Simone & Michael’s Countryside Wedding in Wales

This warm spring celebration is full of stylish touches, heartwarming moments, home-grown blooms, love, and laughter. I can’t help but swoon over Simone’s embroidered gown with statement sleeves, too, not to mention the statement red lip and gold platforms she upgraded to for the evening’s festivities.

Keep scrolling to hear how they crafted their dream day, and lose yourself in the gorgeous blend of digital and film photography captured expertly by Rebecca Rees Photography and Aga Hosking. Oh… and taking a look around Plas Dinam and those breathtaking ceremony views is always a delight.

Simone says…

We’d narrowed down our search to Wales, as it’s such a special place for us. I’d spent a lot of time there growing up, and Mikey had visited a few times over the years. The Welsh countryside is absolutely stunning, so we were set on having our wedding out in the sticks.

Once we had chosen Wales, we knew we wanted to find a venue that could be ultimately ours for the entire weekend. Plas Dinam was the first place I’d come across when beginning the search, and I’d saved the link in a random Google doc before returning to it months later when it was time to buckle down on the search and schedule some visits.

When we eventually saw it in person, we immediately had ‘the feeling’. The rustic feel and rich history of the house, the backdrop of the rolling Welsh hills out on the lawn, and the beautifully airy, open Stables that we could DIY ourselves all aligned perfectly with our vision of a rural countryside wedding. We also loved that we could have 60 of our guests on-site with us for three days!

Given the rustic theme of our wedding, I wanted a dress that brought this to life rather than going for a modern look. I’m also a big fan of dramatic sleeves, an absolute must-have for my dress. After an unsuccessful day of trying on dresses around London with my sister and friends, we returned home. We spent the rest of the night searching on bridal sites and getting inspiration before I stumbled across a photo of Peony by Alena Leena. Something clicked, and I knew right away that it was the one. I hadn’t expected to go for lace, but I loved the feminine & romantic feel of Peony’s fabric, which caught the light beautifully in the evening. I tried Peony on a couple of times – once without the sleeves at The White Closet in Manchester and a second time (in the wrong colour!) at the Bridal Boutique in Warwickshire, where I eventually bought it in the blush tone. This meant I didn’t see myself in the full look until my dress was ready months later! It was a gamble but paid off, as Peony was a dream to wear.

I found my veil on Etsy and worked with Siân from Blossom and Bluebird to find the perfect colour, length and style. Given the embroidery detail on my dress, I went for a very light veil in a soft English tulle, which I paired with a gold floral headband and pearl earrings, which I’d also found on Etsy. My shoes were nude slingbacks from Zara, and I’ve worn them so many times since. The incredible Yasmin Schwitzer did my hair and make-up, and we went for glowy skin, soft bronze eyes, and a nude lip with classic waves in my hair. I loved that my dress could go from day to night by removing the sleeves and adding a bustle, so, in the evening, I changed up the look and paired it with a red lip and a pair of gold platforms.

I wanted my bridesmaids to all feel completely comfortable on the day, so I briefed them on our wedding colour palette (soft pink, gold, beige and bold rust), and they all found their own dresses. I didn’t see the final look until the wedding day, but they all looked stunning, and their dresses worked so well together!

For Mikey’s suit, he went for a dark green lambswool donegal tweed 3-piece from Walker Slater, which we picked out together after trying on several options from their fantastic range. We felt the colour and fabric would perfectly suit the rustic countryside splendour of Plas Dinam. He paired the suit with a white shirt, dark burnt orange cotton tie and a chestnut brown brogue. Michael’s groomsmen wore a 3-piece oat Donegal tweed suit from Moss Bros, and his two best men and two brothers wore brown three-piece tweed suits from Peter Posh.

We’re obsessed with colour – our home is decorated in an eclectic mix of bold colours – so we knew we wanted to bring our love of colour into our day. We chose a bold colour palette: a blend of dark green, rust and gold with soft pinks and warmer beige tones to complement the spring season.

We designed the ceremony cards, weekend itinerary and wedding breakfast menus on Canva with the help of a friend and printed them ourselves. We worked with an Etsy supplier called Hedera Artistry to create bespoke seeded name cards for our guests. Our favours were little brown envelopes of wildflower seeds with a print of the Manchester bee on the front – a nod to where we first met.

We wanted our tableware to be as sustainable as possible, so we used a PD-recommended supplier, Megan & Claude, to rent brass candlesticks, mismatched glassware, vintage lanterns and a beautiful wooden arch for our ceremony. We also picked up dried hops from a local farm in Hereford and hung these on the beams of the Stables and our ceremony arch.

We borrowed an ornate brass mirror from my mum for our table plan, and luckily, Plas Dinam had a similar mirror we could use for our welcome sign. We bought vinyl stickers from Etsy, and my wonderful maid of honour and her partner spent hours meticulously applying them the night before the wedding, which we’re so grateful for!

We worked with a local florist to PD – Jane Shallows. Jane is INCREDIBLE and grew the bulk of our flowers in her garden.

We chose a mix of dried and fresh flowers in our colour palette to keep to our rustic theme. These included a mixture of gorgeous pale pink and coffee roses alongside carnations, chrysanthemums, eucalyptus and seasonal greenery.

We had buttonholes for the groomsman, smaller bouquets for our flower girls and bridesmaids and a larger bouquet for myself. We wrapped the stem of my bouquet with a silk ribbon, which held something borrowed (a horseshoe that my grandad had given to my grandma on their wedding day) and something blue (an earring from my best friend).

Michael’s mum and auntie baked our two wedding cakes from scratch and did a fantastic job. We wanted our cakes to feel rustic and homely, so we chose a carrot cake and a black forest gateau as our main cutting cake. We gave Michael’s mum some initial ideas, but they ultimately had free reign to get us to the delicious result. They turned out amazingly, and we spent the morning after the wedding scoffing cake and coffee with our guests at the main house.

Our catering was provided by local Plas Dinam recommended suppliers, Fingers and Forks. They put on a delicious spread of light yet hearty sharing platters inspired by local ingredients. We had local farmhouse bread, Welsh mozzarella and tomato salad, and Welsh butter with olive oil balsamic for our appetisers. For mains, we had chicken stuffed with spinach in a Perl Las (Welsh cheese) sauce, salmon with samphire and a vegan spiced lentil tart. There were big bowls of mixed green salad, seasonal vegetables and roast potatoes to go with our mains. We had a heavenly trio of pavlova with summer berries, sticky toffee pudding with custard and lemon tart for dessert. It was all magnificent, and Shirley and her team at Fingers and Forks were beyond lovely and incredibly attentive to our guests.

We spent SO long looking for our photographer, as this was one of our most important things. We knew we wanted a photographer who could shoot a mix of digital and film, as we love the timeless feel of old, grainy photography.

We found Rebecca Rees Photography on Instagram, and her work is simply stunning. We had a call with her, and the chemistry from that initial conversation was great. Rebecca was super collaborative throughout the process, and we came up with lots of ideas together, including planning a handful of private moments for us to get away and capture photos throughout the day.

We decided to add a second photographer in the lead-up to the wedding, which was honestly the best decision as it gave us two perspectives. Aga Hosking was our second photographer, and she was equally brilliant. Both Rebecca and Aga made us feel so relaxed, and we had lots of fun with them throughout the day. We’re completely in love with our photos – Rebecca and Aga captured all the quirks and personalities of us and our guests so incredibly, including all the lovely in-between moments, which made it such a special day.

We also had a videographer, Richard Rossington from Tell Your Story, who did a fantastic job. Despite being a one-person band, Richard didn’t miss a thing and managed to capture every important moment. As well as making us a highlights film, Richard also sent us all of the raw footage from the day, so we’ve had a few giggles watching what everyone got up to while we were preoccupied!

Best part of the day

Sneaking off while our guests had dessert and coffee to have a private moment at golden hour with our amazing photographers, Rebecca and Aga. We wandered around the lawn at the back of the house where we’d had our ceremony hours earlier. At this point, we’d done all the scary bits, like the ceremony and speeches, so it was such a special moment that we could enjoy together while feeling totally relaxed.

We were so lucky with the weather – the weekend before had been a washout, and rain had initially been on the forecast – but days earlier, the weather turned, and we had clear blue skies and 26-degree heat, which meant we had the most incredible golden hour as the sun was setting.

From one couple to another…

Don’t worry about the schedule, and just go with the flow. We’d planned our timings to an absolute tee and ended up overrunning on everything, but it really didn’t matter, and nobody noticed. We were so in the moment that we didn’t even look at the time once the day had kicked off!

Also, ensure that you make time for private moments together – golden hour was a real highlight for us, but we also had an intimate moment in the evening with some direct flash to end the night. These are some of the best photos from our wedding!