Real Wedding

Rachel and Kevin’s Wedding at Cain Manor

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A Late August Wedding at Cain Manor

Rachel and Kevin met whilst both working for Yo! Sushi and after 2 years and 1 month together, Kevin booked a surprise holiday abroad to celebrate Rachel’s birthday.

Rachel had always wanted to stay at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas so this was an extremely special trip for the couple. Little did Rachel know that Kevin had secretly spoken to her father before the trip and after dinner one night, while the couple were watching the stunning sun set, Rachel turned around and found Kevin down on one knee. She tried to pull him back up as she had clocked what was going on and was shocked that he was doing this in public, but Kevin managed to stay on one knee and open a ring box before asking Rachel to marry him. The couple celebrated with Champagne back at the hotel but didn’t share the good news with family or friends until they returned back to the UK a couple of days later.

The couple planned their wedding over the following 2 years and 3 months to ensure it was truly perfect.

Choosing the Perfect Barn-Style Wedding Venue

Rachel and Kevin found Cain Manor online before adding it to their shortlist of wedding venues. They visited 10 venues during their search, but no other venue provided everything the couple wanted, including accommodation and beautiful outdoor space for guests to spend the long summer evening and lots of open garden grounds for children to explore. “It had the wow factor when you pulled up and saw it for the first time, although every time we visited we always felt the same way, absolutely amazed at how beautiful it was” said Rachel. “We loved the look of the main room with his barn like feel and exposed wooden beams and the cosiness of the building despite its large size” she added.

The couple knew they wanted an end of summer wedding, and also liked the idea of booking a Friday so that their guests could enjoy a long weekend. Plus, with lots of their friends being teachers, and with the children they wanted to invite, it made sense to get married during the summer holidays.

Rachel and Kevin’s opinion of the Online Planner provided by Harper Weddings:
“It was honestly the best thing ever! Having everything in one place and being able to have constant access to it to make changes whenever we needed to was a great help, plus it made sure that we didn’t forget anything. It was also very comforting to know that there was someone there at the other end who also had access at all times and could check and double check everything on there.”

The Big Day: Friday 31st August, 2018

Rachel and her bridal party arrived at Cain Manor at 11am on Friday August 31st, in preparation for her 12:30pm wedding ceremony in The Music Room.

The flowers, cake and decorations were all displayed ahead of the ceremony; the groom arrived at 11:30am and proceeded to get ready in The Stable Block with his supporting friends.
Rachel walked down the aisle on the arm of her father Tony to ‘I Loved Her First’ by Heartland – a song chosen by the father of the bride. During the ceremony, the couple had chosen personal vows that they wanted to say to each other in between the beautiful words read by the registrar. Excitement filled the room as Rachel and Kevin were pronounced husband and wife – and the couple set off back down the aisle as a newlywed couple, as their 80 day guests congratulated them.

Guests enjoyed a 2 hour drinks reception and were able to enjoy the gorgeous country grounds surrounding Cain Manor as The Music Room was transformed for a sumptuous wedding banquet.

First wedding dance Hampshire

Ahead of their wedding, Rachel and Kevin attended a menu tasting at Cain Manor, in order to sample some of the most popular dishes served across Harper Wedding Venues.
In the corner of The Music Room stood a 7-tier tall cake stand featuring cupcake tower featuring a mixture of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from The Hummingbird Bakery. A small madeira sponge cake sat on the top of the tower and an additional fruit cake was cut and served to guests throughout the evening.

Reception tables were decorated with candle-lit hurricane vases surrounded by circular wreath-like floral arrangements. Ivory chair sashes complimented the colour of Rachel’s dress perfectly and instead of table favours, the couple hired the Harper Sweetie Cart, so that guests could help themselves to a sweet treat later on in the evening.

A further 40 guests joined the party in the evening, excited to watch the newlywed pair dance their first dance to ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol, played live by the evening entertainment: The Blue Lion Band.

Wedding Dress

Rachel wanted to step away from a traditional white or ivory dress when it came to finding her bridal attire for the big day, and instead chose a dream gown in a light gold shade. The bride-to-be had been watching ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ one afternoon on the sofa at home when she decided to look on the Kleinfeld website for inspiration. She came across the Maggie Sottero ‘Malina’ gown and realised that it was the only dress she’d ever seen that she actually wanted to try on. Rachel called up a shop in Ewell Village who kindly had a sample of the gown brought in especially for her. Throughout the process of finding the perfect wedding dress, Rachel kept an open mind and tried on 20 additional styles, but ‘Malina’ was absolutely perfect and an order was placed.

To tick her something old, and blue, off the wedding list, Rachel wore a pair of blue Miss KG shoes she already owned, under her dress. She knew they were comfortable and they looked lovely against the gold shade of her gown.

Kevin and his grooms party bought light grey linen suits from Moss Bros, teamed with a silk pink tie from M&S, tan coloured shoes and matching pink socks. The bridesmaids wore floor-length, ivory gowns designed by Vera Wang which were found on a shopping trip to David’s Bridal in London.

Wedding Flowers

Rachel’s mother, Karen, filled Cain Manor with incredible floral arrangement. Karen and her daughters travelled up to the Covent Garden Flower Market at 3:30am, 2 days before the wedding, and bought everything they needed in order to create stunning floral displays and bouquets for the wedding. All of the arrangements consisted of a variety of roses, larkspur, ranunculus, astible, astrantia, veronica, hydrangea and lisisnthus all in ivory, cream and dusky pink along with a variety of foliage.

Kevin and his best man Neil wore a two rose button hole, and the ushers wore button holes with a single pink rose to compliment the bridal and bridesmaid’s bouquets. Rachel had two heart shaped framed charms tied to her bouquet, featuring pictures of her late grandparents so that they could be part of her day.

Wedding Menu

Starter

Roast butternut soup with root vegetable crisps
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Main Course

Classic roast breast of free range chicken served with seasonal vegetables, duck fat potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy
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Dessert

Chocolate pot with a melting middle, mascarpone ice cream and chocolate crumbs

Favourite Wedding Moments

Bride: Seeing her dad speechless when he first came into the bridal suite to see her dressed as the bride.
Groom: When Rachel walked down the aisle towards him and looking at her for the first time.

The couple spent their honeymoon at the Atlantis Resort in Dubai; the perfect destination and hotel, which felt right as the Atlantis Resort was where they got engaged in the Bahamas just over 2 years before.

Wedding Suppliers

Wedding Venues: Cain Manor
Wedding Photographer: Rishi Rai Photography
Wedding Invitations: The Little Green Studio
Wedding Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero
Groomswear: Moss Bros
Bridesmaid Dresses: Vera Wang from David’s Bridal
Wedding Cake: The Hummingbird Bakery
Sweetie cart and Wishing Well: Harper Venue Styling
Wedding Band: The Blue Lion Band
Wedding Gift List: John Lewis

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