Your Wedding Day Dream Team (please provide Website / Social Media Page if known)
Photographer: Natalie Jayne Photography (@nataliejaynephoto)
Videographer: Our Wedding Videographers (@owvideographers)
Florist: DIY!
Band/DJ: DJ Karlton (@djkarlton)
Hair Stylist: Ben Cope (@benjaminrosshair)
Tell Us About Your Incredible Outfits
What and who did you wear?
Dress: Bought from Nora Eve Bridal (@noraevebridal). Brand was Made With Love Bridal (@madewithlovebridal).
Accessories:
Shoes: Dune London (@dune_london)
Jewellery: Lily & Roo (@lilyandrooldn)
Makeup: Charlotte Tilbury (@charlottetilbury)
What and who did your partner wear?
Suit: Brigdens (@brigdensweddings)
Shoes: ASOS (@asos_man)
What and who did your wedding party wear?
Dresses: Azazie (@azazieofficial)
Your Love Story How did you meet, was it love at first sight? Tell us about the proposal!
We met at university in our halls of residence back in 2017, we hit it off straight away and have been inseparable since! Joel did an excellent job for the proposal, he did it the day before my birthday (19thNovember 2022) right outside The West Mill as we really wanted to get married here after coming down for the evening for a charity race night with Safe & Sound!
Your Wedding Day Vision & Inspiration What was your inspiration and vision for your day?
We wanted our wedding day to be timeless and minimalistic, we wanted to be able to look back on our special day and go WOW we did that! We specifically chose, small or local businesses, or did things ourselves. We really wanted to put our stamp on the day and also support businesses close to us! For example, our wedding cake was made by a lady around the corner from our home and the signs were cut out by a man down the road from us but the lettering was done by me (the bride) and my best friend.
Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?
The West Mill is a truly magnificent venue, the building itself is so beautiful that it really doesn’t need a lot of décor. Not only that, but the staff from the very first enquiry right to waving us off as we left at the end of our wedding night were absolutely incredible. Nothing was ever too much of a problem, no questions were left unanswered and you can tell they all love what they do. The value for money compared to other venues is unmatched, we will recommend this venue to all our friends who are getting married in the future!
Did you do any DIY projects?
There was A LOT of DIY projects for our wedding from our save the dates right through to the wedding favours. Here’s a list!
- Save the dates
- Invites
- Table décor, signs, name place cards
- Welcome sign
- Hanging hoops in the ceremony room & wedding breakfast room
- Seating arrangements sign
- All the florals around the venue
- Audio guestbook
- Head table décor
- Wedding favours
- The flowers on my umbrella!
- The straps on my wedding dress
Tell us about the details – Flowers, Cake, Decor, Stationary….
I have always wanted to do my own flowers for the wedding and my mum, sister and nanna helped an awful lot to help bring my vision to life. We bought a lot of the flowers off of Facebook market place and IKEA, then just started pulling together the different decorations!
I will admit the bouquets were not done by me (although I did consider it!) these were created by the incredible The Brides Bouquet (@bridesbouquetuk) a small UK based business.
Our beautiful and tasty wedding cake was made by the incredible Michele Hickling (@derbycakemaker) based in Oakwood. We decided to go for unique flavours, I mean go hard or go home right? For the bottom tier we had lemon, the middle tier (our favourite tier) was pistachio cake with rose buttercream and then the top tier was cocunut.
My hair and the bridesmaids hair was done by the phenomenal Ben Cope (@benjaminrosshair). Ben has been my hairdresser for the last 5 years and I trust him with my life! He’s truly incredible at what he does and all our hair lasted the whole day, even through a little rain, lots of wind, sunshine and dancing!
We had a local business set up a Photo Booth wall for us called Set the Scene Derby too – they were great at communicating with us and made sure the photo wall fit in with our aesthetic too! (@setthescenederby)
Alcohol. Because No Great Story Started With A Salad (…or did it?) What was on your food & drinks menu?
The food and drink, oh where to start! We bought our alcohol from the trusty Laithwaites. We had Italian Prosecco (which very quickly ran out!) along with a tropical punch and water for our drinks reception. Our canapés were and they went down a treat with all our guests! Here’s what we had:
- Pulled Beef on a Potato Crisp and Bearnaise Sauce
- Italian Bruschetta with Salsa and Balsamic Reduction
- Confit Crispy Chicken, Chilli Mayo and Crispy Onion
For the wedding breakfast, we had sparkling fruit drinks for those not drinking alcohol, and then we had Italian Rosè and Pinot Grigio for the tables. For the toast, we had champagne. It was incredibly difficult picking the food options, even our guests struggled to pick their food options, it was all to delicious to decide! In the end, we had:
Starter Options
- Crispy Duck Bonbons, served with Cucumber and Spring Onion Salsa, Chinese-style Pancakes and Hoisin Sauce
- Ham Hock Terrine, French Mustard Dressing, Sourdough Croute, Onion Chutney and Herb Salad
- Goats Cheese and Red Onion Tart: Served with Red Onion Marmalade, Crumbled Goats Cheese, Rocket, Balsamic (V)
Main Options
- Roast Pork Loin Served with Sage and Onion Stuffing and Roast Gravy
- Rolled Beef Rib, served on a bed of Mashed Potato, Roasted Carrot, Tenderstem Broccoli and Red Wine Jus
- Pan Fried 7-8oz Chicken Breast, Spinach and Onion Purée, Duchess Potatoes, Greens and Chicken Jus
Dessert Options
- Apple and Cinnamon Crumble, with Custard or Ice Cream
- Homemade Profiteroles, filled with Chantilly Cream, White Chocolate Sauce, Chocolate Shards and Fresh Strawberries
- Individual Lemon Meringue Pie, Raspberry Sorbet served with dried Raspberry
As you can probably see, we had a lot of Italian food and drink peppered throughout day. It is one of favourite places so we had to include it somewhere!
The Hangover Only Lasts A Day But The Memories Last A Lifetime Can you sum up your wedding day in 3 words?
Unforgettable, magical, surreal.
What are your favourite memories or highlights of your day?
Joel – The ceremony!
Amey – Partying the night away with all my favourite people!
Do you have any advice for future Brides & Grooms?
Choose The West Mill you will not regret it!
Trust your co-ordinator, Hayley did the most incredible job at making our vision come to life!
Don’t worry about the little details as they really don’t matter.
Make the most of every moment, take it all in and enjoy watching the hard work pay off!