Set in the glorious countryside of Cumbria’s Eden Valley, Cora and Alan’s wedding at Holesfoot was a celebration filled with warmth, laughter and effortlessly laid-back summer beauty.
With its sweeping gardens, graceful architecture and peaceful rural setting, Holesfoot was the perfect choice for this elegant country house celebration captured by the wonderful SL Photo & Film, who come with a high recommendation from Love My Dress.
The couple created a relaxed and modern look through soft neutral tones, pampas grass and macramé details that complemented the venue’s timeless charm. Cora wore a beautiful Enzoani gown, customised with added sleeves, and finished her look with delicate pearls in her hair. The day unfolded with heartfelt moments, family touches and a joyful ceilidh that kept guests dancing long into the night — a truly romantic English summer wedding to remember.
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I love vintage and boho vibes, so we had a lot of pampass grass, macrame backdrops and dried flowers. I also prefer neutral tones, so our bridesmaids wore champagne (also as a nod to the champagne diamonds in my engagement ring) and the men wore cream suits jackets/ waistcoats with black trousers to add a timeless feel.
Venue/Inspiration
We got married at Holesfoot, near Penrith in Cumbria. It is an absolutely stunning venue roughly halfway between Alan’s family home in Dundee and my family home in Wiltshire.
I have always dreamed of having an outdoor wedding and when we saw the gardens at Holesfoot we fell in love.
It also has plenty of accommodation on site, and as everyone had to travel for the wedding, it meant a large percentage of our guests could stay with us for the evening before and the night of the wedding.
We booked the venue from the evening of the 30th and held a pre wedding garden party, with food, drinks and garden games.
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The Ceremony
My dad accompanied me down the aisle, to the sound of a Swahili song called ‘Malaika’ – we got engaged to this song in Zanzibar
My engagement ring was from Jessica Flinn, Alan designed it himself (with a few hints from me). Our wedding rings were from the Souq in Qatar. We wanted to have them made there as it was a significant part of our lives.
Our photographers were SL Photo & Film. I was very fussy with our photographers and looked at hundreds. I felt Valentina and Daniels photos were like art and a bit iconic, so thats why we went with them. I love our photos. We used Matt Williamson Videography. We love our highlight clip, we are waiting on a few amendments to our full video.
We met in Qatar in 2019 where we were both working at the same school. We were together for about a year before lockdown hit and we moved in together. We got engaged in 2022 in Zanzibar and married in 2024.
We met in Qatar in 2019 where we were both working at the same school. We were together for about a year before lockdown hit and we moved in together. We got engaged in 2022 in Zanzibar and married in 2024.
The Reception
We bought the decor ourselves second hand. We had pampas in demi johns, we had table runners, bud vases with fresh and dried flowers and we had drapes for the ceiling of the barn.
Our caterer was Karen Rhodes and my mum made our cupcakes- we had pistachio, cherry bakewell, chocolate, vanilla, lemon and salted caramel. We are both vegan, and she makes the most incredible vegan cupcake.
Our wedding favours were our table place settings. We collected corks and painted them to look like men in tuxes and ladies in dresses. We then printed out the head of each guest and stuck it to a cork. These went down so well and all the guests took them away with them.
We hired the Jacobites Ceilidh Band. They were incredible. We actually had a power cut about 10pm but they kept playing and singing, alot of the guests didnt realise initially there was a power cut.Everyone loved the ceilidh dancing.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Enjoy the run up to the wedding and try not to stress, easier said than done as I was so stressed about everything. In hindsight I didn’t need to be as the day was perfect.
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