Real Wedding

Rebecca and David’s Wedding at Cain Manor

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A Glamorous Winter Wedding at Cain Manor

Rebecca and David met a decade ago around Christmas time, during their University years.

After having celebrated so many anniversaries around the holiday season over the past 10 years, David thought that it would be perfect to propose around Christmas, as winter had a special meaning to them both. Therefore, he spent just under a year sourcing the perfect oval diamond, which he then had set on to a stunning band by a bespoke jeweller, Smith & Green, based in London’s Hatton Garden.

The proposal itself was beautiful – rose petals, light and candles set the mood and Rebecca’s favourite song was playing in the background as David bent down on one knee. After accepting David’s romantic proposal, the couple decided that they’d like to get married around Christmas time the following year.

Winter Wedding Dress Shopping

Rebecca went shopping in Reigate for her winter wedding dress. The bride-to-be tried on only three different designs before trying on a dress that made her skin glow. The sensational white satin gown, designed by Pronovias, featured a bateau neckline and a large detachable train, ideal for dancing. Rebecca decided to personalise her wedding dress by having the buttons extended all the way down to the bottom of the train, in order to give the gown a vintage twist.

Rikki Casey from Feel Unreal styled Rebecca’s hair on the morning of her wedding. Her up do was very classic, with some plaits added at the side to create a more youthful look. The body of her bun sat at the nape of her neck as she wanted to see some hair from the front, to frame her face with loose tendrils.

Finding a Wintry Barn Wedding Venue

Rebecca and David didn’t look at any other venue after having viewed Cain Manor.

They knew from the beginning of their wedding planning that they wanted to book a cosy winter wedding venue with the ultimate winter feel and Cain Manor ticked all the boxes. They wanted space with a homely, warm feel for their festive wedding. Imagining two roaring fires, paired with flowers, fairy lights and twinkling candles seemed just perfect and the couple booked Cain Manor for the middle of December, 2016, giving them just under a year to plan their winter wedding.

Elegant Bridal Party

Rebecca and David’s elegant bridal party consisted of the bride’s twin sister Lauren and younger sister Katie, as well as her cousin Elsie and best friend Leonie. Rebecca had gone shopping on her lunch break one day and tried on a grey, glittery dress that she thought would be suitable for her winter wedding bridesmaids. She sent the girls a photo and luckily they were all on board, so a purchase for 4 stunning bridesmaids dresses was made later that week.

David had his two brothers, Tony and James, plus Rebecca’s cousin Jack to support him on the day. The groom-to-be works as the Senior Product Manager for Shirts and Tailoring at the Hackett head office, so being accustomed to choosing fabrics and designs, he had them all made bespoke and even had the wedding date sewn in, just above the inside pocket of his luxury suit jacket.

Luxurious Winter Wedding Flowers

The couple chose to have Country Flower Company create and design all of the floral arrangements for their winter wedding.

Rebecca carried a hand-tied bouquet with white ranunculus, ‘White Cloud’ roses and ‘White O’Hara’ roses, gypsophila and soft dusty miller foliage, with hanging grey ribbon, down the aisle. The groom and his party each wore simple cream rose button holes with winter foliage.

A beautiful white gypsophila posy was tied, with ivory ribbon, to the end of each chair down the aisle in The Music Room at Cain Manor. A stunning gypsophilia wedding wreath was hung on the cathedral length windows and the bride and groom had mistletoe tied to the backs of their chairs at the altar. Mistletoe was also hung in The Library, with a sign saying ‘What happens under the mistletoe, stays under the mistletoe’. All of the beams in The Music Room were wrapped with ivy and blush roses, with twinkly fairy lights in between to add an extra warming feel to the grand space.

The fireplaces and mantle pieces throughout the venue were draped in ivy and small posies of gypsophila and dusty miller were dotted around to add an extra touch of festive magic.

To decorate the reception tables in The Music Room, antiqued silver mercury vases were filled with natural arrangements of white Avalanche roses, white clooni ranunculus, plus blue delphinium, pink astilbe, muted blush Quicksand roses, cream garden White Majolica roses, white-blush super-bubble roses, soft grey brunia and dove grey dusty miller.

The Big Day: 16th December, 2016

Rebecca walked down the aisle at 2pm on Friday 16th December, 2016 on the arm of her father, to the sounds of Canon in D by Pachelbel in front of 104 guests.

four tier winter wedding cake with edible white snow and spray of flowers cascaded

She approached her excited groom David and the room filled with joy as the couple proceeded to say their vows to one another. Rebecca’s twin sister wrote her own poem to read out during the ceremony. David slipped a stunning diamond wedding band on to Rebecca’s wedding ring finger, and Rebecca did the same, before the couple were pronounced husband and wife.

Guests gathered and celebrated in the warm and cosy Library at Cain Manor where they were able to look at the creative and uber festive table plan which had been designed to look like Christmas stockings hung over the fireplace. The Master of Ceremonies called everyone back in to The Music Room ahead of the exquisite three course meal to follow.

Each of the 12 reception tables were names after one of the 12 days of Christmas, and the top table was the partridge in a pear tree.

Winter Wedding Banquet Menu

Starter

Baked brie parcel served with warm bacon and redcurrant salad
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Main Course

Hampshire beef and Chianti pie in a mini skillet with olivette carrots, creamy mash and beef gravy
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Dessert

Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce, glazed pecans and mascarpone ice cream

Winter Wedding Cake & Decorations

For favours, Rebecca found small sweet bags made to look like Mason Jars, on Etsy. She knew that she wanted to include silver coins as the main sweet as these were a staple stocking filler, but to make the favours more personal, Etsy added ‘For Richer or Poorer’ along with a personal note from the newlywed couple.

The couple had hired David’s cousin, Julia Baker from Tier by Tier to design their show-stopping, four tier winter wedding cake. White fondant was covered in edible white sparkles to resemble snow and a spray of flowers cascaded and twisted down one side of the cake. The 12-inch layer was flavoured with salted caramel, the 8 and 10-inch tiers were vanilla and raspberry, and the top tier was a traditional fruit cake.

During their wedding planning experience with Harper, Rebecca and David decided to hire the cream post box so that guests could safely leave cards and gifts in the designated space, located in The Library. A photo booth, set up by PodGuys was a huge hit, and a further 36 guests joined the newlyweds during the early evening, to witness the cutting of the cake and the first dance, which was also the song played at the very moment David proposed; Can’t Help Falling in Love with You by Elvis Presley. The bride tossed her bouquet to all of her single friends and the band, Revelry UK, kept the wedding party entertained throughout the night. The photo booth doubled up as a guest book, as it printed two strips of three images; one for the guest to take home and the second to be stuck directly in to the guest book along with a message. The couple even made some of their own props with ‘Team Bride’ and ‘Team Groom’ along with their wedding hashtag #TeamGathercole. Everyone enjoyed an evening buffet featuring mini burgers and mini bacon butties, and a slice of wedding cake, of course.

For their honeymoon, Rebecca had her heart set on a dream trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and she got her wish after dragging David in to Kuoni. Wedding guests kindly contributed to the couple’s honeymoon fund instead of buying th couple a gift from a traditional wedding gift list.

Advice for Future Harper Couples

Rebecca’s wedding planning advice: “Plan your budget carefully, I had a spreadsheet with 13 tabs as well as the online planner and we kept close track of the money. I would recommend to future brides to get estimates from close friends and family in your local area as location makes a difference. We are both perfectionists also, so struggled to settle for anything less than premium quality, which again was probably not initially factored on websites when other brides shop around or are willing to make compromises. I also didn’t feel like I could ever haggle on price – it seemed to me to be offensive to ask any vendor to reduce their price when they put so much time and effort into their art or trade.”

Rebecca and David’s Wedding Suppliers

Wedding Venue: Cain Manor
Wedding Photographer: Razia N. Jukes
Wedding Dress Designer: Pronovias
Wedding Hair: Feel Unreal
Groomswear: Hackett
Wedding Flowers: Country Flower Company
Wedding Cake: Tier by Tier
Photo Booth: PodGuys
Wedding Band: Revelry UK
Honeymoon provider: Kuoni
Wedding Insurance: John Lewis
Postbox: Harper faux hire

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