Real Life Weddings at The Manor House

Mitch and I met through work around 8 years ago, I was nagging him for a meeting to secure some of his clients advertising spends and thankfully he gave in, eventually. As Mitch described in his speech a pretty insignificant acceptance of a meeting turned into the biggest and best decision of his life.

Our relationship was strictly professional for a while but when the stars aligned there was no holding us back, we already knew each other and shared the same love of food, travel and family so our relationship went from strength to strength pretty quickly.

We got engaged our first night away alone after having our little boy Jack. I was a little anxious to be leaving our 4 month old to say the least but Mitch had arranged the most perfect romantic trip to Cromer where we'd had our first weekend away as a couple on the exact same weekend five years earlier.

Mitch took Kirsty back to the same B&B we had stayed at five years previously and we went for an afternoon walk through the woodlands like we had all those years before, it was there where he went down on one knee (in the rain and mud) to pop the question.

We had our ceremony and reception at The Manor House in Castle Combe and planned our wedding in little over 7 weeks thanks to some rearrangements due to Covid.

We were completely blown away and speechless when we pulled into The Manor House on our first viewing and couldn’t believe that it was available on our wedding date.

Everyone at the venue was absolutely incredible and we cannot speak highly enough about the service and detail of the day. Cassie our event planner was always on hand in the run up ensuring that despite the short time frame we were working within they were doing all that they could to deliver our perfect day. James ran the day itself and was an absolute dream! He was always there when you needed him even knowing the exact moment my bouquet needed to be taken off me but was never in the way or on our shoulder. Our guests are still now commenting on how great the service and staff were and no one (including us) can believe the wedding we managed to pull off in just 7 weeks! 

Despite our wedding originally planned for Italy The Manor House never once felt like second best or a step down from our original dream wedding - in fact it feels like this was always meant to be and was just the best day of our lives.

Mitch was very good from this perspective and left me to it, I'd always wanted quite a classic timeless wedding one you would look back on in 10 or even 30 years and appreciate its beauty rather than feeling like you'd succumbed to a trend at the time.

It looked even better than I ever imagined and the Cotswolds provided the perfect setting.

My dress was not what I imagined I would have at all and I was initially looking for something a lot more fitting and plain.

At one dress shop quite early on the lady there asked me to try on a bigger dress and I just absolutely loved the look and the way it felt. Even though it wasn't my final dress my Mum, Auntie and I were all in tears and I knew from that moment on I needed to abandon my preconceptions and look at ballgowns. After all when else would I get to wear one?!

I choose my dress from The White Wedding House in Brentwood Essex which was the most relaxing and beautiful experience ever. It is down a country road and you drive up a long private driveway with the shop overlooking a lake it is truly stunning. The sales people aren't pushy at all and a lot of the dress designers they stock are not ones you'd find in other stores so there is little chance of recognising a dress you have seen someone wear before. Despite trying a few other dresses on I took my dress on and off about four times just in that one visit.

I absolutely loved the shape and structure of my dress it fit the look I wanted for our wedding perfectly. It made me feel like a bride so very special and a dress that I would only ever wear once in a lifetime.

The emotions - one minute we were smiling, next we were crying and then laughing.

It took a lot to get to the day for us thanks to the past 18 months and it felt so surreal that we finally got to have our special day celebrating with our family and friends.

It was relaxed, enjoyable and all so beautiful.

Hats off to the team for ensuring the day ran so seamlessly.

Planning it in 7 weeks was pretty unique but what it did mean is that it was a very concentrated intense time of excitement for us.

We loved that our Grandma’s were all able to attend which is something that wouldn’t have been possible had we got married in Italy as originally planned pre pandemic.

Our little boy Jack provided much of the entertainment on the day for everyone and was an absolute star - particularly when he had to use the potty in the middle of the ceremony!

Hand-fasting during the ceremony conducted by Pamela was such a wonderful touching moment, something our guests loved that was completely unique and something they had never seen before.

Don’t ever underestimate the importance of the food! It was always an extremely important part to us when planning our wedding but it's also something that your guests remember and will make their day just as much as yours.

Grazing food that people can pick at throughout the night kept our guests' energy up as they partied the night away and went down a treat including a sweet table and cheesecake canapes from our wedding cake.

Carve out some time in your day to enjoy with your partner, it may only be ten minutes here and there but it meant we could reflect and connect without being dragged away from each other. We took a walk around the village with our photographer while our guests were making their way up to the room for the meal and it was 15 minutes alone time that we absolutely loved and it has resulted in some incredible images with the stunning Cotswolds as a backdrop. 

Photographer - Miki Studios
Florist @jilljeffriesflowers
Styling @cahoots.events
Kirsty's Dress @dianelegrandbridal
Mitchell's Suit @prada
Celebrant - Pamela Woodford
Videographer @infin8images_
Hair @abigailconstanzabridal