Alice & Matt: An October Wedding at Gulliver’s Hall with a Seasonal Feast and S’mores

Their October celebration unfolded across the house, with guests staying on site and the hall used throughout for the ceremony, feast, and dance floor, all in one spectacular setting. Bagpipes echoed as Alice walked in, long tables of food were shared between friends, and later, marshmallows were toasted over the fire. They even kicked off the festivities with an entrance to Praise You, which had everyone – grandparents included – on their feet.

After struggling to find the right venue in London, we cast our search a little wider. Gulliver’s Hall was the first and only countryside venue we visited, and from the moment we drove down to the house on that crisp autumn day with those black cows grazing on the fields, we suspected it was something special. The owner welcomed us with buttery flapjacks, so we were already melting into Gulliver’s Hall. The grounds looked over rolling hills, the house was bursting with character, and the hall felt grand yet intimate. The whole place felt ancient somehow, and we knew it was the perfect place for the elegant wedding we imagined.

Gulliver’s Hall was our Goldilocks venue; not too big, not too small. If you want a warm and unpretentious wedding, Gulliver’s is perfect. We had 70 guests and used the main space for our ceremony, feast, and dance floor – all three worked brilliantly. The fact that you can stay there with your 20 or so closest family and friends over the weekend was also heaven. You can feel calm knowing you don’t need to travel anywhere for the celebrations.
 

Matt is part Scottish, so we had a bagpiper to play on the day, playing as our guests arrived and as I walked down the aisle. He played “Highland Cathedral,” a very special song for the Haig family. I felt the music vibrate through me as I walked down to Matt, waiting for me at the altar, a moment I will never forget.

My Opa lives in California, so around the fire that evening, we laid out everything for our guests to make s’mores, just like I had at the beach club growing up. Our guests were sipping Matt Mule cocktails and roasting marshmallows deep into the night.

The flexibility at Gulliver’s came in many shapes and sizes. We were able to design the day and the spaces entirely on our terms. The owner put us in touch with some wonderful local, talented suppliers, including our florist, Amy.

Planning our food with the Gulliver’s Hall resident chef, Ian, from The Family Meal, was so much fun. We always knew we wanted the food to be abundant and memorable; gorgeous seasonal ingredients, cooking over the fire, all on big sharing platters for our guests to feast on. No one was going to leave hungry. We had a whole weekend of feasting to orchestrate, so it required careful planning, and Ian was very patient in the process. Some of our favourite dishes were the slow-cooked lamb over the fire with salsa verde and the gruyere gratin at our wedding feast; the late-night Swiss cheese toasties on the dance floor; and the pancake station and bloody mary bar at our recovery breakfast the next day.

Our cake designer, Toria Sefton Cakes, made the most exquisite egg-free tiramisu cake to accommodate Matt’s allergy, which was the most delicious cake we’ve ever tasted.

We took a while choosing our walk-in song for the feast, and we landed on Praise You, by Fatboy Slim. We asked our best men and maids of honour to get everyone dancing, thinking it would be fun, but we had no idea how electric it would be. We came in, and everyone was whipping their napkins and dancing; even our grandparents were up, whooping for the entire song. After the buildup of the day, it felt so good to have everyone in one room come together. There was an abundance of joy and love in the room at that moment. We will remember it forever.

Once we danced our way into the transformed feasting hall, we took our seats. By flickering candlelight, all the people we love most in the world were in one room. Wine was being poured, and food started parading out of the kitchen. After so much adrenaline in the months leading up, Matt and I squeezed each other’s hands, seeing our wedding in full swing, more beautiful than we’d ever dreamed.

We will never forget our wedding in the Cotswolds. People travelled far and wide to be there, and it was such an honour to celebrate together. The last thing we wanted was a cookie-cutter wedding. All the wait staff and bar staff were friends of Gulliver’s, which made it feel so intimate. We even got Chef Ian dancing after a big weekend of cooking, which was very special.