Hattie & Ant

Gorgeous venue Dewsall Court are a recent addition to our recommended supplier directory, The List and we're thrilled to have them on board as we adore the beautiful setting they offer to couples. As you'll see from this mornings wedding, there's the gorgeous house, the atmospheric barn, and the idyllic outdoor spaces - Bride Hattie describes it as 'your own world for the weekend' and that's exactly how we want our recommended venues to feel. Lovely Hattie and Ant brought their own style to proceedings, with an abundance of pastel blooms, rustic details and the most stunning outdoor ceremony set up I've seen in a long time. The weather wasn't perfect, but it didn't matter as everyone was underneath an awning that allowed lots of light in, but kept everyone cosy. Enjoy this wedding, it's a gorgeously rustic affair through and through.

The Venue

Hattie The Bride: We got married in the most stunning location overlooking the black mountains in Hereford. It was by pure chance that Dewsall Court was 10 miles from where I grew up, I never knew it existed ! It used to be a family home, now used for private events. A beautiful house and outbuildings for friends and family to stay, stunning gardens, the Wainhouse barn and acres of land making it feel like you really are in your own world for the weekend. We knew we wanted to get married outside and have a wedding that felt really relaxed and fun for our guests. Being all in one place allowed us to do that.

Our Wedding Day

The morning of the wedding, the ladies got ready with some pink bubbly and had a lovely chilled start while the men all went off for a spot of clay pigeon shooting! We chose the small private side garden of the house as our ceremony venue. Being early September you never know with our glorious British weather what may happen to we decided to hire an awning! We actually loved the intimate feel that it gave the ceremony venue. Down the aisle were Shepherds Hooks with hanging jars of beautiful flowers. I had my niece and nephew as the gorgeous little page boy and flower girl. Two of our friends read beautiful readings and we had a string quartet to play Sigur Ros "Hoppipolla" as I walked down the aisle and The Beatles "All you need is love" as we left! The whole morning it had been overcast and a bit of drizzle and just like in the movies, as I stepped out the house with my Dad, the sun broke through and beamed down on us and stayed out the rest of the day! Quite a special moment.

The Reception

We then had a relaxed drinks reception and canapes with the string quartet in the back garden and then our reception in the Wainhouse barn down the path. Guests walked down the fire lantern lit walkway and past the "family tree" we created which featured wedding pictures of our beloved family who are sadly no longer with us. The barn was adorned with hanging floral arrangements, handmade bunting and each table had smaller jars and lots of candles to give a gorgeous romantic feel. The tables had photo activities to encourage guests to get involved and selfie sticks. We had a # for the wedding which meant the next day we had ALOT of fun on instagram going through all the hilarious pictures people had tagged! With Ant being a keen poker player, we gave the guests personalised playing cards for our favours. Little did we know we had a few secret magicians amongst our guests entertaining them! After some emotional, hilarious and safe to say, pretty drunken speeches (!) we revealed the party area, a dedicated yurt dance floor! This had a sky light to the stars and was adorned with fairy lights and giant light up letters of our names. We had a brilliant funk and soul band and in between sets had the big surprise of the night... We'd already spread rumours that we had a special guests DJ coming and I heard a few whispers of some big names going round the yurt...! Enter stage right was our guest DJ in a rather fetching 80s tracksuit, blond wig and mask of my face. After the first few songs, with the guests dancing and giddy with excitement, we set off some confetti cannons and revealed it was none other that the groom himself! 6 months of DJ lessons had certainly paid off! We carried on the night partying away with a lovely outdoor fire pit where guests could sit and chill beneath the festoon lighting, and chat and relax. When the music eventually quietened down, the guests had all finished their photo booth pictures and made there way out it was a lovely area to end the evening with lots of funny chats and stories of the most amazing day!