Relaxed Personal & Soft Wedding with Elegant Eucalyptus

A beautiful Noke Hotel wedding for you today folks 🙌. That’s right, WWW readers Lottie and Andrew are joining us with their beautiful wedding celebrations that were held on the 19th October 2019 in Hertfordshire. They described their day to me as “relaxed, personal, fun, romantic” sounds pretty perfect right?!

I love how timeless and paired back their wedding style was, with soft, delicate colours and reams of pretty eucalyptus. It was all so gorgeous. Lottie looked stunning in her tulle gown with oversized greenery bouquet, while Andrew was suited and booted in a sharp suit and floral tie. Keep your eyes peeled for pretty signs, a buttercream cake (which is vegan and GF) as well as lovely personal touches.

Photography by Grace, thank you for sharing these totally beautiful captures of a very special day indeed.

The Noke Hotel Wedding

The Proposal

Andrew proposed at home on Christmas Day 2018, having made his first Christmas dinner for me. After we had finished all of the food and cleared away the plates, he asked me to sit on the edge of the table with my eyes closed, as he had a surprise. He then produced some mistletoe (which I squealed with excitement over, as I’d commented a couple of weeks before that I had never been kissed under mistletoe – so I assumed this was the surprise). He then knelt down on one knee and produced a box with the most beautiful ring inside.

Little did I know, he had bought the ring 9 months earlier from my favourite jeweller and had been hiding it ever since. The ring is a yellow gold band with three diamonds.

He proposed at home at a time when he knew I would be at my happiest – I’m naturally an introvert and absolutely adore Christmas.

The Vision

Our vision was to create a relaxed, stress-free, truly happy, intimate environment for us and all of our guests. We knew we wanted a small wedding where we could spend quality time with close friends and family, and we wanted the whole wedding at the same venue for ease. (Getting ready, ceremony, party, staying over and breakfast the following day.)

We decided that we didn’t want a wedding party. Instead, both of our fathers wore the same suit as Andrew. I chose my sister, Lucy to be a witness, and Andrew chose his Grandmother, Joan.

The Venue

The Noke Hotel, St. Albans, Hertfordshire.

When we first met, we used to drive past The Noke quite a lot, and Andrew always commented on how it must be such a lovely place to have a wedding. It was therefore the first place we thought of when we started planning our wedding.

As soon as we stepped inside, it felt right. That’s how we made all of our wedding-related decisions actually – by gut feel.

Your Outfits

My dress was called Locklin by Wtoo. Quite honestly, choosing a wedding dress was something I dreaded. I was so anxious and intimidated by the thought of stepping into a bridal boutique and trying on dresses in front of others, as I don’t like to be the centre of attention.

I stumbled across Wtoo online, having spent hours and hours trying to find a style of dress that I liked. I loved the Wtoo designs and investigated local stockists. I discovered Heritage Brides, the most beautiful and welcoming boutique housed in the old stable yard of Hatfield House. The owner, Sam immediately put my nerves at ease and made wedding dress shopping a dream. She knew her dresses inside out and helped me to find the dress of my dreams. Sam made dress shopping absolutely magical.

My dress was the delicate, romantic and balletic style I adore. It was comfortable, figure-flattering and a joy to dance in!

I decided to do my own makeup (and in fact made up my Mum, too) but our hairdresser-turned-family friend, Juliette curled my hair and twisted it into a half-up-half-down look.

Andy wore a deep blue suit from Next. He chose this as it was a relaxed and easy way for him, and our fathers, to achieve the same style whilst enabling them to choose their own preferred fit – and without the need for a tailor. His outfit was finished with a navy tie with a white, floral motif to match our flowers, and brown shoes and belt from Ted Baker.

The Ceremony & Music

My talented cousin, Hannah played the piano as Andrew welcomed guests to the ceremony room.

We kept the decor simple: chiavari chairs with white ribbon tied to the backs, I walked down the aisle to a piano instrumental of ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles, as it has always been a favourite of mine. We decided we wanted all of the ceremony music to be stripped back instrumentals. We enjoyed a few pieces of music during the signing of the registers, before exiting to a beautiful arrangement of Genesis’ ‘Follow You, Follow Me’ performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our photographer, Grace, was the first wedding-related decision we made! We found her by accident when admiring wedding photos online and instantly fell in love with her beautiful work. Her photography captured so many emotions and somehow had so much life in every shot. It was love at first sight.

For our initial meeting, we invited Grace to a day out at Colchester Zoo (not the traditional wedding meeting venue) where we got to know each other more and after a couple of hours, felt like we had known each other for years.

Grace was more than just our photographer, she was a well-loved guest. She was an absolute joy to have at our wedding and many of our family and friends still ask after her and comment on how lovely she was!

The Styling & Decor

We collected our decorations as and when we found them – some DIY, borrowed fairy lights and with help from talented friends.

We chose flowers to match the feel of my dress – soft and delicate. Eucalyptus, gypsophila and white roses. We loved the idea of a floral arch to get married under, so Andrew managed to find a metal arch on eBay which we gave to our talented florists to dress. It was absolutely stunning and was a beautiful feature for both our wedding ceremony and then to frame our wedding cake during our wedding breakfast and evening party.

We gave our bouquets to some of our guests to take home with them the following day, which they were really pleased with.

We worked with a local supplier to create a vegan and gluten-free cake to ensure that all of our guests could enjoy it. Decorated with vanilla vegan buttercream and real flowers, miniature bunting and cork figures of ourselves! The corks were handmade by a lovely lady on Etsy who dressed them like us! It was a lovely, personal touch.

A talented friend of mine designed our wedding signs, timeline and table plan, which we had printed locally. They really added a welcoming, personal touch to our special day.

We filled a wicker basket with pairs of flip flops and tied them together with ribbon for people to use if their feet got sore.

In the evening, we placed bundles of traditional games (dominoes, pick up sticks etc.) on the tables for anyone who didn’t want to get up on the dance floor.

After many hours on Pinterest, we discovered that we both preferred minimalistic decor and simple colour schemes with soft, neutral colours. We stuck to white and the grey/green of our eucalyptus leaves – in our flowers, stationery, signs and on our cake.

We gifted each of our guests with a miniature, personalised jar of jam from Tiptree, as Andrew grew up just around the corner from Tiptree and it’s somewhere we both enjoy visiting.

The Honeymoon

We had planned an Icelandic adventure for March 2020, but unfortunately, the pandemic had other ideas. We’ll go one day…

Memorable Moments

• A wise friend had told me how quickly your wedding day whizzes by and suggested taking just 5 minutes out – just the two of us – to take everything in and appreciate the day. I’m so glad we did!
• Most of our guests stayed at the hotel after our wedding, so we arranged breakfast for everyone. It was so heart-warming to see everyone sitting together at breakfast the following morning.
• I got ready in the bridal suite of the hotel, which I adored – I invited family to get ready in the suite with me or to pop in and say hello during the morning. It was relaxed and so fun.
• My great aunt and uncle dancing in the middle of the dance floor was truly heart-warming to see.
• Having all of our favourite people all together in the same room was incredible. It was wonderful glancing over at everyone having fun and chatting away during our wedding breakfast.

Advice For Other Couples

Stay true to yourselves – everyone will share their opinion on how they think your wedding should be, but it’s your day, make it yours.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Simply beautiful.

Lottie and Andrew thank you ever so much for sharing your very special Noke Hotel wedding, what an honour it’s been.