A Magical Winter Wedding at Brinsop Court + a Suzanne Neville Dress

Lauren and Anthony's cold but sunny wedding day was a wintry treat with fairy lights galore and a stunning, bespoke strapless wedding dress.

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Hannah Watkin

17 January, 2020

Lauren and Anthony first met in Thailand 11 years ago while on a trip with friends. They now have a little boy, Josh, who insisted on being carried down the aisle on the wedding day. Don’t miss the super cute pictures!

To propose, Anthony continued the theme of the couple’s love of travel and booked for them to go away to Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve.

He booked the luxury Wolf Lodge, a beautiful historic cottage with a private treetop viewing pod to watch over the wolf enclosure! Anthony proposed on the eve of their son’s birthday. He had designed the ring himself and Lauren absolutely loves it.

The couple decided that it was time to get married in November 2019 at Brinsop Court in front of 95 guests.

Photographer: Che Birch Hayes Photography

The Wedding Dress

Lauren wore a bespoke Suzanne Neville dress and a veil which she bought from the flagship store.

“We put together the strapless bodice of one dress and the skirt of another and added buttons down the back and pockets.

“I tried it on for the material as it is beautiful – I never thought I would go for a big, strapless dress but it was just so gorgeous. I tried on 15 dresses before I found ‘The One’.

“A special moment when I was getting ready was when my little boy came into the room in his wedding outfit just before the ceremony. The morning was really nice and relaxed with the bridesmaids and the mums getting ready with Champagne on a gorgeous cold but sunny day.”

Bridal Beauty

Lauren hired Nicola Harrison Beauty to do her makeup and Tabitha MacCurrach-Paine to do her hair in a gorgeous updo which worked beautifully with her veil and showed off her strapless dress.

“Tabitha MacCurrach-Paine did hair for the bridesmaids, my Mum and Anthony’s Mum, and me.

“I chose to have my hair up in a textured bun, something not too formal. My makeup was a smokey eye but not too much, with plenty of bronzer.

“I wore Monica Vinader encrusted diamond earrings and Jimmy Choo shoes.”

The Wedding Party

Lauren asked her sister, three friends, and Anthony’s sister to be her bridesmaids. The couple’s son, Josh, was an adorable page boy.

“The bridesmaids wore emerald green, one shoulder, floor-length dresses with a split. I had them made bespoke from The Wedding Workshop in Ampthill. We discussed the design together and everyone loved it.

“Anthony wore a bespoke olive green tweed suit by Tweed Addict. His groomsmen wore Jennis & Warmann bespoke tweed navy suits. Anthony chose it himself but I came to the fitting.

“The night before the wedding, we had dinner with all of the guests at the Cosy Club which got everyone in the mood.”

The Ceremony

Lauren and Anthony’s civil ceremony and reception both took place at Brinsop Court in Hereford.

“Josh, our son, was supposed to walk down the aisle with my sister but he is only two so wouldn’t go! I ended up carrying him halfway down the aisle and my Dad had to carry my bouquet. It was sweet in the end.

“We didn’t have any readings or hymns but my Mum and Dad’s good friend sang Can You Feel The Love Tonight from Josh’s favourite film and her husband played the piano. I walked down the aisle to Your Song by Elton John also played on the piano.

“My wedding ring is a gold band that was my great grandma’s. Anthony’s is an antique gold band.”

The Reception

The couple chose Brinsop Court as they thought it was the perfect winter wedding venue with a cosy, quirky vibe thanks to log fires and fire pits.

“The venue has different rooms for everything! We had the ceremony in the library, reception drinks in the sitting rooms, dinner in the banquet hall, and entertainment and dancing in the games room.

“The grounds are amazing too. We really wanted it to be a relaxed, informal wedding but still have good style, delicious food, plenty of booze and non-stop entertainment. It was a proper party in an unreal venue.

“We didn’t really have a theme, it was all subtle and relaxed but all tied in with touches of gold.

“Our glasses and grey napkins were from Tipples Bar Hire. We had antique gold cutlery from Vintage Gold China. We chose a personalised menu for each person with gold foiling slipped into the napkin and a sprig of rosemary. The table plan, welcome sign and invites all matched the stationery.

“Our menu was a four-course Italian meal as some of Anthony’s relatives are Italian. We had antipasti, a pasta course, porchetta for main with one person assigned from each table to carve it for everyone – we gave them an apron. The food was by A to Zest

“We also served a four-tier, semi-naked wedding cake decorated with figs, blackberries, and gold foiling made by Sharon McGowan.

“Before the ceremony, we had a mulled wine welcome and chose a gin and whiskey bar for after dinner!

“We planned all of our wedding, but Brinsop assigns a coordinator to manage the lead-up and the wedding weekend.”

The Flowers and Cake

The couple used flowers throughout the venue and candles to create a wonderful, wintry atmosphere.

“We had lots of green winter foliage and white roses, thistles and pine cones. We also chose some Lily of the Valley as it was my late Grandma’s favourite flower.

“There were flowers in every room, on all the bannisters, fireplaces, and window sills. We had lots of candles everywhere too. Issy and Bella, a florist in Hereford, arranged our flowers. They were amazing.

“Our centrepieces were also winter foliage, white roses and gold candelabras. We also hired a lot of fairy lights. In the courtyard, we had festoon lights and waterfall fairy lights around the canopy. We also had fairy lights in the games room which were supplied by Endless Entertainment Events.”

The Stationery and Special Touches

The couple chose stationery that matched the wedding theme perfectly and gave shots as favours!

“Our wedding stationery was all on handmade paper, with a winter twig design and a hand drawing of Brinsop Court with gold foiling.

“We had a welcome sign, order of the day, table plan, menus, and table numbers which all matched the invites created by Pigment and Paper.

“Our favours were small bottles of limoncello and Fernet-Branca shots, which is a traditional Italian digestif.”

The Entertainment

During the reception, the couple chose something a little different and hired an a cappella band called Acafellas.

“One of them is a beatboxer and they were amazing at getting the crowd going. We wanted to do something different and when I came across them online, they looked perfect.

“Straight after dinner, we had a traditional Irish band playing which really got the party going. Anthony’s Mum’s Mum was Irish. A memorable moment was seeing everyone do their best Irish dance to the band!

“After that, we had a DJ playing songs through the years – old school ’80s and ’90s. Our first dance was to Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton.”