A Country Wedding

from Lincolnshire Pride March 2023

Night & Day

When Amelia and Tom married at Stubton Hall near Newark, they wanted the day to reﬂect their interests and the local countryside. It was a great day for family and friends, but there was also a secret ‘special guest’ in attendance!

Wedding Photographer: Gary Anderson, 01507 351639, www.gjaphotography.com.

THE GREAT THING about living in the countryside is that every season has its own unique beauty. As sure as the bulbs and blossoms of spring give way to the blue skies and verdant greens of summer, autumn soon arrives with a rich range of colours from bronze and orange to red and gold.

Autumn has an appeal that’s not lost on Amelia and Tom. This month’s groom moved down to Lincolnshire from the north east to take on a role as engineer in the RAF at Coningsby, specialising in avionics on the Typhoon fleet.

Tom met Amelia, a veterinary nurse at a local practice, online in 2018 and the two began dating, culminating in a proposal in April 2021.

“We’re quite outdoorsy people and enjoy spending time in the countryside. We both have a trio of Beagles who we adore,” says Tom. “We were enjoying a day out at Belvoir Castle with a picnic just after Amelia had qualified. I made out that I had a present for her by way of congratulations for passing her exams, then presented her with a ring and asked her to marry me.”

Because of the tendency of those in the RAF to move around as their career dictates, and as Amelia’s family were all living locally, the couple decided that time was of the essence and wedding planning began in earnest.

The criteria was that the day should make the most of autumn colours, it should reflect their interests and that the day should have a nice family feel for about 70 day guests plus a few more friends in the evening.

“We prepared a shortlist of three wedding venues, and we were open-minded to any of them, but when we saw Stubton Hall we fell

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in love with the place straight away, with the setting and the mature trees and lake really helping to ensure that it’s a great backdrop for wedding photographs. Fairly early on too, we realised that the people there are lovely, and couldn’t do enough for us; nothing was too much trouble on the day.”

With a venue and a date confirmed, the couple turned their attention to finding a photographer, and say they took lots of time to scrutinise the portfolios of many of the area’s professionals.

“Gary Anderson’s work really stood out for us,” says Tom. “It’s not often you book a photographer so we were a bit uncertain how we’d feel being in front of the camera, but we had an engagement shoot with Gary which proved to be a really good idea. It put us at ease and made us feel a little more comfortable working with each other.”

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Stubton Hall, Newark, 01636 626187, www.stubtonhall.co.uk.

Wedding Dress: Maggie Sottero at Blush Bridal, Bourne, 01778 218020, www.blushbridal.co.

Hair Stylist: Brianna Ellwood Hair.

Makeup Artist: Hannah @ Lipstick & Hairpins, www.lipstickandhairpins.co.uk.

Gents’ Tailoring: Cavani at Coneys of Lincoln, 01522 511187, www.coneysdesignerwear.co.uk.

Floristry: Jacaranda, 07815 290744 www.jacarandaﬂowers.co.uk.

Wedding Styling: Modern Heritage, www.modernheritagestyling.co.uk.

Confectionery: Confectionery Lounge www.theconfectionerylounge.com. n

Amelia found her perfect wedding dress, a Maggie Sottero dress with capped sleeves and lace overlay, at Bourne’s Blush Bridal, whilst her bridesmaids’ sage-coloured dresses were purchased from ASOS.

As well as having a couple of bridesmaids, Amelia’s best friend Euan served as her man of honour – or bridesman – and along with Tom’s three groomsmen, the gents all wore Cavani tailoring sourced from Coneys of Lincoln.

With autumn colours and a countryside theme to inspire the look and feel of the day, the couple sought the creative talents of Fran at Modern Heritage Styling, who decorated chairs with tweed and game bird feathers, and created the couple’s table centrepieces.

The couple’s floristry professional was Michelle at Jacaranda who utilised eucalyptus, and dried autumn leaves on the couple’s tall table centrepieces and the table used for signing the register.

“Instead of a wedding breakfast we opted for an afternoon tea which went down well as it was a bit lighter. We then had a woodfired pizza oven for the evening.”

“We commissioned a wedding cake from Orsi’s kitchen, based in Doncaster, and also a doughnut tower from Confectionery Lounge which also supplied our sweet cart. Our Beagles, Pippa, Maisy and Rupert also made an appearance on the cake table as sugarcraft characters... we’d have loved them to be there on the day but we thought the combination of mischievous Beagles, muddy paws and a white wedding dress probably wasn’t the best idea!”

“Everyone was praising our wedding band, Single Tables, who performed a really great playlist, and together with Stubton Hall’s in-house DJ we had a good mix of music which really got everyone dancing.”

“The day was just so good it’s hard to pick our favourite parts,” says Tom. “There’s a photo of the two of us with Amelia’s veil floating with a reflection. To get the shot, her man of honour, Euan, had to throw her veil and run away. But he nearly pulled Amelia’s head off trying it on the first attempt, which made us all laugh!”

“It was just so good having all of our nearest and dearest there in one place... and there was a secret guest there too. Amelia was nine weeks pregnant on the day. We still hadn’t told anyone, but we’d tipped off Stubton Hall so they ensured we had non-alcoholic drinks only during the day.”

“We did contemplate a big reveal on the day but decided we’d keep it a secret a little longer. It’s going to be a very exciting year for us though, with our first daughter expected in May!” n

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