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As passionate skiers and keen to hit the slopes for their honeymoon – Zoe and Oliver knew that a winter wedding was the only option for them, so a January date, it was!
Tying the knot at the wonderfully picturesque Hornington Manor in Yorkshire, the couple wanted a wintery vibe to their big day, but minus the festive feels. Cue plenty of foliage, wisteria trees and a plush palette of greens, greys and white, not to mention hearty winter grub and a cheeseboard!
The mother-of-the-bride got her craft on, creating the table settings, order of the day, table plan, drinks tokens and menus. But our favourite personal touch has got to be the gelato served from a ski gondola – as always, it’s the original touches that nod to your personality as a couple that really do make the day truly yours.
With images by Freya Raby Creative Photography
Proposal
Zoe says
: We got engaged on my birthday. Ollie planned it so I wouldn’t suspect a thing! We had a lovely walk up Ingleborough, and when we got to the top, he told me to shut my eyes for my next birthday present. When I opened them he was on one knee!Setting
We got married on 25th January 2020. We always knew that we wanted to go skiing for our honeymoon, hence the winter wedding!
We got married at Hornington Manor, in Bolton Percy – both the ceremony and reception were held here. We knew instantly that we loved the barn feel of the venue, and thought it was so beautiful even without any decoration in it. What really sold it to us though was the Manor House, which sleeps 44 and we got use of for the whole weekend. Our families are spread out around the country so it was great to be able to have all our favourite people in one place, and made the whole weekend feel really relaxed!
We didn’t have a theme as such, but wanted to keep the feel wintery and definitely not Christmassy. We went with greens, greys and whites, with lots of foliage.
Dress
My beautiful dress was from Abbey Wedding Warehouse in Leeds.
Groomsmen
Oliver wore a DKNY suit from Moss Bros, and his groomsmen wore suits from Moss Bros too.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids wore gorgeous floor-length green dresses from JJ’s House.
Beauty
Stacey Borg did my makeup on the day.
Transport
We stayed at the venue the night before so didn’t need to worry about any transport.
Photographer
Our photographer was Freya Raby. She was amazing, and I have been recommending her to everyone I can find! She is truly a fantastic photographer.
We met Freya at a wedding fair and knew immediately that we really liked her. She is so relaxed and professional, but also super friendly and really great to be around.
On the day, knowing that she was there made both of us feel that little bit more relaxed – we knew she’d capture all of those memories exactly as we’d want them. As two people who are very awkward at being photographed, she managed to blend in so that we never knew we were being snapped.
And now we have had the photos back, from 1000+ pics I can honestly say that we love every single one of them!
Styling
Our lovely friend Julia Mitchinson did our flowers and centerpieces for the tables. Given that the only description I could provide was “umm…I like leaves and white flowers I think” she was able to instantly come up with loads of fantastic ideas, and on the day delivered stunning bouquets, buttonholes and centerpieces.
We also had wisteria trees for the end of the aisle from Limelight Wedding Emporium – Beverley was so helpful in helping us to choose, and came the day of the wedding to set up and make sure everything was as it should be.
Favours
Our favours were drinks tokens for the bar, designed by my lovely mum.
Cake
We decided on Colin and Connie the Caterpillars, courtesy of Marks and Spencer!
Dining
Friends 4 Dinner Catering catered for us and were just fabulous! We had ‘hearty winter grub’ for our food – soup to start, roast dinner for main and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Everyone loved it!
For our evening food, they made a giant paella dish, which was delicious. We also had a cheeseboard which was supplied by George & Joseph in Chapel Allerton, Leeds. They were really helpful and it was so tasty!
As for the wines, we chose these from the venue at a tasting evening.
Entertainment
We had magician Mark Waddington, who came in after the wedding breakfast – he kept everyone entertained and amazed whilst they digested their food!
Our band, who performed in the evening, were called The Jetters, and had everyone up dancing all night!
Special touches
My mum made our table settings, order of the day, table plan, drinks tokens and menus; they were perfect, and the homemade touch was lovely! The designs centred on mountains and skiing as a nod to our love for skiing.
In the evening, we also had ice cream served out of a ski gondola (off piste gelato!).
Thanks to
To us, it was the perfect venue – exactly the relaxed country vibe that we wanted and it was so important to us that our family and closest friends could stay on the Friday and Saturday night.
The team at Hornington were fantastic too – in particular Hayley, who looked after us so well from day one. Nothing was too much trouble for her, and the team were on hand on the day and kept everything running perfectly. We really didn’t need to worry about a thing.
Best bit
It sounds clichéd but I honestly couldn’t choose one ‘best bit’ from the day – I loved every single second and would not change a thing. But maybe getting a little tear from Ollie as I walked down the aisle!
Honeymoon
We skied in Whistler, Canada for 10 days and then went on to New York for 4 days. We’re no good at lying still on a beach so knew it needed to be an active trip! Even though it was so active, it was so relaxing and great to combine a real outdoorsy trip with a busy city break.
Advice
Seriously – don’t stress about the small stuff! The day goes in a whirlwind and you won’t even notice them. And surround yourself with a team you gel with and can trust, and then you know you won’t need to worry about a single thing on the day.
