Me & My Wedding: A Multicultural Day In The Cotswolds

The Venue

We went to see two venues and picked Elmore Court pretty much straight away. I'm from Scotland and Danny is from London, with a lot of his family living in Nigeria. With a lot of our families flying into London, we wanted to have an English countryside wedding and to be able to hire out the entire place for a couple of days; I didn’t want it to be a one-day thing. As soon as I visited Elmore Court with my mum, I knew it was the one. We had it from Wednesday to Friday – we got married on the Thursday – and the rooms and the grounds were just stunning. I really liked that it had a separate area for the wedding breakfast and then a party afterwards, so we weren't all in one place for the whole day.

The Florals & Décor

Our florist looked after all the floral décor and the tablescaping. As the date was October, we wanted it to feel very autumnal, so there were lots of oranges, greens and wildflowers, scattered along the tables with plenty of twisty candles.

The Dress

I didn’t go to a single bridal boutique. I’m very particular about what I like and the styles that suit me. I’d also just had the baby, so I was trying to lose the baby weight. Bora Aksu has been my client for almost five years and he’s like family now. When I got engaged, the original plan was for Bora to design my main dress and for me to switch into a slip dress in the evening. I knew I suited slip dress styles, so Bora suggested a cape during the day that would look like a whole look, but then you could take it off in the evening, so it looks different. I saw this Galvan slip dress with the beads on the sleeves and I knew it would look gorgeous with the cape. After the main ceremony, Danny and I changed into traditional Nigerian outfits that had been custom made in Lagos by my mother-in-law, which was really special. As for accessories, I was going to get some Prada shoes, but then I spotted some from Mango that turned out to be some of the comfiest shoes I’ve ever worn. I sort of ruined them by the end of night, so I bought a second pair because I loved them that much. Finally, my jewellery was from Otiumberg.

The Hair & Make-Up

Becca Harris has been my hairdresser for three years. She doesn’t actually do weddings, but I begged her to do mine. All I wanted was the colour she always does in the salon, worn down with a loose wave. For make-up, I've worked with Frankie Neal before. She had done my make-up for the Fashion Awards the year before, so I knew she would do a great job. She was one of the first people I booked, and she also took care of my bridal party and mum. 

The Food & Drink

Elmore Court's wine and cocktail options were amazing so we worked with their in-house team on our drinks selection – we served Bramble cocktails and mocktails during the drinks reception, along with a selection of beers and Italian red and white wine for the wedding breakfast. Elmore Court is known for its catering, the chef is incredible and a lot of ingredients are grown on site. 

For starters, our guest had a choice of pan fried sea bass fillet with shaved fennel, dill and tomato creams or arancini. For mains, we wanted to go for a more traditional roast dinner vibe, so guests had an option of roasted chicken breast with pork and sage meatballs, and cauliflower puree served with crushed new potatoes; or slow cooked beef shin with wild mushrooms in parsnip puree served with dauphinoise potato in a red wine jus. Our vegetarian guests enjoyed fried potato pave with lyonnaise shallots in cauliflower puree served with barbecue carrots and chimichurri. Our dessert was our wedding cake which was made by the talented Katherine at Cherish Cakes, served with tea and coffee and Scottish tablet which was made in my hometown Forres, in the north of Scotland. Later in the evening, we also served traditional Nigerian food. 

The Entertainment

My husband is very into his music and, with both of us working in the industry, we knew the entertainment was key. We probably went back and forth on that more than the venue, the dresses or anything else. The year that we got engaged, we went to seven weddings, so we picked little things from each one that we liked. I always wanted a live musician for the ceremony and canapés. Our singer, Beka, is a good friend of mine. We had a wedding playlist that we shared with her and then she adapted some bits. When I was walking down the aisle, she sang ‘Latch’ by Sam Smith. For our wedding breakfast entrance, Danny and I created our own playlist and then two of our friends, who are DJs, took over for the rest of the evening.

The Photographer & Videographer

I hadn't worked with Jessica Lily before, but I had been following her for a while. She’d also shot before at the venue, so I’d seen what it could look like. As soon as I had a call with Jessica, I knew she was going to be a dream to work with. I love that she shoots on film as well – plus, she’s very efficient. I hate it when couples disappear from their wedding to take photos for three hours. She also sent us an edit so quickly after the wedding.

We weren’t going to have a videographer because I wasn’t sure we’d really watch the video back more than once. But when Danny went on his stag, one of his friends, Louis Thornton, filmed it and the way he shot it was incredible. We asked him if he was free to film our wedding, so it was nice that we could have that personal touch. 

The Day Before & After

On the Wednesday our guests started arriving from 4pm, as we had all of our family, bridal and grooms party stay on site at Elmore Court. We also had a number of friends staying in nearby tree houses – a new addition to Elmore Court this year. Our drinks reception started in the lounge with an open fire and pizza served throughout the night by  Dough Wood Fired pizza. It was a very relaxed evening soundtracked by another of Danny's great playlists. On the Friday morning we were up early (with a few sore heads) to have a big breakfast served in one of the banquet rooms for all of our guests who stayed overnight. It was so nice to have another morning with everyone and reminisce about the day before we travelled back to London. 

Advice For Other Couples

Something we took from one of our friend’s weddings was getting the legal (boring) bit out of the way before our big day, so we could have our best friend Cat marry us on the day. Having someone marry us who knows us both so well was so special, personal and emotional. Separately, I was very stressed before the wedding and no one warned me about the wedding blues afterwards. I couldn’t believe it when it was over. Three days of heaven and then it was done. If I had the chance again, I wouldn’t get too stressed leading up to it. I remember thinking I just needed it to be over, which clouded a lot of the excitement. Also – delegate. I’m not good at this, but lean on people when they offer to help, even if it’s a small thing. 

Photography JESSICALILYPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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