Autumnal Beer-Themed Shropshire Country House Wedding

Welcome to the weekend-long, beer-themed Shropshire country house wedding of WWW readers Ciara and James! It’s such a pleasure to be sharing their warm, cosy and autumnal day which was filled with love and fun.

They had a live band that appeared on stilts, sports day style entertainment and fancy dress to name a few. Then there were the stylish outfits, autumn wedding flowers and illustrated stationery, which were all so gorgeous. All in all, it’s a really special day that you won’t want to miss.

Kate Jackson Photography, thank you ever so much for sharing with us these sublime images.

Ciara and James on WWW

We felt that WWW was a great source if inspiration, showcasing weddings that are unique and interesting. We liked the ethos of supporting independent suppliers and also celebrating creativity of all kinds.

Shropshire Country House Wedding

The Proposal

We had managed to book in a quick getaway to the Peak District during the intermittent lockdowns in October 2020. Being the Peaks the weather was pretty terrible the whole trip.

On our final day, we braved the torrential rain and the gales to walk along the top of Mam Tor. It was so grim we decided to drop down off the main path to take shelter, all of a sudden the mist seemed to start clearing and the winds dropped.

It was at this moment that James produced a sapphire ring and got down on one knee in the mud. He had been working hard to throw Ciara off the scent, so much so that Ciara had absolutely no idea that a proposal was in the wings. So Ciara’s response to the big question was ‘I don’t believe you. You’re joking?!’

The Vision

There wasn’t a singular vision as such. We combined elements that we love and that worked with our venue; autumnal colours, craft beer, festivals, fancy dress and vintage styling. Walcot Hall was the perfect venue to bring all these elements together.

Budget

£25 – £30k

The Ceremony & Music

We were clear that we didn’t want a traditional or religious ceremony, and that a humanist ceremony was more in line with our values. We worked with the brilliant celebrant Jenny Hermolle who created a really personalised ceremony that told our story. So many of our guests told us it was the best wedding ceremony they’ve ever experienced because it was so personal.

Music is really important to us both so we put a lot into the music element of the wedding.

Ciara walked down the aisle with her mum and dad to a string quartet version of Heaven by The Cure.

During the ceremony, Ciara’s friend sang Irish folk song She Moved through the Fair accompanied by the scrutti box which was beautiful. We walked out of the ceremony together to Stand on the World by the Joubert Singers.

We wanted a brass band as they are good fun and can easily play in different locations. Fat Cat Brass were just brilliant. For their first set, they surprised our guests by emerging out of the woods on stilts! Their second set really went off on the dance floor.

We’re lucky to have many good friends who DJ so there was a group of people on the decks both at the main party and also in the tin chapel for party number 2. We asked our DJs to create a ‘mini-mix’ of songs that mean something to us as a couple. We used this as our second dance. At this stage the fancy dress had come out, so it all looked quite ridiculous but was great fun.

The Venue

We took one look at Walcot Hall and knew it was the right venue for us. It’s pretty unusual as wedding venues go. It has a big Georgian turquoise ballroom (where we hosted the main party), as well as many other interesting indoor spaces full of trinkets and curiosities. It also has gorgeous grounds including an ancient woods where there is a range of quirky accommodation including yurts, old fire engines and even a Victorian tin chapel! The tin chapel is where we stayed and where we hosted our after-party until the wee hours.

Walcot Hall enabled us to have a weekend-long celebration with about 100 being able to stay onsite. The venue even has a pub onsite (!) so we all gathered there on the Friday night, had the wedding on the Saturday and then a BBQ on the Sunday afternoon. Having so many of our guests onsite meant it felt like a weekend festival.

Your Outfits

Ciara: I found it really difficult to find a wedding dress. There wasn’t necessarily one vision I had in my mind. I must have tried on over 30! However, when I did try on my chosen dress, it did feel different to any of the others. The dress was quite fitted and backless, absolutely not what I expected! The dress was Willowby by Watters, bought from the brilliant Evelie in London.

I knew I wanted a sequin number for the evening, so I chose a 70’s style bridal dress from Rixo with big balloon sleeves.

I did splash out on some Jimmy Choo shoes. As soon as I saw them shoes I thought ‘yup’ sorted.

My headpiece was a gold and pearl halo design by Honey and Ember.

James: We used Vintage Suit Company who are a small independent retailer. We liked the vintage style and their choice of accessories for the groom’s party. We went with blue wool suits with mustard accessories as it worked with the overall colour scheme (and also worked with my colouring!).

The Styling & Decor

We got married in autumn and both love autumnal colours so wanted to lean into this colour palette. Our bridesmaids were given a colour to work with but they chose their own outfits.

Bride and Bloom provided flowers – all in a very natural wild style which worked really well for us.

We both love a good beer, so decided to use this as our theme for some of the styling. We used dried hops down the aisle and across the top table. For favours, we created beer-tasting note cards for each guest. This was a nice way for us to reflect on each guest in the lead-up to the wedding.

We got a pink neon ‘Til Death do us Party’ sign, because why not?!

We also used Prop Till You Drop which provided A LOT of fancy dress and a big photo booth within a vintage-style dresser.

We love silliness and crowd participation so we asked some good friends of ours to put on a ‘sports day’ during the drinks reception. Sack race, egg and spoon relay etc… It got our guests mingling and laughing together.

Your Photographer

Kate Jackson Photography – was a total superstar. Neither of us really like having our photos taken so we wanted to have a documentary-style photographer. Kate captured so many beautiful and hilarious moments.