Georgia & Jack’s Real Life Wedding

Laura Gadd | February 25th

What started in Asia was finished in a stunning Tudor Manor house in the English countryside..

Tell us about the proposal – how and where did it happen?

Unfortunately for Jack he had to plan about three proposals! We were on our big holiday of the year going to the Philippines and Singapore and about a after a few days into the holiday we had arrived on our second island stop in the Philippines. When we arrived, I unfortunately started to feel unwell. But unknown to me Jack had planned an evening on a private boat with dinner where he planned to propose. So, Jack then pushed this back to the next day, but the following day Jack started to feel unwell too. It was clear we had got food poisoning! For our last stop, we were in Singapore and as a treat we had booked to stay at the Marina Bay Sands. As we hadn’t eaten anything for about five days, we also treated ourselves to eat at the steak restaurant on the roof of the hotel. During the meal Jack managed to convince the restaurant to give us a booth on the terrace for cocktails after dinner. Once we were out there with our drinks and two toasts, he popped the question!

What was your first step in planning your wedding, did you use blogs/magazines etc?

The first step in our planning was creating Pinterest boards, buying wedding magazines and following all the wedding Instagram’s. These were super useful in helping to decide on what theme we wanted to go with. Having to postpone our wedding due to covid I went through this process twice and changed themes for the second time round!

The first thing we booked for the wedding was our venue as I believe this really helped set the tone for the theme we wanted to go forward with and which suppliers we wanted to book.

What were your wedding “must have’s”?

One of the most important things we wanted for our wedding day was a secluded wedding venue, we really wanted a venue that felt light nothing else was going on in the world that day and to have that wow factor, Leez Priory certainly had this for us.

Another important factor for our day is that we wanted it to feel like one huge party, one big celebration all day. And our entertainment smashed it! We had Danny Paterson Entertainment sing during our wedding breakfast, which was one of our favourite parts from the day. I asked him to get all the guests up singing and dancing and he did exactly that!! For the evening we had the band Kio, which Danny is also the signer for, and once again they did everything I dreamed of. They kept the guests on the dancefloor all night!!

Wedding budget: how did you organise your wedding budget?

We had spoken to a few friends and family who had already planned a wedding and how much they had spent on their day, so following that we decided on a budget and we kept track of our spend on a spreadsheet. But we didn’t stick to it very well at all!

How did you find your venue and what made you choose it?

We found our venue when doing some searching on google, I had already heard of one of their sister venues Gosfield Hall so after looking on their website I found out there was some other venues within the same company.

When we arrived for our viewing we fell in love straight away, from the entrance to venue with the big reveal when you turn the corner into the car park to walking through the gates and looking at all the greenery around the venue, it’s all so beautiful.

We wanted a summer wedding outside which meant Leez Priory was just perfect for us.

Inside the venue we loved all the different rooms, the secret dance floor, and the tower in the grounds at the back this convinced us immediately this is where we wanted to get married.

Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?

Our theme for the day was glamorous with blossom/flower displays.

We hired JF Styling to style the ceremony and wedding breakfast which looked amazing on the day.

We also hired a Perspex sweetheart table which was used for the ceremony and wedding breakfast, which meant it was just us two on the top table. This made the wedding breakfast special as we could take it all in together and another moment for us to spend some time just us two.

For our favours, I have my own resin business, so I handmade silver coasters for each guest with their names on which took up a lot of time but was so worth it!

Our cake was made by RT Cakes and she did a fantastic job. We gave her a little model beagle, which is what breed our dog Lily is and she was nestled in between the flowers on the top tier, always with us!!

Describe your wedding attire and favourite accessories

I chose to have two wedding dresses, as I really wanted something quite regal and big for the main part of the day and for the evening I wanted a dress I could party the night away in.

For my main wedding dress, I chose a lace long sleeve dress with a beautiful and big overskirt in a blush colour by Elysee Atelier from Milimili Bridal. When I put my dress on, I knew it was the dress of my dreams, it made me feel so special.

For the evening I chose a gold-coloured dress with gold and silver stars all over by Willowby by Waters from Erin Kelly Bridal. I fell in love with this dress as soon as I saw it, it was the party dress I wanted but still looked like a wedding dress rather than a short white one. I am keen shoe shopper so I always knew which shoes I wanted to wear on the day, I couldn’t wait to get them out of the box! For the day dress I wore a blue pair of Manolo Blahnik Hangisi, these were always on my wish list so were the perfect wedding shoe. As I was changing outfit in the evening I couldn’t resist changing shoes as well, I changed into the most sparkly pair of shoes I’ve ever seen from Mach & Mach. The perfect party shoes! For my accessories I had a beautiful pair of pearl drop earrings from Victoria Percival and to follow with the pearl theme as my something borrowed, I wore my best friends headband from her wedding day which is from Botias Accessories.

What did your partner wear

Jack was quite involved in deciding on what colours he wanted to wear on his wedding day. He chose a lovely navy suit from Anthony Formalwear in Colchester. For his waistcoat and the ties for the rest of the bridal party the suit shop made these special for us as we used the family tartan from Jack’s Scottish family name Biggar. Unfortunately, as Jack’s Dad is no longer with us, this was our way of honouring him on the day. For one of Jack’s wedding day gifts I bought him a navy Gucci tie, which tied in really well with his suit. Jack also decided to change outfit in the evening, he changed into a navy velvet tux jacket, and he looked amazing. I loved that we both got changed in the evening! Seeing him down the aisle and in the evening for our first dance after we changed outfit, were one of my favourite moments throughout the day.

Tell us about your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen and their outfits

We had three bridesmaids, my sister and my two best friends. The girls all fell in love with a white tulle tiered dress from Lace & Beads, they all looked stunning on the day! The groomsmen all had the same suit as Jack, and instead of a tartan waistcoat, they wore a navv waistcoat with tartan ties to match with Jack. This really tied all the suits in well together, also making Jack stand out slightly more with a different waistcoat.

What was your ceremony like?

For when I walked down the aisle with my dad, we walked down to Elvis Previously Can’t Help Falling In Love (with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra). This song will always be even more meaningful to me with the memory of that moment with my dad. During the ceremony we had a reading by our Auntie which was The Art of Marriage by Wilfred Arlan Peterson.

This is a great way to have someone close to you part of the day when they’re not in the direct bridal party.

Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast

For our welcome drinks we decided to choose our favourite cocktails, Jack chose a Mojito, and I chose a Pimm’s & Lemonade, the perfect summer drinks. To go along side these, we also had sparking wine, for the guests who didn’t want a cocktail.

The speeches were one of our favourite moments of the day, all three speeches were amazing and all so different. My dad’s speech was just so special, we are best friends, so having him there by my side on the day and to make a speech, meant the world to us. The best man speech is never an easy job, but Jack’s best man smashed it. He kept it light-hearted with some great jokes. And brought out a huge cardboard cut-out of Jack with his head on one of the groomsmen’s bodies from the stag do. Safe to say this was passed around the dance floor at night! And for Jack’s speech, I loved it. It was so special listening to him talk about our relationship together and our family.

To make it even more special, he wrote his own poem about the journey of our relationship which we will never forget.

Did you have a band or DJ for your evening reception? Did you have a first dance – what song did you choose?

For our evening reception we had a band and a DJ. This was a great mix as the band was so much fun and really got everyone signing and dancing, then when the DJ started and the dance floor opened, it felt like an after party, where all the guests and us partied even more!

For our first dance song, we really struggled to pick something. My best friend mentioned a song one night when we were out for dinner and that’s the song we went for! It was a song by Vance Joy called Georgia. We also had dance lessons for our first dance and had a little routine, which was so much fun and also gave us the chance to spend more time together in the lead up to the wedding.

Based on your own experience, give us some top tips:

One of the biggest things I am pleased we stuck to during our wedding planning, was not listening to every single person’s opinion on our wedding day and planning the day we both truly wanted.

This way there was nothing we regretted or didn’t have and made the day even more special. I would also say to try and stay as organised as possible, try, and get as much done as possible 6 months before the wedding. As from this point, all the hen do’s and stag do’s start coming up, all your deadlines and getting everything packed up to take the venue. This will help that last month before the wedding not be as stressful as it could be, and you can enjoy the lead up even more.

Make sure you take every moment in, especially just the two of you, the day goes so quickly. Cherish the day and enjoy dancing the night away as these are some of our best memories of the day!

Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?

We had a couple of days away after the wedding. We flew out to Italy and did a little bit of travelling through Italy.

“If we could do it all again, we’d…”

If we could do it all again, there isn’t much we would change, but one thing I would change would be to have the first dance outside rather than in the carriageway. As this is quite a small space a lot of guests couldn’t see us.

One more, would be that if we had a bigger wedding budget, I would have had everyone as day guests. Even though I loved having people join in the evening we wanted to share our whole day with them.

Leez Priory were so supportive throughout the wedding planning, and our wedding planner Sophie was fantastic on the day. She was always on hand throughout the day and was always by my side when I needed to ask a question. If I could do it all over again, we would 100% go back to Leez Priory, and we can’t wait to go back and visit one day soon. I couldn’t recommend the venue enough and if you’re thinking about booking a viewing, do it! You won’t regret it.