‘When we first set our eyes on Leez Priory we literally thought it was a fairy tale venue’ – Stafford & Sophie’s Real Life Wedding

Team LP | June 5th

Stafford proposed to me on the 14th March 2016 at the top of a castle turret in the old city of Carcassonne in France. It was like a fairy tale. I couldn’t believe it.

From the minute we got engaged I started saving ideas to my wedding board on Pinterest. There were so many things that I knew I always wanted at my wedding but the must-have for us was, of course, the PERFECT venue. Once we had that sorted the rest was easy. It all happened so fast. We booked our date at one of Leez Priory’s open days. When we first set our eyes on Leez Priory we literally thought it was a fairy tale venue. I was full of butterflies and excitement. Even Stafford seemed amazed by it all.

Soon after booking, Stafford created a spreadsheet and we gave everything a maximum spend. We tried to stick as close to the budget as possible…This was easier said than done! Our biggest splurge was my wedding dress. I did keep reminding Stafford that I only want to do this once and therefore it is a ‘NEED’ and it was worth every penny! We managed to save money with our favours. We purchased mason jars and filled them ourselves and added a personalised sticker to it.

We personalised our day by using baby pink throughout. From the table plan, chair covers and my bridesmaid’s wore a long pink chiffon dress with an embellishment around the top. I had seven flower girls, five of which wore baby pink satin dresses and the other two wore ivory dresses. I wore a fishtail dress with a long train which was beautiful. To complement my dress and veil I wore a tiara, a bracelet that my parents had brought me and of course my engagement ring. Stafford and his groomsmen all wore a 3 piece suit with a baby pink cravat to match our colour scheme.

We chose Ben from Lavenham Photographic to capture our big day as he had photographed many weddings at Leez Priory and not only that he also got married there himself! He was great and made me and Stafford feel at complete ease.

We had our ceremony in the Great Hall and our wedding breakfast in the Coach House.

We chose the following option for our meal:

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato

Silky Tomato soup with the smokiness of slow roasted Red Peppers

Traditional Roast Topside of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding

Served on a bed of Horseradish Mash with a Red Wine Jus

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Brownie

With dark chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream

We also decided to have both the ice cream trike and candy cart. All of the food from canapes to the ice cream cart and breakfast the following morning was perfect. Everyone couldn’t praise the food more!

My Dad walked me down the aisle to Christina Perri – A Thousand Years.

I had a slightly embarrassing moment when it came to signing our wedding certificates during the ceremony. As my dress was a fitted fishtail design it made it extremely hard to sit down…It did give everyone a good laugh watching me try!

For the evening reception, we had the resident DJ at Leez Priory. He was great with all of our guests and kept everyone on their feet the whole night. For our first dance, he played ‘You & I’ by John Legend. We loved the words to this song. We didn’t have a choreographed routine, it began slow and steady but true ‘Stafford & Sophie style’ it ended upbeat.

My favorite part of the day was the speeches. Both Stafford and my Dad had us all in stitches then tears…The two most important men in my life.

If we could do it all again we wouldn’t change a thing. To us it was PERFECT.

Our top tip:

Try to keep to your budget. It is so easy to go overboard with ideas and spend way over what you first imagined so keep note of everything you spend to keep it in check.

We went on our honeymoon the very next day. We stayed in Michelangelo’s Spa and Hotel in Greece. It was the perfect week spent relaxing and reflecting on our special day.