Maddy and Ross and Their 1920’s Garden Party Wedding. By Nicola Thompson

Today’s wedding is full of 1920’s glamour, mixed with country fun in this gorgeous wedding brought to you courtesy of the fabulous Nicola Thompson. There are so many elements of this wedding that I love, the wonderful photography, the gorgeous bride and groom, the stunning Jenny Packham dress, the food, the flowers, the décor and the fabulous fireworks display! What a wonderful wedding!

‘A 1920’s themed fizz-filled Norfolk country garden party and afternoon tea, with a serious set of fireworks and sparklers to round off the celebrations.’

Maddy and Ross were married on 20th July at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk. ‘It’s a beautiful stately home 2 miles from Maddy’s mother’s house. We once went on a lovely bike ride down the long avenue through the Estate and found the house at the end of it, so stumbled upon it. The Walpole family also own Mannington Hall, which is on the other side of the Estate and Ross’ sister Rachel got married there so to have the family link but a different venue made it extra special. We had 120 guests in the day and 145 in the evening. It took 6 months, from the proposal in January to the big day. It was a quick spell of booking the key things early on, then we got absorbed by work and the rest of life and so had another spell of activity in May to get everything finalised. And phenomenal project management from Maddy’s mum throughout.’

How they met
We went to school together from when we were 8 to 12, then stayed friends but weren’t in touch much. We met up again when we were 30 and that was that.

The proposal
It was the last morning of our holiday in Cambodia. Ross had carried the ring around for 3 weeks (including mountain biking through the jungle!) and then asked on the last morning. It was very special.

Why did you choose your photographer?
Nicola was recommended by another photographer who was already booked up. The whole service has been brilliant from start to end and we’re so glad we chose her. She was so fun, no nonsense and playful; directive enough to really get the best shots to tell the story of the day but without needing to taking us off for hours and hours. She managed to create a blog post of the best photos of the day less than 24 hours after the wedding, which was amazing and lovely to see them before we flew off for our honeymoon. Her creativity in making the album has also been great.
My good friend Genevieve also filmed the day, using Super 8 film so it looks brilliant. We hadn’t booked anyone to film it but are so very glad she was able to help and has done such a beautiful job.

The dress
Jenny Packham Ruby dress, with Jenny Packham headdress, veil and earrings. Rachel Simpson shoes and a white rabbit stole from Fur Coat No Knickers on Carnaby Street! Other jewellery was my Grandma’s, which was a lovely way to feel her with us for the day.

The suit and bridesmaids
The suit was from Alexeandre Saville Row, tie and pocket squares from Reiss, Loakes brogues and cufflinks from Chris Hawkins Jewellery.
The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Ghost and the flowergirls’ outfits were from Next and Monsoon.

Theme or colour scheme
Blue, pale pink and white.

Decoration
We hired a vintage tea set with tiered cake stands and also Champagne saucers instead of flutes to add to the 1920’s style.
We hired trees to make the marquee feel more natural, so had Eucalyptus trees with ball fairy lights through in the marquee, a jasmine arch by the steps and big bay trees at the main entrance to the hall. We also had lots of flowers and bunting, to give the afternoon garden party feel. We had pretty tags so people could pop their wishes for us in the tree, instead of a guest book.

Flowers
A wonderful florist happens to live really near Maddy’s Mum’s house. The bridesmaids and I had big white and pink peonies and David Austin roses, the flowergirls had a big white rose and peony each and lots of gypsophilia. All the flowers had herbs through too for texture, fragrance and to make it a bit more contemporary. The tables had peonies and roses too, as well as sweet peas and daisies to give a more natural summer garden party feel.

Food
Canapes, an oyster bar and a vintage ice cream bike for with the Champagne after the ceremony. Then for the main meal we had lovely lavish afternoon tea and in the evening we had a huge cheese cake and wedding cake. Our chef, Alex Firman, did an amazing job. The cheese cake was from Neal’s Yard Dairy and the wedding cake from Butterflies and Angels.

Entertainment
We had garden party games around the grounds – croquet, boules and a coconut shy.
The oyster bar and ice cream bike were good food entertainment too.
The Jonny Hepbir quartet, a jazz band from Brighton, played in the afternoon.
Jason, Maddy’s business partner and good friend, did a brilliant playlist of 1920s music for the afternoon tea and electro swing for the evening. Other friends, Joel and Edmund, also did a great swing set to end the night. We also had fireworks by the lake which were great.

Personal or handmade touches
• For favours Maddy made envelopes of wildflower seeds to feed the bees.
• Joe, the best man, made the signs for around the grounds.
• Amanda, Maddy’s step-mother, made the place names board and wrote out all the name tags.

Advice for other couples
Just think about what you two want for the day – not too much about other people’s perceptions and needs.
The time whizzes by so far on the day so remember to spend lots of time together and regularly scan the room and breathe it all in.
Definitely record the experience by prioritising as much budget as you can for a photographer who suits your style as a couple – and get the ceremony and speeches filmed, if you can’t do the whole day.

Special moments
The wedding car was beautiful and travelling to the Hall with just my Dad was lovely. The whole ceremony was really special and definitely my favourite part, which I hadn’t expected.

Biggest surprise
The sparklers were supposed to be for during the fireworks but they were handed out whilst we were up on the balcony with the photographer. So we looked down and the whole garden was lit up with all our family and friends sparkling and twirling about – it looked amazing and was totally unexpected so extra lovely.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Rings & cufflinks – www.chrishawkinsjewellery.com
• Brilliant photographer – http://nicolathompsonphotography.co.uk. Nicola was fab from start to finish.
• Dress – www.jennypackham.com
• Accessories – http://www.furcoatnoknickers.co.uk/ & http://www.whitemischiefbridal.co.uk/  Lorna at White Mischief was so lovely and made the shopping experience really special.
• Chef. Alex was amazing throughout. The menu he came up with was brilliant and so many people commented on the food – www.alexchef.co.uk
• Cheese cake – my good friend Jay works there and kindly co-ordinated the selection and presentation of the epic tower www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk
• The cake – www.butterfliesandangels.co.uk
• Lovely independent wine merchants in Brighton. Very fun for pre-wedding tasting sessions! www.quaffwine.com
• Make-up by the very lovely Sherrie who made me feel as calm as possible on the day – www.sherrie-sparkes.com
• Vintage tea set hire – www.cupsadaisyvintage.co.uk & www.prettyvintage.co.uk too.
• And hair from Debs, brilliant with her terrifying ‘20’s finger wave contraption! – http://hairsmiths.co.uk

For more information on Nicolas Photography go to

www.nicolathompsonphotography.co.uk
[email protected]
FACEBOOK
@nicthomphoto