Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire
Your Love Story?
We met at Sixth Form. It’s not the best story…we got chatting at a house party after too many WKDs, got his MSN addy (ha!) – and 11 years later here we are. We always knew it was coming, but marriage just wasn’t our priority. After gaining permission from my parents, Scott proposed at our favourite quiet spot in our village, with the ring I’d picked out a couple of days before. Quick and easy!
What was your inspiration and vision for your day?
A relaxed, industrial but sophisticated wedding. Most importantly, we just wanted everybody to have a lovely time celebrating with us!
Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?
After attending a friend’s wedding at the West Mill when it first opened, I knew this would be my dream wedding venue and luckily Scott agreed. We loved the industrial aesthetic and all the history that comes with the building. It’s so unique and our guests loved it – most of them had never been to an industrial wedding before.
Did you do any DIY projects?
It was a very DIY wedding, but fingers crossed it wasn’t too obvious. I’m a graphic designer, so I threw myself into designing and making absolutely everything apart from the cake and the bouquets. The most time-consuming bit was making 100 cotton plant stems that were integrated in the foliage throughout the venue. They were made out of cotton balls and egg boxes (gotta love Pinterest). Luckily my Mum helped me with that and I received plenty of egg box donations from my work colleagues. Being a DIY bride is fine, as long as you plan ahead and do little but often. You can do it!
Tell us about the details…
For the bouquets, I knew I wanted mine to be big and unstructured with autumnal tones. I also wanted plenty of dried textures such as honesty, poppy heads, feathers and bunny tails. I’m so glad I did, because I’ve still got the dried bits to display whenever I like. Amy our florist did such a brilliant job with the flowers and we received so many compliments.
For the rest of the flowers, I went with eucalyptus, honesty stems, pheasant feathers and the DIY cotton plant stems. The cotton plants were inspired by the history of the building and I was really keen on giving a nod back to the Cotton Mill. The hanging honesty in the ceremony room was just from my parents’ garden.
Keeping with the industrial feel of the building, for the stationary I went with black with hints of gold foil. I used a label maker for all the names on the place cards, guestbook and invite envelopes. It’s fair to say that I’m done with crafting for a little while! As for the decorations around the venue, we only wanted a few personal touches. We displayed photos of our deceased loved ones, childhood photos and parents’ wedding photos. We also displayed our upcoming honeymoon destinations to let our guests know our plans. We wanted to keep the designs minimal, so they didn’t take away from the venue. We used IKEA frames with just the acrylic left in them to create the large decorations, such as the table plan.
For the cake, we went for a chocolate base, lemon, then a carrot cake at the top. I loved the contrast between the chocolate and white tiers. The hints of gold foil and the flowers tied everything in with the rest of our wedding. The cake looked and tasted delicious; our cake maker Emma is seriously talented!
What was on the Menu?
We started with canapes, prosecco and beers at the drinks reception. For the Wedding Breakfast, we had spicy butternut squash soup, a lemon sorbet palette cleanser, roast beef dinner and an afternoon tea sharing platter for dessert. For drinks, we served our own selection of wines, beers and ciders. It was all delicious and the caterers were so friendly and easy to work with.
What was your favourite part of the wedding?
All of it! The ceremony was definitely a highlight – my sister did her own reading for us, which was such a special moment. But our favourite bits were the confetti and sparkler tunnels – although nobody warns you about how savage guests can be with confetti!
Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?
Although you won’t believe us, if anything goes wrong on the day you won’t care or even notice. You’re just having a big party with your favourite people to celebrate your marriage – it’s as simple as that! Everyone enjoys a wedding, so don’t obsess over your guests having a good time, because they definitely will be!
Regarding the venue, booking the West Mill was the best thing we did. From the get go we have been amazed at how organised and accommodating the team were. Everyone commented on how calm I was on the wedding morning and it was purely down to knowing the West Mill will have us sorted. A special shout out to our wedding co-ordinator Karen, who made our day run seamlessly and completely stress free.
If you’ve been inspired by Rachel & Scott’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.