Ruth & Rohan: A Serendipitous Wedding Day at Berwick Lodge

Roh proposed at Berwick Lodge in July 2022. We initially considered getting married in St. Lucia, but as a few of our family members could not take the long flight, we decided to look in the UK. Rohan said, “What about Berwick? We loved it there. The people were so nice, and the food was great.” We didn’t even bother viewing anywhere else; it’s like when you meet ‘the one’—you just know.

Berwick held an emotional connection, so it would’ve been a challenge for another venue to trump that, but the three most important things were the people; you can book any venue, but the people inside will make your day. The food: we loved how Berwick could create a stunning a la carte dish with quality ingredients, all made with love – our family are foodies, and we knew they would have high expectations. And last of all, the vibe; call me weird, but even the most beautiful places can give off an odd energy, but that was not the case at Berwick. You could feel the love sowed into every inch of the place, from how the team felt working there, the attention to detail in the grounds, to the naming of the rooms; Berwick feels warm, like it holds the essence of love in all its guises.

I had the nightmare wedding dress story! I was scammed. It’s a long story, but I left it really late to order a dress and fell victim to a wedding dress scammer (yes, I went into a bridal shop and tried on the dress!). Ultimately, I bought my dress from Wed2B; they were lovely and saved the day. The team recommended I alter the dress with Dawn Bird, who stepped in as my other wedding angel; she was just so kind and fitted me to her already booked diary; just amazing.

Rohan’s Grandad received his British Citizenship as a tailor on Savile Row; he used to amend clothes for all the stars, politicians, and royalty, including many alterations for Queen Elizabeth. Though he passed away some time ago, we had hoped Rohan could have worn one of his suits. But in the end, his journey was straightforward and hassle-free—a Marc Darcy suit bought online with no tailoring needed. So weirdly, neither of us got the ‘dream’ dress or suit, but you know, it really doesn’t matter.

We wanted to bring the outside in, inspired by wild and whimsical English meadow flowers—bright and bold colours. For the table plan, we rented simple gold candle holders with all different colour tapered candles with our flowers. Then, let the flowers and favours do the rest. For favours, Rohan and I handmade these vintage teacup candles with dried flowers, the scent was St. Lucian coconut and vanilla, a little nod to our initial Caribbean dream. We coordinated the wedding invites, name cards, menus, and table names—simple hammered cotton, rough edge style, simple, elegant.

Our florist was The Rambling Rose, and Hannah was amazing. We wanted the decor to focus on the seasonal flowers on the grounds. The bouquets included snapdragons, dahlias, roses, scabious, peonies, stocks, solidago, and other wild and complementary flowers and foliage. We also gifted our flowers (to be used as clippings) to Berwick’s Groundskeeper, Robert, so they have a permanent home there.

We had Roh’s favourite red velvet cake for all three tiers! Lovingly made by Harriet at Not Just Cake. The cake had a simple semi-naked buttercream and was decorated with real flowers from The Rambling Rose. To top it, we had a little personalised ‘Rohan & Ruth’ peg.

Everyone raved about the food, which was our biggest win. Food is love and a big part of Rohan’s family culture, so it was really important to serve something hearty, filling, and yummy. Our favourite dish had to be the chicken!

A few weeks before the wedding, we were listening to our harpist’s, Scarlett Smith, new tracks. ‘Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros’ was on there, and I could see Rohan getting a little emotional. It’s his favourite song and holds some deep meaning for him, so I knew I had to reach out to Scarlett and change it at the last minute as a surprise for him. It was my favourite moment of the whole day.

My Dad’s speech was also amazing. Our best man had a tough job to follow but did so well, and I loved Roh’s speech about our favourite Modern Family episode.

It’s amazing to have all your favourite people in the same place. We just felt so much love—the happiest day of our lives.

“There are dreamers, and there are realists in this world. You’d think the dreamers would find the dreamers, and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. See, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists? Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.” ― Modern Family.

I’m sure you can guess which of us is the realist and the dreamer.