The Happiest Day Ever — a Dodford Manor Wedding Blog

Kayleigh and Will were mar­ried at Dod­ford Manor in March. They had an inti­mate wed­ding with a relaxed and nat­ural atmos­phere. Dod­ford Manor is a con­verted barn (in Northamp­ton­shire) which needs lit­tle dec­o­ra­tion, and is one of those enchant­ing Eng­lish wed­ding venues you can fall in love with from the pho­tographs alone!

Kayleigh, Will — thank you ever so much for shar­ing, and huge con­grat­u­la­tions to you both. You’re a gor­geous cou­ple and just look so happy together you had me smil­ing all the way through your wed­ding images! Credit for those goes to the lovely Aaron Col­lett Pho­tog­ra­phy. You’ll love them, so grab a cuppa and dive in! Enjoy. Claire xxx

Kayleigh and Will — a Dod­ford Manor wed­ding blog: the hap­pi­est day ever!

Wed­ding venue:

Dod­ford Manor, Northamp­ton­shire — A newly con­verted barn venue which is mod­ern and spa­cious but still feels warm and inti­mate because of the fea­tures and lighting.

Wed­ding photographer:

Aaron Col­lett – We wouldn’t have cho­sen any­one else. I loved his style and also the fact his blog is always up to date.

How would you describe your wed­ding style?

I would describe it as neu­tral, relaxed, noth­ing too over the top – fit­ted per­fectly with the venue. A very clas­sic style.

A lit­tle about the wed­ding ceremony:

Very emo­tional. I am the only daugh­ter so the proud­est day of my dad’s life. Again it was very relaxed and such an inti­mate set­ting with only 70 guests. We smiled the whole way through. The hap­pi­est day ever.

We had read­ings from my brother Craig and Will’s brother Edward and we let them decide. Craig sur­prised us with a poem he had writ­ten about me and grow­ing up which was very spe­cial, Edward chose to read the Apache bless­ing which meant some­thing to the fam­ily as he had it at his wed­ding bless­ing, so both read­ings meant a lot.

Tell us a lit­tle about your wed­ding venue styling and details:

I tried to keep every­thing as sim­ple as pos­si­ble, using pale colours and very sim­plis­tic details as the venue itself is stun­ning and needs lit­tle dec­o­ra­tion. I made the most of the space by hav­ing a Candy Cart which looked perfect.

Invi­ta­tions and recep­tion stationery:

I designed the invi­ta­tions myself and had a friend set them up and print them. It was a way of keep­ing the bud­get down and get­ting the exact look I wanted.

Wed­ding music and entertainment:

My brides­maids and I walked down to Canon In D – I have loved that and wanted it for my wed­ding day ever since I heard it.

What did you both wear?

I wore a back­less Mag­gie Sot­tero dress with dia­monte detail to the back. A beau­ti­ful Joyce Jack­son Veil and my hair grip was from a vin­tage online store. My bracelet was a present from my best friends for my wed­ding day and had a charm on that exactly matched my engage­ment ring, my ear­rings were a Christ­mas present from my mother in law.

Will wore clas­sic dark gray tail suit with cham­pagne coloured waist­coat and cra­vat. I also made sure all the boys had match­ing cufflinks.

Mem­o­rable wed­ding day moments:

The whole day was very spe­cial and it is hard to choose one moment. Get­ting mar­ried was the best thing I have done to date in my life and it will be hard to feel as happy as I did that day. The speeches were a big part, and we had com­ments about how emo­tional they were. Our first dance was exactly how we wanted it, nei­ther of us dance prop­erly so we had fun and danced exactly how we’ve danced to that song every time we have heard it before.

Wed­ding day advice:

Relax. It doesn’t mat­ter what hap­pens on the day, it is about two peo­ple com­mit­ting to spend the rest of their lives together. Take each bit as it comes and enjoy every sin­gle minute. Don’t spend a for­tune, my wed­ding was done on a bud­get and there are so many ways of cut­ting costs these days you don’t need to pay the earth…

Rec­om­mended wed­ding suppliers:

Pho­tog­ra­pher: Aaron Col­lett Pho­tog­ra­phy
www.aaroncollettphotography.co.uk

Video­g­ra­pher: Amaz­ing Dayz – Craig Veesey
www.amazingdayz.com

Hair and Beauty: John New­man Hair­dress­ing and Beauty – John / Shirley
www.johnnewmanhairdressing.co.uk

Flow­ers: Nikyosh Flow­ers – Ute Moore
www.nikyosh.com

Sweet Cart: I Do Sweets – Laura Clarke
www.idosweets.co.uk