DOUBLE THE FUN

THE funDouble

Victoria Louise Walker and Oliver John Potter (known as Oli) married on 20th December 2020 at Dumbleton Hall Hotel The Cotswolds followed by a summer wedding reception on 28th August 2021 at Stoke Orchard Community Centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Couples planning a Christmas wedding later this year can take inspiration from Victoria and Oli’s winter wedding ceremony followed by a summer reception

Images of the ceremony courtesy of Charlotte Darlington Photography Images of the reception courtesy of Nikki Kirk Photography

Victoria and Oli met online in 2011. “For our first date, we had arranged to meet at Costa Coffee in Cheltenham but Oli was 20 minutes late and I had accidentally left my phone at home so he couldn’t contact me to tell me that he was running late!” Victoria says. “After 15 minutes of waiting outside and wondering if I was waiting at the right place, I almost gave up thinking I had been stood up! Thankfully, I waited a little longer and we hit it off straight away!” Victoria tells us how the couple booked the venue, purchased the ring and then got engaged. “I had been hinting about getting married for a couple of years and Oli finally came round to the idea of having a small wedding (but little did we know that it would be very small due to the Covid restrictions in place at the time.) We visited a couple of wedding fairs and viewed some venues including Dumbleton Hall Hotel The Cotswolds. After having a chat with Sarah there, we booked the venue for December 20th 2020.” The couple then purchased a ring and months later, as they were getting ready to head out for their anniversary meal, Oli presented it to Victoria and asked her to marry him.

SETTING THE SCENE

The main reason that Victoria and Oli chose Dumbleton Hall Hotel The Cotswolds was that

“People often find it hard to tell Oli and his twin brother James apart. On our wedding day, James popped up to the room where I was getting ready and my mum answered the door and thought it was Oli, telling him that he wasn’t allowed to be there because it was bad luck! James had to quickly explain that he wasn’t Oli!” - Victoria

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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.

“Everyone tucked into a delicious hog roast!” - Victoria and Oli

TIME TO ENTERTAIN

The couple were able to have everything at their summer wedding reception that they couldn’t have on the day of the ceremony. “We hired the band Coco Magic who was fantastic and kept everyone up and dancing all night,” Victoria tells us. “We also had a magic mirror and illuminated LOVE letters plus a snow machine that I had arranged for after the ceremony and during the family photographs. This was a surprise for everyone and we got some amazing photographs!”

THE DREAM TEAM

Ceremony venue, Dumbleton Hall Hotel The Cotswolds, 01386 881 240, www.dumbletonhall.co.uk | Wedding reception venue, Stoke Orchard

Community Centre, 07437 533 132, https://stokeorchard.org | Ceremony photographer, Charlotte Darlington Photography, 07495 186 505, www.cdphotography.org | Reception photographer, Nikki Kirk Photography, 07711 855 845, www.nikkikirkphotography.com | Dress, Taffeta & Lace, 01452 419 181, www.taffetaandlace.co.uk | Make-up artist and manicurist for the ceremony, Gail Nowacki at Beautique G, 07730 598 510, https://en-gb.facebook.com/BeautiqueG | Make-up artist for the reception, Alexandra Sinclair Makeup Artist and Tan Specialist, 07811 525 845, www.facebook.com/AlexandraSinclairbeauty101 | Suits, Regency Groom, 01242 677 755, www.groomswear.co.uk | Bouquets, buttonholes, boutonnieres and table decorations, Beautiful Blooms Floral Design, 01386 643 281, https://beautifulbloomsfloraldesign.co.uk | Sunflowers and groom’s buttonhole for the reception, Sue Newman at Eden of Cleeve, 01246 676 400, www.edenofcleeve.co.uk | Wedding rings, R.J. Spicer Goldsmith, 01242 574 871, www.rjspicer.com | Hog roast for the wedding reception, Ben Creese Country Butchers, 01452 840 510, https://countrybutchers.co.uk | Ceiling lights, Secret Garden Wedding & Event Services, 07887 637 407, www.secret-gardenweddingservices.co.uk | Magic Mirror, LOVE letters and snow machine, Generation Events Gloucestershire Ltd, 01452 379 125, http://generationeventsglos.co.uk | Wedding glasses, Made For You, www.madeforyou.co.uk | Band, Coco Magic, 0845 226 8591, www.cocomagic.co.uk | Gold heart padlock, Broughton & Co, 07595 550 074, https://lovebroughtonandco.com | Glass bauble favours, Ourglass of Cockington, 01803 606 757 www.ourglasscockington.com | Honeymoon booking, Courtney World Travel, 01684 295 580, www.courtneyworldtravel.co.uk | Flowergirl dress, The Cherri Trifle, https://en-gb.facebook.com/thecherritrifle | Bridesmaids’ dresses, Monsoon