WEDDINGS Jen and Henri host their

A COUNTRY HOUSE WEDDING

This month’s featured couple, Jen and Henri Laurent, enjoyed creating their country house wedding in Lincoln they describe as a midi-wedding. Not too big but not too small, just right to ensure family and close friends could wish them well on their big day!

Wedding Photographer: Gary Anderson, GJA Photography, 01507 351639, 07708 949288, www.gjaphotography.com.

Love, music and comedy... they all depend on one thing; good timing. And so does successful wedding planning. Happily, Jen and Henri were able to marry just before the number of guests permitted at weddings was cut down to 15.

“We never wanted a huge wedding – more like a midi-wedding – we’ve heard from others that a long guest list can mean you’re too busy trying to see all of your guests to spend much meaningful time with them,” says Jen. “The kind of day we had in mind is one where we could spend time with our closest family and friends, celebrating the day with a nice relaxed atmosphere. That’s exactly the wedding we ended up creating and both of us look back on the day and feel really lucky it played out that way.” Jen and Henri were both born and raised in Lincoln and decided early on after engagement that they wanted a local wedding in their hometown.

“After we met; we spent six months living separately – I was working in Wakefield at the time and only seeing one another at weekends was frustrating, so when we moved in during the spring of 2018 it was really lovely to be able to spend a lot more time together.” “It was just over a year later that Henri surprised me with an absolutely wonderful proposal. We enjoyed a weekend away in London and had returned from a lovely meal at a swanky restaurant.” “I was pouring us a night cap when Henri said he had something to ask me. I turned around and to my surprise he presented me with a beautiful ring. It was the perfect proposal – intimate and relaxed – and I was delighted!” “We were really excited but neither of us had any idea what sort of day we wanted. Even as a little girl I hadn’t planned my dream wedding, with big dresses and an even bigger entourage, so I was really starting from the beginning.” “The date we chose in late summer turned out to be absolutely perfect, not just because it was a lovely warm and sunny day but because it was just before the number of guests permitted was cut down to 15.” “We found Doddington Hall and it proved to be the perfect wedding venue for the style of day that we wanted to create. You can marry in the Long Gallery in the Elizabethan hall but we chose to hold the ceremony at the coach house and were lucky enough to be blessed with wonderful weather and so were able to marry in the walled garden under the new arbour.” “Choosing Doddington Hall as a venue also meant that we had caterers for our wedding breakfast, and that we could use the venue’s tables, chairs, linen and so on. It also meant there was very little venue decoration needed; the architecture and style of the Coach House was pretty enough.” “I found my wedding dress at Jayne’s Bridalwear at The Lawns in Lincoln and Henri chose the suits for himself and Best Man from Moss Bros in Cornhill. We also commissioned our wedding floristry and cake from Violet & Vine and Cakes by Zoe.” “It was really nice that we didn’t have to go too far to find really good suppliers, they were all local and all wonderful to work with.” “Gary Anderson, our photographer, was also really lovely. We didn’t want to have too many ‘over-posed’ shots, and wanted a nice relaxed look. Gary was perfect. He captured our guests’ expressions really well and just by looking at the images we’re taken right back to the day and how it felt.” >>

WEDDING SUPPLIERS

JEN & HENRI LAURENT

Wedding Ceremony & Reception: Doddington Hall, 01522 812501, www.doddingtonhall.com. Wedding Dress: Pronovias at Jayne’s Bridalwear, Lincoln 01522 244082 www.jaynesbridalwear.co.uk. Wedding Suits: Moss Bros, Lincoln 01522 542651, www.moss.co.uk. Wedding Flowers: Violet & Vine, Lincoln 07908 892031, violetandvineuk.com. Wedding Cake: Cakes by Zoe, Lincoln, 07783 179254, cakesbyzoelincoln.co.uk. Wedding Photographer: Gary Anderson, GJA Photography, 01507 351639, 07708 949 288, www.gjaphotography.com. n

“We had never planned a wedding at all, but through a combination of luck and good judgement everything turned out to be perfect!”

>> “His dusk shots were lovely too, much more arty than we were expecting but we love them!” “Our plans for a honeymoon were a little compromised by the next lockdown. We had planned to go to Croatia but had to defer that.” “We did have a lovely few days away the following weekend though, when Henri’s cousin married in London. And then we spend a few days in Bath before returning via the Cotswolds. “All in all we had never planned a wedding, but perhaps through a combination of luck and good suppliers, everything turned out to be perfect.” “It was great to be surrounded by friends and family, the weather was lovely, the venue was great and the number of guests created a really nice cosy intimate wedding!” n Images courtesy of: Gary Anderson, GJA Photography, 01507 351639, 07708 949288, www.gjaphotography.com.