Lauren & Sam

Real Wedding at The West Mill Venue, Derbyshire

Your Love Story?

We met in August 2006 at a college party. Sam came over as me and my friend were selecting party music. Sam said we were playing “cool tunes” and we got chatting, realising we knew some of the same people. Both our friendship groups had arranged to go to the same festival a few weeks later and decided to pull both groups and go together… I guess the rest is history! Sam proposed 1st October 2015 in Ireland whilst motorbike touring the Wild Atlantic Way. Sam planned to propose amongst the unbelievable scenery but one evening I happened to route through his bag for shower gel, oblivious to the ring box. Sam thought I had seen the ring so he hid it in the bed of our bell tent tipi. I then sat on the ring, and Sam had no other choice but to propose there and then! We had a fantastic day at Skellig Michael enjoying our engagement without telling anyone at first to soak up the future ahead!

What was your inspiration and vision for your day?

A big wedding filled with all our family & friends, relaxed day / party at night, non-traditional, Bohemian, greenery, textures (fur/velvet/wool), metallics, metals, smoke bombs, dreamcatchers, tambourines, dark, moody, autumnal flowers with pops of colour.

Why did you choose The West Mill Venue?

We didn’t want a summer wedding with unpredictable UK weather, and the venue was the most important factor of the day. We instantly fell in love with the West Mill as it was important to have history as part of our day. The industrial look is very much our favourite theme and the Derwent River sealed the deal! Having the wedding in the winter meant we could enjoy the venue indoors, and the day before our 12 year anniversary.

Did you do any DIY projects?

My mum & I made giant dream catchers for the venue which we loved doing together and now have them hanging at home. We created our own centerpieces and designed the stationery and Sam sprayed a bunch of pineapples rose gold. My sister made the confetti and the Holgate family made a donut wall which said “Donut worry.. Be happy” which was amazing! I made “pour and pass” tags for each bottle of table wine. The venue itself is already a theme and it didn’t need anything adding to it as its so beautiful as it is. I didn’t want a huge DIY project on my hands, I wanted a stress-free wedding plan and that’s what I got, except maybe for a couple of hiccups but sometimes things are out of your control and you just have to roll with it!

Tell us about the details…

We incorporated a few untraditional bits into our wedding day. My cousin (practically my brother) was my Man of Honour, there was no way I could not include him in the wedding party and one of bridesmaid did a beautiful reading during the ceremony.

For the ring box, I had a gold pentagon glass box filled with moss and both our wedding rings in.

11 years ago, the mother-of-the-groom bought me a pot pig money box for Christmas. I decided to decorate it with four of my bridesmaids all those years ago, writing notes which we slipped into the pot pig. I promised I would smash this pig on my wedding day and see what we all wrote! And so I did, with a hammer. Turned out, there was only one note in there that said Sillybilly haha.

Laura @ Avant Garden totally understood what I was trying to create and she 100% delivered amazing flower centerpieces, a flower crown and an unreal wild bouquet full of Pampas Grass, Juliette Roses, Pink Ranunculus, Astrantia, Red Amaranthus, Green Protea, Burgundy Dahlia, Pink Hellebore, Foliage, Thistles, Scabiosa Pods, Blue Anemones finished off with Pheasant Feathers.

Who even eats cake anyway? We decided to go against the typical cake cutting tradition, it’s just not us to stand there posing with a knife for a photo ha! So we had an amazing donut wall with 100 donuts that my bridesmaid ordered. Instead of cutting a cake we had a Daruma Doll we’ve had for many years we hadn’t drawn eyes on, so we did this instead and shoved a donut in each other’s mouth!

I tried on about 80 dresses, and I loved it! I didn’t want the wedding dress experience to end… but the Rembo Bjork dress caught my attention on Instagram, I fell in love with it and saw it as a sign that I needed to track it down. Alexandra Anne in Bakewell stocked the dress and as soon as I tried it on, it was like it was made for me! My Mum bought my dress along with a Rembo shawl and I ordered Bella Belle shoes from Ireland which are only made in the USA. I wore my Mum’s gold earrings and a gold crystal bracelet with white fringe by Luna.

In the evening I took out my hair and put on my Soul Sequins hat, kicked off my heels and put on my Dr Martens platform… comfort levels 100. I had my leather jacket jazzed up by Joanna Holmes-Branaghan. I dropped on Joanna a week before my wedding. She took all my ideas onboard and turned it around within the week. She added the date of our wedding, a dreamcatcher, and flowers matching the colour palette of our wedding with rose gold sparkles.

What was on the Menu?

We had cheese (4 types) on toast and fish & chips canapés which were delicious! We had our own signature drinks which we collected from France ourselves, Kronenbourg & Pornstar Martinis and I bought mini milk bottles with personalised wedding stickers and rose gold stripe straws. We had a red, white, rose bottle on each table for guests.

I envisaged something a little different to the traditional three course meal, a feast and I was so happy that Jenkinsons offered something quirky. Jenkinsons menu is unbelievable, such a variety and exactly what I was looking for and the Taster evening was the perfect introduction. The caterers served each table with a joint of roast pork served with yorkshire puddings, apple sauce crackling, stuffing and crispy roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, roasted root vegetables and gravy. I chose one guest per table who were given an apron and a chefs hat, they were the Carving Chef for their table. After the caterers delivered the food, the room just seemed to quieten down as each Chef served. It was a moment of the day for us as we stopped to look around the room and appreciate everyone who was a part of our wedding day! For dessert we had a variety of mini desserts as we couldn’t just choose one, a summer berry Crème Brulee, mini warm chocolate fudge brownie served with a scoop of ice cream and mini white chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake. YUM!

What was your favourite part of the wedding?

Sam: The ceremony, when I saw Lauren & her Dad walk down the aisle, as it was a sigh of relief (she kept me waiting 13 mins!), and I was in awe of Lauren.

Lauren: The ceremony, as it was like I was dreaming, I felt like I floated down the aisle, it was super surreal and special with a reading from one of my bridesmaids and we picked our own readings which the Registrar read out. One in particular by Dr Seuss “We’re all a little bit weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we fall in mutual weirdness and call it love”.

The host of roast was a moment for us both!

Do you have any advice for future brides & grooms?

I know everyone says don’t sweat the little things or things that might not go to plan, but it’s so true. You don’t want to remember the bits you were stressed about on your day so let it go over your head and just forget about it.

Make your wedding about everything you both love, you don’t have to follow and typical traditions if you don’t want to, change it up, make it your own… go with what your gut says and don’t feel like you have to involve everyone (it gets messy) or justify why you want things the way you want them… just go with it!