Jonathan and I were married on Saturday 13th
June 2015 at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Knowsley and held a reception afterwards
at Knowsley Hall.
We knew we wanted a traditional church wedding,
followed by a beautiful reception to celebrate with all our family and friends.
I’m a country girl at heart, so it was always going to be a country house venue
surrounded by beautiful grounds.
We looked at a few popular wedding venues across
Cheshire, but when we visited Knowsley Hall, we instantly fell under its spell.
Unlike hotel venues, it’s a real stately home still owned by Lord and Lady
Derby, complete with family portraits on the walls and old books in the
library. It was the fairytale; a place where time had been suspended and we
could live out the dream of a glorious country house wedding. There was no way
I was leaving without securing a date and we booked our wedding right there on
our first visit. It was a huge relief, to say the least, when we secured
Knowsley’s beautiful old parish church for our wedding ceremony. The stage was
set for the amazing wedding I had always dreamt of… now it was all about the
details.
I’d always adored the work of husband and wife
team Shaun and Lesley Meredith; their very romantic, glamorous style made me
sure that I didn’t want anyone else to do our photography. I rang them as soon
as we had set a date, and thankfully, Shaun was available to photograph our
day. Now it was all very real, and there was so much planning to do…!
Although there was no specifically chosen theme,
the Regency elegance of Knowsley Hall became a major influence across all
aspects of styling the wedding. The colour palette was ivory and the palest
blush pink with accents of metallic gold. Both the church and the venue were
decorated with fragrant, traditional flowers like roses, hydrangeas and lily of
the valley in white and pale pink.
I wanted the bouquets to be simple and naturally
beautiful, as if we were holding flowers that we had just gathered from the
garden. Because my favourite flowers are peonies, and because they are so
stunning by themselves, I wanted a peony bouquet for myself, and pure white
hydrangeas for the bridesmaids. The little girls carried posies of lily of the
valley and white freesias. I made the posies myself, and entrusted the large
bouquets to the very lovely and talented Justine at The Flower Room in Monton,
who did an amazing job.
I wasn’t sure what kind of dress I wanted, so I
went to a few different boutiques and tried on different styles, but nothing
really enchanted me. I was starting to think I’d never find my perfect gown,
until I went to Bridal Couture Italia and tried on an ivory Alfred Angelo gown.
It was different to anything else I’d seen; backless, but not strapless; lacy,
but modern; princess with an edge. I absolutely loved it; the only thing I was
unsure about were the plain spaghetti straps. That wasn’t a problem for the
team, however, and they customised the straps with applique and crystals which
made the dress perfect… I just couldn’t wait to wear it.
The groom, along with his attendants, was a
perfect Mr Darcy in a traditional tailcoat with a dove-grey satin
double-breasted waistcoat and a silk tie shot through with a pearl pin.
I loved the idea of decorating my own cake, but
not the idea of spending hours in the kitchen baking one! The perfect
compromise was to order a cake from M&S, and decorate it with my own silk
flowers, pearl garlands and gold ribbon.
I also ordered 100 cupcakes from M&S, which
were to be served to guests on arrival alongside the champagne and canapés. We
had some very young guests and I knew they wouldn’t be impressed with champagne
and smoked salmon blinis, so I packed a traditional picnic basket with
child-friendly drinks and snacks such as juice cartons, oat bars and mini
cheeses. There was also a picnic blanket and a few little toys and games. The
children sat on the lawn outside and had their own special picnic; it was just
perfect for them. Later, they enjoyed croquet and cricket (I am told that the
children’s cricket game went on until past 10pm!).
The dining room at Knowsley is incredibly special,
with countless beautiful paintings and an enormous gold chandelier. Styling the
tables in such a fabulous room was a daunting prospect, but I decided to follow
my heart and go with what I loved; in the end it looked amazing. Each table had
a large chandelier stacked with ivory candles and entwined with ivy, and round
the base of each candelabrum was a substantial wreath of blush and white
flowers. I named all the tables after Flower Fairies, because I loved Flower Fairies
when I was a little girl and my daughter Amelia loves them now. Our table was
named after the Snowdrop; my own favourite flower, because it always comes out
for my birthday in February!
Choosing our menu was not an easy task because
everything was so delicious. Jon still ranks the day we came to taste the menu
as one of the best days of his life! In the end we settled on roast beef, plus
a starter of trout, and to finish the amazing sticky toffee pudding, along with
wines to complement each course.
The evening reception was held in Knowsley’s most opulent
room, the stucco ballroom, which is a vision of gold and white. We didn’t want
the evening do to be an afterthought; it had to be just as amazing as the day,
so we had a brilliant DJ playing old-school 90’s dance tunes, preceded earlier
in the evening by the beautiful Bexi Owen, who sang vintage tracks in her own
very glamorous style. We also had “paparazzi” photographers to take pictures of
all the guests; not only did they make everyone feel like a celebrity, but we
now have all the great pictures to keep forever.
It’s a controversial issue, but yes I did change
my dress in the evening! My evening dress was a long, gold sequinned gown and I
felt incredible in it. Some people think it’s a no-no, but I think there is
only so much fun you can have in a formal princess-style dress, because you are
really quite restricted in it. In my gold gown I was free to party and dance
the night away!
I was incredibly fortunate to have found an
excellent venue and suppliers. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Knowsley Hall
to anyone. I’m grateful to Shaun Meredith for the beautiful pictures I get to
keep forever, and to Bridal Couture Italia for making my dress fit for a
princess- which is exactly what I felt like on the day. Bexi Owen, Premier
Paparazzi and The Flower Room Monton were amazing too.
