Real Wedding

Emma and Dwayne’s Wedding at Cain Manor

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Emma and Dwayne celebrated a winter wedding on a Wednesday at Cain Manor

Emma and Dwayne spent exactly 12 months (to the day) planning their wintry Wednesday wedding in December 2016 at Cain Manor.

The destination proposal

Every year, instead of giving each other a Christmas present, Emma and Dwayne put their money together and went on a special winter holiday. Emma happened to come across an amazing 3-night deal to Prague, so the couple booked it and Dwayne secretly started planning how he was going to propose.

Having carried a custom-made ring through airport security, he then started to imagine how he was going to pop the question. His first attempt didn’t go to plan – he was going to propose on Charles Bridge, but as they were approaching it, by chance, Emma mentioned that one of her friends was proposed to on the same bridge. Dwayne’s second plan was to pop the question at a romantic dinner, but the couple weren’t given the best table and the restaurant refused to move them, so Dwayne decided against proposing without the view! Third time lucky and Dwayne pulled Emma aside when the couple were enjoying a brewery tour on their last night in Prague. The friends they’d known for just hours on their tour felt like friends they’d known for years; everyone celebrated the engagement and the couple couldn’t wait to get home the next day to share their happy news with friends and family.

After having been together for 8 years, Emma and Dwayne booked their Wednesday wedding at Cain Manor on their first proposal-versary! One year was the perfect amount of time for this couple to organise their dream day for 100 wedding guests!

Choosing a winter wedding dress

Emma went wedding dress shopping in Knightsbridge and had always imagined herself wearing a floor length, fitted lace dress with a low back. However, when she started trying on wedding dresses, as beautiful as they all were, the style just didn’t feel right. She tried on a dress just for fun, and ended up falling in love. As soon as Emma stepped in to ‘Ballet’ by Suzanne Neville, she knew she’d found ‘the one’.

Emma loved every element of her wedding dress; from the low back to the lace and the jewel encrusted belt. But most of all, the dress was comfortable. It was the 6th wedding dress that Emma had tried, and even though she kept on with her search, nothing compared to ‘Ballet’.
Instead of wearing heeled wedding shoes, Emma went for the comfort feel and ordered a pair of white Converse pumps to don down the aisle. Little did she know that her husband to be had also ordered her a pair of white Converse, but he’d had them personlised with her new married name. A lovely wedding gift that was perfectly appropriate.

When it came to her wedding day hair do, Emma hired a consultant who had styled her hair in the past; Lucy from Hair that Turns Heads. She also hired Katie, a freelance make up specialist who used products that she was familiar with. “I’m not a hair and make up kind of person so I immediately feel self-conscious when I have either done. However, I felt so comfortable and it was probably the first time I’ve felt amazing in what I was wearing, what my make up looked like and how my hair was done. It all came together beautifully and I didn’t want to take any of it off at the end of the day” said Emma.

Finding a cosy winter wedding venue

When searching for the perfect winter wedding venue, shortly after their engagement, Emma and Dwayne visited just one other barn-style wedding venue before booking an appointment to visit Cain Manor.

Unfortunately, it was a very wet and dreary winter afternoon when the couple came to visit, but even seeing it in the worst weather, they still fell in love. “We loved it because it was like walking into a big cosy house; we love that it was natural, a tall ceiling in the main room with windows looking over the downs.” Emma also loved the open fires, the big wooden doors and the pillars; the whole house had the big country-home feel that the couple were looking for.

The big day; 21st December, 2016

The Music Room at Cain Manor was decorated beautifully with fairy lights, by Harper Partner, Party Lights. Twinkly lights draped across the high, barn ceilings in The Music Room and the aisle had been decorated with pretty Memory Lane rose petals and silver hurricane lanterns, lit with candles.

just married aisle walk Cain Manor

The bride walked down the aisle, after her 3 bridesmaids, to ‘The Piano Guys’ version of ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri. The ceremony was simply wonderful and the wedding photographer, Tony Hart, captured some incredible images of the couple as they said their vows and exchanged rings.

After walking back down the aisle as husband and wife, the couple popped up to the bridal suite to toast their marriage and freshen up before heading out to the grounds of Cain Manor to have some extra special wedding photography taken. The woodland approach to Cain Manor made for some truly wonderful winter wedding photography.

Natalie from Dobbe’s Florist in Cranleigh helped arrange all of the wedding flowers for the big day. Emma carried a gorgeous bouquet, hand-tied, featuring Memory Lane roses, white wax flower, white lisianthus and cinera eucalyptus. Jars filled with flowers sat on the registrar table and the men all wore wintry button holes featuring a Memory Lane rose with wax flower and eucalyptus.

After celebrating with a glass (or two) of fizz, wedding guests were welcomed back in to The Music Room where they were greeted by beautiful tables decorated with jars wrapped in twine, filled with dusky pink flowers and foliage and sat on a rustic slice of log. Elegant votives filled with tea light candles added extra glam to the tables, which were all named after destinations that the couple had a travelled to over the years.

The bridal party

The couple invited their niece Isobel, Dwayne’s sister Stephanie and Emma’s best friend Felicity to be bridesmaids on the big day. The girls wore dresses in a dusky rose shade, chosen by the bride and approved by everyone. The dresses, designed by Alfred Angelo, looked stunning on the day and fitted in with the winter wedding colour scheme perfectly. All of the bridesmaids felt very happy with every decision that was made regarding their wedding day style.

Dwayne asked his friend Jake to be his best man, along with friends Marcus, Ben and his brother Brett to be ushers. They all wore Air Force blue suites hired from Stephen Bishop Suiting in Woking. The couple said that the team at Stephen Bishop couldn’t have been more helpful and were lovely to deal with throughout the whole process of finding appropriate wedding wear.

Winter wedding banquet menu

Starter: Peat-smoked salmon, pea shoots and beetroot with Charlotte potato salad
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Main Course: Rump of south downs lamb with seasonal vegetables, duck fat potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy
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Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce, glazed pecans and mascarpone ice cream

The evening reception

During the evening, the couple cut through a round, three tier wedding cake that had been designed by Helen at The Buttercup Kitchen. Emma had previously sent Helen a colour swatch of the bridesmaids dresses and a samlple of the lace from her wedding dress, so that she could use them for inspiration when creating the cake. It looked incredible on the day and was cut and served along side the cheese table evening buffet.

The couple danced their first dance to ‘Over and Over Again’ by Nathan Sykes and a further 40 guests joined the party in the evening for a glass of fizz, a slice of cake, a taste of the evening buffet and a bit of fun in the photo booth.

The honeymoon

The newlywed couple celebrated their marriage by heading off on a romantic trip to Vienna between Christmas and New Year. They had a lovely time reminiscing about their wedding and planning their future.

When asked if there was any advice that they’d like to give future wedding planning couples, Emma and Dwayne said the following: “Invite as many people as you can, make sure you have everything you want and take in every moment. Make sure you get round to speaking with everyone and have pictures with them, even if they are not taken by your photographer”.

Emma and Dwayne’s wedding suppliers

Wedding Venue: Cain Manor
Wedding Photographer: Tony Hart
Wedding Florist: Dobbe’s Cranleigh
Wedding Dress Designer: Suzanne Neville
Wedding Hair Stylist: Hair that Turns Heads
Wedding Beauty: Katie, Freelance Makeup Artist
Bridesmaids Dresses: Alfred Angelo
Groomswear: Stephen Bishop Suiting
Decorative Lighting: Party Lights
Wedding Cake: The Buttercup Kitchen
Photo booth: The Photo Booth Guys

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