Jess & Sam

Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire

Your Love Story?

Sam and I met nearly 10 years ago, after visiting my best friend (and maid of honour!) when she was studying at Lincoln University – she was living in a student house with him and others, and together with her then-boyfriend Tom, they played Cupid and match-made me and Sam.

8 years later, Sam had taken me away to Norfolk for my birthday and on the last day we went for a walk along a deserted beach in the glorious sunshine. He asked me to take a panoramic shot on my phone as it was so beautiful and by the time I had panned round to my right, he was on one knee on the sand! I still have the photo from that moment and you can see half of Sam from where I almost dropped my phone!

What was your inspiration and vision for your day?

We knew we wanted the day to really reflect our personalities and tastes – Sam deals in vintage clothing for a living and I’m a designer & illustrator, so we’re both creative people. The rest of the inspiration came from searching wedding blogs, Instagram and Pinterest.

Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?

Derbyshire is close to both our hearts and we’ve spent a lot of our relationship in the county – after discovering The West Mill and visiting it for the first time we knew straight away it was right. It was the only venue where we got ‘the feeling’ so there was no debate! If we had to imagine our ideal wedding location, this was it – we love the how the original building has been renovated with vintage paraphernalia, still sympathetic to its industrial roots but at the same time completely unique, cool and bang on trend.

Did you do any DIY projects?

It made sense to create props where we could considering our artistic backgrounds, so with my maid of honour, we made floral hoops for the back drop in the ceremony. These were created by coating hula hoops with gold spray paint and wrapping artificial peonies, roses & foliages around the hoops with florist wire. 

I also designed and illustrated the entire stationery suite – from Save The Dates and invites, to the Order of Service, menus, cocktail sign, table plan and table names. I even created the name cards with a calligraphy pen and gold ink, which was more challenging than I’d thought! I loved doing all of it though and it was so satisfying seeing it come together on the day. 

Tell us about the details…

What was on the Menu?

What was your favourite part of the wedding?

Apart from the ceremony (which actually was a bit of blur because I was so nervous) I think my favourite part was the drinks reception, as I was much more relaxed and could basically have a big party with all our friends and family! We’d curated our own playlist too on Spotify as we’re really into our music, so we knew it would be exactly what we wanted.

Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?

On the day remember to stop every once in a while and take everything in, look at people’s faces and appreciate the small moments. Oh and I’d highly recommend a videographer, it’s totally worth it and captures all the little things you might otherwise forget.