Many people will overlook Winter when setting their wedding date, however it can offer a beauty that no other season can! Stevenage based Mel and Rob Thurlow are here today to share their wonderful wedding, and the details of the planning process.

The Engagement

We went into London for a show one Friday before Christmas 2016, and we booked a hotel so that we could go to Winter wonderland in Hyde Park on the Saturday. We had booked tickets into the ice sculpture experience, and for the big wheel. We put off going up on the wheel hoping the fog would lift, but eventually went up despite the fog, and on the second go round Rob proposed!

It was supposed to be a surprise, but i had figured it out beforehand, as i’d not been able to miss the charge when i’d tidied up his credit card bill the weekend before, and felt the box in his pocket on the way to London!

The Wedding

Where and When

Offley Place, Great Offley, 3rd March 2018, following the Beast from the East!

The Planning Process

We planned for just over a year (14 months)

Approximate Budget

£20,000 + Honeymoon

Wedding Theme

I wanted it to be a bit whimsical, and with my favourite colour Purple. The theme ended up being around our Wedding Breakfast which was Afternoon Tea, and my favourite flowers Lisianthus, so we had lots of flowers & teapots!

Suppliers

Cake

My mother Andrea created our cake. Andrea made 4 flavours altogether, including one gluten and dairy free. She started practicing with my birthday party cakes almost a year before the wedding! She also spent about 2 weeks making all the cake lace in a single mould to fit round the tiers.

Flowers

My sister Charlie prepared all the cut flowers, which made up a lot of the decor as well as the bouquets and buttonholes. My Mother-in-law Linda grew pots of Tulips and Narcissus to decorate the aisle for the ceremony.

Decorations

It was a team effort mainly from my family. Most of the decorations were cut flowers in glass bottles and jars we’d collected through the year which my sister arranged. We also made a display of wedding pictures from our parents, grandparents and my great-grandparents (as my great grandmother had been alive when i was a child). The stationery I designed, with photos of Lisianthus which i had taken. We had little favour box pyramids made out of coloured card with teabags for the guests, which were also another pop of colour for the tables. My Dad cut and folded all 75 of these!

Best thing you spent your money on for your wedding

The right venue. Offley house felt like our home for the day! The musicians also made the day, we had a Ceilidh in the evening, with The Ship Band, and some ceremony/reception music by Mike from Tall Dog Music. Becky our photographer was so valuable to us for the advice she gave us during the day, it was the first wedding in this generation of our immediate family, so we were all unfamiliar with what the day would hold.

The Honeymoon

Straight after the wedding we had a short break in Devon at Moorland View cottage in North Bovey, which was a lovely relaxing week, though we decided we’re both too tall to ever live in a cottage!

In October we had a longer honeymoon, with a road trip around New England including stays in Boston and New York, followed up with a week in a lovely resort on the Riviera Maya, Cancun.

Advice for future brides

Try and be clear on what you want, everyone else will express their opinion and it’s a challenge not to get overwhelmed. Remember it’s about your relationship, not what others think. There are also so many decisions to be made, focus on the things that are really important to you, and choose to not worry about decisions which you’re not that precious about, let others help you decide! We also realised that there are so many things people will try and persuade you are absolutely essential, but spending lots of money on more and more things does not make the day better. Focus on what makes the whole day come together for you as a couple.

Thank you Mel and Rob for sharing your beautiful day with us!
What season is your wedding planned for? Let us know in the comments!