Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire
Your Love Story?
We met through an app that uses GPS to match you with people you have crossed paths with… it’s a bit creepy to be honest! I’d seen Dave’s profile and messaged him with my number so he could text if he was interested; I told him I was doing this because I planned to delete the app later that day after crossing paths with too many strange people! Unfortunately, I’d sent the message at a time when had Dave temporarily given up on dating apps and returned to Yorkshire to visit family; my message went unseen and I started to think I wouldn’t get a reply. Luckily, a while later, he did log back in and see my message; we started talking and eventually went on our first date. The rest is history!
Dave proposed 3 years later, the first Christmas in our new house. He had planned to do it on Christmas Day, but we received a text from my sister on Christmas morning containing a picture of her engagement ring – her boyfriend had beaten Dave to it! He instead decided to do it on Boxing Day, which is his birthday, so I really didn’t suspect a thing as the day is all about him. We watched Leeds United on TV (luckily they won as Dave likes to joke that a loss would have jeopardised the whole proposal) and then had a curry for dinner. Whilst eating, Dave told me that there was a Christmas present in the drawer behind me that he’d forgotten to give me the previous day. As I turned to look, he put on ‘our song’ and, when I looked back around, he was down on one knee with the ring in his hand! It doesn’t sound like the most romantic of proposals (football followed by a chicken tikka masala) but, for us, it was perfect.
What was your inspiration and vision for your day?
We knew that we wanted to make music a theme of our wedding as it’s something we’re both passionate about and one of our favourite things to do is go to gigs together. It was also a way of getting Dave on board with some of the wedding prep as he wasn’t the least bit interested in flowers or décor! We decided to name each of our wedding breakfast tables after bands we’d seen live, using vinyl records to mark each table. Dave then decided to make our table plan look like a series of band tour posters and we hired a brilliant band for our evening celebrations whose repertoire included all our favourite songs. It was important to us that our friends would be up dancing all night to lots of nostalgic hits!
Overall, our main vision for the day was just a relaxed, informal atmosphere with lots of alcohol, good food, dancing and love! We accomplished that and had the most perfect day.
Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?
Just take a look at it! It was the first place that we viewed and I had already pretty much made up my mind after just seeing the website. We didn’t want anything traditional but instead something unusual and interesting – a converted mill fit the bill perfectly! We loved its industrial charm and all the original features which have been so lovingly restored. It felt cool whilst still being cosy and romantic. As soon as we knew there was a suitable date free, we booked it there and then at our first viewing. We have never regretted this! All of our guests commented on what a beautiful venue The West Mill is and the outside space, set beside the river, really is gorgeous. We only wish that we had slightly nicer weather to enjoy it more!
Did you do any DIY projects?
We’re not particularly crafty, so got other more talented people to make most things for us. I spent a lot of money on Etsy but it provides so much choice and far more unique items than you’d typically find in a high street store; plus, it’s great to support small businesses. Dave did spend a lot of time on the computer making our table plan; he created band tour posters but, instead of showing the gig date and location, it listed the guest’s name, date of birth and place of birth. It was a cool way of presenting our seating plan and the personal touch seemed to go down well with our guests – Dave had lots of compliments on his handy work! It also tied in really well with our music theme.
Tell us about the details…
In terms of the colour scheme, we took inspiration from our flowers which we wanted to keep very simple and elegant. The venue really doesn’t need much jazzing up, so we wanted the flowers to complement rather than take over. We went with white flowers and lots of textured green foliage that had a slightly wild and ‘just thrown together’ vibe – although, don’t let that fool you, the flowers looked amazing and our florist at Avant Garden is seriously talented! After choosing the flowers, I decided to go with a green and white theme for everything – sage green dresses for the bridesmaids and matching ties for the groomsmen. Dave also went for a dark olive green suit which was something a little bit different but matched perfectly.
Our cake was made by the lovely Lisa at The Melbourne Cake Company. It had 3 tiers and two flavours because Dave and I couldn’t make a decision at the tasting! In the end, we went for lemon and chocolate. It was a semi-naked style and simply decorated with some flowers, foliage and our cake topper. It was delicious!
What was on the Menu?
For our drinks reception we had lots and lots of prosecco! There was also a selection of lager, craft ales and cider. For our starter, we ate beef brisket with an onion bhaji; our main was a duo of lamb and our dessert was an assiette of miniatures: chocolate brownie, white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake and a fruit meringue nest. Everything was so lovely and the food, plus the fantastic service provided by Jenkinsons, was much complimented by the guests. Jenkinsons were brilliant to work with and they helped us cater for vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and child guests with no issues at all. The tasting event put on by the West Mill and Jenkinsons was also fantastic; it was brilliant to try some of the menu and get ideas for the big day – this is actually where we first tasted the brisket and bhaji starter which we would never have gone for from just reading it on a list of options. It was also a brilliant chance to meet other bride-and-grooms-to-be.
What was your favourite part of the wedding?
My favourite part of the day was definitely walking up the aisle with my dad and seeing Dave stood at the top waiting for me. As soon as he saw me, a big beaming smile spread across his face and I instantly felt relaxed; I don’t know if the photographer captured this moment, but the look on his face will live with me for a lifetime.
Dave’s favourite part was the party in the evening! After being in lockdown, and all the stress of having to postpone the wedding, it felt so good to finally be dancing with friends and listening to live music again. Ride the Fire kept our guests up on the dance floor and singing along with them all night; they really got the party started (and kept it going!).
Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?
Don’t stress over small details. None of your guests will care if the menus match your place cards, or if you have a photo booth or not. They are just happy to be celebrating with you and eating free food! Also, if little things go wrong, it really doesn’t matter. We had unexpected rain which meant our group shots had to be taken inside; this was initially a disappointment as we loved the outside grounds so much but the indoor photographs turned out beautifully! Plus, the sun came out after our meal so we just took some extra photos then. Our band got caught in traffic too, so were about two hours late for setting up. Our wonderful Event Manager Hayley worked with them and got everything up and running only 15 minutes later than originally planned; she was brilliant at keeping us informed but also relaxed – she was a much-needed calming influence. Trust your Event Manager and just enjoy the day; it goes ridiculously quick so don’t waste a single second worrying.
If you’ve been inspired by Lisa & Dave’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.