The big day had arrived and everything was in place for the wedding to commence.
Victoria and Neil were having their ceremony in the barn – a popular choice, and had the aisle set up so as Victoria steps through the grand barn doors, she walked diagonally and towards the corner of the barn.The 22 piece band, Lofthouse Brass Band, was ready and waiting for the imminent entrance of the bride. (The band which I thought was a 2 piece band but found out it was actually a 22 piece only a few days before the wedding!)
Neil’s mum had decorated the wedding barn with all her lovely flowers especially the beautiful arbour that was used as the central point for the civil ceremony
Victoria stayed in the Lodge and as she walked across the courtyard everyone was craning their necks to catch the first glimpse. I closed the second set of barn doors so that Neil was that lucky guy waiting at the Arbour to catch the first sight of his bride. Imperial March from Star Wars was playing for the guests as they waited for the arrival of the bride. Everyone looked in awe at the beautiful bride as Victoria walked down the aisle to a trumpet voluntary.
After the ceremony everyone made their way outside as canapés were served, provided by Bear Pantry. Whilst the guests and newlywed couple took some time to take it all in, all was put in place to get the barn prepared for the rest of the wedding celebrations. The tables were set up, all named after Roald Dahl books and everyone got a conker on their place mat, to have a game.
A crèche was even created within the wedding barn for little Ernie and all his pals. Which I thought was a fantastic idea as it meant bride and groom could relax knowing Ernie was having the time of his life too!
Guests put tips in a jar for the band as they were a charity and played for pleasure rather than profit. However this managed to turn into a bit of a palava as the groom mistakenly threw the bag with over £90 in it, in the bin. Thankfully, just hours before our bin collection on the Monday morning, Neil telephoned to ask us to check the bins. So out went poor Simon “skip diving” and like a hero pulled out the bag amongst all the rubbish.
A fabulous juke box delivered the evening’s entertainment, which was a very unique and fab idea. However, whilst Neil was making his speech he was rudely interrupted by the juke box, which had decided to make an impromptu start! Neil had had to brake off and turn it off so that he could carry on, it was all very funny!
Victoria’s Dad’s speech was hilarious with the inevitable embarrassment for his daughter. It was even more embarrassing than the usual Father of the bride speech, as he read quotes from her diary when she was a young girl, re-telling her dreams of going to Las Vegas and being a kept woman by marrying a very rich man! With also mention of a note to the tooth fairy, threatening to take her business elsewhere unless she got what she wanted for her tooth. I’m sure Victoria would agree that her life with Neil and Ernie had worked out quite perfectly, even if it wasn’t quite Vegas!
The whole day was a complete success and you could tell everyone was enjoying themselves by the big smiles across their faces. The Hornington Manor team like to wish the happy couple and perfect family, Victoria, Neil and little Ernie the very best and a happy married life!
Keep scrolling for the bride, Victoria’s words on her big day…
All photos featured are Si Stock Photography
On The Day…
Band:
Contact – 07876800929
Catering:
Bears Pantry (canapés, main meal & evening food)
Contact – 07939515009 or feedme@bearspantry.com
Contact – 07852 352521
Contact – 07979154420
Hair & Make-up:
Contact – 01904424300
Juke Box:
Contact – 01609 781383
Catering Equiptment:
Contact – Lynsey Barraclough 01274 689442
Some words from Victoria, the bride…
“I am so glad I found Hornington Manor when browsing for wedding venues while I was on maternity leave! From the first visit I knew it would be perfect for us. I loved the venue in itself but also the freedom we had to do things our own way including the choice of our own suppliers.
I was more of a laissez-faire bride than most but when I began to panic a little about detailing as the date got closer, the interactions we had with both Jo and Simon helped to allay any nerves. They were both exceptional, were flexible and seemed not at all phased when we pretty much left it to the day before to arrange details with them! We also had lots of help from family and friends setting up the evening before (fuelled by Prosecco and delicious pizzas from Pizza Loco).
During the day Jo, Simon and the rest of the guys were present but we didn’t really notice the work which was being put in to make the day go smoothly – a sign of perfect organisation I think! Thanks to Simon for the photos…we are not the sort of people who enjoy being photographed so asked him just to capture some and we are so thankful we did, we love his photos!
Our suppliers were, without exception, amazing too. We had brilliant feedback on all the food we had from Bears Pantry and I think Miss Friday has a few more people who will be stalking out the selling points for her brownies and desserts…
All of our ‘resident’ guests also enjoyed staying at the Manor hugely (particularly our little boy, Ernie, who loved exploring and chatting with the sheep, both real and not) – the accommodation is absolutely stunning and the maintenance of it is great especially considering it must have an awful lot of people staying there often. The beds were super comfy and it was so nice having everyone around us.”
