Real Wedding

Dayna and Michael’s Wedding at Cain Manor

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A Thursday Spring Wedding at Cain Manor

Michael was newly employed as a PE teacher at the same school where Dayna taught. Right from the start, these two had caught one another’s attention and, after a while, Michael finally managed to find the courage to ask Dayna out on a date. From then on the couple were ‘inseparable’.

After being together for almost two years, Michael decided that now was the time to take the next step and plan his proposal.

On the 23rd December, 2015 at Hampton Court’s Bushy Park, Michael, Dayna and their twins enjoyed a walk on a bright winters day. Michael’s nerves were building as they had nearly reached the spot where he had planned to pop the question, however, at that very moment their two little ones needed the toilet.

After walking all the way back to the planned proposal spot in the park, Michael poured Dayna a glass of wine, which he had been hiding in his bag, and got down on one knee in front of their two children and asked her to be his wife – to which she of course said yes!

With Christmas Day just around the corner, the couple both decided to wait until then to announce their good news with both families. The excitement of being engaged made their festive holiday even more special and memorable for them.

Choosing the Perfect Wedding Venue

Dayna and Michael looked at just one other wedding venue before deciding that Cain Manor was the place they wanted to celebrate their special day together.

After having done an extensive search for ‘wedding venues in Hampshire’ online, the couple requested a brochure and arranged to visit Cain Manor. But, even though it was a rainy winters day in January, the couple still knew that Cain Manor was their dream venue and they ended up cancelling their other arranged venue viewings.

We asked Dayna and Michael what they felt made them fall in love with Cain Manor they responded with “Everything from the drive up, to the building itself and all of the amazing staff. We loved the high ceilings, the beams, the open fireplaces, everything. It had such a homely feel to it.”

A Jasmine Couture Wedding Dress

Dayna tried on about seven dresses in a luxury bridalwear shop before she found ‘the one’. Dayna fell in love with her Jasmine dress because of the gorgeous long train and as she mentions, she felt that “It had Cain Manor written all over it”.

Her Jasmine wedding dress was a simple, stunning, strapless, fishtail style gown with a show-stopping cathedral length train, which went perfectly with the ivory avalanche roses, ranunculus and white lisianthus mixed with green foliage as her bridal bouquet.

Her bridal style was finished off with her long, curly natural hair paired with a delicate tiara. This look was created with the help of her hair and make-up stylist, Annette Kemp.

Dayna chose to have just one Maid of Honour to support her on the day – her friend Tace. Tace wore a beautiful, grey, floor-length maxi-dress found on the high street, which tied in perfectly with the grey suits worn by the groomsmen. Tace and Dayna went on multiple shopping trips until they found the perfect dress. Michael, the groom, hired a Prince Edward suit from Debenhams and all of the grooms party, including the couple’s twin boys, also wore grey.

The Big Day: 6th April, 2017

Dayna and Michael were married in the Music Room at Cain Manor on Thursday 6th April 2017. At 2pm Dayna walked arm in arm with her father into the ceremony room filled with 53 of their closest friends and family.

They walked down the aisle to ‘Tenerife Sea’ by Ed Sheeran and The Music Room was perfectly decorated with white chair covers and champagne organza coloured sashes. The aisle was simple but beautifully lined ivory rose trees that the couple hired through Harper.

Following on from everyone enjoying their drinks reception in the Cain Manor gardens, the couple and their guests entered The Music Room once again to enjoy a three course Wedding Breakfast.

Dayna and Michael’s theme to their wedding was classic with a neutral colour scheme. They decided to decorate their banqueting tables with neutral coloured flowers to match the bridal bouquet.

Alongside their floral table arrangements, the couple decided that for their wedding favours, they wanted to donate to Cancer Research UK and presented each guest with a heart shaped brooch, attached to their favour cards which said

“A donation has been made on your behalf to celebrate the marriage of Michael and Dayna”. For the children, Dayna made little goodie bags with colouring books, sweets and activity packs.

The couple later enjoyed the traditional cake cutting moment, which was a stunning three tired, square cake with grey ribbon to match the colour of the suits, subtle diamantes decorated the middle tier and the cake was finished off with a personalised cake topper which was made to look like the newlywed couple. The cake consisted of a layer of fruit cake, lemon cake and chocolate cake; this was kindly made by Dayna’s maid of honour’s mum. An additional 40 guests joined the newlywed couple for their evening reception.

Dayna and Michael kicked off the evening party with their first dance and song choice of, ‘All of me’ by John Legend. The newlywed couple and their guests then enjoyed the rest of the evening to their choice of music played by our Harper DJ.

Bride Groom family shot as newlyweds

The Honeymoon

Due to Dayna and Michael both being teachers, being able to take time off for their honeymoon was slightly limited. But, as their wedding took place in the Easter holidays they had just enough time to enjoy four blissful days in the New Forest. The couple enjoyed their time in a beautiful lodge with a hot-tub and Jacuzzi bath. After enjoying their special retreat so much, the couple have already booked to go back to celebrate their first anniversary together.

Dayna and Michael have both decided that the forthcoming coming school summer holidays would be when they will enjoy their official honeymoon as Mr and Mrs.The couple have chosen Aruba in the Caribbean as their ‘official honeymoon’ destination.

Advice to Future Harper Couples

Bride Dayna says: “Make sure you spend the whole of your day together. So many people warned me that they didn’t get to see their husbands all day as they were too busy meeting and greeting guests. We made sure we stayed together and enjoyed every minute as husband and wife”.

Groom Michael says: “Step back, relax and make sure you take all of it in.”

Wedding Suppliers

Wedding Venue: Cain Manor
Wedding Photographer: Premier Wedding Photography and Videography
Wedding Florist: BBL Design
Wedding Dress Designer: Jasmine Couture
Wedding Hair and Make-up: Annette Kemp
Evening Entertainment: Harper DJ

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