ROSE GOLD ROMANCE

from Your Cheshire and Merseyside Wedding - March/April 2022 (Issue 62)

COMPETITION

Following the heartache of lockdown, Rachael and Dan’s wedding was a dream come true

Images courtesy of Caroline White Photography

Rachael didn’t suspect anything other than a relaxing weekend away for her birthday when Dan booked a stay at The Belfry Hotel & Resort. But she started to notice that something was slightly unusual when an hour so before they were due to leave, Dan started to get a tiny bit impatient about her getting ready – completely out of character for him. “It was a complete surprise, I never expected that he was about to propose,” Rachael explains.

Neither Rachael nor Dan was at all sure where they wanted to tie the knot. They’d even considered going abroad. In fact, it had started to become a family joke with both sides laughing about how many Sundays the couple spent at various open days. “I think we were beginning to think we just wouldn’t find the one,” Rachael tells us. Peckforton Castle was the last in the long line. It was Good Friday and they’d booked an early appointment to see the venue rooms being set up for a wedding that day. As soon as the tour began, they knew. “I think a big draw for me was the chapel, which would allow us to have a traditional church blessing,” Rachael explains.

Read on as the bride shares her treasured memories of the big day, which took place on 27th June, 2021…

Rachael went dress shopping with an idea of exactly the style of dress she wanted, but each one she tried on just didn’t seem to suit her. It wasn’t until two friends joined her and her mum that the tide began to turn, as one of them pulled a complete wild card, which looked perfect. Once they had this new style in mind it was plain sailing, and on the day Rachael looked stunning in Fairy Snow by Diane Harbridge. It had a full satin train with a heavily beaded bodice and belt. Her beautiful cathedral-length veil was embroidered with pale pink flowers: “I felt it brought together the colour scheme and gave a nod towards the bridesmaids dresses,” Rachael tells us.

Concerned she’d feel uncomfortable in her weighty wedding gown before too long, the bride changed into an evening dress after the wedding breakfast. It was an embellished tulle and cady gown by Badgeley Mischka.

The groom and groomsmen all wore pale grey, checked, three-piece suits with ties, pocket squares and face masks made in the same fabric as the bridesmaids’ dresses.

The bridesmaids were dressed in pale pink maxi dresses with beaded bodices to complement Rachael’s wedding dress. Meanwhile, the flowergirls wore plain satin dresses with pale pink flower headbands. The bride had customised all of the dresses with pale pink satin sashes with a bow at the back.

SETTING THE SCENE

Having settled on a pink and rose gold palette, the wedding stationery was all designed to match. The table plan complemented the design of the place names and table names, with a pale pink background and the castle sketched in rose gold foil at the top. Similarly, the place names were pearlescent blush pink with rose gold foiled names, while the table numbers were also adorned in rose gold foil, with the menu options printed on the back.

The favours also cleverly tied in with the colour palette. They were personalised pink M&Ms stamped with the date, the couple’s names and photos, packaged in bags tied with matching ribbons. Delicious and beautiful!

The bride’s bouquet contained pale pink and white roses with gypsophila, astilbe and eucalyptus. The three bridesmaids carried complementing bouquets and the groomsmen’s buttonholes were also designed to match. Rachael says, “I had my bouquet dried and framed with Dan’s buttonhole as a keepsake of the day. We also had some of the wedding flowers preserved as a paperweight and tea lights. You spend so much time planning the day and it flies by, so it really did mean a lot to us to be able to keep as many of the key elements as we could.”

The pair used the trees and candles that lined the aisle as centrepieces, with the canopy they’d been married beneath repositioned over the top table.

The big-day bake boasted a showstopping six tiers. “As it was such a big room, we felt the height was needed,” Rachael explains. The layers were decorated in alternating shades to suit the colour scheme, with the newlyweds initials iced onto one of them and a rose gold topper with the wedding date at the top. Flavours were death by chocolate, toffee, vanilla genoise and a small fruit cake.

The ceremony decorations weren’t the only features to efficiently serve a dual purpose as the pink neon Mr & Mrs Jones sign, which hung in the wedding breakfast room was later moved to the long gallery to make a photo booth backdrop for the evening. There were also giant Mr & Mrs Jones lights illuminating the dancefloor. Plus, Dan made a flip flop crate, “This went down particularly well as I think we’d all got out of practice wearing high heels during lockdown,” Rachael says.

The romantic ambience was assisted by an abundance of candles, which were used to line the aisle, adorn the register table and dotted all around the reception space. Rachel explains, “When we were shown around by the owner his key advice when dressing the venue was that candles make the rooms come alive and he was so right.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The castle’s team took care of the catering and the day’s dining began with canapés at the drinks reception. These included mini Yorkshire puddings, wild mushroom risotto balls and crispy pork rillettes with barbecue flavours. The wedding breakfast consisted of ham hock, wholegrain mustard and chive terrine with piccalilli beetroot gel, and rosemary croûte. This was followed with a main

course of slow-cooked beef with dauphinoise potato, pearl onion and smoked bacon jus. The meal was rounded off beautifully with warm apple crumble tarts with anglaise sauce. There were also mouth-watering alternatives for vegetarian guests.

TIME TO CELEBRATE

Rachael and Dan knew they wanted Craig Owen’s violin and piano duo to play, as the first time they visited a wedding fair at the castle they were playing All Of Me, which the couple had already chosen as their first dance song. “It was captivating,” Rachel says. The musical duo played during the morning as guests took their seats for the ceremony and as Rachael walked down the aisle to Canon in D. They also performed the bride and groom’s selections Perfect by Ed Sheeran and Somewhere Only We Know by Keane as they signed the register. For the blessing the newlyweds entered to A Thousand Years by Christina Perri and exited to Queen of Sheeba by Handel. The beautiful violin and piano music continued throughout the drinks reception.

Guests were also treated to an owl meet and greet, which was a great opportunity for them to enjoy a memorable experience as they sipped their drinks and nibbled canapés.

Magician Spencer Lynch kept everyone entertained after the wedding breakfast as the evening guests were arriving. “He was fantastic and managed to convert all the sceptics,” Rachael remembers.

During the evening, the DJ Hipswing played with Sophia Sax and Rachael couldn’t recommend them highly enough. She says, “The atmosphere was transformed once she started to perform, everyone was already having a fabulous time, but it multiplied with the addition of live music.”

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Rachael shares, “Like many who originally had a 2020 wedding booked, we encountered quite a bit of stress and uncertainty in the lead up to our 2021 date. But when the day did arrive it just made it even more special – we’d made it! It was the first time we’d all been able to be together in more than a year, which really added to the celebrations and made them even more joyous.

“We were lucky enough to have a large number of our friends and family staying at the castle the night before, and I remember walking around, bumping into loved ones all day and evening. We were able to have a meal in a private room in the restaurant the night before, which is the kind of thing you rarely get to experience, so I feel very lucky to have had it.”

As well as delighting guests with a meet and greet, an owl also performed the task of ring bearer. It was feathered friend Hope’s first delivery and she was a little nervous. All assembled were worried she might not oblige, but with a little coaxing form her handler she was off and on her way.

WITH THANKS

Rachael and Dan are incredibly grateful to all of their suppliers. The bride tells us, “We had a bit of disruption with moving the date and then not being sure about numbers, but everyone was amazing and did all they could to make the process as easy as it could be.

“Heather at ByBlossom really had her work cut out printing the onthe-day stationery at the last minute since we weren’t able to commit to table plans thanks to the changing restrictions. Janet at Stich In Time was so helpful with altering my dress and making the sashes, ties and pocket squares. Lockdowns made time limited meaning she didn’t have long. Our hair stylist Sarah and make-up artist Lowri were fab, creating such a fun atmosphere getting ready. And Marie from Butterfly Events was with me all the way, she and her team did a spectacular job decorating the venue.”