Fun & Quirky Modern Country House Wedding

I really love it when a couple think about the things they love the most and inject them into their wedding. This gorgeous pair love Prince, comics and sparkly things, and guess what, all featured perfectly in sync to create their personalised and super fun nuptials.

WWW readers Hannah and Marcus tied the knot on the 9^th July 2016 at Nonsuch Mansion; a stunning country house set in the Surrey countryside. Prince songs became their wedding theme tune and they also chose song lyrics for their readings, which has a really lovely sentiment. Some of the brilliant choices that stood out have to be the brilliant lighting by Vowed and Amazed, quirky temporary tattoo favours and the awesome crepe van in the evening lit by festoon lights.

Hannah chose to wear the beautiful Jayne by Eliza Jane Howell and it was the only dress she tried on. I can see why, she looked stunning in it, with it’s beaded embellishment and cap sleeves. Marcus and the boys chose bright blue suits, plimsolls and navy ties for a modern feel and the bridesmaids wore lemon yellow frocks. Simply amazing.

Thanks so much to Story & Colour for sharing these sensational shots.

THE PROPOSAL | Marcus took me on a surprise trip for my birthday and it was only when we were on the plane that I heard it announced we were going to Venice. Without my contact lenses in I’d managed to avoid seeing any indication of where we were going! We went out for a meal on my birthday and came back to the hotel and Marcus took me into the courtyard garden which was covered in candles, it looked so beautiful, he got down on one knee and I thought he was joking… actually he was shaking just before so I sort of knew something might happen! We wanted to tell our families in person so I had to keep it a secret for a week, which was so difficult!!

THE VISION | I don’t think we had a vision as such and I actually got a little stressed looking at all these beautiful real weddings on blogs and not knowing how ours would ever come together like that, we knew we wanted it to be relaxed and informal, but also lots of fun, we are both huge Prince fans so lots of elements came from deciding how to incorporate him into our day.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We had 10 months to plan the wedding from September, we had the venue and photographer booked by December, then my dress ordered in January. We were lucky that most of the suppliers we wanted we got. I organise my company’s attendance at huge shows over-seas, so this was actually a pleasure to plan. I did have to let go of a few ideas I had when Marcus became more involved as the date got closer, but he kept me grounded in reality, which was for the best!

BUDGET | We were incredibly lucky to have a lot of support from our parents, but we ended up spending probably double what we first thought we would. I’m not that great at negotiating so we didn’t try and drive down any suppliers’ costs.

THE VENUE | We only looked at four venues, and Nonsuch Mansion definitely stood out. Helen and the team there are so wonderful and understood everything we wanted to do, and basically said yes to everything. We were desperate for a crepe van for our evening food and they went out of their way to make it happen. Nonsuch have their own high-end catering company and the food for the wedding breakfast was sensational and I still have people commenting on it now. The mansion is so beautiful we hardly needed to do anything to it, I just brought in some fairy lights and we had giant light up stars from Vowed and Amazed which transformed the party room into a night club and looked incredible.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was Jayne by Eliza Jane Howell. My necklace was from Etsy, I really wanted a necklace that went down my back as well as the front as the dress has quite a low back. I also wore a diamond Tiffany bracelet (a two-year anniversary present from Marcus) and a gorgeous pave diamond bracelet from Links that my bridesmaids surprised me with in the morning.

FINDING THE DRESS | I actually saw it on our photographer’s blog and asked him where it was from, it was the first dress I tried on and I ordered it the same day!

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Marcus, his dad and best man (older brother Daniel) went to the tailor Adam Waite for their bespoke blue suits, who also ordered fabric for his best boy (nephew Mikey), which a family friend kindly made. Marcus and Mikey both wore white plimsolls as well, a staple of Marcus’ wardrobe!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | My bridesmaid Gemma read out the lyrics to Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye by Bettye Swann. It’s one of my most favourite songs and I like how bitter sweet and not too schmaltzy it is. Marcus’ cousin was also going to read out the lyrics to Paul Simon’s Something So Right, but arrived just as the ceremony was about to start, so he read it out when we sat down to eat which prompted a big sing-along. I went down the aisle to the intro of Prince’s Sometimes It Snows In April. It was a tough decision for us to keep this after Prince passed away a couple of months before, and I was worried we’d be grief-stricken during the ceremony but actually we were too excited to get emotional! Marcus had the Superman theme playing when we came in to dinner, which I wasn’t expecting! Our first dance was Slow Love, also by Prince, it could have been slightly awkward thanks to the x-rated lyrics but we don’t think anyone was listening to them.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My bridesmaids were my four closest girl friends and Marcus’ beautiful niece Olivia. I didn’t mind what they chose to wear as long as they were happy and it sort of matched, but they ended up wanted to wear the same dress, which was from Coast. I got them matching dressing gowns for the morning and earrings and necklaces too.

THE FLOWERS | Once we knew the colour the bridesmaids were going for I had a rethink on the flowers and we had them just white, yellow and green foliage. Our florist was very good at listening to what I wanted and delivered 100% on the day We only had two meetings with her, and it was one of the things waking me up in the night, but they looked gorgeous and she got it perfectly right.

THE CAKE | My darling friend Susan gifted us the wedding cake, and I knew from the beginning I wanted a Konditor and Cook Lemon Chiffon cake, my favourite of all time, and we had alternating tiers of Victoria sponge as well. To give a nod to Marcus’ Greek heritage we asked for it to be decorated with figs and our florist provided the purple flowers for, you guessed it, Prince… We had the cake cutting straight after the ceremony and served it with cheese, crackers and prosecco, and I would recommend doing it this way round, we spent less than we would on canapés and as we had a few hours before the meal, everyone had some.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Dan is actually an old work friend of mine and I had followed his company Story and Colour from the beginning. I knew I was desperate to have them do our wedding, as I love how he captures the feel and light of the day. There were probably times when I didn’t take being photographed as seriously as I should but it was lots of fun, and he was a wedding ninja, managing to get photos and reactions when people didn’t even know he was there, I would recommend him whole-heartedly.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | If we had a theme it was probably just things we both love: comics / Prince and sparkly things?? In hindsight we went a little overboard with favours, I wanted temporary silver tattoos featuring our wedding motif and glittery lollies, and Marcus wanted the comics, so we needed something to make it look less like a kids party and included a mini Penguin Classic book as well. We had Batman and Bambi flip flops for dancing the night away, which were definitely needed when the Wedding Smashers came on the decks. Our table plan was a magnetic board with people’s photos on, so they could take those home as well. My wedding gift to Marcus was a replica sign from the X-Men movies, which we had outside the venue to look like Professor X’s school. Marcus is a graphic designer so he designed our invites, menus, order of the day etc and our thank you cards afterwards.

THE HONEYMOON | I had to go to San Diego Comic Con for work a week after the wedding, but it meant that we could tag on our honeymoon afterwards. So we hired a convertible and drove up to San Francisco along the coast and then inland through Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas and back to San Diego. It was an amazing holiday; we even got pulled over by a highway patrol man, the genuine American road trip experience (I didn’t find it that funny at the time)!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | It was just The Best Day, and obviously one bit that stands out would be seeing Marcus at the end of the aisle and the ceremony itself (our registrar was hilarious) but my hands down favourite part was when Marcus had a surprise flash mob of gospel singers come out during his speech and they sang Forever In My Life by Prince. I was too happy to cry but it was the best thing in the world, everyone was standing and singing along and it was wonderful.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Try to enjoy the planning process and not get too stressed, our motto was “whatever happens, something will happen”. Organise early and keep a spreadsheet with a running total so the budget doesn’t go bonkers. Just include things you love, and not what you think you should have there and don’t stress on the day, all these people that love you have come to see you and if you’re stressed they will be too! My number one tip though, is to have a bottle of water with you as you wait behind the scenes to go down the aisle – I got so thirsty I had to drink the registrars!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Story & Colour

Venue | Nonsuch Mansion

Dress | Jayne by Eliza Jane Howell

Bridesmaids dresses | Coast

Hair & Make Up | Lipstick & Curls

Florist | Gill Pike

Cake | Konditor & Cook

Giant prop stars | Vowed and Amazed

Metallic tattoos | Gold Ink Tattoos

Glitter Lollies | Little Lollipop Shop

Wooden name places | VM Bespoke

Postbox | Your Wedding Postbox

Garden games | Uber Games

Crepe Van | The French Revolution

Grooms attire | Adam Waite

DJ | Wedding Smashers

Ahh so brilliant!

Thanks so very much to Hannah and Marcus for sharing their amazing wedding here today xo Lou