A Three-Day, Eclectic Aynhoe Park Wedding with a Bespoke aÿa Dress and Floating Giraffe

Brazilian Isabel and Canadian Victor threw a weekend-long fiesta for far-flung guests at this seriously cool Oxfordshire country home that included clay pigeon shooting and Scottish street food

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Helen Pye

11 March, 2020

Aynhoe Park is one of the most unique and decadent wedding venues we’ve ever come across.

Hidden in every nook, flanking each staircase and fringing every door frame, you’ll find a backdrop of surrealist art, quirky curiosities and fanciful antiques: a floating giraffe, a grinning alligator waiter, taxidermy polar bears and peacocks, a unicorn on a piano, a whole wall of vintage globes, and statues of Roman gods watching over your guests’ every move. No wonder Victor and Isabel fell in love with the Cotswold venue.

Isabel & Victor - Aynhoe Park Real Wedding

Victor and Isabel had a truly international love affair. They met at a wedding in Brazil, where Isabel was then living and Victor, from Canada, was accompanying his cousin as a plus-one. A few years later, Isabel was changing planes in London on her way to Thailand and arranged to meet Victor and his cousin. When the cousin never showed, they spent the night bar-hopping around the capital instead.

After that, they began to speak more and, a few months later, Victor flew to Amsterdam where Isabel was working. “I guess that was our first date! We started officially dating during a music festival in Iceland later that year.”

Isabel was “completely fooled” when Victor proposed in September 2017. Their amazing day started with brunch at their favourite food stall in Broadway Market and ended with a luxe staycation. “I have to confess I was a bit tipsy when he proposed and it took me a second to understand what was going on. He says I slapped him and asked what had taken him so long (ooops),” reveals Isabel.

Their wedding was a three-day affair that included clay pigeon shooting, a “cheesy but perfect” choreographed Bruno Mars first dance, a Brazilian sweet dessert bar, and DJs blasting till dawn.

Photographer: Chris Giles Photography

The Wedding Dress

Isabel wore a bespoke dress, designed from scratch by aÿa, her friend’s label in Brazil.

“I didn’t want a traditional wedding dress. I have a very talented friend who designs dresses and I told her what I had in mind. She created the design (in Brazil) and a very good friend of mine who is a fashion historian and stylist went fabric shopping in London with me.

“We found the perfect fabric – a very heavy one – which one of mother’s best friends kindly took to Brazil. She developed the dress there and if fit perfectly on the day – she is a genius!

“I changed into a Zara sequin minidress for the reception because my other dress was too heavy to jump around in! I kept in the accessories my sister’s friend had designed for me: beautiful earrings and a hair piece with semi-precious gems and a tropical vibe.

“I wanted to dance all night so I had my hair up in a messy bun, which I usually do. I didn’t have any hair or makeup trials actually! I was very relaxed and knew what would work for me.”

The Wedding Party

Victor and Isabel were surrounded by 100 loving family and friends as they tied the knot, including their huge wedding party. The wedding party and the couple’s families stayed at Aynhoe with them for the whole weekend and, in the morning before the ceremony, Victor even arranged for them all to go clay pigeon shooting to blow off steam.

“We had so many bridesmaids and groomsmen! It was my sister and all of our best friends. It was super special to have them all together. We don’t know when this will happen again, since everyone lives in different parts of the world.

“All the bridesmaids wore what they wanted. The boys wore blue suits and we got them matching Ferragamo ties. I went with them to help choose!”

The Ceremony

Victor and Isabel had a “friend-made ceremony”, with their loved ones taking it in turns to give emotional readings. She walked down the aisle with her Dad, to the sound of The Rolling Stones and carrying a beautiful Ricky Paul Flowers bouquet, filled with proteas and hints of foliage and lilac.

“We had Victor’s best friend and my cousin officiate the ceremony. A lot of bridesmaids and groomsmen had something prepared to say and it was funny and really moving when my sister started to cry (she was very pregnant) and I cried like crazy too. She is my best friend.”

Victor revealed his vows caused quite a reaction. “My vows came together at the last minute, with the help of my groomsmen, and I’ve been told that they encouraged some of the unmarried groomsmen to propose!”

The Wedding Venue

The couple shipped their friends and family in from around the world for a day they’d never forget at Aynhoe Park in Oxfordshire.

“I wanted a place that we could spend the weekend with everyone and I wanted a place where we could party all night. I worked in the music industry and this house is from someone in the business as well, so we thought it would be appropriate – especially considering we started dating at a festival!

“The best thing was that we could have everyone there with us for three days. There was too many favourite moments to tell, it was just a whole weekend of fun. The only thing I’d change was my niece being sick!”

The Wedding Reception

Isabel and Victor chose a pink and gold theme to complement the opulent venue. A white, silver and pink display of Bubblegum Balloons and disco balls filled the ceiling of the Orangery as it transformed into a dance floor for their reception. And in the corner was that famous Aynhoe Giraffe, which the couple even featured on their personalised thank you cards from Papier.

“We had a wedding planner, the wonderful Charlotte at La Fête who completely understood what I wanted from the start. We had a sweet buffet, a photo booth and late night pizza for our guests.

“Our favourite food stall, Deeney’s, came to cater too, which was a hit. We also had vegan and non-vegan ‘make your own burgers’, salmon and…I’m not sure what else! Instead of cake we had a massive sweets station, with Brazilian brigadeiros, a traditional chocolate fudge sweet.

“We had personalised Havaianas sandals as favours with the Brazilian and the Canadian flag and the word Amor (Love) stamped on them, so everyone could party all night with us. The tips I have for other wedding planning couples are you do you – and wear comfortable shoes!”

The Entertainment

The best thing about hiring a private country house in the middle of the Oxfordshire countryside for three days? You can party till dawn without having to worry about noise ( and handily, the couple had arranged a bus to take their guests back to their accommodation, so no struggle for taxis either).

“My friends were the DJs and especially my friend from Brazil, DJ Marina Diniz. She is AMAZING! We had a surprised sax player as well, hidden in he public. He burst into song as soon as the ceremony was done.

“I just wanted to dance! All the aisle songs represented us in some way: there was Icelandic music, the Stones, Elton John and Queen.

“Our first dance was to Just The Way you Are by Bruno Mars. We did choreography and it was cheesy, hilarious and perfect.

The Honeymoon

Victor and Isabel jetted off to Botswana on safari for their honeymoon, followed by some beach time on Bazaruto Island, off the coast of Mozambique.

“We both wanted to go to Africa and I especially wanted to find places with little internet! We also wanted to go somewhere for Victor to dive. We hadn’t been before but we absolutely fell in love. The food, the people and the nature is surreal.”