Melissa looks amazing in her Benjamin Roberts dress, Richard is rocking a suit from Next (only about a million miles better than Moss Bros, by the way!) and special credit goes to Melissa’s mom for all the handmade touches from bunting to fabric hearts and pocket squares — she even crafted the wedding invitations!
Little details include gourmet popcorn (I can almost taste it! And as I type it’s barely past breakfast time… not a good sign!), lovebirds on the cake and gorgeous gypsophila — my favorite. Huge thanks to Tierney Photography for the beautiful images — watch out for the portrait shots with snowflakes and stunning images of Hodsock Priory. Congratulations Melissa and Richard, and to every one of you lovely readers — enjoy! Claire xxx
Melissa and Richard — a vintage wedding at Hodsock Priory, Nottinghamshire
The bride and groom: Melissa & Richard
Wedding venue:
Hodsock Priory, Blyth, Nottinghamshire
Wedding photographer:
How would you describe your wedding style?
Vintage/Handmade
Invitations and reception stationery:
My mom made our invitations with hearts in ditsy print, lace and buttons– they looked fantastic!
What did you wear?
My wedding dress was by Benjamin Roberts – and I loved it!! I tried on so many dresses and couldn’t find one that was just right until I went to Beautiful Brides in Nottingham and found the one! I got so many lovely comments about my dress! Shoes: Belle by Paradox. Side tiara from Beautiful Brides, I bought my earrings and bracelet both online, bracelet from Divine Destiny and earrings from Vintage Styler.
Richard’s suit was from Next, his waistcoat from Burton Hire, polka dot tie from Tie Rack (my mom also made matching pocket squares out of one of the ties)
A little about the wedding ceremony:
It was lovely, small and intimate just how we wanted it. You really are oblivious to everyone in the room behind you during the ceremony. Our reading was the extract from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin read by one of my bridesmaids.
Tell us a little about your wedding venue styling and details:
- Hodsock Priory is such a beautiful venue that it doesn’t need lots of extra decoration.
- My mom made hearts in various fabrics to hang on the end of the chairs down the aisle, she also made bunting for the top table.
- We made our own place settings with brown luggage tags and paper doilies and I also made the table plan.
- In the centre of the tables we had gypsophila in jam jars.
- Richard’s sister made our wedding cake and I made the bird cake toppers.
- Instead of canapés we had different flavoured gourmet popcorn which we ordered from Joe & Seph’s website – it went down a storm!
Wedding music and entertainment:
We had Simply Strings trio playing our ceremony music, I walked down the aisle to Canon in D. I felt the music was an important part in creating the right atmosphere for the ceremony and Simply Strings trio suited our venue perfectly. In the evening we had our disco provided by Xclusive Video Disco.
Memorable wedding day moments:
All of it!! We loved every minute of it and couldn’t have wished for a more perfect wedding day. The best men’s speech was fantastic, they’d filmed their speech (at various locations) and played the video on the DJ’s screens. The whole room was in fits of laughter, it was so well put together and original!
Wedding day advice:
Just enjoy it! I know everybody says the same but the day really does go by so quickly, enjoy every minute!
Recommended wedding suppliers:
- Hodsock Priory – A perfect venue with a really helpful wedding co-ordinator Lynda and lovely friendly staff.
- Gail Dandy Catering – The food was delicious! Gail was also a pleasure to deal with, really friendly, helpful and flexible to our requirements.
- Tierney Photography- Mark was fantastic and really made us feel at ease. Our photos are amazing and really tell the story of our day.