Natalie and Andrew were married late February at Ashridge House in Hertfordshire, where a love of grand English country houses, a black tie dress code and an abundance of vibrant pink flowers came together to create a wonderfully elegant winter wedding.
Working alongside wedding planner Charlotte Elise, the couple made the most of the venue’s spectacular interiors whilst embracing colour in a way that’s refreshingly unexpected for the season, proving that winter weddings needn’t be defined by evergreens, candlelight and muted palettes.
Beautifully photographed by our recommended supplier Emma-Jane Photography, this wedding brings together timeless style with plenty of thoughtful, personal decisions, from Natalie’s Lotus gown by Wona Concept to floral installations by Hanako Flowers that evolved throughout the day as they were moved from ceremony to reception.
If you’re planning a winter wedding, considering Ashridge House as your venue or searching for a photographer with Emma-Jane Photography’s vibrant editorial style, Natalie and Andrew’s wedding is full of beautiful inspiration. Enjoy!
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I have always pictured my wedding at a big, English country house, I just love the elegance! The black tie dress code was not something I had thought about though, I didn’t even know what it was until we went to one of Andy’s friends’ weddings! But I knew as soon as I walked into Ashridge house that it had to be black tie, especially for a winter wedding.
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The Venue & Working With A Wedding Planner
Booking our wedding planner, Charlotte Elise Dodd, was the first thing we did after we got engaged, just over a year before our wedding. We knew I would find organising a wedding far too overwhelming without help.
I had no idea how to go about finding a wedding planner so I looked on Instagram and got a few quotes.
When I spoke to Charlotte for the first time she had such an air of calm confidence I knew she’s what I needed.
Andrew wanted it in winter so we didn’t have the stress of the weather dictating the day. The added bonus is that it’s also a lot cheaper in the off peak months and the suppliers have far more availability so it was a no brainer!
The Ceremony
My eldest brother accompanied me down the aisle, to the sound of ‘Only wanna be with you’ (unplugged), by Sam Henshaw.
We used the local registry office for Ashridge house as it was a legal wedding. Hemel Hempsted registar office. This isn’t something you get to choose though.
We wrote our own vows. I had absolutely no idea how you’re meant to structure vows but I found an online resource that helped;
- Address your partner and briefly recap your love story,
- Communicate traits that you admire about your partner,
- Describe what you appreciate about your relationship,
- List three to six specific promises,
- Close with how you envision your future together.
I always think it’s really nice when you find things out about the couple and their life together in their vows, when they make each other laugh by appreciating the little things. Personal vows are always my favourite part of a ceremony and it’s been really nice to go back and read them together since.
Our rings were from Flawless in Hatton Garden. I fell in love with my engagement ring on their instagram and their service was so great we went back for both of our wedding bands. For ethical reasons, lab grown diamonds were also a non-negotiable for both of us, it was an added bonus that they are significantly cheaper too!
The Reception
Sean at Hanako flowers was such a dream to work with. When I gave him briefs like ‘stringy’ and ‘all different types’ he just got it.
I knew I always wanted bright flowers but it was so hard to find inspiration as everywhere I looked it was white or pastel wedding flowers! I found myself constantly being drawn to bright pink so I sent Sean as many pictures as I could and just trusted him.
After looking at pictures I soon realised I didn’t want a lot of greenery, just bright colour and flowers which I then learnt was the much more expensive option. Hanako were so good at suggesting ways to reduce cost and reuse flower displays throughout the day, for example the flowers on the staircase in the ceremony were then placed on the tables for the wedding breakfast.
They stayed all day to move flower displays and even packed up the bouquets in water and boxes at the end of the day so I could send them off to be dried and pressed.
Hanako flowers did everything when it came to styling. They were so great at repurposing my flowers throughout the day, the meadows at the end of the wedding breakfast tables also sat under the welcome signs at the entrance, the flowers lining the stairs in the ceremony became the flowers on the tables at the wedding breakfast. I particularly love the flowers they hung from the chandeliers in the wedding breakfast room.
The only other thing I hired were pink napkins for the tables. I looked into charger plates, gold cutlery, glassware etc but the prices were crazy! I’d rather put the money behind the bar!
Our menus, favour cards, seating plan, welcome and order of the day signs were all from a template purchased on Etsy, I edited them myself and got them printed. This actually ended up being more work than I expected as I did individual menus for each person with their name and food choices on. If you go down this route, I definitely recommend doing some test prints well in advance – don’t leave it until the last minute, like I did!
I paid for bespoke invites as I knew I wanted to get them framed with my flowers. Dragonfly Couture Stationery, who we were introduced to via our planner, designed and printed them. She was fantastic and saved the day when my individual menus were printed wrong by printed.com, she got them all reprinted in two days!
I couldn’t write this without mentioning Bearded Man Cocktails. They were a pop up cocktail bar we had in the evening and the wedding wouldn’t have been the same without them. They were recommended by Ashridge as I wanted a cocktail hour to get everyone in the party mood. It ended up working out more cost effective to have them for the whole evening and I’m so glad!
Chetan was a fountain of knowledge and has a real passion for what he does. We went to his house to choose our cocktail menu and spent the evening tasting 15 cocktails at his homemade bar in his kitchen! A great evening in itself!
Their pricing is a set fee per head for unlimited cocktails and honestly I can’t believe how reasonable it was. They also truly understand how to cater for large parties, there were no queues at the bar, they were entertaining, always made sure my husband and I had a drink in our hands and even brought out shooters on the dance floor! Everyone said how much of a highlight the cocktails were.
We also hired Singing Secretro (singing waiters!) – they were the most fun way to get all our guest’s energy up after dinner! I had a moment where I looked down the dinner hall and felt so much joy seeing 100 people having so much fun waving their napkins in the air, dancing and singing!
I’m not a huge cake person so this was a good place to keep costs down. We got a macaron tower from Mademoiselle Macaron in matching colours to our flowers, I loved it.
My dad passed away from early onset dementia so we donated to Alzheimers society by purchasing their wedding favour pins, it was really special seeing everyone wearing them.
We hired OJ’s Soul band – they were fantastic! They DJed in between and after their sets too and they got our vibe perfectly. Our dance floor was so full!
Our band sung Let’s stay together by Al Green. Andrew and I are both big motown fans so it’s a song that we’ll always listen to and dance in the kitchen to.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Andrew’s cousin is a seasoned wedding guest and she once told me “There are only three things guests care about, good food (not even great food just not terrible and enough of it), alcohol and good music. Everything else is for you”. I always went back to this when I found myself stressing over tiny details that no one except me is going to notice. No guest is going to know whether your centre piece was meant to have candles or you were meant to enter at a particular part of a song.
Maybe I would consider splitting the speeches up between courses, as four in a row is quite a lot for people to sit through – though I enjoyed it!
I know I was incredibly fortunate to have a wedding planner and it’s not within everyone’s budget, but having someone on the day that deals with all the decisions and logistics allowed me to fully relax and enjoy every single moment. Ashridge house and all my suppliers were fantastic and I trusted them all completely to keep the day running smoothly. My advice to whoever the main organiser of the wedding is, is to surround yourself with people you trust on the day to keep your day going smoothly – don’t lift a finger and let yourself live every moment without stress.
What will be will be.
It’s the one day in your life that you will have everyone you love in one room, nothing’s more special than that! Your happiness is far greater than how ‘perfect’ the day is.
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