Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire
Your Love Story?
Ryan and I met back in 2012 on what is known as Super Saturday in the sporting world (the Saturday evening when we won three gold medals back-to back at the London 2012 Olympics). We have always referred to this evening as that ever since, as it was the night we met when out in good old Derby partying in Scream! It was definitely pretty much love at first sight as we have been inseparable ever since!
Ryan proposed on the first night of our holiday in our favourite destination Santorini, back in 2017. We were watching the sunset over the Caldera when Ryan popped the question. It was a complete surprise for me but it was the perfect thoughtful proposal!
What was your inspiration and vision for your day?
We love to travel, so knew from the beginning we wanted to incorporate our love for this into our props and theme. However we also wanted to compliment the beautiful natural characteristics of the West Mill by not over decorating the venue.
Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?
From the moment we visited the West Mill, we knew it was the perfect location for us. It is a truly beautiful venue and the space works seamlessly throughout the day. It unfortunately rained quite a bit on our day but it didn’t matter, as there was plenty of space for guests to enjoy themselves inside.
Did you do any DIY projects?
Yes, we designed all of the wedding stationery ourselves as we had a clear vision of how we wanted them to be. We followed a foliage theme throughout all of the stationery and this tied perfectly with the foliage and flowers on the day.
To follow our travel theme, I wanted to create a frame so that we could display all of our travels and memories over the years. My uncle made the photo frame for me himself – I didn’t realise how big it was going to be however, it worked perfectly on the ground floor propped up against the wall. I also created the map table plan myself, I had seen lots of inspiration on Pinterest and we chose our favourite travel destinations and used these as our table names.
My friend also helped me create lots of personalised props – from the chalkboard globes to the pimp your fizz sign to the cake flavour stand in the evening.
Tell us about the details…
For flowers, we opted for mainly foliage with hints of deep purple and burnt pink flowers and roses. Our florist did a fantastic job in bringing our ideas to life! My bouquet was stunning and the backdrop for the ceremony and wedding breakfast was beautiful.
Sarah from The Sugared Rose baked an incredible three-tier cake for us which consisted of lemon drizzle, salted caramel and victoria sandwich tiers whilst also baking lots of raspberry and white chocolate and Nutella cupcakes. For our favours, we opted for personalised biscuits, which Sarah also baked too.
We also hired a few props from the Rustic Wedding Company. The main prop being the stunning foliage moongate that was located on the ground floor against the exposed brickwork. This was a beautiful backdrop for guests to have their pictures with and it transitioned into the backdrop for the evening photo booth with Snap Candy too. We also hired brass candlesticks, which were located throughout the venue, a selection of personalised brass frames and suitcases to tie in with the travel theme from them too.
What was on the Menu?
We wanted the food and drink to reflect us and what we like to enjoy – ultimately comfort food!
For canapes, we served mini fish & chips, chicken balti on a mini naan with mango chutney, spiced vegetable bon bon’s with mint raita and tomato salsa crostini’s with mozzarella. Alongside good old packets of Walkers Crisps in suitcases!
For our wedding breakfast we opted for brie & mango parcels for starters, steak & ale pie with mashed potato and vegetables for main and finally for pudding chocolate brownie with ice cream!
In the evening, we kept it really simple with pizza, wedges and salad. Alongside this, we opted for his and her favourite treats – we packaged up both savoury and sweet treats including nuts, pork scratching’s, haribo and chocolate mice. The pork scratching’s were a definitely a hit!
All of the food served by Jenkinson’s was delicious and our guests commented on how tasty it all was.
Drink wise, we served prosecco and bottled beers from the booze bath for our reception drinks alongside a ‘pimp your fizz’ stand. For the wedding breakfast, we served white, red and rose wine with soft drinks and any leftover beers as well. We purchased all the wine and prosecco from Majestic Wine, which was great as you could return any you didn’t use.
What was your favourite part of the wedding?
The main highlight was definitely walking down the aisle to Ryan and seeing all of our family and friends in one room together.
Another highlight was the singing waiters. Only my mum and I knew about the waiters and it was great seeing our guest’s reaction when they burst into a performance during dessert. They engaged with all the guests and everyone was up on their feet at the end dancing and singing away!
Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?
Enjoy the whole process of planning your wedding as it really does fly by so quickly. I absolutely loved planning ours and getting crafty – I still miss it now! Don’t get stressed and worry over the small things, it is really not worth it. As long as you and your partner are happy, that is all that matters. Finally when your wedding day arrives, try to take it all in as much as possible. Ryan and I had 10 minutes to ourselves before the wedding breakfast and it really meant so much.