Natalie & Damon’s Black Tie Summer Wedding at Notley Abbey

They got married on a beautiful July day at Notley Abbey, a home-from-home wedding venue in Oxfordshire. Their elegant, fine art aesthetic perfectly complemented their venue’s historic charm, resulting in a day with elevated style, relaxed atmosphere and oodles of dreamy wedding inspo for you lovely lot!

Natalie Says…

Notley Abbey was only our second venue viewing, we had just under a year to find a wedding venue and we fell instantly in love with Notley; the decor, and the history with a modern twist, it just suited our personalities perfectly. The grounds were stunning and so was the building itself, we could immediately visualise how we wanted our wedding to be. To find somewhere perfect straight away and within the time scale we had was really lucky.

My dress was Epico by Pronovias fromBridal Rogue Gallery, complete with appliqué adjustments and the shoes were from Monsoon. I wore a Tiffany & Co bracelet with Miss Dior perfume and the bridesmaids all wore navy silk dresses from Lipsy. Damon and his groomsmen’s tuxedos were purchased from Moss Bros, along with Ted Baker shoes and Tom Ford Ombré Leather perfume. The groom wore Montblanc cufflinks and the groomsman had personalised cuffs.

We wanted to keep the day very neutral in colour with a palette of whites and creams, which looked perfect with the rustic woodwork and the brick wall effect in the abbey. We wanted to keep it quite plain as the venue itself did most of the work styling our day. For the table plans we named them from places we have gone to as a couple over the years and put gold picture frames of us at the specific places. Each table also had tea light candles and tall vases with flowers in.

Our florist was  Bloomfields Flowers and they were amazing! They totally understood our theme and aesthetic, creating bouquets and displays using white and cream hydrangeas and roses.

We used Stephanie Almeida who did a stunning job on our wedding cake. It was white with a few floral details, each layer had a different sponge, Victoria sponge, red velvet and lemon drizzle and the whole cake was covered in buttercream.

The catering was provided by Notley Abbey, we had potted shrimp with bread and butter for starters, along with vegetarian options, the main course was slow cooked beef with fondant potatoes and mushrooms. Dessert was a delicious sticky toffee pudding. For the evening reception we had a mixture of burgers and bacon ciabattas and cheeses.

We hired Suzy Elizabeth Photography as our photographer on the day. What attracted us towards Suzy is that she was fond of and knew the venue well so already understood the layout and the grounds and where to get the best shots. That was the bonus, the first impression was her amazing work that we saw on her Instagram page. It was exactly the style we were looking for and she delivered even more than what we hoped for. Not only was her photography skills more than perfect, she was a lovely person to have around on the day; very organised, patient and professional.

Best part of the day

Of course the best part of the day was actually becoming husband and wife, but all round it would be near impossible to state what part of the day was best. Seeing all our friends and family enjoying themselves and being there to celebrate and support our love was probably our favourite part. But the sticky toffee pudding should also get a special mention! It really was the perfect day.

From one couple to another…

The only advice I can give is to just enjoy every second of the day and take in as much as you can, as you will miss the whole planning, the build-up, the tension and excitement of it when it’s over. Don’t stress too much and don’t panic because I can guarantee it will be the best day of your lives!