Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire
Your Love Story?
A city girl from Manchester and a country boy from Leicestershire, we met at a Christmas Party in 2013, and our first date was in a quiet gastro pub, where first impressions included ‘Oh my god, he sounds so posh!’ and ‘She wants me to share my dessert?’
– but he never did share that Creme Brûlée.
On a frosty evening of January 4th 2018, we took a detour whilst walking back from a romantic meal in Reykjavik and stumbled across a frozen lake, there was no one around apart from the swans.
Tom had been really quiet all day whilst hiding the ring in his big coat braving the Icelandic cold, trying to find the perfect spot to propose.
Whilst on the ice (trying not to fall!) he asked and of course I said YES!
What was your inspiration and vision for your day?
We wanted the wedding to have a clean contemporary feel. It was so important to us that our guests had THE best time and wanted to ensure it was a wedding to remember!
Instagram and Pinterest provided plenty of inspiration for the look of the day, we wanted it to be elegant and timeless but still modern, lots of greenery and flowers. Our florist Nadia delivered this vision in bucket loads! Everything looked so beautiful, the flowers soften the clean white backdrops and we added a hint of gold as a high light.
Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?
We knew we wanted to get married in Derbyshire, as it sits between both our Home Counties of Lancashire and Leicestershire.
The West Mill was the perfect location for the bride who grew up surrounded by the industrial warehouses of Manchester and the groom who grew up in the heart of rural England surrounded by the natural beauty of the countryside.
It was love at first sight! On our first visit and Andrew the co-owner lead our tour – we knew this was something special! The authenticity of the building and it’s interiors was like no other, such a cool space from the cobbled flooring to the beautiful ceilings! We also loved the fact everything was in one place, but each floor had a different feel for the different parts of the day.
Tell us about the details…
Our wedding cake was easily one of our favourite details of the day, it was breath taking! The impressive 3D geometric bottom tier was a coconut cake with raspberry filling, and the cement textured layers of the cake complimented the industrial venue and were made up of lemon and lime cake with a blueberry filling. The beautiful sugar flowers represented those in my bouquet, it was so unique to us and really was a centre piece to the whole day, after all first comes love then comes cake!
Our table plan was a beautiful simple piece, that used wax seals and beautiful calligraphy to point people to their seats, it was a lovely welcome to our guests.
What was on the Menu?
Being foodies meant we spent a lot of time at tastings ensuring we had an exciting and seasonal wedding breakfast.
We had a four course meal: cheese and truffle oil arancini, followed by parma ham, melon and mozzarella bruschetta, fillet of beef and finally strawberry and mint tart with sorbet.
In the evening we opted for something different, a Cantonese street food stall and not forgetting our incredible wedding cake!
Having The Alchemist provide cocktails at our reception with the back drop of ‘radio 1 live lounge’ music was so much fun. We provided drink tokens and had personalised cocktails including a ‘Harry Potter Butter Beer’ and a ‘Smoking Light Bulb Moment’ parred with canapés of spicy cajun prawn tortillas and minted lamb bites.
What was your favourite part of the wedding?
Getting ready with my girls, I was so giddy to see Tom and all the guests and to get the party started! The butterflies and excitement on the morning are so special… but those 10 minutes after the ceremony when it was the two of us, it was amazing to enjoy the moment together and realise ‘wow we are married!’
Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?
Relax, the West Mills’ superb team are there to look after you through every step of the way, including the big day itself!