Guys, it finally happened, we have a Harry Potter wedding and it is beautiful. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and the only smidgen of Harry Potter I had (was allowed) at my wedding was the theme song being played whilst we signed the register. Nothing in comparison to today’s awesomeness. Harlaxton Manor is one of the most unique venues I have been too, it is so dark and gothic, and whenever we drove past it on the a1, we used to say the spires looked just like Hogwarts . I had the pleasure of attending the Yellow Belly Ball here and the venue is just spectacular, definitely look in to it if you’re Lincolnshire based.
Photography by Haydn Rydings
Harlaxton Manor, Harlaxton, Grantham, Lincolnshire
We’re totally biased but this was the most beautiful venue we had ever seen. Harlaxton Manor had everything and more – stunning gardens, breath taking architecture, individually designed rooms including a conservatory which came in handy given the weather. Simon and his team did a wonderful job in planning every detail which meant our day ran perfectly. They don’t really advertise so we were lucky to get one of their 16 dates a year.
We chose a Harry Potter theme for our special day! It sounds a bit random but we are both huge Harry Potter fans and thought that it would give our day a fun and unique twist. When we saw our venue we both thought ‘Wow, it looks like Hogwarts!’ and the fact that Harlaxton Manor is also a school cemented the idea.
Having a theme allowed us to get really creative with all aspects of the wedding and it was important to us that everything from the cake to the flowers incorporated it. We were very lucky to find a group of suppliers that embraced the theme and made it work beautifully!
Haydn Rydings Photography (Manchester)
We were looking for a photographer that could capture the feel of our wedding day and Haydn did this brilliantly. We’ve been to weddings where so much time is spent taking posed photos. We wanted to minimise this and spend as much time as we could with our guests. Haydn’s reportage style captured the spirit of our day and you can almost feel the emotion pouring out of each image. Haydn has an incredible eye and we were delighted with our wedding photographs!
Dress ‘Tia’ by Ellis Bridal (Shop for Brides Daventry) and shoes ‘Mary Jane’ from BHS 2014 Bridal Collection
Hair accessories from Jon Richards at Debenhams and the veil from Shop for Brides Daventry
Hair by Helen @Salon 57 Leicester and makeup done by myself!
My favourite moment was definitely walking down the aisle. I wasn’t nervous during any of the wedding build up but felt those familiar butterflies as I was waiting to enter the Great Hall. I remember standing in the entrance and making eye contact with Michael and the butterflies melted away.
I waiting a few seconds and absorbed everything in front of me. Our guests were beaming at me, my dad looked prouder than I had ever seen him, the venue was stunning and I could smell the roaring open fire. I fixed my gaze on my husband to be, squeezed my dad’s hand and we slowly walked down the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon. It took all my composure not to run!
We spent a year meticulously planning our day and as I walked down the aisle and saw my husband to be waiting with glassy eyes, I knew that it was going to be the perfect day.
Grooms suit hire from Dapper Suits, Doncaster
Sophie’s Flower Company (Long Clawson)
When we met Sophie, we were blown away by her enthusiasm and creativity. We knew that she would be the perfect person to bring our Harry Potter theme to life in flowers. We trusted Sophie’s instincts so didn’t specify exactly what we wanted. Instead we asked for creams, plums and feathers to be worked in but the rest was all Sophie and the end result was spectacular!
Cake – Made by Wendy Mardle and catering provided by Harlaxton Manor
Handmade jars of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean…we used Jelly Belly’s so no guests got vomit or bogie flavoured beans! There was also butterbeer fudge!
We also created activity packs for the kids filled with toys, snacks and bits to keep them busy through the wedding breakfast. All in line with the theme of course!
We hand made our own stationery which subtly referenced our Harry Potter theme throughout. We used materials like parchment, pheasant features and natural twine to bring the theme to life and incorporated personalised wax seals and the Hogwarts crest. We chose bookmarks for our save the date cards as we felt it was a nice nod to the books.
Invitations mirrored Harry’s Hogwarts acceptance letter and pheasant feathers were neatly tucked into the envelopes to symbolise owl delivery. Order of the day booklets were again made from parchment and were done in the style of a Marauders Map.
Place cards had names on one side and a magical talent on the back which related to each guest’s job or their interests. It was a great way to use our theme as an ice breaker for guests that didn’t know each other!
Charlene tweeted me this image of her invites!
20k
OJ’s Soul Band (Hampshire)
We wanted a band that would play music that appealed to all of our guests and got everyone up on the dance floor. OJ’s 8 piece band covered songs by Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and Michael Jackson that achieved that brilliantly. OJ’s Soul Band weren’t just good, they were AMAZING! Our guests were in awe and we’ve had so many positive comments on the entertainment.
Kuoni twin centre trip to Sri Lanka and Maldives. Sri Lanka has so much to discover and the Maldives is paradise on earth.
Negotiate everything, particularly if your wedding is off season like ours BUT make sure you pick the best suited suppliers and not the cheapest.
The day does fly by so maximise the time you spend with each other and your guests by minimising the number of posed photographs you request. Having an all-guest group shot could take 20 mins!
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