Nichola & Alex: Greenery & White Hydrangeas

Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire

Your Love Story?

The proposal:
Nichola (Me) had pretty much decided against marriage due to parents and family being divorced. Although Alex was hopefull we would tie the knot one day!
On a regular Saturday evening, I asked Alex to wait in the bedroom of our flat as I had a surprise for her for our ‘3 and a half year anniversary’, but assured her it was just something silly/nothing major.
I then set up our light box to read ‘Will You Marry Me’ and wrote a note on the back of a postcard. The note was about how much I loved Alex and how I wanted to celebrate in a special way.
I asked Alex to come to the lounge door, but face away from it and read the note aloud, which at the end read ‘turn around’. I was then there with the light box next to me, down on one knee with a ring in my hand.
Alex’s first reaction was ‘Are you f*****g joking?’…followed by a yes!

What was your inspiration and vision for your day?

We had always had the same idea in mind in terms of style, we wanted it to be fairly relaxed (like us), and we wanted greens around as we love being outdoors and in the countryside.

Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?

We fell in love with The West Mill almost instantly, we had always thought we wanted to get married in a converted barn…little did we know we’d end up tying the knot in an old mill.
Everything suited us perfectly, the style, the extras, the layout and space. We loved it!

Did you do any DIY projects?

Nichola’s MOH/Best friend was in charge of most of the DIY projects. She burnt everyone’s names on to wooden coasters for name places and favours, which looked amazing! As well as that, she created all of our wedding stationery and we are eternally grateful for everything she did!

Tell us about the details…

Our flowers were amazing, we had succulents and white hydrangeas that made the most gorgeous bouquets and centre pieces. Nichola’s stepdad made big wooden planters to be used as centrepieces and they looked amazing.
The cake was a 3 tiered naked style cake, each a different flavour. We had victoria sponge, chocolate and lemon poppyseed. The guests loved it!

What was on the Menu?

We served 2 of our favourite ales from a brewery in Oundle (Alex’s home town), as well as our favourite wine with the meal.
We had the most amazing goats cheese and fig parcels to start, followed by chicken stuffed with gruyere and wrapped in parma ham, and a vegetable roast for the vegetarians. We had veg and potatoes put on the tables as we like the idea of everyone sharing and passing food around.

What was your favourite part of the wedding?

Seeing everyone enjoy themselves, spending time with our amazing friends and family and seeing everyone all dressed up for a summer wedding and of course….getting married to each other!

Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?

Try and take in as many little moments as you can as the whole day will fly by. Take a second here and there to take a breath, look around and take a mental picture.
Also, give a guest one of your phone’s to take pictures throughout the day! One of ours did and we had 300 natural and fun photo’s to look through together the next day. These told the story of a guest at our wedding and it was brilliant to see!

If you’ve been inspired by Nichola & Alex’s wedding and would like to know more about The West Mill, we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to download a Wedding Brochure or get in touch.