Me & My Wedding: A Personal Day In Hampshire

The Ring

Ben designed my ring with a designer called Sophie Breitmeyer, who’s based in Notting Hill. It's a round old European cut diamond, claw-set into a platinum, wish-bone style collet. The diamond used to belong to my grandmother and Ben did have a bit of guidance from my sister-in-law, whose ring Sophie also designed. 

The Venue

I was never worried about finding a wedding venue because I’d always wanted to do it at the local church and then have a marquee reception at my mum and dad's house. They’ve lived there for more than 20 years, in this little village in Hampshire. It was a late summer's evening – 21st September 2024 – and it was just lovely. The church, which I must have driven past more than a thousand times, dates back to 1140. It has a beautiful oak door and it’s thought Jane Austen used to worship there. There was something incredibly special about getting married in a place with so much history. I also loved the idea of having our bands read – it’s a public announcement of your intention to marry, read out during three Sundays in the three months leading up to your wedding. It felt really romantic because it’s been happening for centuries. Our stationery was done by our friends Isobel Lynam and Alicia Deakin from Just Lissy Designs.
 

The Ceremony

Naturally, a religious ceremony feels quite serious. It’s the main event but I liked how it felt as though there were two very distinct parts to the day. We had someone read Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love speech, and a couple of poems. It was a nice opportunity for us to involve friends in the ceremony who weren't necessarily bridesmaids, groomsmen or family. Although the church’s capacity is 120, we squeezed in 165, so it felt very atmospheric, joyful and happy – everyone was there to celebrate love. Afterwards, we had a vintage Massey Ferguson parked outside and Ben and I sat in the trailer, while his twin brother drove us back to my parents’ house.

The Photographer & Videographer

We used The Curries as our photographers. We had a full briefing call with them before and they were amazing. My worst nightmare is being on camera, so having a 15-minute posing session was never something I was going to be comfortable with. Luckily, they were so good about it and took the photos really quickly. I also loved how many photos they got of our guests, so when we look back on the day years from now, we’ll be able to remember everyone who was there. Clementine Cusack was our videographer – I’ve watched that video so many times already. 

The Dress

I always knew the style of dress I wanted, and I'd seen a similar one that Emma Beaumont had done before. I tried on a few other dresses at other boutiques, but it felt like I was wearing a costume – it just didn’t feel like me. Not only are Emma’s dresses beautiful, but the three-hour drives to Knutsford are some of my most cherished memories from the whole planning process. Emma just got it – she saw the vision, drew up a sketch and I just thought, ‘That’s exactly what I want.’ She’s also really open to making changes as you go along: for example, the dress originally had a straight waistband and far puffier sleeves, but we decided to dip the hem and take out some of the volume last-minute. It was great to have that creative freedom and come out with a dress that was perfectly made just for me. 

I also had a long veil – I wanted that part to feel quite serious walking into the church with it over my face – and then I took it off and swapped it for a big scrunchie. A lot of people have said it gave ballerina vibes, which I loved. My shoes were Loeffler Randall, my earrings were from Completedworks and my necklace was Whitelaw Gold.

The Hair & Make-Up

We used the same hair and make-up artist, Ausra Ruksene, who did my sister-in-law's wedding and she was amazing. I knew I wanted my hair back off my face but she convinced me to do a high, as opposed to a low, bun, and I'm really glad she did. I wanted the focus to be on the dress, not on the hair. The make-up was very neutral and natural, but it’s honestly never looked so good.

The Bridal Party

I had six bridesmaids and Ben had nine groomsmen. My bridesmaids weren’t given specific dresses to wear – only a colour palette to work within. They chose so well from brands like Rixo, Kitri and Reformation. 

The Flowers

We used a floral design studio called I Think That You Are Magic. Hannah is in charge and she's incredible. She said the entrance to the church should have a dreamy secret garden feel – as if the flowers were growing in and around the structure. We spoke a lot about the concept of ‘dancing’ flowers. She then used a lot of what we had in the church in our marquee, repurposed in tiny bud vases, and she also did my bouquet and flowers for the bridal party. ‘Ethereal’ is probably the best word to describe it and I was always clear about having lots of colour. I wanted it to feel joyful. 

The Food & Drink

Emily Jones Events was our wedding planner, and if you hire them, you’re obliged to use Too Many Cooks as your caterer. I didn’t want our drinks reception to feel too formal, so we served things like Aperol Spritz and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord beer in kegs. We also had crémant instead of champagne. The food was exactly what Ben and I wanted; we’re not fussy, we like meat, potatoes, and two veg, which is exactly what we had – beef and mashed potatoes with peas and broccoli, followed by chocolate brownie for dessert. You don’t have to overcomplicate it. We also had a company called The Drunken Jockeys come in to make our cocktails afterwards and a friend made our wedding cake.  

The Entertainment

Our band, Truly Medley Deeply were such professionals. Our first dance was ‘Walk Of Life’ by Dire Straits – really fun and upbeat – but the band then put together a playlist based on your favourite genres and any specific requests. They did a one-hour set followed by an hour of playlist and so on until the end of the night. Things wrapped up about 1am.