles were decorated individually. My mum also helped to source some original blue Mason jars from America. The ribbons hanging from the backs of the chairs were one of the first things we decided on, and after cutting up 360m of ribbon we were very glad we had a small wedding!

In the dining room we set up large light up letters which we’d hired from Coco Luminaire which looked so striking as people walked through from The Orangery to the bar.

I handmade the guests’ place names which matched the stationery we’d used for the invitations and save the dates which I’d also made. The welcome sign and table plan were joint efforts between us with Patrick doing all the painting and ‘upcycling’ of an old wooden fireguard that his parents donated to us. I was then let loose with a chalkboard marker and a Dymo label maker. The welcome sign now has pride of place in our living room to remind us of our special day.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (30)

We had a sweetie table rather than specific favours and we also sent each couple home with some of the flowers rather than seeing them go to waste.

Our cake was made by The Master Cakesmith, we went for three tiers of chocolate sponge and caramel, chocolate sponge and whipped ganache – and for those who don’t love chocolate like we do – a vanilla sponge! It tasted incredible and looked amazing. We weren’t too fussy as to its final design, we just wanted something in our accent colour with some of the incredible sugar flowers that Dawn creates in pink.

Neither of us are massive foodies so we chose options for our wedding breakfast that we hoped most people would like, having a tomato and basil soup to start followed by the most delicious beef main course. For dessert we had a Bailey’s cheesecake. The chefs at Woodhill Hall really are brilliant, we couldn’t fault them.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (29)

We decided to go down the DIY route with our evening entertainment and hired a speaker system from Ingram Sounds. When we sent out our invitations we asked that people list five songs on their RSVP that they would want played at the reception – we felt this worked for us as it took the pressure off of us to come up with a whole evening’s music, and it meant that people would get to hear music they liked. It also meant that we did have an element of control over certain “typical” wedding songs not being played!

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (27)

One of our best decisions was to have our wedding filmed. In the beginning we were very against the idea, not being particularly in love with even having our photo taken, we weren’t very taken with the thought of adding a video camera into the mix. Then with around a year to go something changed. We’d seen a couple of videos we liked and then we came across Silver Sixpence Films – their work was exactly what we were looking for. In terms of style it’s very similar to what Charlotte does with her photography and that’s what we fell in love with. We met the husband and wife team, Ed & Penny, for the first time in person on the wedding day itself which wasn’t an issue at all. They were both very friendly and easy to talk to, they put us both at ease and during the day itself you didn’t feel like you were being followed around by someone with a camera. They felt like two more guests at our wedding! The work they’ve produced was everything we had hoped for and more, it gives me goosebumps when I watch it. I’m so thankful that we changed our mind and opted to get a videographer; I know our wedding film is something we will truly treasure for years to come.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (34)

After our big day we would recommend Woodhill Hall to other couples based on its stunning location and the building itself as it has been quirkily restored to a high standard.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (46)

For both Patrick and I the ceremony was definitely our favourite part. To finally be there saying those vows just felt incredible and I’ve never felt happier, I don’t think I stopped smiling. To have the people most important to us there to share it with us meant so much.

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (54)

The day after the wedding we spent a night at the Hotel du Vin in Newcastle, we have come to love Newcastle after quite a few trips there whilst wedding planning so it was only right that our minimoon started there. The following day we started a week’s stay at The Old Paper Mill Cottage in County Durham which we found through Coastal & Country Retreats. It was so lovely and the perfect base for exploring Northumberland and County Durham. Next year we’re off to Disney World for three weeks for our ‘proper’ honeymoon!

An English Country Garden Wedding at Woodhill Hall (c) Eve Photography (42)

My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to confirm everything with your venue – times, suppliers, what they will/won’t do etc. It will prevent any confusion/stress on the day.

the big picture

join the northern revolution

Would you like to see your real wedding, love story, styled shoot, forthcoming event or wedding business featured on Loved Up North? Contact Loved Up North for real wedding and features submissions or details of our sponsorship packages.

Contact us to be featured on Loved Up North

have your say

Your email is never shared. Required fields are marked *