Rachael & John

If you're getting married this Winter, then this gorgeous marquee wedding should get your heart racing. It's hard to imagine how a marquee will work in the winter months but with lots of flowers, lighting and cosy corners, a marquee can be transformed into SUCH a warm and inviting space. Their venue, The 3 Acres Inn is one I've only just discovered and it truly looks idyllic - set in a village location in West Yorkshire and with a reputation for good food? Sounds pretty perfect to me. Images come from Sarah Jane Ethan, who has captured every ounce of joy so that we can all enjoy Rachael & John's big day too.

The Bride

Rachael The Bride: I wanted something different and loved the idea of separates, a skirt and top, and never actually seen at any weddings I have attended. I loved the idea of making my outfit look different in the evening with a simple alteration of taking the lace top off and adding a belt.

The Groom

John didn't want traditional wedding attire and wanted a no-fuss outfit with a twist, adding a touch of the country with a tweed waist coat and personalised shoes.

The Venue

The perfect countryside venue for a winter wedding, with the most breath-taking views and famous for its roaring log fires and amazing food.

The Decor

Country Chic (this is what we decided to call our theme). Creating the outside in with huge olive trees covered in fairy lights with hanging glass balls filled with T lights, we wanted to create warmth, using dark table clothes to offset the beautiful colours of the flowers, pretty T lights and bronze candleabras with lots of soft fairy lighting, the smell of wood burning, and lots of candles were a must.

The Flowers

My guilty pleasure. I love flowers, one of the roses was a favourite of ours - memory lane rose, the vases chosen for the centre pieces were in 3 sizes and all different. Favours were also inspired by the country theme hessian bags filled with bulbs for the girls and sloe gin for the boys.

The Wedding Party

Bridemaids: I wanted to keep the theme of separates and we all accessorised with Faux fur, the flower girls were in simple white lace top dresses, with pretty cardigans with faux fur collars and we all have pretty finger less gloves that a close friend knitted. Groomsmen wore the same suit as then groom but with a blue waist coat.

The Ceremony

Close friends and family filled our local church, with Rupert Martin working on his day off to marry us as we specifically requested Rupert as both John and I knew him from old, we didn't want traditional wedding readings and asked Johns 10 year old nephew to write a few words and my oldest friend Elaine to write her own words – we were truly touched, we were told by many people that you could feel the love in the church that day.

The Entertainment

We first saw Catherine our singer perform at one a our favourte Thai restarurants in Leeds and immediately said we would love her to sing in the church and at our wedding reception – she was amazing and carried off our specials request to perfection. Derek we first saw perform at a charity ball we attending in Lytham and we were blow away with his magic and his loveable personality. Our band also performed at a couple of these charity balls and there was never an empty dance floor – so they were a must!

The Food

The famous 3 Acres Onion soup, Roast Beef with winter vegetables and an assiette of dessert – took no thinking about the perfect winter menu, not forgetting the sticky sausages as canapes that went down a treat!!! We must mention our cheese table that we designed ourselves – nothing nicer than a glass of red and cheese after dinner :)

The Photography & Videography

We googled a natural wedding photographer – we wanted someone that would capture our day perfectly, all those moments that you miss and the emotions that you don’t see and SJ certainly did that. Richard was recommended so our decision didn’t take any thinking about.