an elegant nonsuch mansion wedding | uk wedding blog

Good morning you lovely lot. Another week, another collection of gorgeous real weddings for you to ogle over. How was your weekend? Did you win on the Grand National?I was struck down with a tummy bug on Thursday night and only just starting to feel better (Sunday) however, I managed to plough through a lot of cheesy rom-coms (thank you Netflix) and nearly finish 90210 (thank you again Netflix). I have got some exciting news to share, probably towards the end of the week when solid confirmation comes through, it’s something that I have never considered doing, but I think I would be a fool to say no.

Anywho! On to today’s wedding, it’s a goodun! Full of timeless elegance, blush and oyster colours and a beautiful Elizabeth Todd gown.

Images by Richard Ware

Moss Boss suit hire – Newbury lightweight suit

Waistcoat and Shoes – Reiss  and Cufflinks – antique (present)

Brides Dress and Veil  – Elizabeth Todd British Designer

Brides Shoes – Day – Rainbow Club and Night – Carvela Kurt Geiger 

Brides Hair Accessories (tiara, diamond and necklace and bracelet)

Gillian Million

Brides hair  – Peggy Power

Brides make up  – Mirijana Vasovic 

£35k

Walking out the church holding hands together and a

rriving at the venue, Walking into the grounds and seeing it all set up in the garden on a glorious day just how I imagined.

Nonsuch Mansion – We visited many places, mainly through our own research, online in wedding magazines or recommendations and were finding them either too grand yet with the main breakfast room being quite small or dark, or with horrible old fashioned carpets – we were being quite particular and sometimes just with feeling rather than anything else. 

Nonsuch mansion mainly felt right with the layout and decor and grandness without being too over the top. We could really visualise our wedding there.

They also provided the food, so helped not having to organise this with another suppler.

The food tasting also helped to confirm we had made the right decision. Although it is challenging to get the balance right of ordering what you want vs. what you know your family and friends may prefer. Just like buying a house, we had to compromise in certain ways, such as the venue did not have accommodation, or have an amazing drive way, but this was outweighed with the things it did offer.

Richard Ware – Richard met us informally and knew very quickly he was going to help us relax and also the added bonus of offering a pre wedding shoot and have a colleague to join to capture other shots including photos of both the bride and groom getting ready! We also really liked his style of photography.

Mary Jane Vaughan – Really loved the arrangements of previous weddings and that they had a warehouse with all types of candles/vases/props which was brilliant to help with more creative ideas. Main flower was white roses and quick sand – and gypsophila

Another main feature was creating a tree that had pearls draping from it and small wild orchids.

Advice would be to look at other ways to also dress the room, as flowers are so expensive. There really are some amazing fake ones now and wish I’d considered this for dressing the church or areas such as fireplaces at the venue.

Catering/Food/Drink – All provided by the venue, went with 

goats cheese and onion tart

chicken, green beans, dauphinois potatoes trio of deserts. Evening- large table with cheese etc and a sweets trolly. Canard duchen champagne, local supplier keg of beer

Amazing cake by cakesbykrishanthi.co.uk 

Biscuits by Fiona Cairns 

Harpist in church – Felicity Orme 

DJ – trevorthedj@googlemail.com

Entertainment – Irish Band (wanted Celimax but they were fully booked, ended up with band called Shenanigans)

How are you going to pay for the day, this will dictate many things.

Start saving immediately!! A month after we were engaged we set up a joint wedding savings account and saved for a year.  Discuss early on do you want the same type of wedding things, in a church, band/or dj or both – some couples will have to compromise more than others, can add to the stress.

Get ready for relatives just not letting you know they are coming or not right up to the last minute, not realising how difficult this when it comes to numbers and table planning, there is nothing you can do. Ask your venue to help and advice.

When discussing things with the wedding venue and suppliers, a good idea is to create a mood board, or pinterest, so they really understand what you like and you can brief them more clearly.

You may have a best friend who is great on a night out, but they might not be the right person to be your bridesmaid, or to join you at a wedding fare and help you make really important decisions. Be selective with who you choose to help you along the way as you need to make decisions and can be very challenging especially if you are working at the same time.

Things you can not plan…

Besides the weather, getting ill.  I ended up getting a major cold that I just couldn’t shift for weeks right up until the wedding. This is a hard one, so just try and be as healthy as you can and beauty sleep and catch up with friends or family and share what you have sorted, not always focusing on what you still need to do. Have a few plan B ideas with the venue if the day ends up being really hot, which is not often heard of when getting married in the UK – E.g. It was super hot on our day, so on the day before I asked the venue to set up the welcome drinks on lawn and the band to play outside.

It also depends on the type of person you are, we were too particular and analysed everything and really value each others opinion which often slowed things down and over complicated things. But looking back we loved everything and just wish we relaxed more, but it is difficult.

So in summary, personally I think the key order for planning is:

Write your day and evening guest list – so you know your approximate numbers.

Work out your approximate budget,

Find a venue, possibly also find a church, confirm a date, send a save the date

Agree who will sort what jobs and deadline

Find the dress…the theme and the look will follow!