A Magical Christmas Wedding at Hawkstone Hall

Holly and Declan’s magical winter wedding at Hawkstone Hall had roses in abundance, in both style and sentiment. We could probably all take a little more time to ‘smell the roses‘ and recognise the daily moments that bring us joy, which is why this is such a lovely, simple piece of advice from the father of the bride, passed down from his father-in-law on his wedding day.

Hawkstone Hall is a sublime country house wedding venue in Shropshire and quite frankly the perfect setting for this gorgeous Christmas celebration. I’m not sure I’ve seen a wedding with quite so many personalised details and thoughtful touches; from the bride and groom’s very own logo (inspired!), to their custom cocktails and elegant colour palette which was woven throughout. Absolutely nothing has been missed here so if it’s a luxurious, black tie winter wedding you’re planning for, get scrolling!

Holly says…

We fell in love with Hawkstone Hall as soon as we saw it. We wanted the wow factor, a venue very grand and luxurious, that also felt fresh and up to date and would work with our neutral colour palette. We love how there are rooms for each occasion throughout the day, so our guests are constantly wowed and experiencing new surprises!

My wedding dress from Ronald Joyce was extremely sparkly with hidden surprises that tied in perfectly with our Christmas wedding theme, complemented with silver, sparkly accessories. To finish the look I went for a soft colour palette with shimmery eyeshadow for my makeup and I had two hair styles on the day; I started the day with a curly updo complete with sparkly hair vine and later changed to a curly half-up / half-down style, scattered with clusters of pearls.

Our bridesmaids wore dusky pink wrap around dresses, with a sparkly belt, dusky pink heels and matching sparkly accessories (shawl wrap, jewellery & hair slides). Declan had a bespoke tuxedo made with custom lining (Bugsy Malone theme), with little nods to the pink of the bridesmaids’ dresses. His shirt had custom initials and inside the jacket was personalised with the wedding date and our names. As we had a black tie wedding the groomsmen and even the page boy all wore three-piece black tuxedos, paired with white handkerchiefs and black bow ties. We also let our guests know about the dress code so that the men would wear black tie only.

The colour scheme for the day and venue decor was white, dusky pink and gold with little touches of green. This was reflected in the balloon clusters in the Winter Garden, the florals, stationery and table decor.

For the ceremony we adorned the Chapel in flowers and foliage including two big urns either side of the chapel doorway, filled with large floral arrangements and trailing foliage and candles and petals which lined the path from the stairway up to the aisle. Petals, candles and large floor floral arrangements also lined the aisle, complemented by blossom trees and large floral arrangements on clear glass plinths, with hanging candles and crystal droppers.

The Ballroom had lots of beautiful, custom signage and stationery, with a large table plan on entry to the Ballroom (dusky pink, with acrylic gold writing), whilst each table had matching table number signage and gold menus. All of the tables contained either a large floral arrangement with crystal droppers and hanging candles or gold sparkly candelabras, with a floral arrangement at the bottom of the candelabras and a variety of candles.

The tables were named after a place we had visited, each had a photo of us in the place! We also included instructions for a game for guests to play and a disposable camera that was needed for the game which kept everyone busy!

When it came to cocktail hour in the Saloon we wanted the experience to be personalised for our special day so we served custom cocktails containing our wedding day logo. The bar set up also had dry ice which created a atmospheric, smokey effect and was covered in white roses to match my bouquet.

Edwina Lowe from Dusky Blooms looked after our florals, which we wanted to create an impact throughout the day. My bouquet was a perfect bouquet of all white roses, whilst our bridesmaids had dusky pink and Declan’s buttonhole was a single white rose with a pearl clip to match mine. The groomsmen had a single dusky pink rose to match the bridesmaids.

“Being Holly’s favourite flowers, roses were at the heart of the florals throughout the day; from the perfect dome of white roses she carried to the full flower arch in the chapel.”
—Edwina Lowe, owner of Dusky Blooms

The cake was created by the Declan’s mother Jacqui, it was a four-tiered cake including red velvet, lemon drizzle and fruitcake, adorned with flowers and petals made out icing and contained a sign with our initials. On top of the evening food, we also had a sweet and dessert station, which included a doughnut wall, pick and mix stand, tiered profiterole display and selection of mini desserts.

We first came across Aline Reis Photography when Hawkstone reposted a clip of a previous wedding she had done, which we absolutely loved. We wanted a photographer who knew the venue, so was well versed in where the best spots were and loved that her photos were very natural and captured special moments of all of the family not just focusing purely on us. We loved working with Aline, her husband and whole team on the day and we are absolutely delighted by the photos and videos we have received.

Best part of the day

Holly: There were a few special moments I will treasure forever. I will always remember seeing my dad for the first time in my dress, it was so incredibly touching! Seeing Dec standing at the end of the aisle made me so incredibly happy, it immediately put me at ease and it felt like we were the only people in the room in that moment – he looked so handsome. I was also so blown away by the special surprise my parents had planned for us in the Chapel – they recreated the wedding scene from Love Actually, even down to the electric guitarist, band and small choir popping up. It made us both tear up. Finally, the little tribute Dec had done in honour of my grandparents who have sadly passed – he had their names engraved on his shirt cuffs. His thoughtfulness is one of the many reasons I love him.

Declan: The best part of the day was marrying my best friend. I loved getting ready with my boys and enjoyed being surrounded with our closest friends and family.

From one couple to another…

Relax and enjoy every single second. The day will be over in a flash, so capture every moment.