Summery & Pretty Country Manor House Conservatory Wedding

WWW readers Charmaine and Lee are joining us with the gorgeous Offley Place wedding held in Hertfordshire on the 9^th August 2019. Their day was so summery and pretty, with a pale pink colour palette and timeless, classic decorations.

The conservatory venue space was really special and using light up letters, rustic wooden touches and fresh blooms, they really made it their own. I especially love the doughnut tower cake and the really stylish outfits all round. What a special celebration indeed.

I can’t thank Aden Priest Photography enough for sharing these stunning images with us.

Offley Place Wedding

The Proposal

Lee proposed in our living room on Christmas Eve in 2017 after a night spent with his family. We were hosting and had got a bit merry; once his family had left, we were just being a bit silly, singing to music and finishing off the wine when one of our favourite love songs came on. We had a bit of a slow dance and then Lee said he wanted me to open one of his gifts early (I actually said I’d rather open it in the morning – luckily, he convinced me to open it).

He handed me a cylindrical box with gingerbread men on and when I took the lid off, inside was a little black box. I opened it and inside was a beautiful ring which his sister-in-law had helped design! Lee then got down on one knee and asked if I’d marry him – I burst into tears (I’d waited nearly 7 years for a proposal!) and, of course, said yes.

The Vision

Originally, we wanted to get married in the Lake District, a place we both love, however, as we’re from Bedfordshire, we wanted all of our friends and family to be able to make it, so decided a more local wedding would probably be best. We’re quite reserved people, so knew we didn’t want anything overly grand or expensive – just a day filled with love, laughter and family, ideally at a quaint manor house in the summertime.

The Venue

After looking at a few local locations and them either being too expensive or not to our taste, we discovered Offley Place in Hertfordshire. I’d never been there before so my mum and I went to go have a look. I thought it was beautiful, especially the conservatory room where the wedding would take place and loved that it was surrounded by 27 acres of parkland. Lee and I then went to take another look the following week and luckily Lee loved it too. We booked the venue there and then.

The Styling & Decor

Our decorations were a mixture of hired and homemade items; one of my favourite hired items was the wooden rustic-looking Mr & Mrs lettering that I’d seen at another wedding online and loved. I designed and printed all the signs around the venue, as well as the labels on the wine bottles which became our seating plan. For a personal touch, I had confetti cones created from pages of The Lord of The Rings as it’s Lee’s favourite book.

We decided to not have a traditional wedding cake and instead ordered lots of boxes of doughnuts from Krispy Kreme which we had displayed on a wooden cupcake stand with a small naked vanilla cake from M&S at the top (just so we had something to cut into).

Flowers were arranged by my sister-in-law’s friend who did an incredible job – I loved the mixture of flowers she used, and the colour combinations were perfect. She made flower arrangements to go on the backs of chairs, on the ceremony table, down the venue’s stair banister and to fill lots of vases and jars around the venue. Her wonderful flowers added so much to the day.

Your Outfits

We both agreed that we didn’t want to spend a crazy amount on our outfits, so I found a pretty crepe sheath gown from WED2B which I then took to a local seamstress to have customised. I had the mesh neckline taken out and a belt sewn in around the middle and it completely transformed the dress – I absolutely loved it.

My shoes were Jenny Packham ivory satin ‘Paris’ stilettos which really complimented the dress, and I wore a one-layer fingertip length veil with beaded edging.

Lee wore a navy slim-fit cotton suit and brown leather shoes from Hawes and Curtis and a champagne-coloured tie from Burton.

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony took place in the amazing conservatory at Offley Place. Fortunately, the sun was shining through the glass windows during the ceremony and the room looked so bright and beautiful.

We had acoustic guitar versions of our favourite songs playing whilst the guests were getting seated and then I walked down the aisle to a piano rendition of ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (the song title is also engraved on the inside of Lee’s wedding ring). The ceremony was lovely – my brother wrote a poem to read which made it extra special. We then walked back down the aisle to Nina Simone’s cover of ‘To Love Somebody’.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

We chose Aden Priest as our photographer after he was recommended by one of Lee’s friends. We looked on his website and loved his style of photography; very natural and personal.

He also agreed to do an engagement shoot for us in the Lake District which was really special, not only as it was in one of our favourite places, but it also gave us a chance to meet him before the wedding and get to know each other a little. On the day, Aden was brilliant – he made us feel at ease throughout and fitted in with friends and family perfectly. He captured moments beautifully and was a delight to have photograph our wedding.

The Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was 2 weeks spent travelling in Italy; starting in Rome, moving onto Florence and then finishing at Lake Como. We had the most amazing time and loved sitting back and reflecting on our big day whilst eating amazing food and drinking lots of Aperol Spritz and prosecco!

Memorable Moments

Some of the most memorable moments for me involved the dance floor. Our first dance to ‘You Send Me’ by Aretha Franklin was special as it was a lovely, personal moment together as a newly married couple. We also had a brilliant wedding band called Jukebox and by the end of the night, they had everyone on the dancefloor!

It was so great seeing family and friends dancing the night away, having lots of fun. We also bought a load of sparklers which we did once it went dark, and that made for some great pictures.

Advice For Other Couples

My advice is to take time to just stop and take in everything. The day goes so quickly; it’s so easy to forget to just look around and appreciate all the work that’s gone into the wedding. Also, make sure you eat some of the canapés and evening food if you have any. We were so busy having photos, dancing and talking to guests that we completely forgot to enjoy the food we had spent so long planning!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh so pretty and lovely.

Charmaine and Lee, thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous Offley Place wedding with us.