Rehearsal Dinner
We chose to kick off the weekend with an intimate rehearsal dinner, just with our bridal party and parents. For this event I opted for a two-piece lace set by Helsa - I couldn’t have my wedding weekend without having a lace moment! Will wore a green suit from Tommy Hilfiger. We got whisked away by our photographer Bailey into the rolling hills of the hotel’s grounds for some pre-event portraits, and they are some of my favourites from the whole weekend.
Will and I set the dress code as ‘sunset cocktail attire’ to suit the hotel’s famous sunset views in the summer months. Our guests nailed their looks and the pictures came out just as envisioned. I adore a specific dress code, I think it really pulls the aesthetics of an event together. My favourite look has to be my (now) sister in law’s ‘Dana’ dress from Alemaids.
We shied away from a formal tablescape moment on the wedding day so the rehearsal dinner felt like the perfect time to be able to create a fun design. I worked with London-based tableware designer Maison Margaux to curate my dream tablescape of greens and burnt reds. To follow our theme of British styling, our florist worked with a local grower to her studio to source as many British grown florals as she could. To complement the dress code, the floral recipe was made up of muted sunset tones and we featured vessels to fit the tableware styling.
After a very overcast day and questionable weather forecast, we held our nerve and kept the dinner set up outside. As our guests took their seats, the sun popped out from behind the clouds and we were blessed with the most divine sunset. It’s almost as though the sun got the dress code memo!
Wedding Day - Fashion
On the wedding day, I wore two Vivienne Westwood gowns with Will also wearing the British designer Hawes and Curtis for his tux, styled by Carlotta Constant. The Vivienne Westwood Cocotte has always been my dream wedding dress. Having seen hundreds of brides and dresses over the years, I knew what I did and didn’t want, and it was actually the first dress I tried on. After then trying 40 others, I just kept coming back to it. No one does corsets like Vivienne Westwood. I was close to not doing a second look as I just loved my ceremony gown so much - I just wanted that but short! I came across the Comet style on its last weekend of sale last summer, and after a lot of deliberating with stylist Rosie Boydell-Wiles, I decided to take the plunge. It just felt right and a transition from my gorgeous Cocotte. I actually chose to style both dresses with earrings only, as I didn’t want any focus taken away from the corsets.
Wedding Day - Ceremony
The wedding ceremony took place in the 17th century walled garden on the hotel’s estate. We set out to celebrate the natural beauty of the Walled Garden which was already full of summer blooms. I worked with Kim from Dreamboats and Carousels to pull together my vision of an elevated English garden.
Our ceremony was what I wanted to be our statement floral moment of the wedding day, and I had such clear visions of natural feeling rambling arrangements. We designed an alternative take on aisle meadows-with asymmetry in layout and size; a sort of rambling guided pathway which echoed the natural feel of the walled garden.
I have a very specific list of favourite flowers which I’ve been building in my notes app for years. Kim took my notes and made sure to feature as much as she could throughout the designs - the cosmos and daisies felt like such special touches, and I loved the wildflower look they gave. One of my favourite last minute additions was the fluffy asparagus fern which we added for delicate volume. One of the other florals featured was Queen Anne's Lace, otherwise known as Wild Carrot. This grows naturally all over the 500 acre estate and is actually the inspiration behind the hotel’s Wild Carrot Restaurant and Bar.
We chose to have a legal ceremony on the day, something which was really important to Will. To try and make the ceremony as personalised as possible we had our best friend Emi and sister/sister in law Grace give readings. Instead of a traditional reading, we asked them both to write something themselves about our relationship, which I will treasure forever.
Wedding Day - Reception
In the early stages of our relationship, we bonded over our shared love of hospitality. Now having created our global hit list of restaurants, we wanted to create our own interactive wedding restaurant featuring our favourite foods and styled like a garden party. We used a mixture of high and low tables, with no assigned seats, to make the meal feel sociable and high-energy. It was so important to us to have our guests mingle and explore different areas, also allowing us to spend quality time with all guests through the meal.
Will and I worked with the executive chef Tahla Barkin to create a fully bespoke menu. Guests were welcomed onto the terrace with an Ottolenghi inspired salad station dressed with abundant blooms, repurposed from the ceremony design. Shortly after, chefs began whipping up tacos and greek pittas live in front of the guests. Having live chef attendants brought so much energy to the meal and we loved seeing our guests interact with the chefs whilst ordering. Will’s non-negotiable element of the wedding meal was an ice cream sundae station, inspired by London hotspot Dovetale’s knickerbocker glory bar. Guests got to fill in order sheets to hand over to the chef, who would then create their custom sundae, topped with monogrammed wafers of course. This station was a HIT with guests and still what people rave about to this day.
As Will is a DJ, we put a lot of focus on music selections, building the energy and lively transitions. Each playlist was built minute by minute to fit each part of the day and so many of our guests have asked for the playlist links since, which has to be the best compliment. Will worked with one of his music producer friends to curate a 5 minute mix of our favourite songs, to be played out to a custom firework display. This was a complete surprise to guests, who were watching us cut our cake, until the beat dropped during Disclosure’s You & Me (Flume Remix). I will never get over everyone’s reactions, it was just the best, and every time we see friends now it gets brought up.
Wedding Day - After Party
After the fireworks the bridal party, with bottles and sparklers in hand, led our guests through to ‘Club Mannings’, the after-party. Pitbull’s Fireball was the must-have soundtrack to this lively tradition. We figured it would be one of the best songs to encourage everyone to move to the next space, which was proved correct when a conga line ensued. We worked with Luminaire Events to bespokely design our nightclub. Our aim was to create a fun party with the feel of a sexy members club. We leant into jewel tones, and walnut wood for the styling, which came together even better than we could have imagined. We made sure to keep the club room dark and moody, with pops of strobe lighting, so our guests could totally let loose… it was by far the best night of my life and I didn’t leave the dance floor for the entire 5 hours.
One of my favourite design features was the logo that I worked with our stationer to create. Will and I love playing cards, and I thought a joker could be a playful reference in a logo, and having him hold a disco ball was the perfect finishing touch. We featured this on our invitations to give our guests a feel of what was to come, and also on the bar fascia and favours.
Singer Zak Abel performed a medley of his songs Beautiful Life and For Life for our first dance, before transitioning into the original dance track of For Life to get the party started. When Zak sang the first line of For Life, the entire room joined in. I get goosebumps every time I think about it. A notable performance of the evening was by our long time friend Mimi Webb. Performing 3 of her globally recognised songs, Mimi kept the energy up and everyone in the room.
A back to back DJ set by Will and I was a non-negotiable for Club Mannings, which I think may have been my favourite part of the entire day. Will did the hard work whilst I jumped up and down with my headphones on, living out my Princess Diaries dreams for a whole 45 minutes. Naturally we had to hire a Co2 cannon for me to fire into the crowd as an extra wow, which has given us the most hilarious videos and memories.
The night was so great that our guests are petitioning for us to bring back Club Mannings for each wedding anniversary… I think we may well be persuaded.
Hangover Brunch
After a 3AM end to our wedding day, we chose to host a hangover brunch the next morning. Our favourite London bagel shop BBagel provided bagels, with the Four Seasons team whipping up our favourite fillings, as well as pancakes for a sweet treat.
It was a laid back event, with small amounts of styling. My favourite feature was the statement linen sign which I had made in Australia by Fresh Creative Styling. It made the perfect photo backdrop, and is now something I hope to find a spot for in my home.
We wanted our guests to be able to take home some of the wedding florals, so we set up a bouquet bar with our florist Kim. Guests selected their favourite blooms, which Kim then wrapped up, sealing with our custom stickers and ribbon. I don’t think anyone left empty handed and we had so many pictures from our guests of their flowers at home whilst we were away on our mini moon.
