Among all the colour and celebrations were some incredibly special details too. Lauren wore a bow made from her late mum’s wedding dress, embroidered with her handwriting. Throw in surprise ring bearers, pie and mash, plenty of dancing and a second day together in Pennard House’s Secret Garden, and you’ve got one heck of a party.
When we first arrived at Pennard House, Lucy sat down with us and took time to get to know us as a couple before showing us around. We loved that she listened and discussed ideas about how we could make Pennard House reflect us. This personal touch helped us picture how amazing our day could be there. We also loved the different locations at the venue and that there is no waiting around for rooms to be turned around, as seen at other venues. Each location is so picturesque that we loved how it looked and felt so “us.” We couldn’t decide whether we wanted a barn or manor house venue and felt that Pennard House gave us the best of both worlds.
We also loved the ‘Secret Garden’ and the idea of using it to extend our day to two days, with paella out on the lawn to help nurse our hangovers and reflect on the day. We also loved that we could have plenty of guests to stay. This meant that after carriages at midnight, we could continue the party in the main house together, and it felt like a giant sleepover!
When we left after our viewing, we looked at each other and just knew it was the perfect venue.
My dress is from Waxflower Bridal, designed by Suzanne Neville. I knew I wanted a classic and elegant design, and it was the first one I picked and tried on!
The bow in my hair is from my Mum’s wedding dress. She passed away when I was 16, and so I wanted to have something of hers with me on my wedding day. My friend embroidered some words from my mum in her handwriting onto the bow in blue thread so that it was my something old and something blue.
I can be so fussy with my hair, but Maria was super helpful, friendly and did a fantastic job. It felt like having another bridesmaid with us. Elle Hitchens did the bridal party’s make-up. I couldn’t recommend her enough, as she listened to what everyone wanted and hit the brief perfectly.
My favourite colour is pink, and we have lots of green in our house, so we decided that pink and green would be our colour scheme. We wanted our day to really reflect us, so we wanted it to be fun, bright, and colourful! We did the flowers ourselves. We got the flowers from Common Farm Flowers, who were so lovely and helpful.
We originally were not going to have a cake, but we love Anna’s and their macarons, so a macaron tower was a no-brainer.
The food at Pennard was amazing, and Denise was great with suggestions and catering to a range of needs. One guest even emailed them to ask for the recipe for their chicken bites, as they were that good! We wanted laid-back food, and the pie and mash was perfect and tasted outstanding!
Heather and her husband Moses photographed and filmed the day. We don’t like having our photos taken at the best of times, but they put us at ease and did a great job of capturing the day. They were so lovely and friendly that it made it fun! We love watching the video back, as it really sums up the day.
I loved the ceremony as we had it outside in the beautiful sunshine and had surprise ring bearers! (The rings were hidden under the chairs so no one knew who it would be!) Jack’s favourite part was the reception, where we chatted and danced with our favourite people.
Do what exactly you want – it is your day, and celebrate it how you want. Our day felt very ‘us’ because we did exactly what we wanted and didn’t necessarily follow traditions or what other people would have liked.
Venue Pennard House
Photography Heather Winstanley Photography
Bridal Boutique Waxflower Bridal
Bridal Designer Suzanne Neville
Hair Maria Gale
Makeup Elle Hitchens
Macaron Tower Anna Cake Couture
Based on a weekday wedding in April.