Inspiration

Amy and Stuart married in the hazy days of Summer at Longstowe Hall amongst a backdrop of beautiful blooms. For the peony lovers reading, this big day is most definitely for you, with perfect pink posies composed of the flower along with the buttonholes and the centrepieces too. There's something wonderfully refreshing about this wedding day all whilst retaining its girly pretty vibe; I adore all the carefully considered decorative touches such as the naked cake which is so cutesy, the floral embellished bridesmaid dresses, the pew ends and of course the stationery. Congratulations you two, it's clear you had a ball!

The Bride's Fashion

Amy The Bride: My dress was called 'Lilley' and was by designer Agnes and brought from Burr Bridal, in Cambridge. I wanted something I could walk around in easily but still had a bit of a trail, it wasn’t too heavy either. I wanted something simple and loved the lace at the top. The belt was added on by the seamstress to add a bit of sparkle to match with the shoes. Originally I wasn’t going to have a veil but I tried one on and felt instantly more like a bride and ended up going for the biggest, longest one in the shop and loved the lace edging on it. Kim, who owns the shop was amazing, friendly and made us feel so welcome.

The Groom's Fashion

We were originally drawn to the colour and style of the suits. We wanted something a bit different from black or grey. We had decided from the start that we didn’t want traditional tails, but something more relaxed and informal. The brogue style shoes with matching blue laces finished the look off.

The Venue


 The owners of Longstowe Hall, Mercedes and William, met us to show us round. We fell in love straight away with it. The grounds and marquee are breathtaking and the organisation was great from start to finish. We chose to have our ceremony outside, on the island. It was a gorgeous hot, sunny day. The island is situated within the grounds, overlooking fields with sheep wondering around in the background and the lake with the stunning grand house in the background. We couldn’t have wished for a better venue.

Colour Scheme

We went with our favorite pale pinks, lime greens, raspberry, light grey.

Flowers

We chose peonies for the main bouquet and bridesmaids and opted for tall centerpieces on mirror plates and ivory candles. Other vases were filled with a mix of the flowers for the guest book table.

The Wedding Party Fashion

We choose light grey for the wedding party as it complemented the pale pink peonies and we loved the pretty flower detail on the dresses. We had a girls' day in London, they fitted the girls, Lucy and Becca, perfectly and they loved them too.

Ceremony

One of our good friends, Christian Bloomfield, wrote us a personal reading about how we met, growing together and the future. Stuart’s dad shared a reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which seemed appropriate as we had our honeymoon in Kefalonia, Greece.

Entertainment


We found Ed Smith and his band online and really liked them. They were able to do a wide mixture of songs and DJ set in-between. We offered guests the option to send us back a song request on our RSVPs which the band also had no problem with. We had quite a few interesting requests!

Food

For our wedding cake we chose a ‘naked cake’ as it looked so summery and yummy which was made by Vanilla Cake Design. We had white chocolate and raspberry for the filling, which was delicious and it was finished off with flowers to match our guests’ tables. When we went for our food trial at Capers Catering, we were presented with a trio of deserts, which looked so impressive and presented so lovely we had to have it for our wedding. We went for Sicilian Lemon Posset Cream, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Raspberry and Passion Fruit Meringue.

Photographer


 We met Faye at a wedding show and were stopped in our tracks at the beautiful large photos she had displayed and her gorgeous albums. We really liked her relaxed, informal style of photography and felt so at ease talking with her. We knew we’d found our photographer straight away. We had an engagement shoot with Faye, in Cambridge, just before the big day. Again, a mixture of relaxed, informal photographs. On our wedding day Faye made us feel relaxed and our guest’s commented on how lovely she was.
Lauren Gautier-Ollerenshaw

Written by Lauren Gautier-Ollerenshaw

Venue : Longstowe Hall, Cambridge | Brides Gown: 'Lilley' by Agnes available at Burr Bridal, Cambridge | Florist: Flowers at Thatched Roofs | Venue Decor/ Stationery: The Knot & Bow Company | Cake: Vanilla Cake Design | Caterer: Capers Catering | Bridesmaids Dresses : BHS | Guitarist for the ceremony and wedding breakfast: Glen Parish | Band: Ed Smith and Band | Transport: Cambridge Chauffeurs

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