Spring has sprung for today’s wedding at the beautiful Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire, where today’s couple tied the knot and partied well into the night – German Oompah style!
Charlotte and James fell for historical Doddington at first sight, and celebrated throughout their day in various different locations around the venue, making full use of the exclusive hire and adding a church blessing after their own vows had been read in the Long Gallery.
With personal touches aplenty, we see evidence of the bride’s love of books, references to their travels around the world and numerous nods to their love of craft beer. And yes, there’s even that German Oompah band to pay homage to their time spent living abroad and to make their German friends feel at home. Let yourself be inspired by our couple and all of the many ways you can make your big day truly yours.
With photography by Jasmine Cottage Studio
Proposal
We got engaged just after midnight on the 4th of September 2019, on one of the balconies of the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain. There was nobody else around and the palace and canals were beautifully lit up. It was lovely!
Setting
We got married on Saturday the 22nd of May 2022, after postponing from the same weekend in 2021 due to COVID. We both love spring and the date falls around our original anniversary.
We had our service in the Long Gallery of Doddington Hall, in Lincolnshire. The room blew us away on first viewing, it felt grand yet intimate, with beautiful furnishings. We wrote our own vows, which was important to us. Then the whole wedding party then made the short walk to St Peter’s Church in the grounds of the Hall, where we had a short blessing ceremony.
Our reception followed in the Elizabethan Coach House at Doddington, with a private garden area which was at that time still adorned with wisteria.
It was the perfect venue because it enabled us to have the Civil Ceremony we wanted while also having the traditional element provided by the church blessing and hymns.
We loved the historical nature of Doddington and the fact that it’s close to our home in Lincoln, so we can revisit and reminisce.
Theme
We opted for sage green and peach tones to tie in with spring, while our flowers added pops of bright corals, ivories and maroon.
We kept everything quite personalised and tried to bring in references to our time together and our interests throughout the day. We met studying History and German at the University of Sheffield, so the historical setting made reference to that, while the German Oompah band in the evening reception paid homage to our time living abroad and our university friends who were there to celebrate with us.
We love to travel and James in particular is a big fan of ales and craft beer, so we combined the two by naming our tables after our favourite beers from our favourite cities on our travels. E.g. Casablanca for Morocco, Cusqueña for Peru, Saigon for Vietnam, Smoky Mountain for the USA and Sapporo for Japan. We also decorated the reception venue with hops. I’m a big lover of books, so we included little stacks of ornate books by the cake and other displays.
Dress
My dress was a Maggie Sottero with a champagne underlayer covered in white floral lace and beading. With my paler skin tone and red hair, I wanted a warmth to the dress and something a little different.
I got it from Nora Eve Bridal in Chesterfield and had the alterations done by Rachel Bull of Libertine, Derby. She was incredible and really made the dress feel like my dress. My original plan was to go for a more boho-style with sleeves but I ended up going for a form-fitting dress with thin straps, after realising quickly that what I thought I wanted didn’t suit me at all!
Groomsmen
James and the groomsmen looked so smart in their three piece navy suits from Cavani at Coneys in Lincoln. James broke his thumb six weeks before the wedding and had a cast up to his elbow until the week of, so we were very lucky he could actually even wear the suit as planned! The groomsmen wore the same as James, although he had a more elaborate button hole to distinguish him as the groom.
Bridesmaids
The bridesmaids dresses were from ASOS’ own range. Two wore a halter style and two wore a v-neck with loose capped sleeves. The two designs shared the same fabric and waterfall effect at the front which brought it all together beautifully.
I got them necklaces with pendants of the first letter of their names from Abbott Lyon, to wear on the day too.
Beauty
Estera of Kokoshka Makeup and Chloe of Cabello at CCs Wedding & Updo Hairstylists. They’re both Lincoln based.
Transport
I was on site already, in the bridal suite accommodation at Doddington, which was ideal because it includes a couple more bedrooms in the same complex, for my chief bridesmaids, my sister Ellie and best friend Lizzy, as well as a kitchen and lounge area where we could all gather.
My Uncle Tim, my late dad Chris’ brother, drove me and my mum around from accommodation to the hall. He took his job very seriously and wore a chauffeur hat and gloves! My mum’s brother, my Uncle Richard, drove the bridesmaids. Both cars had been decorated with ribbons!
Photographer
Lindsay Isham of the Jasmine Cottage Studio was our photographer and I would absolutely recommend her to everyone. Not only did she produce the most beautiful photographs, but her service and communication throughout the whole process was incredible. Our guests loved her, she had the right mix of being friendly and approachable, but was also assertive enough to get everyone in place perfectly and ensured we got the most from the day – a seamless operation! I think people can underestimate the importance of having a photographer who is kind and warm, as well as talented in their craft. They’re with you all day!
Videographer
George Hughes Films joined us and captured our day on video, with the support of Chloe Gels Photo and Video. The resulting highlights video was so cleverly done, he really captured our personalities and the emotion of the day as well as the beauty of the venue and its gardens.
Styling
Nicola Hughes (who also happens to be our videographer George’s mum and a family friend!) of Nicola Hughes Floral Design did our flowers. She was incredible! We gave her a few ideas to run with and she came up with a blend of peonies, small roses, foliage like eucalyptus, dried flowers, and other different textures and pops of colour which came together beautifully.
My bouquet had larger coral peonies to make it slightly different to the bridesmaids’. We also added a locket with a picture of my late dad and I in it, so that he was with me as I walked down the aisle.
Nicola also created button holes for the groomsmen and corsages for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom. We had a combination of dried and fresh flowers in different sized vases and clay ginger beer bottles across the tables and display areas. The flowers also featured on the cake.
She also created the beautiful hop rings which hung above our tables, by using hula hoops, fairy lights and the hops we ordered from Essentially Hops. Family and friends all chipped in to help this all get set up – we had a lot of flowers in the service and reception!
Our stationery and signage on the day was created by Nicola of Quill and Co – she was incredible! She created the bespoke hop design for our invites and welcome signage, as well as the table names, place cards and running order of the day. She does all her calligraphy by hand and uses traditional press printing methods.
Save the Date Events Stylists provided the table runners, candle holders and lots of the little details of the day. I loved the Brides Up North supplier search tools and also the real wedding features for inspiration.
Favours
We gave charity scratch cards which raised money for St Barnabas Hospice in Lincoln.
Cake
We went for a trio of desserts and had a three tier cake with vanilla buttercream. The layers were sticky toffee pudding, cherry bakewell, and apple crumble. We had a waterfall of wedding flowers across the front to decorate it. The cakes were provided by Lily Rose Cakes and Catering.
Dining
Part of the appeal of Doddington was the food! They have their own farm on site and vegetable gardens, so much of the food served was grown there.
The service was exquisite and they were really flexible with menu options. We opted for a seated three course meal. Our guests had two options for each course to choose from, as well as a vegetarian/vegan alternative.
We had the pleasure of attending a menu tasting evening prior to the wedding with other couples getting married there that year, which was a lovely touch.
Entertainment
Our service was accompanied by Bethany Morris, a talented cellist. I walked down the aisle to the instrumental version of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”, a song loved by my dad. We walked out to “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra, one of our favourites.
The evening entertainment was provided by the amazing Yorkshire Oompah Band, who really got our guests into the party spirit. They played a mix of traditional German songs (involving some dance routines they taught us) and their own spin on some more modern pop songs. The evening finished with a disco, which people did not want to end and therefore broke into a series of acapella tunes at the end in protest.
Special touches
There were lots of special touches for us. We had a ladder featuring photos from our grandparents’ and parents’ wedding days, Black Sheep was being served, which was my dad’s favourite beer and we personalised our vows. I made a speech and so did my mum, as well as James and his brothers’ as best men. My mum also walked me down the aisle.
We had collection buckets for Macmillan Cancer Support too, because it’s a charity close to our hearts after their nurses have helped numerous loved ones.
Thanks to
Justine and Andy, and their whole team at Doddington, were brilliant. They kept me calm before walking down the aisle, ran a seamless operation in getting our guests across to each location, and made sure James and I were able to have a breather and some time to ourselves too. They took care of everything, we didn’t have to worry about anything on the day, and really made us feel like our wedding was super important. Plus the food and accommodation were spot on.
In fact, all of our suppliers were incredible – I’d like to especially thank Lindsay, our photographer, as well as Nicola Hughes Floral Design and Nicola of Quill and Co. Those three in particular made the day as beautiful and memorable as it was.
Best bit
When everyone stood around the tables before the wedding breakfast in the Coach House, clapping and cheering for us. I’ve never felt so overwhelmed with joy and love – I felt like the luckiest person in the world.
Also, later in the evening, everyone created a circle and sang to Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol arm in arm, and James and I slow-danced in the middle. Totally spontaneous and wonderful. I’ll never forget it!
Honeymoon
We had a short break in Madeira straight after the wedding, which was ideal to reflect on the day, remind ourselves of the details and things we found out from guests afterwards. Then five months later, we had a two week trip to Bali which many of our guests helped to fund as our wedding gift. It was the trip of a lifetime, we swam with turtles in the Gili Isles and loved exploring the areas around Ubud on Bali mainland.
Advice
I think it’s easy to overthink a lot of the details around your wedding day but ultimately it’s not about it being “perfect” or filtered, it’s about you and your partner celebrating the love you share. All the extras are a bonus, so try to drown out the noise of other people’s views, social media etc and focus on you two. What will make you truly happy on the day?
