“Everyone tucked into a delicious hog roast!” -Victoria and Oli it was important to them that their cockapoo, Tilly, was part of their special day. “We only looked at dog-friendly venues,” Victoria tells us. “This hotel is a beautiful manor house set in stunning grounds and I knew that it would look festive in December decorated with a Christmas tree.” The couple’s wedding day ended up taking place during the lockdown so their guest list was reduced from 200 people to 30, and then down to an intimate 14 loved ones (including Tilly.) “Our plans had to change a lot, even up to one week before!” Victoria explains. “We had to share our ceremony with some friends and family via Zoom and decided to have a reception the following summer in the hope that the restrictions would be lifted. This did mean that I got to wear my dress twice!” The couple worked with two different photographers to capture their celebrations. Charlotte Darlington photographed the winter ceremony and Nikki Kirk, who trained Charlotte and who Charlotte is a second shooter for, photographed the summer reception. “Our pictures were stunning and we had some taken outside close to our home by Nikki,” Victoria explains. Sadly, Victoria’s wonderful dad passed away in 2018 so her mum gave her away. “Mum was amazing,” Victoria tells us, and we made sure that my Dad was still part of the day. I had a small framed photograph of him attached to my bouquet with ‘Dad, walk with me today and always’ written on the back. Tilly was our ring-bearer and wore a white harness decorated with flowers matching those in my bouquet. Our rings were secured to her harness with a gold padlock inscribed with the name of the venue and date. Our guests were given extra keys for the padlock (just in case!) and dog treats - Tilly was excited to see us so it took a while to catch her and get the rings off her harness!” SETTING THE SCENE Victoria made lots of the decorations herself using lanterns, hurricane lamps, tartan ribbon and festive foliage. “Our favours were glass Christmas baubles engraved with our wedding date handmade by our friend Trish,” Victoria explains. “ Another friend, Julie designed our mouth-watering cake and I assembled crackers containing personalised gifts that doubled up as place settings. We also had beautiful table decorations displayed alongside candles that were created by our fantastic florist, Alex. I made my bouquet using sunflowers and gypsophila and our confetti was rose petals from my mum and dad’s garden.” The couple decorated the hall themselves, with fairylights suspended from the ceiling, sunflowers, balloons and lanterns and had a sweet table and sparklers that were popular with their guests. “We also had personalised champagne glasses made for everyone and a gilt mirror featuring the names, wedding date and the lyrics to Can’t Help Falling in Love that was made by our friend Lorna,” Victoria tells us. LOOKING THE PART Victoria’s dress was an off-the-shoulder lace ballgown featuring a glitter tulle underlay skirt with lace detail at the bottom. “It was by the designer Rachel Allan from Taffeta & Lace in Gloucester,” she tells us. “I teamed it with my own white faux-fur bolero, a simple diamond necklace, a pair of stud earrings and a beautiful diamond bracelet with a heart on that my dad had chosen before he passed away,” Victoria tells us. “Mum presented me with this the day before the wedding which was an extremely special and emotional moment.” Oli, his twin brother James and their dad wore dark-blue suits teamed with grey waistcoats and burgundy ties. “Oli had a burgundy rose buttonhole with small pine cones and other tiny festive flowers in it for the ceremony,” Victoria explains. “On the day of our summer reception, his buttonhole was a small sunflower with gypsophila.” The couple’s bridesmaids, Debbie and Claire, wore burgundy off-the-shoulder dresses with pleated maxilength skirts while their flowergirl, Niamh wore a cute ivory dress with a chiffon skirt, burgundy ribbon and matching bolero. “Sadly, our third bridesmaid who was my niece Alix was unable to attend our wedding due to the restrictions in place at the time,” Victoria explains. 41 REAL WEDDINGS
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